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olumbus 
and  Columbia 

A  Pictorial  History  of  the  Man 
and  the  Nation 


EMBRACING  A  REVIEW  OF  OUR  COUNTRY'S 
PROGRESS,  A  COMPLETE  HISTORY  OF  AMERICA, 
A  NEW  LIFE  OF  COLUMBUS  AND  AN  ILLUS- 
TRATED DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREAT  COLUM- 
BIAN EXPOSITION 

Four  Books  in  One  Volume 


BY  THE  FOLLOWING  DISTINGUISHED   AUTHORS 


Book  I 

BY  HON.  JAMES  G.  BLAINE 

Secretary  of  State 

Book  II 

BY  J.  W.  BUEL 

Distinguished  Author  and  Traveller 


Book  III 

BY   PROF.  JOHN  CLARK    RlDPATH 
Noted  Historian 

Book  IV 

By  HON.  BENJ.  BUTTERWORTH 
Scc'y  Columbian  Commission 


EMBELLISHED  WITH  OVER  FIVE  HUNDRED  ENGRAVINGS,  MAPS,  CHARTS,  DIAGRAMS, 
AND  ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  OIL  COLORS  BY  THE  GREAT  MASTERS. 


HISTORICAL  PUBLISHING  CO., 
St.  Louis,   Mo. 


Copyright,  1892,  by  H.  S.  S^MITH. 
(all  rights  reserved.) 


**^,  The  illustrations  in  this  work  from  original  drawings  are  protected  by  copyright 
and  their  reproduction  in  anv  form  is  unlawful,  and  notice  is  hereby  given  that  persons 
guilty  of  infringing  the  copyright  thereof  will  be  prosecuted. 


PAGE 


The  Progress  and  Development  of  the  Western  World. 

THE  MARCH  OF  HISTORV— Genius  of  the  ancients— The  present  compared  with  the  past— Develop- 
ment of  government — Rise  of  the  in(ii\-idual.  decline  of  the  king — The  triumph  of  detnocracy — The 
\-ice  of  absolutism — Invention  of  the  art  of  printing — First  fruits  of  the  printing  press — Guttenberg 
and  Coster  the  ministers  of  a  higher  civilization — Discover}-  of  a  process  for  making  cheap  paper — 
Fruitage  of  a  vanished  world — Swift  messengers  of  a  better  time — Democracy  of  the  de  Medici — 
Lorenzo,  the  magnificent — The  unanointed  king — Pre-eminence  of  intellectual  leadership — 
Economv  that  made  his  countn.'  grtater  and  happier — Patriotism  and  generosity  of  Lorenzo — 
Degeneracy  of  his  successors — Foreshadowings  of  a  new  and  higher  form  of  government — The 
two  greatest  sons  of  Italy — Gates  of  welcome  fiung  open  in  another  hemisphere—  Laying  the  founda- 
tion stones  of  liberty — Columbus  the  worthy  aftermath  of  Lorenzo — A  tribute  to  Columbus — 
\Vhv  the  earlier  discovery  of  America  was  of  small  consequence — The  glory  of  his  first  voyage — 
Partition  of  the  new  world — The  Cavaliers  and  the  Roundheads — Growth  and  differences  of  the 
colonies — Evolution  of  the  great  republic — The  corner  stone  of  equal  rights — Rise  of  the  Western 
Republic — The  lesson  that  Napoleon  learned  from  America — Results  of  the  French  Revolution 
— How  it  operated  to  America's  advantage — Weakness  of  Napoleon  in  not  trusting  to  the  people — 
Xapoleon's  retrospect  of  his  deeds — The  tnaterial  betterments  that  he  lefl  as  a  legacy  to  the  world — 
All  nations  marching  towards  a  democracy — English  monarchy  a  shadow  on  dress  parade — 
America  for  Americans — Patriotism  and  virtue  of  our  people — Liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness 
—  The  evils  of  unrestricted  immigration — Anarchy  a  crime  of  the  alien — Welcome  to  the  honest 
and  deserving  — The  corner  stone  of  religion,  and  a  ke\stone  in  the  temple  of  morality — Condem- 
nation of  the  thirst  for  foreign  titles 33-'>4 


PARX   II 


COLUMBUS  AND  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  ADVERSITIES  OF  COLUMBUS  AND  HIS  ENVIRONMENTS— Spirit  of  the  Inquisition— Chivalry  of 
Spain — A  marvellously  superstitious  age — IntolerancL-  and  bigotry — Nativity  of  Columbus — The 
Colombo  family— Among  the  Mediterranean  Pirates — Fury  of  predatory  Moors — Columbus  is 
ship-WTecked — The  Arch-Pirate — Columbus  a  sea-rover — His  marriage— The  paradise  of  Porto  Santo 
— A  pest  of  rabbits  Brilliant  conceptions  boni  on  Porto  Santti — Marco  Polo's  travels— Early 
beliefs  respecting  the  size  and  shape  of  the  earth — Previous  discoveries  of  America — .Story  of  tlie 
Zenis — Identification  of  the  lands  found  by  ancient  explorers — Strange  relics  cast  up  by  the  sea 
— Toscanelli's  commendation — Some  wonderful  stories 

cii.\t'Ti:k  II 

SIGNIFICANCE  OF  HIS  NAME  LEADS  COLUMBUS  TO  SERIOUS  REFLECTIONS— His  trip  to  Iceland— 
The  Scandina\-ian  Sagas— Columbus  in  .search  of  assistance — The  appeal  to  Genoa — The  self- 
sufficiency  of  Columbus — His  visit  to  Portugal — Sumnii>ned  before  a  Portuguese  Junta — Perfidy 
of  King  John — Voyage  by  the  Portuguese — King  John's  ships  assailed  by  demons — Anger  of 
the  King — Bartholomew  sails  for  F^nglaml  to  solicit  aid  -Return  of  Columbus  to  (ienoa 

2  (17 


^5-74 


75  Sa 


20B5221 


18  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  HI. 


PAGE 


COLUMBUS  PROCEEDS  TO  SPAIN— War  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors —Columbus  halts  for  food  at 
a  convent — Graciously  entertained  by  the  Franciscan  Father — Feudalism  in  the  middle  ages- 
Helpful  counsel  of  Father  Perez— Resolution  of  Columbus  to  appeal  to  France— Persuaded  to 
present  his  requests  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns— Seeking  royalty  in  the  camp— Second  marriage 
of  Columbus — He  secures  an  inter\aew  %vith  the  archbishop  of  Spain — Brouglit  before  Ferdinand — 
The  Congress  of  Salamanca— The  Thraldom  of  Prelacy— Columbus  before  the  Spanish  Junta — 
Rejection  of  his  schemes — Renewal  of  his  appeal  to  King  John — Surrender  of  Granada— Second 
rejection  of  his  proposals 83-92 

CHAPTER  IV. 

MATERIAL  HELP  FROM  AN  UNEXPECTED  SOURCE— Columbus  retires  to  the  convent  of  La  Rabida— 
Epistolarj-  appeal  of  Father  Juan  to  Isabella — A  Journey  through  winter's  snows — Extraordinary 
devotion  of  the  Prior — Surrender  of  the  last  Moorish  stronghold — Columbus  summoned  before 
Isabella — Conditions  stipulated  by  Columbus — Indignation  of  the  Commissioners— The  sun  goes 
down  upon  his  hopes — Daybreak  of  joy  over  the  mountain  of  despair — The  Queen  sends  a 
messenger  to  recall  Columbus — The  Queen  concludes  terms  with  Columbus  -  Ships  and  sailors  ordered 
to  be  impressed  for  the  voyage — Traditions  of  horrible  spectres  of  the  unknown  sea — A  panic  in 
Palos^Consternation  among  the  sailors — The  Pinzon  Brothers — Equipment  of  the  first  expedition — 
Ships  engaged  and  the  men  who  composed  the  crews^Expectations  of  Columbas 93-105 

CHAPTER  V. 

DEPARTURE  FOR  THE  UNKNOWN  WORLD  OF  THE  SEA— Sorrowing  friends  take  their  leave— Auspicious 
beginning  of  the  voyage-  Out  on  the  raging  sea — Dangers  of  fact  and  fancy —Fears  of  Portugal's 
interference — The  flames  of  Tophet — Cowardice  of  the  seamen — Signs  of  approaching  land — Deflec- 
tion of  the  needle  gives  rise  to  fresh  fears — Spectres  of  the  imagination — Impeded  by  a  sea  of 
vegetation — A  false  cry — A  growing  prejudice  that  develops  into  mutinous  spirit — Additional 
e\ndence  that  land  is  not  far  off — Promise  of  reward — Land  1  Land  I — A  delirium  of  thankfulness — 
A  light  seen  flitting  along  an  un^^nown  shore— Who  was  the  first  real  discoverer? ic6-ii2 

CHAPTER  VI. 

LANDING  ON  THE  SHORES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD— A  marvellous  vision— Ceremonies  of  occupation - 

The  prayer  of  Columbus — Intercourse  \rith  the  natives — Descriptions  of  their  appearance  and 
customs — Believe  the  Spaniards  to  be  visitors  from  Heaven — Beastly  abuses  of  the  Spaniards — 
Belief  of  Columbus  respecting  his  discover^' — Natives  kidnappe  1  to  servx-  as  guides — Columbus' 
adventure  with  a  horrid  monster— The  lust  for  gold — Avarice  and  cruelty  of  Columbus — Discovery 
of  other  Islands — Landing  on  the  shores  of  Cuba — An  excursion  into  the  interior — Something  about 
the  natives — A  \-isit  to  native  \-illages — An  embassy  to  a  chief — Products  of  the  countr\- — Marvellous 
tales — Results  of  a  \-isit  to  the  cacique — The  mythical  gold  country-  of  Babeque — The  desertion  of 
Pinzon  — Wonderful  stories  about  imaginary  people — Capture  of  a  native  woman — Communica- 
tion with  the  natives  of  Hayti — Cu.stoms  and  hospitality  of  the  Haytians — A  visit  in  state  from  the 
cacique — Exchange  of  valuable  presents — Loss  of  the  Santa  ,l/(zr/a  — Generous  help  of  the  natives — 
Christianity  and  Haytian  religion — A  jisplay  of  Spanish  arms— An  entertainment  provided  by  the 
satives — Determination  to  found  a  colon)'  in  Haj-ti — Building  of  fort  La  Nati\-idad — Columbus 
counsels  the  colonists — AfiFectionate  parting  between  Columbus  and  Guacanagari — The  departure 
for  Spain 113-134 

CHAPTER  VII. 

A  MEETING  WITH  THE  DESERTER— Golden  \-isions  of  Columbus— Alternating  hopes  and  fears— Mis- 
givings as  to  Pinzon's  purposes — Pinzon's  storj- — A  fight  with  the  natives — In  quest  of  the  country 
of  the  Caribs — In  the  calm  latitude — A  terrible  storm — Separation  of  the  vessels — Despair  suggests 
vows  of  penance — A  melancholy  lottery- — A  package  which  the  ocean  refuses  to  give  up — In  sight 
of  the  Azores — Saved  at  last — A  shirt-tail  procession  Trouble  w4th  the  Portuguese — Departure 
from  the  Azores — Another  terrible  storm — Demons  of  Satanic  hate — Vows  of  penance — Safe  in  the 
providence  of  God — Arrival  at  the  estuary-  of  the  Tagus — Reception  by  King  John — A  princely 
entertainment — Columbus  has  an  audience  with  the  King — The  mad  designs  of  John — Scheme 
to  rob  Columbus  of  the  fruits  of  his  discoveries — .\rrival  at  Palos 135-146 


CONTENTS.  19 


CHAITER  VIII. 


PAGE 


RECEIVING  THE  PLAUDITS  OF  A  GRATEFUL  NATION- -Joyfi'.!  demonstrations  in  Pales— Meeting 
between  Columbus  and  the  Father  of  La  Rabida— Return  of  Uie  Plnta,  and  disgrace  of  Pinzon — 
The  sad  story  of  a  perfidious  and  ambitious  man — Transmission  to  the  King  of  reports  of  the 
discoveries— Coinniunicatioii  with  ihe  I'opi.— Columbus'  journey  to  Seville — Extraordinary  demon- 
strations— The  scene  in  Barcelona — A  wonderful  procession— Columbus  in  the  z.cnith  of  his  glory — 
Splendors  of  the  Royal  Court  provided  for  his  reception  -  Columbus  tells  the  story  of  his  voyage  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella — His  clreams  of  yet  greater  triumphs — His  ambition  to  reclaim  the  Holy 
Sepulchre — A  glance  at  the  conditions  that  surroun<led  him — Dazzled  by  stories  of  wealth  in  the 
kingdom  of  Catliav — A  glory  that  dimmed  the  lustre  even  of  royally — Ciranted  a  new  coat  of  arms- 
Decision  of  the  question.  Who  was  first  to  sight  land? — Disappointment  of  a  poor  sailor— Other 
things  to  be  accomplished — Preparations  for  a  second  voyage — The  moral  of  the  standing  egg — 
King  John  chafing  under  Icet  opportunity — How  the  Pope  settled  a  grave  question — A  rush  of 
volunteers — Letters  of  agreement  between  Columbus  and  his  sovereigns — The  fleet  appointed  to  sail 
from  Cadiz — A  battle  of  intrigue  and  diplomacy — Spain  obtains  the  decree  of  possession    ....    147-164 

CHAPTER  IX. 

EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  SECOND  EXPEDITION— Beginning  of  the  troubles  which  envious  rivalr>- created 
—  .\dventurers  of  every  kind  joiu  the  expedition — The  jealousy  of  Fonseca  rebuked  by  Isabella — 
A  representative  of  the  Pope  accompanies  Columbus — Vicar  Buyl  and  Friar  Perez — Other  dis- 
tinguished members  of  the  expedition — Great  demonstrations  made  at  the  fleet's  departure — Out  on 
the  wide  sea — Discovery  of  an  Archipelago^ Visit  to  islands  of  the  West  Indies — Among  the  Caribbee 
natives — Butcher-shops  where  human  flesh  was  sold — A  horrible  sight  among  Carib  cannibals 
— Some  of  their  dreadful  customs — Mvth  of  the  .\mazonian  islanders — Government  and  home-life 
of  the  Caribs — Lost  in  the  gloomv  forests — A  fight  with  the  natives — Captives  who  were  waiting 
their  turn  to  be  eaten — A  native  boy  having  the  face  of  a  lion— Other  discoveries — In  search  of 
the  colony  left  at  La  Xatividad—.\  visit  from  four  caciques — Discoveries  that  aroused  great  fears — 
Story-  of  the  massacre  of  the  garri.son — Relics  of  the  murdered  Spaniards — Depravity  of  the  colonists 
cause  their  destruction — A  tale  of  almost  inconceivable  lust  and  avarice — Particulars  of  the 
massacre — The  native  chief  falls  in  love — An  elopement  with  a  queen 165-182 

CHAPTER  X. 

COURAGE  THAT  OVERCAME  ALL  ADVERSE  CIRCUMSTANCES— Awakening  to  new  conditions— Dis- 
appointments of  the  Cavaliers — An  expedition  to  the  gold  mines — Welcomed  by  the  Indians — The 
gold  district  of  Cibao— A  report  calculated  to  deceive  the  sovereigns — Comments  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella — Columbus  recommends  enslavement  of  the  natives — Enforcing  Christianity 
through  bondage — Columbus  sends  home  a  cari,'o  of  slaves — The  lust  for  gold  unsatisfied — Sedition 
shows  its  horrid  head — Overcoming  the  mutinous  spirits — The  star  of  Columbus  begins  to  wane — 
Anxiety  over  Portugal's  acti\-ity — Return  to  the  gold  mines  of  Cibao— Fertility  and  beauty  of  the 
Royal  Plain — Pass  of  the  Hidalgos — Triumphal  and  pompous  entrance  into  the  native  villages — False 
security  of  the  Indians — Construction  of  Fort  St.  Thomas  -  Abuses  of  the  Garrison— Outrages  per- 
petrated upon  the  natives —Chief  Caonabo  arouses  the  Indians  to  vengeance — Afflictions  that 
came  upon  the  colonists— .-^  horrible  condition  of  affairs— Preparations  for  another  expedition  to  the 
interior — A  perfidious  act  severely  punished 18^-196 

CHAPTER  XL 

PURSUING  THE  GOLDEN  IGNIS  FATUUS— Columbus  renews  his  quest  for  tlie  kingdom  of  Cathay- 
Visit  to  a  nitive  village— Exploring  the  coast  of  Cuba — The  gold  country  of  Babeque — Other 
discoveries— .\  fight  with  the  Indians — Generosity  of  the  Cubans — A  curious  method  of  fishing 
--Reports  of  people  with  tails— Startled  by  spectral  figures  in  the  forest— Prester  John  the 
Magnificent — Delightful  anticipations  dispelled  by  harsli  eveutjj— .V  great  mistake — Discontent 
among  the  sailors — A  cacique  teaches  the  law  of  the  Golden  Rule — Religion  of  the  natives — Col- 
umbus tells  the  natives  of  the  splendors  of  Spjiin- A  cacique  pleads  for  permission  to  accompany 
Columbus-  Stricken  down  with  a  strange  illness — The  unfaltering  care  of  Father  Juan— Meeting 
between  Columbus  and  his  brother — A  remarkable  story  of  adventure — A  sad  disappointment  .    .     197-206 


20  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


PAGE 


FIRST  SUBJUGATION  OF  THE  INDIANS— The  outrages  of  Margarita— Horrible  abuses  practised  on  the 
natives — Rebellion  of  JIargarite  and  Vicar  Buyl — They  depart  for  Spain — A  bloody  retribution — Mas- 
sacre of  a  garrison — Murder  of  the  beautiful  Catalina — Confederation  of  the  Native  Chiefs-Siege 
of  Fort  St  Thomas — A  brave  man's  self-denial — A  hazardous  enterprise — Strategic  capture  of  Caonabo 
by  Ojeda — A  battle  and  repulse  of  the  natives — A  communication  to  their  majesties — The  first  ship- 
load of  slaves — Hostilities  renewed — Use  of  blood-hounds  in  running  down  and  killing  the  natives — 
A  furious  charge  of  Spanish  cavalrj- — An  appalling  spectacle — The  relentless  grasp  of  Spain    .    .    .   207-218 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
ENSLAVEMENT  OF  THE  NATIVES  TO  GRATIFY  SPANISH  GREED— The  insatiate  desire  for  gold— Terrible 
exactions  demanded  of  the  natives — The  Indians  compelled  to  pay  exhorbitant  tribute  in  gold — The 
pitiless  hardships  imposed — The  Columbian  defamers  at  court — Circumventing  the  calumniators — 
Isabella  orders  the  slaves  to  be  returned — A  criminal  finds  a  native  wife  and  fortune — The  arrogance 
of  Aguado — Efforts  to  supersede  Columbus — A  dreadful  hurricane — Opening  of  gold  mines  of  great 
value — Departure  of  the  vessels  for  Spain — Pressed  back  to  the  Caribbean  Islands — More  evidences 
of  Cannibalism — In  the  clutches  of  an  Amazonian  princess — Starvation  and  a  mutinous  spirit — 
The  Admiral  in  danger -Death  of  Caonabo  at  sea — Arrival  at  Cadiz 219-22S 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

RETURN  OF  COLUMBUS  FROM  HIS  SECOND  EXPEDITION— The  fickleness  ot  fame— Columbus  prepared 
to  meet  his  accusers  — He  proceeds  to  Burgos  to  meet  the  Sovereigns,  carrying  trophies  of  his  expe- 
dition— Reception  of  Columbus  by  Isabella — Presentation  of  the  Indian  captives — Marriage  of 
Dona  Juana — The  urgent  needs  of  Columbus — Return  of  Nino  with  false  reports — .\ wakening  to  sad 
conditions — Proposals  for  a  third  expedition — Dependent  on  the  Queen's  bounty — Columbus  executes 
his  will — His  charitable  bequests — .\rrangements  made  for  the  third  voyage — The  enmity  of  Fonseca 
— The  griefs  of  Isabella— Two  relief  ships  despatched —Columbus  knocks  down  an  insolent  Jew — 
Effects  of  this  display  of  anger 229-235 

CHAPTER  XV. 

DEPARTURE  OF  THE  THIRD  EXPEDITION -Purposes  of  the  third  voyage— Horrible  suffering  in  the 
calm  latitude — Alarms  of  the  superstitious  crews — Discovery  of  the  South  .\merican  Continent — 
Wariness  of  the  natives — A  spat  with  the  Indians — The  mouth  of  the  serpent — A  terrible  tidal  wave 
— Out  of  the  mouth  of  the  serpent  into  the  jaws  of  the  dragon — Landing  on  the  Continent — An 
excursion  to  the  interior — Entertained  by  a  chief — On  the  borders  of  Paradise — A  profitable  inter- 
course with  the  natives— In  the  land  of  pearls — Return  to  San  Domingo— Columbus  a  physical  wreck    236-243, 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

CONDUCT  OF  THE  COLONISTS  DURING  COLUMBUS'  ABSENCE— Fortress  of  the  Golden  Town- 
Famine  among  the  Spaniards — Collecting  the  tribute — Founding  of  San  Domingo — Anacaona,  the 
poetess  Queen — .\  visit  to  the  Queen — Wonderful  reception  by  beautiful  women — A  fair\'  scene — 
Presentation  of  the  Queen — A  grand  banquet — Don  Bartholomew  falls  in  love — Eating  the  Iguana 
lizard — A  fatal  sham  battle — Poverty  and  crime  at  Fort  Isabella — The  natives  forced  to  labor  for  the 
Spaniards — A  system  of  fortifications — Effects  of  converting  the  natives  to  Christianity — Baptism 
of  a  chief — A.  chief's  wife  debauched  by  an  officer — Destruction  of  a  chapel — Conspirac}'  of  the 
natives  discovered — Capture  of  fourteen  caciques — Execution  of  two  chiefs — The  rebellion  of  Roldan 
— Stirring  up  the  natives  to  make  war  on  Bartholomew  -  .\rrival  of  the  supply  ships — A  conspiracy 
to  massacre  the  Spaniards  —Destruction  of  Indian  villages— Capture  of  the  rebellious  chiefs — A 
terrible  condition  of  affairs 244-256 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  ROLDAN  ASSUMES  DANGEROUS  PROPORTIONS— His  quarters  in  the  sensual  par- 
adise of  Xaragua — The  rebels  unexpectedly  re-enforced — Roldan's  duplicity — .\lluring  inducements 
— Temporizing  with  a  rebel — Colunibus-deeply  distressed — Ojeda's  expedition  to  South  America — A 
fight  for  the  hand  of  the  native  princess — The  execution  of  Moxica — Columbus  superseded  by 
Bobadilla — Fettered  with  his  brothers  he  is  cast  into  a  dungeon — Brave  in  the  hour  of  adversity 
— Columbus  sent  to  Spain  loaded  with  chains — His  reception  by  Isabella  Substantial  token  of  his 
confidence — .\  touching  inter\-iew  with  the  Queen — Deposed  from  the  governorship  of  Hispaniola — 
Columbus  is  superseded  bv  Ovando — Dreams  of  conquest  and  the  reclamation  of  Jerusalem — 
Magnificence  <of  Granada 257-26& 


CONTEXTS.  21 

CHAITER  XVIII. 

PAGE 
PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  FOURTH  VOYAGE— Purposes  of  tbt- lust  expedition— Disappointment  and  chaprin 
of  Don  Diego — Departure  of  the  fleet — Refused  permission  to  land  at  Hispaniola — A  fearful  tempest 
-Destruction  of  the  ships  of  Ovando,  and  loss  of  Bobadilla  and  Roldan — Providential  escape  of 
Columbus — Resumption  of  the  voyage — weapons,  implements  and  costumes  of  the  Guanajans — 
Stories  of  a  great  nation —Meeting  with  natives  of  Central  .■\merica — Voyage  along  the  coast  of 
Honduras  — Frightful  appearance  of  the  Indians — Safe  from  the  storm — Magicians  of  the  Darien 
Coast — Death  threatenings  of  a  waterspout — Columbus  exorcises  the  spirits  of  the  storm — A  moment 
of  extraordinary  peril  — .\  visit  from  a  treacherous  chief — .\  military  post  established — Plot  to  burn  the 
ships  and  destroy  the  Spaniards— Perilous  undertaking  of  two  Spanish  spies^Visit  to  the  palace 
of  Quibian — Surrounded  by  human  skulls— Attacked  by  the  chief's  son— A  desperate  expedient — 
Battle  with  the  Indians — Massacre  of  eleven  Spaniards — .\  marvellous  escape —Escape  of  the 
Indian  prisoners — Suicide  of  a  body  of  captives  — Extraordinary  exploit  of  a  Biscayan — Relief  and 
rescue  of  the  beleaguered  garrison — Departure  from  Veragua — Columbus  sees  a  vision — Prostrated 
by  disease 269-281 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ILL-FATED  EXPEDITION— .Accumulating  misfortunes— Crazy  condition  of  the  ships 
— A  letter  reflecting  the  -Admiral's  despair — The  ships  grounded  on  the  coast  of  Jamaica — A  desper- 
ate situation — A  brave  man  found  for  the  occasion — Mendez  undertaUes  an  ocean  passage  in  a  canoe 
— A  journey  of  incomparable  hazard — Successful  accomiilishnient  of  his  mission — ,\  meeting  of 
the  crew — Secession  of  De  Porras— Conspiracy  to  kill  Columbus — The  bravery  of  Bartholomew — 
Indians  forced  to  attempt  a  passage  to  Hispaniola — Horrible  cruelty  of  the  mutineers — De  Porras 
compelled  to  return  to  the  shore — He  incenses  the  natives  by  acts  of  violence — The  Indians  awed  by 
an  eclipse  of  the  moon  —Another  meeting  dispelled  by  the  sight  of  a  ship — Hope  of  release  gives  place 
to  despair — De  Porras  prepares  to  attack  Columbus — A  battle  with  the  mutineers — Valor  of  Don 
Bartholomew — Defeat  of  the  rebels  and  capture  of  De  Porras — Relief  at  last — The  retuni  to  San 
Domingo — Columbus  joyfully  received 2S2-39I 

CHAPTER  XX. 
ABUSES  AND  HORRORS  UNDER  OVANDO'S  RULE— The  revenues  of  Columbus  are  wasted  and  he  is 
left  j)enuiless— Story  of  the  adventurers  who  accompanied  Ovando — .Affairs  on  the  island  during  the 
absence  of  Columbus — Hard  labor  and  famine  decimate  the  colonists — The  Indians  reduced  to 
slavery  under  the  lash — Pitiful  tales  of  their  hardships — Dying  by  the  wayside — Invasion  of  Xaragua 
— Inhuman  atrocities — Groundless  complaints — Hospitable  reception  by  Queen  Anacaona — The 
damnable  plot  of  Ovando— A  frightful  massacre  of  the  defenceless  natives — Persecution  and 
death  of  Cotabanama — Retribution  that  only  brought  the  Indians  to  more  dreadful  punishment — 
Columbus  sails  for  Spain — His  efforts  to  find  redress  for  his  wrongs — Too  weak  to  walk  he  is  borne 
on  a  litter  from  his  ship — Though  failing  rapidly,  his  ambitious  spirit  still  aspires  to  other  achieve- 
ments       292-300 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

LAST  DAYS  OF  COLUMBUS — The  world's  lack  of  appreciation- The  true  measure  of  greatness— A 
victim  to  envy,  malice  and  avarice — The  friends  that  remained  steadfast  to  the  end — Persistent 
efforts  to  recover  the  rights  of  which  he  had  been  basely  defrauded — The  mendacity  of  Ferdinand — 
Day  after  day  of  vain  pleading  brings  the  Great  .Admiral  nearer  his  grave — The  last  sad  hours  of 
Isabella — Poor  heart,  broken  with  an  accumulation  of  unbearable  griefs,  she  lays  down  the  crown^ 
Her  death  and  sepulture — Columbus  thus  loses  a  great  friend — He  is  now  only  a  broken-down  old 
man,  who  is  no  longer  an  object  of  interest — A  pathetic  appeal  to  the  honor  of  a  perfidious  king^ 
Hope  long  deferred  maketh  the  heart  sick — The  last  golden  dream  of  the  dying  .Admiral — Death  of 
Columbus — The  infamous  tactics  of  Ferdinanil  prove  successful — Pompous  funeral  ceremonies,  a 
poor  ilumb  show  of  kingly  ingratitude 3°l~3JO 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
CAREERS  OF  THE  COLUMBIAN  DESCENDANTS  —The   perfidy  of  Ferdinand  continues— The   heirs  of 

Columbus  are  denieil  the  rights  aiiil  biiufits  conferred  by  will -Presentation  of  the  claims  of  Don 
Diego— Advantageous  marriage  of  Diego — He  is  permitted  to  wear  the  title  of  Admiral — Conten- 
tion over  the  govirnorvliip  ,,f  the  West  Indies — The  courts  decide  in  his  favor — He  departs  for 
the  Indies  and  ,a.t^umes  the  \-ice-rovalty — Fonseca's  war  against  Diego— Death  of  Don  Bartholo- 
mew—Introduction of  slaves  from  Africa— Career  of  the  other  descendants  — Death  of  Don  I.uis— 
The  ancient  house  of  Cuccaro ,>"~3J8 


22  CONTENTS. 

PART   III— COLUMBIA. 


BOOK    FIRST. 


EPOCH  OF  DISCOVERY  AND  PLANTING. 


CHAPTER  I 


PAGE 


REVELATION  OF  A  NEW  WORLD — M_ysteries  of  the  Globe — Strange  theories  of  ancient  geographers — 
Probable  passage  from  Europe  to  America  in  ancient  times— Colonization  of  the  northeast  by 
Norsemen — Voyages  of  Leif  Erickson — Reckless  character  of  the  Norse  Sea-rovers — Other  traditions 
of  early  discovery — Dim  conceptions  of  the  earth's  sphericity — The  theories  and  experiences  of  Sir 
John  Maudeville — Tyranny  of  church  and  feudalism — Ci\'ilization  of  the  Peru-\nans  and  Mexicans — 
Horrible  ceremonies  of  the  Aztecs — Whence  came  the  first  settlers  of  America? — Effects  of  com- 
merce on  civilization — The  quest  for  gold 321-333 

-      CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CABOTS  AND  THEIR  FOLLOWERS— Immediate  effects  of  the  Columbian  discovery— Discovery  of 
North  America  by  Cabot — A  second  voyage — Discoveries  of  Sebastian  Cabot  -  Land  of  the  mid- 
night sun — The  rights  of  first  view — Illiberality  of  Henry  VII. — Da  Gama  discovers  a  sea  route  to 
India — Interference  of  the  Pope — England's  divorce  from  Rome -Adventures  of  the  English  gold 
hunters — The  piracies  of  Drake — Fatal  voyage  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert— Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in 
America  -Founding  of  the  first  settlement — Conflict  with  the  natives — Cruelty  of  the  English — Mas- 
sacre of  the  English  at  Roanoke — Birth  of  the  first  white  child — Political  dissensions  in  England — 
Gosnold's  efforts  to  settle  New  England— Discoveries  and  colonization • 334-349 

CHAPTER  III. 

VOVAGES  OF  THE  FRENCH  AND  DUTCH— The  country  of  New  France— Discoveries  of  Cartier— Kid- 
napping the  Kingof  Hurons — A  colon}-  of  desperate  criminals — Rober^-al's  search  for  a  northwest 
passage — An  asylum  for  persecuted  Huguenots — A  dreadful  vengeance — First  French  settlement  in 
America — The  country  of  Acadia — Voyages  of  Henry  Hudson 350-359 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PROGRESS  OF  DISCOVERY  AND  SETTLEMENT — Adventurers  who  accompanied  Columbus— Vespucci, 
Pizarro  and  Ojeda— Ponce  de  Leon  in  Florida — Wounded  in  a  battle  with  Indians — Cortez  in  Mexico 
— Marvellous  panorama  of  the  Mexican  capital — Voyage  and  death  of  Slagellan — Through  the 
swamps  of  Florida — The  chivalrous  expedition  of  De  Soto 360-368 

CHAPTER  V. 

ENGLISH  COLONIZATION— Fortunate  locations  of  the  English— The  London  Companj'— Captain  John 
Smith — Story  of  the  English  Puritans — Voyage  of  the  Mayflower — Landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
—Sorrowful  famine  scenes — Early  settlements  in  New  England — Roger  Williams,  the  liberal  relig- 
ionist— His  influence  with  the  Indians — Rivalry-  between  Protestants  and  Catholics— Sir  Geo.  Calvert, 
Lord  Baltimore — Settlement  of  Marj-land — Colonization  of  North  Carolina — Founding  of  Charleston 
— First  settlement  in  New  Jersey— William  Penn — Policy  of  the  Quakers — Penn  in  council  with  the 
Indians — The  rapid  building  of  Philadelphia — Savannah  founded  as  an  asylum  for  the  poor     ....    369-386 

CHAPTER  VI. 

VIRGINIA — Settlement  of  Jamestown — The  courageous  and  adventurous  character  of  Capt.  John  Smith — 
Introduction  of  negro  slavery — Importation  of  wives  for  the  settlers— Revolt  against  Berkeley — 
Outrages  of  a  profligate  monarch — Bacon's  rebellion — The  first  college  in  .\merica 387-392 


CONTENTS.  23 


CHAITKR  VII. 


PAGB 


MASSACHUSETTS— Captain  Miles  Stamlish  in  New  Enjjlund— Treachery  of  the  Indians— The  bigotry 
ami  intolerance  of  the  Puritans — Founding  of  a  woman's  republic — Setting  up  the  printing  press 
— Confederacy  of  the  colonies — Persecution  of  the  Quakers— The  two  regicides — King  Philip's  war — 
The  siege  of  BrookfieUl — The  fight  at  Swansea  Church — A  memorable  battle — Rebellion  against 
Andros — Dreadful  episodes  of  the  Indian  wars — Destruction  of  Schenectadv — Appalling  outrages 
committed  by  Indians — The  terrible  experience  of  Mrs.  Dustin  in  captivity — How  she  killed  ten  of 
her  captors — The  massacre  at  Deerfield — The  Salem  witchcraft  delusion — War  of  the  Spanish 
succession 393-408 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

NEW  NETHERLAND— The  Dutch  Puritans— Conflict  between  the  Swedes  and  Dutch— Invasion  of  New 
Sweden  by  Stuyvesant — The  Dutch  conquered  by  the  English— Tyranny  of  James  II.  —  Rebellion  and 
piracy  — Queen  .■\nne's  war — The  negro  riots 409-414 

CHAin'KR  IX. 

MINOR  COLONIES  AND  THE  PEQUOD  WAR— Burning  of  an  Indian  village— The  captives  sold  into 
slavery — The  Bible  as  the  Constitution  of  the  State — Theft  of  the  charter — Resistance  to  Governor 
Fletcher — Founding  of  Vale  College — .\n  experimental  theocracy  in  America — The  parliamentary 
patent — Prosperity  attends  the  colony  in  Maryland — Wars  between  Catholics  and  Protestants — Dis- 
tractions and  oppressions — Civil  and  religious  rights  in  the  Carolinas 415-422 


BOOK   SECOND. 


EPOCH  OF  INDEPENDENCE, 


CHAPTER  X. 


PAGB 


THE  OLD  THIRTEEN — First  attempts  at  colonial  union — Beginning  of  .\merican  Independence — Popula- 
tion of  the  colonial  states — Persecution  of  the  Moravians — Society  in  the  states — Educational 
advantages —The  log  school  house  and  the  screw  printing  press — Means  of  travel  aud  commu- 
nication      423-430 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  FRENCH  AND  INDIAN  WAR— Conflicting  territorial  claims -French  mis.sionaries— Explorations 
of  La  Salle — His  assassination— Jealousies  between  France  and  England — The  issues  of  war — 
George  Washington's  mission— .\  reniarkaiile  journey — The  founding  of  Pittsburgh— Beginning  of 
the  conflict — Washington  attacks  the  French— An  .American  union  proposed — Battle  before  Du 
Quesne — Death  of  Braddock— A  bloody  defeat — Exile  of  the  .Acadians — The  attack  on  I'orl  IMward 
— Siege  of  William  Henry— Capture  of  Louisburg — Assault  on  Ticonderoga — Exploit  of  Major  Strabo 
— Capture  of  Niagara — Battle  of  Quebec — Death  of  Wolf  and  Montcalm — Pontiac's  conspiracy- 
Effect  of  the  French  and  Indian  war 431-452 

CHAPTER  XII. 

CAUSES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE- A  remarkable  change  of  political  feeling— Arbitrary'  claims 
of  Great  Britain — The  foreshadowing  of  Rebellion— Political  character  of  George  III. — Specific  com- 
plaints against  England— Taxation  willioul  r<pri.ientation  —Excitement  produced  l)y  the  Stamp  .Act — 
The  British  ministry— The  torch  of  rebellion  lighted— The  fien,-  .speech  of  Patrick  Heiirv  — As.sem- 
bling  of  the  first  colonial  congress — Imposition  of  oilier  oppressive  duties— The  Boston  massacre — 
A  violent  resentment  of  the  tea  tax — Suspension  of  commercial  intercourse  with  England 453-463 


24  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PAGE 
FROM  CONCORD  TO  QUEBEC— The  ride  of   Paul   Revere— First  volley  of  the  revolution— Battle  of 
Concord — The  capture  of  Ticonderoga — Battle   of  Bunker  Hill— The  fires  of  patriotism  blaze  up 
on   a   thousand   hills — Washington   appointed   to   command   the   American   army — Activity   of  the 
patriots— Assault  on  Montreal — Wounding  of  Arnold 464-470 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  YEAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE— Attempt  to  drive  Howe  out  of  Boston— Anniversary  of  the  Boston 
massacre — Evacuation  of  Boston — The  conflict  begins  in  other  sections — Siege  of  Charleston — Dawn 
of  independence — Principles  of  the  declaration — Thomas  Paine's  patriotic  services — England  tries  to 
•conciliate  the  Americans — Battle  of  Long  Island — Dark  prospects  following  defeat — Discouragements 
of  the  American  cause— Capture  of  the  Hessians      471-480 

CHAPTER  XV. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION— Critical  position  of  Washington — Washington  outgenerals  Com- 
wallis — Battle  of  Princeton — A  series  of  engagements — Tryon's  invasion  of  Connecticut — Exploit 
of  Benedict  Arnold — Sympathy  of  France— Secret  help  of  the  French  people — The  Marquis  of 
Lafayette— The  capture  of  General  Prescott — Battle  of  Bennington— A  remarkable  stratagem — 
Defeat  and  capture  of  Burgoyne — The  captive  is  hospitably  entertained  -Battle  of  the  Brandy  wine — 
The  fight  for  Germantown — Attack  on  Chew's  house — Sufferings  at  Valley  Forge — Franklin 
negotiates  an  alliance  with  France — In  hot  pursuit  of  the  British — Battle  of  Monmouth — Outrages  of 
Guerillas  and  Indians — Heroic  acts  of  the  Bradys — The  valorous  deeds  of  the  Wetzel  brothers — 
Some  marvellous  adventures — Reverses  to  the  American  cause — Battle  at  Brier  Creek — Unsuc- 
cessful attack  on  Savannah — Heroism  of  Paul  Jones — Naval  battle  between  the  Serapis  and 
Bon  Homme  Richard 481-501 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

AMERICA  WINS  THE  BATTLE  -The  siege  of  Charleston— Depredations  of  Tarleton-  Bravery  of  Francis 
Marion — Death  of  Baron  de  Kalb — Battle  of  King's  Mountain — The  treason  of  Arnold — Capture 
and  execution  of  Andre — Execution  of  mutineers — Career  of  Arnold  as  a  British  officer — A  girl 
attempts  to  kill  him — Battle  of  Cowpens — Defeat  at  Guilford  Courthouse — Battle  of  Eutaw  Springs 
—The  intrepidity  of  Wayne — Campaign  against  Cornwallis — Siege  of  Yorktown — Surrender  of  Corn- 
wallis — Demonstrations  of  joy — England  acknowledges  American  independence —Evacuation  of 
New  York — Concluding  scenes  of  the  war — Washington's  farewell — His  address  before  Congress   .    .  503-519 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  CONFEDERATION- Powers  of  Congress— Trials  that  confronted  the  new  government— The  war  debt 

— Territory  of  the  great  west— Adoption  of  the  dollar  and  its  decimal     520-524 


BOOK    THIRD. 


EPOCH  OF  NATIONALITY. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  NEW  CONSTITUTION— Failure  of  the  articles  of  confederation— The  constitutional  convention— 
The  question  at  issue— Birth  of  political  parties  in  America— Patriotic  suspicions— Obstinacy  of 
certain  states — A  digest  of  the  constitution  -A  criticism  of  the  constitution — Criticism  of  the  con- 
gressional system — Election  of  the  first  President 525-531 


CONTEXTS.  25 

CHAin'ER  XIX. 

PAGB 
FIRST  THREE  ADM  INISTRATIONS  — The  inaviijuratioii  of  WiLshington— Embarrassments  of  the  govern- 

meut  Antagonism  between  Jefferson  and  Hamilton — l-irst  acts  of  Congress  — yuestions  of 
etiquette  -  The-  burden  of  a  national  debt — The  linancial  genius  of  Hamilton -A  war  with  the 
'  Miami  Indians  -Disastrous  defeat  of  Gen.  Harmer — Fatal  rout  of  Gen.  St.  Clair — Indignation  of 
Washington — Daniel  Boone  on  the  dark  and  bloody  ground  — Troubles  of  the  second  administra- 
tion—Political  ilissensions  in  the  cabinet — TIk  whij-kLV  insurrection  -Wayne's  victory  over  the 
Indians— Washington  assailed  by  incendiary  slanders— The  Algerine  Pirates — Washington's  fare- 
well address— John  .\dains.  the  second  President  War  witli  France  Naval  duel  between  the  con- 
stellation and  Insurgent -Napoleon's  friendship  for  .\merica— Death  of  Washington— Peace  and 
prosperity — The  .sedition  and  alien  law  -  Character  of  Jefferson — The  Louisiana  purcliase — Results 
accomplished  by  the  Jefferson  administration— War  with  the  Barbary  states— Duel  between  Burr 
and  Hamilton — Burr's  scheme  to  make  himself  a  dictator— America  sulTers  between  cross-fires — Right 
of  search  and  seizure -Robert  Fulton's  steamboat 532-558 

CHAPTER  XX. 

SECOND  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND— James  Madison— Free  trade  and  sailors'  rights— Harrison's  victory 
over  Tecumtha — Conjurations  of  a  prophet— First  gun  of  the  war  of  1812- Shameful  surrender  of 
Hull — Engagement  between  the  Constitution  and  Guerriere — Capture  of  the  Frolic — Other  battles 
on  the  high  seas — Expedition  against  Canada — Defeat  and  massacre  at  Raisin  River — Gallant 
defence  of  Fort  Stephenson — Perry's  victory  on  Lake  Erie — Defeat  and  death  of  Tecumtha  -Jack- 
son's campaigns  against  the  Indians— .\  nmtinous  spirit  quelled — Capture  of  Toronto — Battle 
between  the  Chesapeake  and  Shannon— Bloody  Lundy's  Lane— Defeat  of  the  British— Capture 
and  burning  of  Washington— Bombardment  of  Fort  McHenry — Political  dissensions — Battle  of 
New  Orleans — Engagements  on  the  seas — A  treaty  of  peace —Effects  of  the  war — Founding  of  a 
negro  free  state     • 559-574 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

MIDDLE  AGES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES— .\dministration  of  James  Monroe— Trouble  with  Hayti— 
Re\-ival  of  buccaneering — Contention  between  Democrats  and  Federalists— Suppression  of  the 
Seminoles — The  intrepidity  of  Jackson — Money  crisis  of  1819 — The  Mis.souri  compromise — Destruc- 
tion of  the  West  Indian  Pirates — The  Monroe  doctrine — Visit  of  Lafavette  — Career  of  J.  Q.  .\dams 

Difficulties  over  Indian  titles— Death  of  Jefferson  and  Adams — The  Masonic  excitement — The  tariff 
question— Adoption  of  the  system  of  protection  -Other  issues  before  the  nation^ackson  the 
military-  hero — His  election  to  the  Presidency— The  Jackson  administration  -  Threatened  secession  of 
South  Carolina— War  with  the  Cherokees  and  Creeks— A  bloody  massacre — Bank  of  the  United 
States— A  financial  panic— President  Jackson's  farewell— Financial  crisis  of  1837 — Independent 
treasury  bill — Complications  with  Canada — Election  of  Harrison— His  administration  -His  death, 
and  accession  of  Tyler — The  Webster-.\shburton  treaty  — Dedication  of  Bunker  Hill  monument — 
The  anti-rent  party— Rise  of  the  Mormons -Killing  of  the  Smiths      575-6oo 

CHAPTER  XXn. 

WAR  WITH  MEXICO— The  republic  of  Texas— Remember  the  .\lamo  !— .■\nnexation  of  Texas— The  cam- 
paign of  1S44— First  use  of  the  telegraph— Questions  which  led  to  the  war  with  Mexico— Begin- 
ning of  hostilities— Death  of  Major  Ringgold— Preparations  for  the  .struggle — Storming  of  Monterey 
— Conquest  of  California— Bombardment  of  Vera  Cruz— March  of  the  victorious  army- Battle  of 
Cerro  Gordo — Storming  the  heights  of  Chapultepec — A  campaign  of  unexampled  brilliancy — 
Attack  on  the  .American  hospital— Closing  strokes  of  the  war— Settlement  of  the  boundary  dispute  - 
Discovery  of  gold  in  California— Excitement  caused  by  Sutter's  find— Birth  of  the  free  soil  part)- — 
The  slavery  question  again  agitated— Henry  Clay's  omnil)Us  bill 601-618 

CHAPTER  XXIIL 

THE  FILLMORE  ADMINISTRATION— Compromise  acts  of  1S50— Effect  on  the 'Whig  Party— Filibusters 
in  Cuba — The  Newfoundland  fisherj-  dispute— Kossuth,  the  Hungarian  patriot — North  Pole  expedi- 
tion-Everett's reply  to  England— Election  of  Pierce — Pacific  railway  project — Pern,-'s  expedition  to 
Japan — Walker's  raid  in  Nicaragua— .Xn  extradition  dispute — Question  of  annexing  Cuba— Efforts 
to  extend  slavery  Border  warfare— Bitter  campaign  of  1S56 — The  Dred  Scott  decision— Johnston's 
campaign  against  the  Mormons — Laying  of  the  ocean  cable 619-628 


26  CONTENTS. 

BOOK    FOURTH. 


EPOCH  OF  WAR  AND  GREATNESS. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

PAGE 

ANTECEDENTS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR-The  great  tragedy  of  American  historj-— The  capture  and  execution 
of  John  Brown — The  conventions  of  iS6o — Anger  of  the  South  over  Lincoln's  election — The  Seces- 
sion of  South  Carolina  —Disunion  spreads  apace — Formation  of  the  new  confederacy- Seizure  of 
public  property  in  the  South — Close  of  Buchanan's  administration — Abraham  Lincoln — Siege  and 
capture  of  Fort  Sumter — First  blood  shed  in  the  great  civil  war — The  question  of  difference 
between  South  and  North — Construction  of  the  Constitution  by  disunionists — Slave  ownership  and 
what  it  involved — The  tariff  chosen  between  agriculture  and  manufacture — Effects  of  sectional 
literature     629-642 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

BEGINNING  OF  THE  CONFLICT— The  uprising  in  the  North— Events  in  tlie  Shenandoah  Valley— First 
battle  of  Bull  Run — Defeat  of  the  Union  forces— Operations  in  the  West — Death  of  General  Lyon — 
Battle  of  Belmont — The  defences  of  Washington — Seizure  of  Mason  and  Slidell — Capture  of  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson — The  battle  shock  at  Shiloh — Evacuation  of  Columbus — Duel  between  the 
Merrimac  and  Monitor — Capture  of  New  Orleans -Battles  of  luka  and  Corinth — Defeat  of  Sher- 
man— Battle  of  Murfreesborough — On  to  Richmond— Appointment  of  General  Lee  as  commander 
of  the  Confederate  Army — Desperate  fighting  before  Richmond — Terrible  loss  of  life — Battle  of 
Anlietam — Another  advance  on  Richmond — Battle  of  Fredericksburg ' .     643-662 

CHAPTER  XXVL 

DECLINE  AND  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY— Additional  calls  for  troops-Emancipation  procla- 
mation—Operations  for  the  reduction  of  Vicksburg — The  Confederates  driven  inside  their  defences- 
Surrender  of  Vicksburg — ^Cavalry  raids — Battle  of  Chickamauga— Battles  of  Lookout  Mountain  and 
Missionarj-  Ridge — Invasion  of  Missouri — Quantrell's  raid — Attack  on  Charleston — Death  of  Stone- 
wall Jackson — Battle  of  Chancellorsville — Invasion  of  Pennsylvania — Battle  of  Gettysburg — Riots 
following  the  Conscription  Act — Raids  of  General  Forrest — Disastrous  results  of  the  Red  River  expe- 
dition— Sherman's  march  to  the  sea — Defeat  of  Hood  and  capture  of  Atlanta — The  trail  of 
destruction — Capture  of  Charleston — Closing  battles  of  the  war — Carolina  raids — Farragut  before 
Mobile — Bombardment  of  Fort  Fisher — Damage  inflicted  b^- the  Privateers — Sinking  of  the  Alabama 
by  the  Kearsarge — Battles  of  the  Wilderness — Before  the  outposts  of  Richmond — Battle  of  Win- 
chester— Capture  of  Petersburg — Retreat  of  Lee's  army -Surrender  of  Lee — Capture  of  DaNns— 
Closing  events  of  the  war — Financial  measures  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  war  -The  National  Bank 
Act — Patriotic  utterances  of  Lincoln — His  second  inauguration — Assassination  of  Lincoln  —Univer- 
sal grief  of  the  nation — Accession  of  Andrew  Johnson — The  amnesty  proclamation — Execution  of 
Maximilian — Laying  of  the  Atlantic  Cable — Purchase  of  Alaska 663-702 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

EPOCH  OF  RECONSTRUCTION — Setting  up  of  provisional  governments — A  second  amnesty  proclama- 
tion—National peace  convention — Amendments  to  the  Constitution — Impeachment  trial  of  John- 
son—Election  of  Grant— Black  Fridaj- — Settlement  of  the  Alabama  claims— The  burning  of  Chicago 
— ^Troubles  arising  from  carpet-bag  rule — Defeat  of  Greeley— The  Modoc  Indian  war— The  Credit 
Mobilier  scandal — Trans-continental  railway  lines — Death's  harvest  among  the  great — The  Centennial 
Exposition — The  Sioux  war— The  Presidential  election  of  1876 — The  Joint  High  Commission — 
Happy  passage  of  a  great  crisis 703-720 


CONTEXTS.  27 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

PACE 
PERIOD  OF  RECOVERS— Administration  of  President  Hayes— The  great  railroad  strike— War  with  the 
Nfz  I'erces  Iiulians  -Demonetization  of  silver — The  Resumption  Act— Tlie  yelluw  fever  plague — The 
fishery  dispute — Life  savini;  service — Specie  resumption— The  campaign  of  iSSo — Refunding  the 
National  debt — Grant's  tour  around  the  world — The  decennial  census — Life  of  Garfield — Civil  ser- 
vice reform — .\  disruption  in  the  party — Stalwarts  and  half-l)ree<ls — Assassination  of  Garfield  -Trial 
and  execution  of  Guiteau — Succession  of  Arthur — The  Star  Route  Scandal— Great  inventions- The 
telephone,  phonograph  and  electric  light— Edison,  the  wizard — Great  feats  of  engineering — The 
tariff  question — Both  sides  presented — The  prohibitorj-  tariflf — Presidential  campaign  of  1SS4  — 
Dedication  of  the  Washingtoa  monument 721-744 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  RESTORATION— Election  of  Cleveland— Vain  effort  to  introduce  civil  service  reform 
—  Memorial  literature  of  the  war — Death  of  Gen.  Grant — Demise  of  other  eminent  men — The 
United  States  Supreme  Court — Roscoe  Conkling — Organization  of  labor — Anarchy  in  Chicago— The 
Charleston  earthquake^The  pension  list — The  Inter-State  Commerce  Bill — issues  of  the  campaign 
of  1888 — Election  of  Benjamin  Harrison 745-759 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  PRESENT — Administration  of  Harrison  -Epochs  in  our  National  life — Celebration  of  the  institution 
(  :'the  Republic — The  great  civic  display — Threatenings  of  war  with  Germany — The  Johnstown  flood 
— .Assembling  of  the  Pan-.\nierican  Congress— Renewal  of  the  tariff  dispute — The  McKinley  Bill — 
Excitement  over  the  rulings  of  Speaker  Reed — The  silver  question — The  eleventh  census — The  New- 
Orleans  riot — A  war  threatened  with  Chili — A  serious  situation — Murderous  assault  on  the  crew  of 
the  Baltimore — Completion  of  the  story 76o-777 


PART    IV. 


SCOPE  AND  PURPOSE  OF  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR. 


THE  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION— Cost  of  preparation— Invitations  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth — Development  of  great  industrial  expositions — The  Columbian  Fair  to  surpass  all  previous 
efforts — Char.acter  of  the  displays  on  exhibition  -  Mission  of  the  exposition — tTrcat  object  le.'^suns — 
The  world's  congress — The  problems  to  be  solved — Higher  aims  of  the  administration — Little  things 
that  have  advanced  civilization — Tributes  to  the  men  who  have  benefited  the  world — Com- 
memoration of  the  supreme  event  in  historj- 7S1-786 

CHAPTER  I. 

A  HISTORY  OF  ANCIENT  FESTIVALS —The  culmination  of  American  history— .\n  occasion  for  self-gratu- 
lation  — Origin  of  National  Celebrations  -First  intimation  of  democracy — Religion  and  War — 
Earliest  forms  of  festival  celebration— Observances  among  the  Peruvians— Egyptian  festivals — 
Offering  a  maiden  to  the  God  of  the  Nile — Fairs  of  farther  India  and  Mexico — Rules 
governing  the  .Aztec  Fairs— Exhibitions  among  Greek  and  Romans — Jewi.sh  feasts — The  Olympian 
games — Exciting  spectacles  in  the  arena — .•\ttichment  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  to  their  festivals — 
Exciting  and  dangerous  sports  of  the  Greeks— The  chariot  race  -Women  at  the  games — 
Rewards  to  the  Wctors— Honors  for  which  Kings  contested— Roman  festivals  and  bloo<ly  shows — Dif- 
ferences between  the  Greeks  and  Romans  —Exhibitions  in  the  Circus  Maximus — .Audiences  of  extraor- 
dinary size — Description  of  the  great  military  spectacle  of  the  Ludi  Maximus — The  Venatio.  or 
hunting  show — Slaugljter  of  wild  .inimals — Gladiators  in  the  arena — Desperate  combat.s — Massacre 
of  Christians — Martyrdom  of  a  humane  Monk — Abolition  of  the  games      .    .  "87-800 


28 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  II.  PAGB 

GREAT  FAIRS  OF  MODERN  TIMES— Gods  of  the  ancients— The  aspirations  of  man— Metamorphosis  of 
the  warrior — History  of  the  earliest  fairs — Union  of  church  and  state — Great  fairs  in  the  far  East — 
Great  industrial  exhibitions  -Expositions  in  France,  Austria  and  England — The  Crystal  Palace — • 
First  world's  fair  in  America — Rivalry  between  France  and  England-— Magnitude  and  results  of  the 
exhibitions — Centennial    Exposition — Its  cost  and  receipts— The  French  fairs  of  1885  and  1889  .    .    .  801-810 

CHAPTER   III. 

PURPOSES  AND  EFFECTS  OF  INTERNATIONAL  FAIRS-The  struggle  for  supremacy— What  constitutes 
true  glory — Origin  of  the  Columbian  Exposition — The  voice  of  Public  desire — Creation  of  the 
Worlds  Fair  Commission — Cost  of  the  Exposition — The  Exposition  Buildings — Extent  and 
character  of  the  Grounds — Appropriations  made  by  the  several  States — Countries  that  have  made 
appropriations  for  exhibits —Nations  that  will  participate — Wonders  of  the  Exposition — Marvellous 
surprises  that  will  meet  visitors — Exhibition  of  the  Columbian  Caravels — Description  of  some  of 
the  remarkable  things  that  will  hz  shown — Exhibits  by  the  Government — The  World's  auxiliary 
congress— A  marvellous  pyrotechnic  display— The  heavens  on  fire — Niagara  Falls  in  flames — 
Bombardment  of  the  the  skies — A  deluge  of  meteors^Spectacles  of  sublime  beauty — The  American 
flag  spread  across  the  sky  in  coruscations  of  fire — Programme  of  the  Dedication  ceremonies  .    .    810-821 


GUIDE  TO  THE  CITY  OF  CHICAGO  AND  THE  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION. 

823-832 


'  W'^j'ic  s'<  Vi^sjtxv-  ^"*^  'N'<fc.*'k'»'Ji  *<*{  •oi>'' 


<'A>j:A\«A\Xvv.i;(j,/,%  >j! 


i{?5K«;' 


SiS>5?A!WS«-»«-». 


*2?iS 


^ 


[ist  of  [lldstr^tions. 


PAGE 

Emblematic  chapter  heading 35 

New  inventions  contrasted  with  the  old 37 

Gutenberg  and  Faust  discovering  the  art  of  printing  38 

New  inventions  contrasted  with  the  old  ....  39 

Home  of  the  de  Medici 41 

Norsemen  celebrating  their  discovery  of  the  New 

World 44 

The  Puritans 47 

Homes  and  birtli-places  of  great  Americans  ...  49 

Benjamin  Franklin  at  the  Court  of  Louis  XVI  .  50 

Napoleon  and  Marie  Louise  at  Fontainbleau    .    .  53 

Distinguished  Union  Generals 55 

The  last  of  monarchy  in  the  New  World — Exile  of 

Dom  Pedro  from  Brazil 56 

Distinguished  Confederate  Generals 58 

Castle   Garden,  the  gateway   of    immigration   to 

America 59 

Farragut  engaging  the  Confederates  in  Mobile  Bay  61 

Emblematic  chapter  heading 65 

Columbus  a  castaway 68 

Norse  navigators  in  Narragansett  Bay 72 

Columbus  in  his  study      73 

Nicholas  Zeni 74 

Landing  of  Leif  Erickson  in  Vinland 76 

Coat  of  anns  of  the  Colombo  family 77 

Dream  visions  of  inspiration 78 

Angel  of  ambition      79 

Columbus  before  the  Portuguese  Junta 80 

The  fabled  Roc 81 

Father  Perez  inviting  Columbus  to  the  convent  .  84 

Columbus  at  the  convent  of  La  Rabida 85 

A  golden  day-dream  of  Columbus 86 

Comforting  angels 87 

Isabella      88 

Columbus  introduced  to  the  King 89 

Columbus'  interview  with  I'ather  Perez 94 

Father  Perez  journeying  to  Santa  Fe 94 

The  night  journey  to  Granada      95 

Army  of  Isabella  before  Granada 95 

The  surrender  of  Granada 96 

Court  of  the  Lions,  in  the  Alhambra 97 

Queen  Isabella  in  her  armor 98 

Columbus  recalleil  by  Isabella 99 

Columbus  in  private  audience  with  the  Queen  100 

Monsters  of  the  haunted  sea 102 

The  fleet  of  Columbus 106 

Watching  the  departure 107 


PAGE 

Columbus  discovering  the  deflection  of  the  compass  loS 

Vision  of  the  spectre  haunted  sea no 

The  San ia  Maria 112 

Landing  on  the  shore  of  San  Salvador 114 

Adventure  of  Columbus  with  an  Iguana    ....  117 

Shore  scene  on  Isabella  Island 119 

The  cross  of  possession 120 

Hospitable  reception  by  the  natives 121 

The  Cuban  Chief  and  the  Spanish  Embassy     .    .  122 

Landing  on  the  coast  of  Hayti 125 

State  visit  of  a  Haytian  Cacique 127 

The  natives  following  the  returning  boats     .    .    .  128 

Loss  of  the  San/a  Jlfaria     130 

Guacanagari  taking  his  leave  of  Columbus    .    .    .  133 

The  caravels  at  sea 134 

Columbus'  coat  of  arms 136 

Spaniards  repulsing  the  natives 137 

In  the  calm  latitude 138 

The  storm 139 

Effects  of  the  great  storm 143 

The  shores  of  Hayti 146 

Columbus  received  by  the  dignitaries 149 

Reception  of  Columbus  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  153 

The  Columbus  procession  through  Barcelona  151 

A  glorious  dream — and  the  reality 155 

Christopher  Columbus 156 

Columbus  rebuking  his  critics 159 

Columbus  receiving  the  thanks  of  his  sovereigns  161 

City  of  Seville 162 

Flag-ship  of  Columbus 164 

Fonseca  a  protestant  1  efore  the  Queen 167 

Departure  of  the  second  expedition 168 

In  the  bay  of  Cadiz 170 

Cannibal  cabin  in  Guadaloupe 172 

Savage  attack  of  the  Caribs 175 

Columbus  visited  by  four  Caciques 176 

Destruction  of  the  garrison 181 

An  expedition  to  the  gold  mines 185 

Columbus  before  the  mutineers      190 

Overlooking  the  Vega  Real 192 

A  waterspout 196 

Natives  supplying  the  Spaniards  with  fruits  .    .    .  198 

In  the  Queen's  Gardens  ...                200 

Rebellion  of  Margarite  and  Vicar  Buyl 208 

Massacre  of  the  Spaniards 210 

Caonabo  at  the  head  of  his  anuy 211 

A  ilesperate  adventure 214 


(29) 


30 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Terrible  slaughter  of  the  natives 217 

Anacaona,  Queen  of  the  Caribs 220 

De  Torres  before  the  Sovereigns 222 

The  hurricane 225 

Building  of  the  Satita  Cruz 225 

A  native  woman  strangling  her  pursuer     ....  227 

Columbus  presenting  the  brother  of  Caonabo  230 

Columbus  executing  his  will 232 

Columbus  knocking  down  the  Jew 234 

Columbus  recapturing  the  French  prize      ....  237 

Fury  of  a  great  tidal  wave 259 

Natives  bringing  presents  to  Columbus 241 

Anacaona  and  her  retinue  of  maidens 247 

Burning  of  natives  for  the  crime  of  sacrilege    .    .  251 

Arrival  of  the  supply  ships 253 

Cruel  destruction  of  Indian  rillages 255 

Roldan  making  recruits 25S 

Execution  of  Moxica 261 

The  sight  that  met  Bobadilla 262 

Bobadilla  casts  Columbus  into  a  dungeon  ....  262 

Columbus  sent  to  Spain  in  chains 264 

Columbus  received  by  Isabella 265 

Fury  of  the  great  storm 267 

Destruction  of  the  fleet 270 

Columbus  exorcising  the  waterspout 274 

Reception  of  Columbus  by  a  chief 275 

Assaulted  by  the  chief 's  son 277 

Massacre  of  Spanish  boatmen    .    .    .    .- 279 

A  perilous  undertaking 2S0 

Bartholomew  defending  Columbus 2S5 

De  Porras  driving  the  canoemen  overboard  .    .    .  2S6 

Indians  awed  by  an  eclipse  of  the  moon     ....  2SS 

Columbus'  return 291 

Natives  slaving  at  the  placer  mines 293 

Perishing  from  starvation 294 

Dance  of  the  Xaraguan  maidens 296 

Anacaona's  retinue         297 

Slaughter  of  the  Xaraguans 298 

Massacre  of  the  Spaniards 299 

Statue  of  Isabella  at  Madrid 304 

Sepulchre  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 305 

Columbus,  after  Capriola,  1596 305 

Portrait  of  Columbus  in  the  Madrid  gallery     .    .  306 
Columbus,  aft;er  a  painting  made  b%'  order  of  Isa- 
bella     307 

Death  of  Columbus 308 

House  in  which  Columbus  died 309 

Columbus  monument  in  Mexico 310 

Monument  to  Columbus  in  Genoa 312 

Columbian  monument  in  Madrid 314 

Monument  projected  for  Palos      316 

Monument  projected  for  Havana 317 

Justice 318 

Emblematic  department  illustration 321 

Norsmen  on  the  coast  of  America 323 

Killing  of  Thorwald 324 

A  Norse  sea  king            325 

Map  of  Vinland 327 


PAGE 

Aztecs  sacrificing  to  the  sun 330 

Aztec  calendar  stone 331 

A  Phoenician  ship 333 

John  Cabot  on  the  shore  of  Labrador 335 

Fleet  of  Frobisher 338 

Drake  crowned  King  of  California 340 

Queen  Elizabeth 341 

Ruins  of  Roanoke 343 

Massacre  at  Roanoke 344 

Baptism  of  Virginia  Dare 346 

Capture  of  the  English  supply  ship 347 

Cartier  on  Mont  Real -51 

Cartier  enticing  the  Huron  King 352 

Rober\'al  searching  for  a  northwest  passage  .    .    .  353 

Avenging  the  murder  of  the  Huguenots     ....  355 

Dining  room  of  the  French  colonists 357 

The  Half-Moon  in  the  Hudson      359 

Balboa  claiming  the  Pacific 362 

Indians  furiously  attack  the  Spaniards    .    .        .    .  363 

Hernando  Cortez 364 

Death  of  Montezuma 365 

Death  of  Magellan 366 

De  Soto  landing  in  Florida      367 

Route  of  De  Soto's  expedition 368 

Captain  John  Smith 370 

Signing  the  compact 372 

Dealing  out  the  five  kernels  of  com       373 

Map  of  early  settlements  in  New  England     .    .    .  374 

Roger  Williams  in  council  with  Canouicus    .    .  375 

Roger  Williams  among  the  Indians 377 

Lord  Baltimore 378 

Leonard  Calvert  colonizing  Marj-land 379 

Map  of  the  Atlantic  States 3S1 

Map  of  New  Jersey 382 

William  Penn 3S3 

Map  of  Philadelphia  and  vicinity 3S4 

James  Oglethorpe 386 

Map  of  the  Chesapeake 5S8 

Importing  wives  for  the  settlers 389 

The  war  ship  Guinea  enforcing  submission  .    .    .  390 

Samoset  welcoming  the  English 394 

Treaty  between  Caner  and  Massasoit      394 

A  scold  gagged        396 

The  first  printing  press  in  America 397 

First  Church  in  Hartford 398 

Map  of  the  scene  of  the  first  King  Philip's  war  .  398 

Map  of  the  scene  of  the  second  King  Philip's  war  399 

Map  of  the  scene  of  the  third  King  Philip's  war  399 

The  fight  at  Swansea  Church ■    •    •  400 

Indian  attack  on  Brook  field 401 

Destruction  of  Schenectady            402 

Mr.  Dustin  covering  the  retreat  of  his  children   .  ^04 

Jlrs.  Dustin  killing  her  captors      405 

The  old  witch  house  in  Salem 406 

Trial  of  a  witch  at  Salem 407 

Peter  Stuyvesant 410 

Queen  Anne 414 

Scene  of  the  Pequod  war 415 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


31 


Captain  Mason  firing  the  Indian  village     ....  416 

The  younger  Winthrop 416 

Gov.  Fletcher's  voice  drowned  by  drum  beats      .  417 

Training  day  in  the  olden  time 420 

Persecution  of  the  Moravians 425 

Primitive  New  England  school 427 

Printing  the  Boston  Xews-I..etter 42S 

Marquette  and  Joliet  on 'the  Mississippi 432 

La  Salle  descending  the  Mississippi 433 

.Assassination  of  La  Salle 434 

Half-King  making  a  treaty  with  the  English       .  435 

Washington  fired  at  by  a  savage 436 

Washington  attacking  the  French 437 

Battle  ground  of  the  French  and  Indian  war    .    .  439 

Map  of  the  scene  of  Braddock's  defeat 440 

Death  of  Braddock 441 

Map  of  Acadia 442 

Exile  of  the  .Acadians 442 

Siege  of  Fort  William  Henry 444 

Map  of  Louisburg 445 

Ruius  of  Ticonderoga 445 

Exploit  of  Major  Strabo 446 

Bloody  Run 447 

General  James  Wolfe 448 

Map  of  vicinity  of  Quebec      44S 

Death  of  General  Wolfe 450 

Exposure  of  the  conspiracy 451 

George  the  Third 456 

Benjamin  Frank'.in 458 

Procession  in  opposition  to  the  Stamp  .\ct     .    .    .  459 

Patrick  Henry  addressing  the  Assembly     ....  460 

Samuel  .Adams .  463 

Paul  Revere's  nde 465 

General  Nat.  Greene 465 

.\llcn  demanding  the  smrender  of  Ticonderoga  .  466 

Map  of  the  \-icinity  of  Lake  George 466 

Plan  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill 467 

Closing  charge  at  Bunker  Hill 468 

George  Washington 469 

The  attack  on  Quebec 470 

Map  of  the  siege  of  Boston 471 

Map  of  the  siege  of  Charleston 472 

The  attack  on  Fort  Moultrie 473 

Thomas  Jefferson 474 

-Adoption  of  the  Declaration                  475 

Plan  of  the  Battle  of  Long  Island 477 

Scene  of  operations  about  New  York 478 

Plan  of  the  battle  of  Princeton 480 

Death  of  General  Mercer 482 

Exploit  of  Benedict  .Arnold 483 

Place  of  the  barricade 4P4 

Marquis  of  Lafayette        485 

Capture  of  General  Prescott 486 

Bennington  battleground 487 

The  alarm  at  Fort  Schuyler 4S7 

Burgoyne's  camp  on  the  Hudson 4S8 

Scene  of  Burgoyne's  invasion 488 

Surrender  of  Burgoyne 489 


PAGE 

Gates'  headquarters 490 

Battle  of  Gerniantown 491 

Sceui  of  the  Valley  Forge  encampment    ....  492 

In  camp  at  Valley  Forge 493 

The  cavalry  charge  at  Monmouth 495 

Death  of  James  Brady 497 

Escape  of  Lewis  Wetzel 498 

Defeat  of  the  Americans  at  Brier  Creek 500 

Paul  Jones  boarding  the  Serapis 501 

Washington's  headquarters 502 

Scene  of  operations  in  the  South 504 

Rendezvous  of  Marion  and  his  men 505 

Scene  of  .Arnold's  treason        506 

Capture  of  Major  .Andre 507 

Sergeant  Champe's  departure 509 

.A  girl's  attempt  on  .Arnold's  life 510 

Charge  of  the  .Americans  under  Greene 513 

Plan  of  the  siege  of  York  town 515 

.Americans  capturing  a  redoubt 515 

Surrender  of  Cornwallis 515 

Washington's  farewell  to  his  generals 518 

John  .Adams 531 

Washington  taking  the  oath 533 

Washington  and  his  cabinet 535 

General  Harraer  defeated  by  the  Indians   ....  536 

Surjjrise  of  General  St.  Clair 537 

The  Indignation  of  Washington 53S 

Capture  of  the  whiskey  tax  collectors         ....  541 
Engagement  between  the  Constellation  and  In- 
surgent    545 

Jefferson  going  to  his  inauguration 549 

Chief  Justice  Marshall 552 

Duel  between  Hamilton  and  Burr 554 

Robert  Fulton 557 

James  Madison 559 

Indian  Prophet  and  General  Harrison 560 

Scene  of  Hull's  campaign 562 

Capture  of  the  Frolic 563 

Fort  Meigs 5^4 

Perry  leaving  his  flagship  for  the  Niagara      .    .    .  565 

Defeat  of  the  Indians 566 

Duel  between  the  Chesapeake  and  Shannon      .    .  568 

Attack  on  Oswego 5^9 

Battle  of  New  Orleans 573 

Confirming  a  treaty  between  whites  and  Indians  576 

Death  of  General  Thompson 590 

View  of  Salt  Lake  City 599 

Meeting  place  of  the  first  Texas  Congress      .    .    .  602 

Capture  of  a  Mexican  battery 60S 

Incident  of  the  battle  of  Monterey 607 

Hoisting  the  flag  on  the  Rocky  Mountains    .   .    .  6o3 

Escape  of  Santa  .Anna 610 

Storming  of  Chapultepec 612 

Sau  Francisco  in  1849           614 

Place  where  gold  was  discovered 615 

Clay.  Calhoun  and  Webster 6l3 

Warfare  on  the  border      630 

John  Brown's  Fort 63' 


32 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

John  Brown  besieged 632 

Alex.  H.  Stephens 633 

Jefferson  Davis 633 

Abraham  Lincoln 634 

Lincoln's  early  home 635 

Lincoln's  first  cabinet 636 

Attack  on  Fort  Sumter         637 

Flag  and  Cockades 638 

Attack  on  the  Massachusetts  troops 639 

Horrors  of  tlie  Fugitive  Slave  Law 640 

Sinking  of  the  privateer  Petrel 641 

General  G.  T.  Beauregard 644 

Battle  of  Bull  Run 645 

Death  of  General  Lyon 646 

A  monitor  and  blockade  runner 647 

Surrender  of  Fort  Donelson 649 

Battle  of  Shiloh 650 

Fight  between  the  Monitor  and  Merrimac     .    .    .  652 

Heroism  of  Colonel  Rogers                    654 

Augur's  Brigade  passing  through  Manassas  Gap  655 

General  T.  J.  Jackson        656 

McClellan's  defensive  lines 657 

Part  of  Maryland  raided  by  Confederates  ....  658 

Battle  of  Malvern  Hill 659 

General  Joseph  Hooker 660 

Storming  the  bridge  of  Antietam 661 

General  Wm.  T.  Sherman 664 

A  railroad  battery 666 

A  charge  at  Missionary  Ridge       667 

Attack  on  Charleston 668 

Lee  and  Jackson  before  Chancellorsville    ....  669 

Jackson  before  the  battle 670 

Battle  of  Chancellorsville 671 

Seat  of  war,  Harper's  Ferry  to  Suffolk 672 

Plan  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg       673 

Repulsing  a  charge  at  Gettysburg 674 

Pickett's  charge  at  Gettysburg 675 

Forrest  leading  his  rough  riders 677 

Map  of  Dalton  and  vicinity 67S 

Death  of  General  Polk 679 

Map  of  Atlanta  and  vicinity 6S0 

Map  of  Sherman's  march 681 

General  Joseph  E.  Johnston 682 

Admiral  Farragut 683 

Naval  battle  in  Mobile  Bay 684 

Sinking  of  the  Alabama 686 

From  Richmond  to  Appomattox 688 

General  Phil  Sheridan          689 

Sheridan's  ride  to  Winchester 690 

Lee's  army  on  the  retreat 691 

Lee  signing  the  conditions  of  surrender     ....  693 

Last  meeting  of  the  Confederate  Cabinet    ....  694 

Assassination  of  Lincoln 697 


PAGE 

Grand  military  parade  in  Washington 699 

Execution  of  Maximilian 701 

Triumph  of  faith  and  genius      702 

Laying  the  Atlantic  cable 703 

U.  S.  Grant 706 

Grant's  home  in  Galena 707 

Horace  Greeley 711 

Charles  Sumner 713 

Joseph  R.  Hawley 714 

Alfred  T.  Goshorn      715 

President  Grant  closing  the  Exposition 716 

Heroic  death  of  Custer 718 

Thomas  A.  Hendricks 719 

James  A.  Garfield 725 

General  Winfield  Hancock      726 

From  canal-boy  to  the  Presidency 728 

James  G.  Blaine 729 

Roscoe  Conkling 730 

Assassination  of  Garfield 731 

Chester  A.  Arthur 732 

The  Brooklyn  Bridge 737 

John  A.  Logan 743 

Grover  Cleveland       746 

Grant's  funeral  train 747 

Birth  place  and  tomb  of  General  Grant 748 

New  tomb  of  General  Grant 749 

Henry  Ward  Beecher 751 

City  of  Valparaiso 774 

Decoration  Day 776 

Emblematic  head  illustration 781 

Administration  Building 782 

Government  Building 783 

Fish  and  Fisheries  Building 784 

Building  of  Manufactures  and  Liberal  Arts  .    .    .  785 

Sacrifice  of  a  virgin  to  the  Nile  God 7S9 

Foot  race  of  Grecian  athletes 791 

A  chariot  race  in  the  Colosseum 793 

Race  course  in  the  circus  maximi 796 

Criminal  fighting  with  a  hungrj-  lion 797 

Duel  between  gladiators 799 

Tilting  tournament  in  the  Middle  Ages 802 

Horticultural  Building S03 

Woman's  Building 804 

Machinery   Hall S05 

Electrical  Building 806 

Art  Palace 807 

Transportation  Building 808 

Mines  and  Mining  Building 809 

Agricultural   Building 812 

Bird's  eye    view   of  the   Columbian    Exposition 

Grounds 815 

View     of    State     Street     and      Palmer     House, 

Chicago      822 


3ie 


3/ 


(33) 


'  *  > 


splendor  from  the  rui 
Greek  column  or  to 


^^^«l.• 


7  #^  Progress  and  Development 

of 

in  The  Western  World. 

By  JAMES  G.   BLAINE. 

\     'FHE    stately  march   of  histor}-    reveals 
with    equal  clearness,   and    develops 
with  equal  majesty,  two  distinct  and  har- 
monious truths — the    indepen- 
dence   of  the    individual    and 
the  unity  of  the  race.    Letters, 
architecture,  the  arts  of  peace 
and  of  war  have  characterized 
all  civilizations.      In  the  stabil- 
ity    of     her    institutions 
China  has  not   been   sur- 
passed.     In  the  skill    of 
her  mechanics  EufApt  has 
not  been  reached.      Mod- 
ern   imajjination     recon- 
structs    an     unparalleled 
ns  of  Assyria.      Nineteen  centuries  have  not  added  to  the  grace  of  the 
the  strength  <>f  the  Roman   arch.      No  proverb  has  supplanted  the 
(35) 


36-  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

patience  of  Job  or  the  wisdom  of  Solomon.  Our  liighest  aspiration  is  to  combine,  never 
to  excel,  what  Matthew  Arnold  might  call  the  sense  for  beanty  in  the  old  Greeks,  the  sense 
for  organization  in  the  old  Romans,  the  sense  for  righteousness  in  the  old  Jews.  No  poet 
has  plucked  from  Homer  his  laurels.  No  brush  has  stolen  a  tint  from  the  fame  of  Apelles. 
No  chisel  has  chased  a  line  of  loveliness  from  Phidias.  INIoses  and  Solon  have  never  been 
surpassed  in  statesmanship,  or  Alexander  in  military  science  and  skill,  or  Plato  in  phil- 
osophy, or  Cicero  in  eloquence. 

UP  TO  THE  KEiGHT,  WHENCE  FREEDOM   SURVEVS  THE  WORLD. 

Human  faculties  show  a  very  small  range  of  difference  through  the  centuries.  The 
pendulum  of  human  powers  from  age  to  age  sweeps  through  the  same  arc.  The  distinc- 
tive trait  of  modern  times  is  that  the  achievement  of  the  highest  is  brought  down  to  the 
service  of  the  lowliest,  and  thus  the  impress  of  value  is  stamped  upon  the  individual  human 
being. 

The  development  of  the  modern  world  is  towards  all  men,  and  not  towards  one  man. 
To  build  up  the  marvels  of  antiquity  the  few  led,  the  many  followed  ;  the  few  ruled,  the 
many  were  driven.  The  toiler  was  not  considered.  He  was  a  beast  of  burden.  He  was 
used  and  he  was  sacrificed.  He  had  no  voice  in  affairs.  He  was  built  into  the  walls  of 
cities,  his  blood  outlined  the  boundary  of  nations,  his  labor  wrought  the  luxury  of  kings, 
but  himself  had  no  civic  existence.  As  a  man  to  be  considered  or  consulted,  a  man  whose 
happiness  oi  health  or  wish  was  to  be  taken  into  the  account,  he  was  not. 

Through  the  turbulent  centuries  the  individual  man  has  forged  to  the  front.  He  is 
still  in  the  heat  of  struggle,  but  he  has  tasted  power,  he  has  tested  his  strength,  he  knows 
that  the  world  is  his.  The  old  Greek  thought  that  philosophy  demeaned  itself  by  stoop- 
ing to  uses.  Now  man  stands  with  a  flaming  sword  at  the  gate  of  all  science  and  demands 
the  watchword  "use  !"  No  plan  or  project  has  any  claim  on  success  except  through  the 
conviction  and  consent  of  the  masses.  What  was  the  luxury-,  the  convenience,  the  amuse- 
ment, the  occupation  of  the  nobility  is  now  in  the  home  and  the  workshop  and  the  common 
talk  of  men.  The  roads,  the  aqueducts,  the  temples,  the  statues,  the  masonr>'  and  the 
music,  the  painting  and  the  palaces,  go  on  as  best  they  may,  striving  to  rival,  not  hoping 
to  surpass,  the  old  ;  but  the  builders  are  not  slaves.  They  are  men.  They  are  free.  They 
have  will,  opinion,  choice,  responsibility,  ambition,  gratification.  In  this  chiefly  consists 
the  superiority  of  the  present,  and  it  is  the  noblest  of  all  superiority  ;  for  man  is  greater 
than  anything  man  can  do. 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DEMOCRACY.  , 

Yet  this  was  but  a  necessary  evolution.  In  the  weak  beginnings  of  the  race  all  the 
combined  strength  of  the  inferior  must  be  concentrated  on  the  upbuilding  of  the  superior, 
that  the  slight  superiority  may  be  preserved,  increased,  transmitted.  By  slow  action  and 
reaction  through  countless  ages,  civilization  has  risen  out  of  the  welter  of  barbarism  and 
animalism — slaver)-  ministering  to  power,  power  in  turn  ministering  to  humanity  through 
slavery — till  to-day  we  stand,  not  indeed  on  the  heights  of  heaven,  but  in  full  sight  of  a  fair 
land.  Power  has  become  infiltrated  with  morality.  Authority  is  held  to  strict  account. 
The  rights  of  weakness  are  recognized  if  not  always  respected.  Tyranny  is  at  any  moment 
liable  to  successful  resistance  and  is  nowhere  so  strong  as  not  to  be  somewhere  open  to  scoff 
and  sneer.  The  vice  of  absolutism  pays  to  liberty  the  tribute  of  explanation,  if  not  of 
hypocrisy.  ^Militan,'  rule  seems  to  be  still  prevalent  and  autocratic,  is  onerous  and  pervad- 
ing, yet  undergoes  every  moment,  however  slightly  and  silently,  without  obser%-ation  and 
without  disturbance,  an  organic  change  into  public  opinion. 


Si.W    INVKNTIONS   CONTRASTF.n    WITH    THE    OLD. 
1.— Th^  flp>t  p*i««<»nKrr  irnlii.    2.— Thp  fnM  c-xpn-^v    :t.     Tin- otniln;;  alr-<<)il|i.    4.- ftiillonn.    .V- Thn-o  ilrrk  nroiNlpn  ivnrNhtp.    rt.— Tho  IntMt  Imn-rlKd. 
T.— A  pUMviiffer  »lp«miT.    ".  — Kultnirpt  fir»t  Almiuloiii.    'i      \V<>«M|fii  niniioii  uf  (lif  IMIi  ii*nltir>'.     lu.— .MimIitii  kiim  thiil  Ihmw-*  a  'K)t>-|Mmn<l  |>nijivtll« 
twelve  mile*.    11.— Klliit-loilc  rllle.    ISf.— Swilonal  vU-w  of  uiugtulia-  iMIe.    13.— Tbo  uiivll  and  Hktlgv.    n,— The  steam  trip-baiiiimr. 

f37) 


38 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUMBIA. 


After  the  long  trance  of  the  Dark  Ages,  when  poetry  and  art  and  learning  and  thought 
were  reawakened  by  the  light  touch  of  antiquity,  and  faced  the  sun  of  a  new  day  whose  meri- 
dian we  have  not  yet  reached,  there  awoke  also  another,  a  giant,  not  from  sleep  but  to 
new  life — "Triumphant  Democracy."  It  was  not  recognized.  No  man  knew  of  its 
coming.  But  the  world  all  unconscious  was  presently  astir  with  preparation  of  the  paths 
for  its  victorious  feet.  The  renaissance,  the  revival  of  painting,  of  art,  of  letters,  is  a 
revival,  a  renaissance,  a  renewal  of  the  old.  But  the  reawakened  mind  was  not  to  be 
^ content  with  following  the 


paths    of  the    ancients,    in 
which    it  must  always  fol- 
low, never  lead.  New  paths 
were  struck  out,  of  which 
the  ancient  never  dreamed, 
in  which  the  modem  world 
has  no  rival,  whose  miracles 
eclipse     the    mysteries    of 
the    past    only    to    unfold 
greater    mysteries    in    the 
future;  whose  end  lies  even 
now    beyond    the    utmost 
stretch    of  imagination. 
And    every    shining    path 
leads  to  the  fireside  of  the 
humblest  home,    to 
the   weal  of  the 
smallest     child,     to 
the    health    and  the 
,..,     happiness,    the 
p  u  r  i  t  }•   and    the 
strength   of   Trium- 
phant Democracy. 

It  seemed  a  little 
thing  that  men 
should  be  playing 
with  blocks  in  a  cor- 
ner of  Germany. 
Men  had  been  play- 
ing with  blocks  and 
making  pictures  for 
centuries,  the  known 


GUTTENBERG   AND    FAUST   DISCOVERING   THE  ART   OF   PRINTING. 


world  over.      But  suddenly  some  one  conceived    the  idea   of  multiplying  pictures   from  the 
same  block,  and  the  art  of  printing  was  caught  forever. 

BLESSINGS  UPON  THE  PRINTING  PRESS. 

There  is  no  reason  discoverable  why  this  should   have  occurred   in  the  middle  of  the 

fifteenth    century  any  more  than    in   the   fourteenth  or  the  thirteenth.      Other   centuries 

and  other  countries  had  gone  as  far  in  the  preliminary  processes  as  had  Central  Europe  of 

the  fifteenth  century.      The  Renaissance   had  set  all    the   keen  intellects  of  Italy  hunting 


■  r  ■t'-ff^ 


-F!'^!.^ 


■.^iiel^ti/l&jiiM^. 


tBOWl 


'-■V 


♦^m.- .  i 


■  -v^^^.> 


NKW   INVHNTIONS  CONTRASTKD  WITH  THK  OLD. 

l.-OW  flnir*'  coach,    a.— Interior  of  u  tlrawlnit-nKiin  car.    a.— The  (••li-|ih<iiH-.    -I.-Tlif  i<honotfni)<li.    'i.-Tlir  tch-Kraph.    ti.-TlM'  flnti  |iiintliiK  p 
7.— Hoi"  |>rrfrcllng  pr»i«.    8.— Bob-WII  mule  car.    ».— Kleclric  strwt  car.    Id.— Hurvmtlng  orllli  wylhc  niiil  ulcklr.    II.— Ibiiililiirtl  miiirr  unil  lilnilrr. 

(39^ 


40  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

among  the  dusty  heaps  of  rubbish  in  the  darkest  corners  of  remote  monasteries  for  the 
precious  manuscripts  of  the  old  writers,  and  thus  the  wealth  of  the  best  days  of  Greece  and 
Rome  was  seized  and  opened  to  the  air  and  the  light.  But  the  distribution  of  these  manu- 
scripts had  no  part  in  the  purpose  of  the  mechanics  who  invented  what  we  mean  by  the  art 
of  printing.  It  was  Italy  that  was  devoting  herself  to  the  collection  of  these  rags  of  lost 
literature,  ever}-  rag  of  which  was  cloth  of  gold,  and  Italy  had  been  doing  it  for  a  hundred 
years  before  Guttenberg  in  Maintz,  or  Coster  in  Haarlem,  or  some  other  obscure  workman 
or  workmen  in  the  cold  north,  made  that  turn  of  the  hand  which  proved  to  be  the  most 
important  turn — change,  invention,  discovery — ever  recorded  in  history.  It  was  no  frag- 
ment even  of  the  grandest  of  the  old  Pagans,  of  whom  perhaps  the  Costers  and  Guttenbergs 
had  never  heard,  which  the  printing  press  proffered  as  the  first  fruits  of  its  mission.  It 
was  the  Bible  ! 

Whether  by  a  "fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms,"  or  by  "that  disposition  of  unknown 
causes  which  we  call  accident,"  or  by  that  intelligent  non-human  arrangement  of  human 
affairs  that  seems  to  imply  an  unseen  intelligent  power  which  most  men  delight  to  call  God 
— the  invention  of  paper  preceded  the  invention  of  printing.  Men  had  been  playing  with  pulp 
as  they  had  been  playing  with  blocks,  for  many  centuries  ;  but  it  was  only  in  the  second 
half  of  the  fourteenth  century  that  manufactories  of  paper  were  set  up  and  the  use  of  paper 
for  all  literary  purposes  was  established  in  Western  Europe,  and  it  was  not  till  the  fifteenth 
century  that  paper  finally  superseded  vellum  and  left  the  latter  but  a  curiosity  and  a  luxnr}-. 
Thus,  in  the  marvellously  ordered  march  of  humanity,  by  the  time  that  man  had  discovered 
the  way  to  print  with  rapidity  he  found  already  provided  for  the  printing  press  a  cheap  and 
abundant  material  on  which  to  print.  And  when  the  cheap  paper  had  supplanted  the  costly 
parchment,  and  the  quick  printing  press  had  supplanted  the  slow  and  costly  copying  by 
human  hands  of  ever^'  page  of  manuscript  that  made  literature  and  letters,  lo  !  the  brightest 
intellects  among  tlie  scholars  of  their  time  had  already  collected  and  furnished  to  this  new 
art  a  store  of  the  best  manuscripts  from  the  best  writers  of  the  preceding  ages,  and  thus  were 
preserved  from  all  further  danger  of  loss  the  choicest  gems  of  the  past  for  the  adornments 
and  service  of  the  future.  The  priceless  treasures  of  culture,  the  fruitage  of  a  vanished 
world,  had  been  stored  safe  in  mouldy  monasteries  until  they  were  given  over  to  the  more 
lasting  safety  of  the  printing  press  for  a  world  that  was  not  born. 

We  have  not  made  finer  pictures,  we  have  not  even  printed  with  more  elegant  type,  or 
constructed  more  beautiful  books  than  the  men  of  that  da\'  ;  but  we  have  brought  the 
multiplication  table  to  bear  on  the  printing  press,  and  every  morning  the  laborer  may 
carry  to  his  work  with  his  dinner  pail  a  newspaper  bringing  him  the  last  words  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth;  a  work  of  art — a  work  of  arts,  which  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
the  fourteenth  century  to  perform,  and  which  it  would  have  taken  the  lifetime  of  a  man  to 
record;  a  work  of  art  which  enables  the  daily  toiler  to  be  a  more  competent  judge  of  the 
trend  of  the  day's  events  than  any  king  of  antiquit}'  could  become  by  all  the  swift  messen- 
gers that  his  wealth  or  power  could  command.  It  is  the  invention  of  printing  that  has 
brought  the  king,  man,  to  his  own. 

DEMOCRACy  OF   THE  DE  MEDICI. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  give  the  most  cursory  survey  of  civilization  in  Europe  during 
the  century  that  witnessed  the  discover}-  of  America  without  descrying  the  figures  of  the 
House  of  Medici,  a  house  which  occupies  in  histor\'  the  unique  position  of  being  Royal 
without  title;  popular,  in  a  day  of  well-nigh  absolute  monarchies;  autocratic  on  no  authority 


COLUMBUS   AXn   COLUMBIA. 


41 


but  the  good  will  of  the  people;  democratic,  yet  goveming  with  no  divided  sway.  Cosiino  and 
his  more  eminent  son,  Lorenzo  the  ^lagnificent,  were  Potentates  in  every  sense  of  the  word, 
vet  thev  held  no  fixed  offices  and  only  "  the  likeness  of  a  kingly  crown  had  on."  Unauointed 
by  that  oil  of  consecration  which  certifies  the  Divine  Right  of  Kings,  they  bore  only  the 
seal  of  eminent  ability  which  constitutes  Divine  Right  to  the  People. 

One  cannot  be  a  day  in  Florence  without  being  aware  of  the  royal  presence  of  these 
men  of  the  people.  Yet  on  the  \ery  threshold  of  modern  biography  their  origin  is  so 
obscure  that  even  the  name  is  uncertain  and  unexplained.  Among  the  ancient  Guelphs, 
the  Ghibellines,  the  Hapsburgs,  the  Savoys — and  numberless  names  that  have  strayed 
down  from  a  hazy  past,  the  Medici  name  stands  luiderived.  The  popular  tradition  is  that 
sundry  early  Pieros,  Giovannis  and  Lorenzos,  having  acquired  wealth  and  distinction  as 
druggists,  or  doctors,  applied  to  tlic  rricrniir^-  Pnpc  t'  ,r  n  rnat-r.f-arnis,  and  that  lie  in  derision 
re  com  m  ended 
them  to  take  their 
own  pills  for 
heraldry!  The 
decision  which  he 
made  in  mocker}' 
they  accepted  in 
seriousness,  as  be- 
fitting the  dignity 
of  their  occupa- 
tion and  their 
family,  and  hav- 
ing, it  must  be 
admitted,  the  un- 
deniable right  of  '  "^ 
success,  to  do  so. 

And  now  wherever  in  Florence  is  a  de 
Medici,  living  or  dead,  stone  palace  in 
the  city,  or  villa  in  the  suburb  or 
farm-house  in  the  country,  or  chapel 
in  the  church,  or  monumental  stone 
or  triumphal  gateway,  there,  car\'en 
in  the  grey  granite  or  on  the  white  marble,  or  brilliant  in  red  and  gold,  is  sure  to  be  found 
the  de  Medici  pile  of  pills — whose  flavor  Americans  ought  especially  to  recognize,  since  the 
glor>-  of  the  de  Medici  is  purely  a  popular  glor>-.  Whether  by  pills  and  potions,  or 
bv  trade  and  commerce,  the  distinction  of  the  family  so  long  as  it  remained  distinct 
was  a  distinction  of  peace  rather  than  of  war,  of  character  and  not  of  blood.  They 
could  fight  and  the>-  could  plot,  but  their  preeminence  was  their  intellectual  leader- 
ship. Thev  were  the  true  Grand  Dukes,  advisers  of  the  people,  princes,  not  of  the  blood, 
but  of  trade  and  connnerce,  of  arts  and  letter."-  and  manners.  .Vma.ssing  vast  fortunes  in 
peaceful  paths,  in  trading,  farming,  mining,  banking,  it  was  all  b\'  way  of  ministering  to 
the  comfort  and  convenience  of  men  and  not  to  their  miscr\-,  by  adding  to  the  wealth  of 
Italy,  not  to  its  destruction. 

Fair  farms  still  lying  along  the  fertile  valleys  and  climbing  the  sunny  hills  roundabout 
Florence  attest  Ivorenzo's  love  of  nature,  his  taste  in  scenery,  his  skill   in  agriculture,  hi.> 


DK     MEDICI. 


42  COLU^IBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

shrewdness  in  business.  At  Poggio  Cajano,  driving  out  from  Florence,  he  rested  in  his 
simple  little  rustic  villa,  or  walked  in  his  fine  old  park  watching  the  Tuscan  Mountain 
peaks  piercing  the  brilliant  Italian  skies.  But,  as  the  Scotch  say,  "  he  was  all  there" — 
his  eye  to  business  as  well  as  his  eye  for  beauty.  Availing  himself  of  his  neighborhood  to 
market,  he  fed  so  high  his  lowing  kine  and  worked  so  vigorously  his  cheese  tubs  and  presses 
that  he  presently  monopolized  the  cheese  trade  of  Tuscany,  and  drove  the  cheese  trade  of 
Lombardy  from  the  market.  Like  a  large-minded,  economical  Yankee  fanner  he  appended 
his  pig  troughs  to  his  cheese  factories  and  kept  herds  of  hogs  to  fatten  on  his  whey. 
The  four  centuries  have  not  taught  men  how  to  turn  waste  into  pork  more  deftly,  or 
even  how  to  improve  the  race  of  swine,  or  the  quality  of  the  cheese.  The  mulberry- 
trees  which,  taught  by  his  multifarious  traffic  with  other  countries,  and  ever  eager  to 
make  experiments,  he  planted  lavishly,  were  so  successful  that  the  silk  trade  is  said  to 
have  been  threatened  with  panic  and  the  price  of  silk  was  permanently  lowered  therebv. 

PATRIOTISM   AND  GENEROSITY  OF   LORENZO. 

The  wealth  which  Lorenzo  amassed  in  increasing  the  wealth  of  his  countrj',  he  was 
lavish  in  expending  to  her  advantage  as  well  as  his  own.  Not  only  a  lover  of  letters,  but  a 
writer  of  no  mean  capacity,  he  was  always  first  in  recognizing  and  cherishing  the  genius  of 
his  own  day  and  in  stimulating  the  discover}'  and  recover)'  of  works  of  genius  in  the  past. 
Wherever  a  scholar-traveler  stood  ready  to  run  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  for  a  treatise  of 
Quintilian,  a  line  of  Plautus  or  a  paragraph  of  Cicero;  whenever  a  teeming  brain  was  fain  to 
write  its  "  poems  for  eternity"  in  nave  and  choir  and  tower  and  turret;  wherever  a  youthful 
Angelo  was  to  be  cherished  into  a  sculptor,  or  a  fier\'  Savonarola  conciliated  into  a  friend, 
there  Lorenzo  was  found  with  open  door  and  open  purse  and  open  heart.  Like  his  father, 
he  devoted  vast  fortunes  to  the  adornment  of  his  native  cit\'  with  palaces  whose  stately 
majest)'  still  testifies  to  the  nineteenth  centxir}'  of  the  terrors  which  confronted,  as  well  as 
of  the  generosity  which  ennobled,  de  Medici  citizenship.  For  three  centuries  the  history  of 
the  city  was  interwoven  with  the  stor\'  of  their  house,  and  their  name  has  been  glorious 
in  Florence  for  four  hundred  3'ears. 

But  the  de  ]\Iedici  did  not  found  a  republic;  the  later  de  ^ledici  could  not  even  main- 
tain the  magnificence  of  their  illustrious  predecessors,  but  passed,  by  marriage  alliances, 
into  the  mob  of  ordinary  kings,  or  degenerated  into  the  oblivion  of  titular  Grand  Dukes  of 
Tuscany,  courageous  or  cruel  or  common-place,  whose  sole  magnificence  is  in  their  tombs  ; 
while  the  Tuscany  which  they  had  found  prosperous  and  vigorous,  they  left  weak  from  the 
constant  drain  of  taxation,  dispirited  from  the  oppression  of  vicious  laws,  a  demoralized  and 
decadent  country'. 

FORESHADOWINGS  OF  A  NEW  AND   HIGHER  FORM   OF  GOVERNMENT. 

The  de  Medicis  did  not  found  a  republic,  had  no  conception  of  a  real  republic.  The 
Italian  municipalities  were  the  successful  but  slight  attempts  of  the  people  to  govern  them- 
selves. They  were  the  foreshadowings,  but  not  the  models  of  the  colossal  republic  that 
came  after  them.  They  prepared  the  way  for  republics,  but  no  great  nation  could  be 
organized  to  permanent  prosperity  or  even  to  vigorous  life  on  such  republican  principles  as 
gave  to  the  free  cities  of  Italy  a  long  and  brilliant  career.  The  de  Medicis  emerged  from 
obscurity  at  too  late  a  date  to  establish  a  dynasty  and  create  a  kingdom  under  the  world-old 
laws  of  kingdoms  and  dynasties;  but  at  too  early  a  date  to  organize  a  republic  under  the 
new  world  laws  of  republics.  Their  republic  though  not  a  kingdom,  was  republic  only  in 
name — was   nearer  a  tyranny  than   a  republic.      Cosmo,   the   father,  .solved   "the  strange 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  4:j 

problem  of  becoming  absolute  ruler  of  a  republic  that  was  keenly  jealous  of  its  liberty, 
without  holding  any  fixed  office,  without  suppressing  any  previous  form  of  government, 
and  always  preserving  the  appearance  and  demeanor  of  a  private  citizen."  But  that  was 
not  the  problem  whose  solution  the  world  was  seeking.  The  son  Lorenzo,  cherishing 
already  the  modern  idea  of  the  ci\-il  equality  of  States,  and  taking  as  the  basis  of  his  foreign 
policy  that  idea  of  unity  which  in  our  day  under  the  patriot  kings  of  the  dynastv  of  Savoy 
has  changed  Ital\-  from  a  "geographical  expression"  to  a  European  power — left  no  founda- 
tion for  the  future,  because  he  had  no  idea  of  constitutional  government  by  representative 
assemblies,  of  the  regular  and  orderly  progress  of  the  popular  purpose  through  legislative 
debate  and  resolve  to  authoritative  and  respected  execution. 

Standing  exactly  on  the  line  of  cleavage  between  the  old  and  the  new,  Lorenzo  fur- 
nishes us  with  a  clear  and  definite  picture  of  the  struggle  between  them  :  of  the  circle 
within  which  the  victones  of  the  old  time  have  not  yet  been  surpas.sed,  and  of  the  limita- 
tions which  must  ever  have  hampered  the  new  world-drama  upon  the  old  stage.  Bv  reason 
of  his  intellectual  enlightenment,  he  gave  his  name  to  his  age  as  truly  as  did  Augustus  of 
Rome,  or  Elizabeth  of  England  ;  but  it  was  a  name  and  an  age  of  literature,  of  art,  of  per- 
sonal sovereignty,  not  of  a  fundamental  transfer  of  human  power  from  one  man  to  man. 

What  can  be  effected  by  one  man  through  sheer  mental  superiority  and  its  attendant 
advantages  of  wealth,  tact,  and  influence,  that  was  accomplished  by  Lorenzo  in  his  brief 
but  brilliant  hour.  It  was  a  brief  and  brilliant  failure  because  he  had  not  conceived  and 
could  not  formulate  those  principles  which  underlie  all  successful  social  self-government  on 
a  large  scale.  With  his  death,  the  curtain  fell  upon  Europe  as  the  arena  of  humanitv's 
highest  effort  at  organization,  and  the  scene  shifted  to  another  world  arising  out  of  the 
western  waters. 

"The  old  order  cliangeth  giving  place  to  new." 

THE  TWO  GREATEST  SONS  OF  ITALY. 

The  same  "  time-spirit  "  which  set  one  Italian  at  the  head  of  Europe  in  point  of  art  and 
learning,  set  another  Italian  at  the  head  of  the  world  in  bold  speculation  regarding  the 
unknown.  The  same  Italv  and  the  same  vear  of  our  Lord  that  bore  Lorenzo  to  the  eates 
of  farewell,  flung  wide  open  the  gates  of  welcome  in  another  hemisphere  to  a  man  who,  all 
unwittingly,  planted  with  his  flag-staff  the  seeds  of  the  greatest  republic  this  planet  has  \et 
known.  What  the  restrictions  of  time  and  place  had  never  pennitted  even  to  the  dreams 
of  the  one  lofty  mind,  that,  the  equally  lofty  but  utterly  different  aspirations  of  the  other 
made  possible — a  colossal  republic  whose  foundation-stone  is  Libertv  constitutionallv 
organized  by  the  popular  will  adequately  educated  and  legally  expressed. 

On  April  8,  1492,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-three,  Lorenzo  left  his  so-called  republic  to 
crumble  into  swift  ruin  and  pas.sed  into  the  unknown  world.  On  the  third  of  August,  of 
the  same  year,  Christopher  Columbus  set  sail  for  a  world  which  to  him  was  far  more 
problematical,  more  consciously  unknown  than,  in  that  day  of  ecclesiastical  faith,  was  the 
spiritual  world  to  his  great  contemporary-. 

Christopher  Columbus,  a  native  of  Genoa,  discovered  America  in  1492.  Thus  we  were 
taught  in  the  trustful  days  of  childhood,  and  though  modern  research,  whose  scientific  motto 
seems  to  be  "Whenever  you  find  a  fact  challenge  it,"  has  had  its  tilt  at  everv  item  in  the 
lesson,  it  remains  after  the  fray  as  before  it,  practically  true  that  Christopher  Columbus  was 
born  in  Genoa  and  discovered  America  in  1492.  It  may  indeed  prove  that  the  shabb\- 
little  house,  well  inscribed  in  Cogoleto,  monumentally  honored,  fifteen  miles  out  from  Genoa, 


44 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


and  not  Genoa  itself,  is  the  true  birth-place  of  Columbus.  It  may  be  that  Columbus  was 
not  the  family  name,  but  the  nomme  de  guerre  conferred  by  his  comrades,  or  adopted  by 
himself,  or  b}'  some  earlier  member  of  his  family.  It  may  be  that  a  thousand  mariners, 
hundreds  of  years  before  Columbus  discovered  America,  had  been  assiduously  landing  on  it, 
had  built  their  towers  and  left  their  traces  and  sailed  away  again.  It  ma)-  be  that  Columbus 
did  not  of  his  own  will  and  wit   discover   America,  but,  ^„  ^ 

heading    wildly   and  desperately    westward    for    the    East  '^l  §t^^%     ^^  ^>j^ 


Indies  found  America  in  his  way,  and  being  obliged  either  ^' 

to  ground   on   it,  or  go  under  it,    discovered  it  per  force.  Sf^     ''" 


,5^  It  may  be 
argued  that 
Columbus  was 
not  moved  b>- 
any  thirst  for 
disco\'ery,  o  r 
for  adventure, 
or     desire     for 

the  solution  of  a  problem,  or  for.  the  answer  to  a  question,  or  for  the  acquisition  of  any 
knowledge  whatever,  but  was  chiefly  bent  on  acquiring  a  factitious  fame  b>-  appro- 
priating the  maps  that  he  found  in   the  archives  of  the  office  to  which  he  was  appointed, 


NORSEMEN   CELEBRATING  THEIR    DISCOVERY    OF    THE    NEW    WORLD. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  4.3 

and  followed  out  their  suggestions  and  designs  to  his  own  glory.  It  may  be  or  it 
may  not  be  that  posterity  will  relinquish  the  heroism  of  Columbus  and  count  him  a 
vain  and  captious,  if  persevering  and  pertinacious,  man.  But  that  time  is  not  yet. 
We  do  not  go  into  the  arcana  of  history  to  decide  or  even  to  discuss  disputed  ques- 
tions. They  are  investigated  elsewhere  and  their  ultimate  answer  must  perhaps  await 
still  further  revelations  from  some  yet  undiscovered  or  undeveloped  recess.  But  for  per- 
manent settlement,  for  history's  possession  never  again  to  be  lost  except  in  the  wreck  of 
worlds,  America  was  discovered  in  1492;  and  the  figure  at  the  prow  pointing  westward,  the 
figure  on  the  first  shore  with  knee  bent  on  the  longed-for  soil  and  eyes  upturned  in 
gratitude  to  heaven,   is  the  figure  of  Christopher  Columbus. 

A  TRIBUTE  TO  COLUMBUS. 

Amerigo  \'espucci  is  the  name  on  the  forehead  of  the  New  World.  Numberless  Norse- 
men rest  in  nameless  graves;  but  on  this  the  four  hundredth  birthday  of  the  historic  conti- 
nent, the  name  which  is  in  all  hearts  and  on  all  tongues  as  the  discoverer,  is  his  whose  face 
looks  calmly  down  from  the  walls  of  the  Council  Chamber  in  the  Palazzo  IMunicipale  at 
Genoa,  and  whose  marble  figure  fitly  embowered  in  the  palms  of  the  Piazza  Acquaverde 
receives  forever  the   kneeling  tribute  of  this  New  World — Cristoforo  Colombo. 

That  the  name  of  Columbus  should  be  immortal  while  adventurous  sailors  from 
Europe  visited  these  shores  for  four  centuries  before  he  was  born,  and  yet  remain  without 
fame  and  without  tribute,  is  not  the  caprice  of  fate,  but  the  inherent  logic  of  events.  The\- 
had  been  on  the  New  England  coast  and  left  undoubted  evidence  of  their  presence,  but  no 
result  for  humanitv.  Their  discoverv  was  a  mere  chance  adventure.  It  came  to  nothinir 
because  the  time  was  not  ripe.  The  Old  World  did  not  yet  need  the  New;  was  in  no  wav 
prepared  for  it.  America  would  have  been  useless  to  Europe  for  she  could  not  then  colo- 
nize this  new  great  wilderness.  Europe  was  still  in  the  Dark  Ages;  many  parts  had  not 
emerged  from  barbarism.  She  was  not  sufficiently  advanced  in  letters,  or  in  arts,  or  in 
mechanics  to  take  proper  advantage  of  the  discovery,  and  therefore  the  discoverv  came  to 
naught;  was  practically  no  discover^-.  The  facts  of  landing  and  gazing  and  seeking  are  pre- 
ser\-ed  only  in  rambling  records;  for  records  among  the  Norsemen  in  the  eleventh  centur)- 
were  but  cnide  songs  and  wild  narratives. 

Columbus  was  no  chance  comer.  The  time  was  full.  He  was  not  premature;  he  was 
not  late.  He  came  in  accordance  with  a  scientifically  formed  if  imperfect  theorv,  whether 
his  own  or  another's — a  theory  which  had  a  logical  foundation  and  which  projected  looical 
sequences. 

Europe  was  not  only  fully  prepared,  but  culture  had  been  pushed  to  the  point  of  enthu- 
siasm, until  it  nia\-  be  said  that  Europe  was  awaiting  the  event.  Indeed  it  would  not  be 
far  wrong  to  maintain  that  the  next  step  in  order  was  the  expansion  of  the  people,  fore- 
shadowing a  new  experiment  in  colonizing  and  settling  new  lands.  Had  the  discover\- 
been  earlier  it  would  have  been  fruitless.  Had  it  been  later  the  generous  patrons  might 
have  passed  away.  It  could  not  have  been  later  because  mind  reawakened,  refreshed,  alert, 
was  striking  out  in  all  directions.  Had  not  Columbus  discovered  America  in  1492,  a  hun- 
dred Columbuses  would  have  discovered  it  in  1493! 

Columbus  played  but  small  part  in  the  drama  after  he  had  enacted  the  first  and  greatest. 
His  first  daring  voyage  involved  all  there  was  in  the  discovery  for  the  world;  all  the  glorv 
that  lay  in  it  for  him.  His  subsequent  voyages  were  labor  and  heaviness,  regret  and  pain. 
Like  too  many  men  who  are  foremost  in  a  signal    field,  he   met   detraction  and  calumnv, 


46  COLUMBUS  AND  COLUMBIA. 

persecution  and  penalties;  and  the  life,  distinguished  by  the  great  event  of  modern  times, 

closed  in  sadness,  if  not  in  ignominy. 

Swarms  of  discoverers  followed  him,  striking  shore  from  Labrador  to  Brazil.      The 

<}uest  of  gold,   the  thirst  for  riches,  the  love  of  adventure,  stimulated  all  maritime  Europe, 

and  a  thrill  of  romance,  a  stir  of  travel,  a  tumult  of  ambition  was  aroused,  the  like  of  which 

had  not  been  seen  for  three  centuries;  not  since  the  crusades  had  poured   Europe  into  the 

Holy  Land.    Western  Europe  was  literally  alive  with  this  quest  of  a  golden  grail.     Wild 

Tcntures  were  the  order  of  the  day,  and  if  the  great  majority  ended  in  privation  and  pain 

and  death,  still  the  number  pressing  on  from  the  rear  filled  all   the  gaps   and  swelled   the 

ranks. 

PARTITION   OF  THE  TERRITORY  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Yet  for  North  America  in  the  first  century  nothing  was  done  except  in  voyaging,  in 
discovering,  in  making  certain.  There  were  so  many  places  to  settle  that  a  choice  could 
scarcely  be  made.  In  South  America,  gold  being  found,  especially  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
there  was  large  emigration.  But  in  the  North,  where  the  higher  civilization  was  to  be 
planted,  the  seventeenth  century  had  opened  before  any  foot-hold  was  obtained  for  emigrants. 

The  first  large  tangible  political  eflfect  proved  to  be  the  transfer  of  power  by  the  mari- 
time nations  of  Europe  to  this  country,  and  colonization  on  a  grand  scale  went  forward. 
Ambition  was  excited;  greed  of  gold  was  stimulated;  the  lust  for  dominion  grew,  and  the 
partition  of  the  New  World  was  the  result.  England,  France,  Spain  and  Portugal  mainly 
■divided  it  in  their  eager  conquests.  Italy,  which  gave  the  discoverer,  made  no  claim, 
planted  no  colonies.  Spain,  the  strongest,  most  powerful  and  most  ambitions,  foster-mother 
of  the  New  World  by  the  aid  and  sustenance  she  had  given  Columbus  which  made  the 
discover}-  possible,  took,  as  was  proper  and  natural,  the  leading  share  territorially.  After 
some  conflicts  France  took  the  second.  It  had  not  yet  been  developed  that  France  was  not 
adapted  to  carrv  on  successful  colonization,  and  she  strove  hard  to  plant  her  standard  and 
achieve  her  title  to  a  dominion  which,  if  retained,  would  have  made  her  the  most  powerful 
nation  in  Western  Europe.  England  came  in  third  in  territorial  expanse,  and  was  almost 
exceeded  by  little  Portugal,  whose  brave  spirit  of  adventure  at  that  time  far  out-reached 
its  territorial  limits  in  Europe,  stretched  forth  to  Asia  and  Africa  and  thought  little  of 
holding,  though  by  uncertain  tenure,  the  vast  area  of  Brazil.  Between  the  capes  of  Virginia 
and  the  rocky  coasts  of  New  England  the  centre  of  English  adventure  and  civilization  was 
set.  Virginia  liad  its  first  settlement  in  1607;  New  England  had  its  first  settlement  in  1620, 
and  the  English  race  in  its  rival  divisions  was  transferred  to  the  New  World.  New  Eng- 
land and  all  its  generations  exhibited  one  type;  Virginia  and  all  its  generations  exhibited 
another  type.  And  they  still  remain.  English  by  descent,  both  of  them,  they  yet  differ 
as  much  as  did  the  Puritan  and  the  Cavalier  in  the  reign  of  the  First  Charles.  What  vast 
effects  flowed  from  this  difference,  subsequent  history  tells  ns  -differences  in  settlement,  dis- 
tinct types  of  inhabitants,  different  fields  of  ambition  and  of  effort.  Time  did  not  bring 
them  together.  It  rather  drew  them  wider  apart,  and  the  recent  rebellion  of  the  Southern 
States  can  be  distinctly  traced  to  the  settlement  of  \^irginia  by  Cavaliers  and  of  New  Eng- 
land by  Roundheads.  England  held  her  colonies  until  they  secured  their  independence — 
never  shifted,  never  surrendered,  never  abandoned  them,  and  she  laid  broad  and  deep  the 
foundation  of  the  power  which  distinguishes  the  United  States  above  all  other  nations: 
the  spirit   of  broadened  liberty  in  institutions,  of  intelligent  freedom    in  the  individual. 

For  nearly  two  and  a-half  centuries,  with  various  vicissitudes  not  necessary  to  recount, 
these  four  maritime    countries  held   to  their  divisions  of  America,  planted   colonies,  intro- 


48  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

duced  their  own  peculiar  civilization,  transferred  their  own  culture  and  their  own  languages. 
Over  them  all,  the  sovereignty  of  Europe  was  extended. 

As  the  colonies  grew,  differences  developed  in  the  governing  powers,  and  at  the  end  of  a 
centur}-  and  a-half,  wars  of  ambition  among  the  home  governments  had  induced  a  change 
of  rulers.  In  time,  France,  that  held  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  middle  of  the 
continent  and  thence  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  ^Mississippi,  was  compelled  to  retire  fiom 
.\merica  and  abandon  the  most  magnificent  empire  of  modem  times.  The  three  other 
Powers  went  forward,  and  in  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  centurj'  England  had  increased 
her  possessions  ;  Spain  held  her  own,  and  Portugal  was  still  owner  of  the  Brazils. 

EVOLUTION  OF  THE  GREAT  REPUBLIC. 

Three  hundred  years  had  been  spent  in  trying  to  fasten  upon  the  New  World  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  Old — so  slowly  grind  the  mills  of  the  gods.  It  was  not  till  the  last  quarter 
of  the  eighteenth  century  that  England,  who  never  surrenders,  surrendered  to  her 
own,  thus  losing  the  mortification  of  failure  in  the  proud  reflection  that  she  alone  could 
produce  the  race  that  could  conquer  her  !  It  was  not  till  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
centur\-,  three  hundred  years  from  the  time  that  Columbus  set  foot  upon  the  islands  of  the 
Western  Continent,  that  the  spirit  which  had  ineffectually  struggled  in  the  fifteenth  centur\-, 
broke  its  bonds  in  the  Wilderness  which  had  become  a  civilization,  and  formulated  itself  in 
an  organization  whose  corner-stone  was  the  equal  right  of  ever\'  man  to  life,  liberty  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness.  This  was  the  port  for  which  Columbus  sailed,  though  he  did  not 
know  it.  Not  the  gold  of  nations  or  the  glory  of  kings — pride  of  possession  or  pride  of 
power,  made  the  discovery  of  America  worth  while;  but  the  tremendous  impulse  and  oppor- 
tunity it  gave  to  mental  activity,  its  wonderful  loosening  of  the  old  shackles,  and  the  impos- 
sibility of  riveting  them  again  on  the  new  soil,  and  the  field  thereby  furnished  for  building 
the  eternal  instinct  of  human  freedom  into  a  beneficent  and  self-perpetuating  system. 

To  the  men  who  went  through  our  war  of  independence  it  was  a  long  and  severe  strug- 
gle. In  history,  in  the  records  of  the  ages  of  revolution  from  barbarism  to  monarchies,  and 
from  monarchies  to  self-sovereignty,  the  change  came  in  a  moment.  But  it  should  never 
be  forgotten  that  to  this  glorious  day  of  blossoming  all  the  preceding  days  of  humanity's  long 
season  had  lent  their  sunshine  and  their  rains,  the  ripening  of  their  warmth  and  the  resting  of 
their  frosts.  It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  humanity,  which  in  its  development — abso- 
lutely free  yet  absolutely  within  certain  rigid  lines  which  it  calls  laws — had  been  forever 
building  up,  forever  hedging  around,  forever  pulling  down  the  mountain  peaks  and  ranges 
which  it  calls  kings  and  dynasties,  had  by  such  processes  reached  a  stage  in  which  its  con- 
scious constituent  atoms  believed  themselves  able  to  range  into  order  and  conser\'e  energ\-  and 
direct  progress  without  the  medium  of  kings  and  dynasties.  But  the  dynasties  had  settled  down 
too  heavih',  too  wideh-,  to  be  easily  removed.  Europe  was  clamped  with  the  rivets  of  ages. 
Her  institutions  were  fixed,  rigid,  needing  all  available  strength  for  their  dislodgment  and 
upheaval,  leaving  no  strength  to  spare  for  training  and  fastening  new  institutions  in  their 
place.  Thus,  by  no  man's  hand,  the  hour  was  pointed  for  leaving  European  liberty  to  its 
own  working,  European  ser\'itude  to  the  slow  corrosion  of  the  air  that  should  presently  be 
quickened  by  ozone  wafted  from  a  new  atmosphere,  enveloping  a  new  State  founded  under 
wholly  changed  conditions. 

Then  it  was  that  the  New  World  opened  wide  its  golden  gates — a  virgin  hemisphere — 
and  invited  the  experiment  of  self-government  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  its  importance. 
The  new  Spirit  brooded  over  the  waiting  land  and  presently  to  the  continent  for  whose  dis- 


•  <** , 

•.    ■"Vil      '- 


:>)..,''^'''(i)  WeLsferi  Birfljplact.  ■      *^«\ 
y        SMotjficello,  theljo'it  cf       rP cy^ 


^^^^.  ^^i  l,^% 


If,      (3)  Mourjf  Vernon,  Wastiiaqroti'.^     3 
'    '  lasf  reiider.ce- 

©  Wasfji Huron's  Birfliplace 
©  Lir;colr;s  Birfljniace 
©  Lincoln's  lasf  residence- 
®  Garfield's  Birfliplace. 
|J      ©  Tl;e  "Hermirac^e';  residence  of 

Jackjcq-  5> 


:Mi'\ 


HOMES  AND   BIRTHI'I..^. 


L,Kh.VX    AMliKlCANS. 


50 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


covery  Italy  had  lent  the  patient  explorer  and  Spain  the  vital  snccor,  England  brought  her 
contingent  of  a  sturdy  race,  and  the  Great  Republic  was  born.  Not  unto  us  alone  the  glory 
but  to  all  those  before  us  who  lived  and  labored  and  failed;  to  the  millions  who  showed 
what  was  not  the  way,  and  by  a  thousand  paths  of  exclusion  led  us  to  the  promised  land. 

RISE  OF  THE  GREAT  WESTERN   REPUBLIC. 
The  Great  Republic — the  iiifint  Repulilic — lifted  its  head  weakly,  but  proudly,  among 

the  nations  of  the  earth — so 
little,  so  weak,  that  its  safety 
la\  m  its  remoteness.    For  its 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN   AT  THE   COURT  OF    LOUIS   XVI. 

remoteness  had    Columbus  discovered  America  ! 

Cradled   in  the  Wilderness,  too  far  off  to  excite 

fear  in  the  monarchies,  too  poor  to  tempt  cupidity,  too  weak  to  elicit  antagonism,  it  waxed 

strong,   almost  unobserved.      But  from  the  first   it  had  a   moral  force  clear  to  seeing  eyes. 

When  Franklin  went  to  the  Court  of  France,  the  Court   petted   him   as  a  toy  philosopher; 

but  there  was  another  vision  in  France  to  which   the  real  future  was  unfolded.      This  new 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUiMBIA.  51 

nation  in  the  West  was  a  beacon  light  to  every  aspiring  spirit  in  Europe.  France  responded 
with  a  quick  thrill  of  freedom.  She  had  so  long  been  cni'ihed  under  her  Bourbons  that  the 
reaction  seemed  portentous.  Her  revolntion  came,  like  ours,  with  blood,  bnt,  nnlike  onrs, 
was  drowned  in  blood.  The  trampled  slaves  of  despotism,  stimulated  by  the  success  of 
America,  turned  upon  their  tyrants  and  became  frenzied  with  the  fierce  joy  of  finding  that 
they  could  turn — that  they  too  could  trample.  The  awful  stress  developed  all  the  dignity 
that  is  in  kings,  all  the  horrors  that  belong  to  a  mob;  and  France,  weary  of  blood  and  weak 
from  its  loss,  threw  herself  into  the  arms  of  Napoleon. 

Like  the  Bourbons  he  was  a  Ruler,  but  unlike  the  Bourbons  he  was  a  strong  Ruler  ; 
milike  the  Mob's,  his  was  an  organized  Rule.  His  childhood  was  passed  under  the  light  of 
the  American  Revolution.  His  serious  young  eyes  watched  that  successful  resistance  to  the 
established  order.  He  had  learned  the  weakness  of  dynastic  sovereignty,  the  strength  of 
popular  sovereignty.  In  a  certain  sense  it  was  not  only  the  island  of  Corsica  but  the  New 
Republic  in  America  that  contributed  Napoleon  to  Europe. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  imagine  tlie  amr-zement,  consternation,  wrath  and  repugnance 
produced  in  the  niling  class  by  the  apparition  of  this  unheralded,  unclassifiable,  overpower- 
nig  phenomenon,  rising  from  the  ranks  of  the  people,  approaching  without  permission  the 
ranks  of  the  kings.  The  Western  Republic  had  dethroned  her  king,  but  he  was  three 
thousand  miles  away  from  her  and  she  was  three  thousand  miles  away  from  Europe. 
Napoleon  was  at  the  royal  elbow  mounting  thrones,  ordering  kings  to  the  ranks  and  the 
rear  in  the  ver>'  presence  of  their  astonished  and  delighted  subjects. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 

The  French  Revolution  had  shown  ICurope  what  dormant  strength  was  in  the  people  ; 
but  it  was  a  strength  violent  in  action,  spasmodic,  unorganized,  made  drunken  with  blood, 
wild  with  revenge,  cruel,  brutal,  revolting.  The  Bonaparte  was  of  the  people  also,  but  he 
had  seen  across  the  sea  the  power  of  organization,  and  no  sovereign  was  a  sterner  represent- 
ative of  social  order,  of  military  marshalling,  of  law  and  equity,  of  church  establishment 
and  even  of  regal  splendor  than  this  Democrat  overturning  the  monarchies.  Even  in  the 
king  business  he  outdid  the  king.s — fought  harder  for  his  sovereignty  in  war,  wrought 
better  for  his  people  in  peace.  He  heeded  the  voice  he  had  heard  ringing  across  the  waters, 
*' Governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,"  and  he  sought 
to  win  that  consent  by  ministering  to  their  comfort  and  their  elevation  and  b\-  making 
them  partakers  in  his  glor\-  when  he  thrust  his  horn  against  their  tyrants.  It  was  in  their 
cause  that  he  attacked  their  enemies. 

Napoleon's  long  captivity,  which  was  the  only  answer  Royalty  could  make  to  the 
logic  of  his  mind  and  his  sword,  led  him  for  occupation  and  amusement  to  reminiscences 
which  cast  manv  a  curious  side  light  upon  points  which  would  have  been  lost  in  the  full 
glare  of  continuous  prosperity.  "If  my  son  lives  he  will  be  something.  As  to  those  con- 
temptible little  States  I  would  rather  see  him  a  private  gentleman  with  enough  to  eat  than 
sovereign  of  any  of  them."  What  was  the  Duchy  of  Parma  to  a  man  who  had  jostled 
kings  aside  with  a  cheerful  promptness,  and  felt  the  great  mistake  of  his  life  to  be  that  he 
had  not  jostled  them  more?  "  It  only  rested  with  me  to  ha\c  dcpo.sed  both  the  King  of 
Prussia  and  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  The  Duke  of  Wiirtzburg  frequently  insinuated  to 
me  that  the  only  means  to  secure  the  good  faith  of  Austria  would  be  to  depo.se  his  brother 

Francis  and    place    the    crown   upon   his  head I  was  wrong  in   not  having 

accepted  the  offer.      Nothing  would  have  been  easier  to  execute." 

"  Perhaps  my  greatest  fault  was  not  having  deprived  the  King  of  Prussia  of  his  throne, 


52  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUAIBIA. 

which  I  might  easily  have  done.  I  could  have  dethroned  the  King  of  Prussia  or  the 
Emperor  of  Austria  upon  the  slightest  pretext  as  easily  as  I  do  this  " — stretching  out  one  of 
his  legs. 

For  the  minor  kings  he  had  but  an  easy  tolerance  as  "good  plain  men;"  but  for  the 
Bourbons  he  could  hardly  conceal  his  contempt.  He  had  met  them  on  their  own  ground. 
He  refused  to  waste  any  money  towards  getting  them  into  his  hands.  "I  despised  the 
Bourbons  too  much,  and  had  no  fear  of  them."  "What  signifies  now?  Under  the 
Bourbons  France  will  never  be  a  first-rate  power.  There  is  no  occasion  to  be  afraid  of 
her.     She  will  always  be  an  inferior  power  under  that  house  of  blockheads." 

WEAKNESS  OF   NAPOLEON   IN   NOT  TRUSTING  THE  PEOPLE. 

"Louis  wTote  me  a  long  letter  after  Marengo,  in  which  he  said  I  delayed  for  a  long 
time  to  restore  him  to  his  throne  ;  tliat  the  happiness  of  France  could  never  be  complete 
without  him  ....  and  concluded  by  desiring  me  to  choose  whatever  I  thought  proper, 
which  would  be  granted  iinder  him,  provided  I  restored  to  him  his  throne.  I  sent  him 
back  a  very  handsome  answer  that  I  was  extremely  sorry  for  the  misfortunes  of  himself 
and  his  family  ;  that  I  was  ready  to  do  event-thing  in  my  power  to  relieve  them,  and  would 
interest  myself  about  providing  a  suitable  income  for  them,  but  that  he  might  abandon  the 
thought  of  ever  returning  to  France  as  a  sovereign,  as  that  could  not  be  effected  without 
his  having  passed  over  the  bodies  of  five  hundred  thousand  Frenchmen  !" 

Europe  thought  she  knew  what  France  wanted  better  than  France  herself  knew,  and 
set  Louis  hard  down  on  the  French  throne.  And  France,  as  soon  as  she  could  get  breath, 
drove  him  off  and  kept  up  the  hunt  till  the  last  Bourbon — and  perhaps  the  most  honest  of 
all,  though  a  bigot — yielded  up  his  breath,  a  private  and  no  king. 

It  was  not  till  Napoleon  broke  with  his  past  that  the  future  broke  with  him.  Touch- 
ing the  earth  he  was  strong.  Standing  on  the  thrones  he  became  weak.  But  his  stride  to 
the  thrones  was  a  haughty  stride.  When  in  an  evil  moment,  under  the  allurements  of  "a 
dynastic"  ambition,  he  decided  to  dismiss  his  wife  of  the  people  and  assume  a  wife  of  the 
princes,  it  was  to  no  "little  duty  tyrant  of  Italy"  he  applied,  but  to  the  haughtiest  and 
highest  of  the  royal  houses.  ]\Iurat  was  wiser  than  the  Emperor,  and  protested  that  his 
true  alliance  was  with  the  people,  not  with  the  crowns,  that  his  true  power  was  in  himself, 
not  in  borrowed  strength.  But  Napoleon  could  not  withstand  the  temptation  to  order 
himself  a  bride  from  the  powers  that  hated  and  scorned  him.  He  forsook  the  reality  of 
superiority  for  a  taunt — nay,  he  went  further  and  taunted  the  kings  with  their  mesalliances! 
When  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  George  III,  married  the  Prince  of  Hesse  Hom- 
berg.  Napoleon  scornfully  declared  that  "The  English  royal  family  mix  themselves  in 
with  little  petty  princes  to  whom  I  would  not  have  given  a  brevet  of  sous-lieutenant  I" 

The  English  royal  family,  with  a  brutality  which  stains  the  histor}'  of  the  English 
nation,  could  chain  their  captive  to  a  scorched  rock  in  a  torrid  sea,  but  his  scorching 
sarcasm  no  waters  could  quench.  And  the  royal  family  of  England  has  gone  on  "mixing 
in"  and  in  with  Battenbergs  and  Campbells,  with  railroad  directors  and  New  York  business 
men — touching  so  low  down  the  standard  of  ro\-al  rank  that  it  may  one  day  rise  to  newness 
of  life  by  reason  of  its  standard  of  plebeian  strength. 

NAPOLEON'S  RETROSPECT  OF  HIS  DEEDS. 

When  Napoleon's  short  but  strenuous  work  was  done;  when  he  had  shaken  the  mon- 
archial  idea  in  Europe  from  centre  to  circumference,  and  forever  shattered  the  peculiar 
sacredness,    the    direct  divine   rightness   which    sanctified    a    throne,    and  sat  in  his   soli- 


NAPOI.KON    ANIl    MARIK   I.OUISE  AT   FONTAINKBLKAf. 


54  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

tude  reflecting  on  his  successes  and  his  failures,  his  thought  showed  him,  with  all  his 
weakness  a  son  of  his  time.  He  had  destroyed  with  his  irresistible  sword,  but  he  saw 
clearly  that  his  true  glorv  lav  not  in  his  destruction,  but  in  his  construction.  He  claimed 
from  the  future  his  harvest  of  glory  froni  the  seed  he  had  sown  of  our  planting  ;  from  the 
consent  and  progress  and  organization,  the  service  and  the  rights  of  the  masses  ;  not  from 
the  sweep  of  his  battles,  but  the  scope  of  his  benefits.  "At  least,"  he  cried,  when 
Europe  had  combined  and  crashed  him,  "they  cannot  take  from  me  the  great  public 
works  which  I  have  executed,  the  roads  which  I  have  made  over  the  Alps,  and  the  seas 
which  I  have  united.  They  cannot  place  their  feet  to  improve  where  mine  have  not  been 
before  them.  The)'  cannot  take  from  me  the  code  of  laws  which  I  formed,  and  which  will 
go  down  to  the  latest  posterity.  All  my  exertions  were  directed  to  illuminate  the  mass  of 
the  nation,  instead  of  brutifying  them  by  ignorance  and  superstition. 

"  If  my  government  had  remained  in  Spain,  it  would  have  been  the  best  thing  that  had 
ever  happened  to  Spain.  Instead  of  a  feeble  imbecile  and  superstitious  race  of  Bourbons  I 
would  have  given  them  a  new  dynasty  that  would  have  no  claim  on  the  nation  except  by 
the  good  it  would  have  done  it.  For  an  hereditary  race  of  asses,  they  would  have  had  a 
monarch  with  ability  to  revive  the  nation,  sunk  under  the  yoke  of  superstition  and 
ignorance." 

Looking  at  the  march  of  his  time  this  great  Democrat  declared  :  "In  fift)-  years  Europe 
will  be  either  Cossack  or  Republican."  The  fifty  years  have  gone  by  and  Europe  is  neither 
Cossack  nor  Republican.  Nor  is  the  prophecy  utterly  false.  The  path  of  humanity  on 
this  planet  is  as  slow  and  as  swift  as  the  path  of  the  planet  in  the  heavens. 

Our  republic  worked  its  way  along  towards  the  close  of  its  first  centennial  birthday 
with  the  seeds  of  dissension,  division,  dissolution  in  its  bosom.  When  liberty  was  fashioned 
into  its  corner-stone,  slavery  lay  alongside,  incompatible  but  not  disallowed.  The  incom- 
patibility increased  till  the  whole  fair  structure  was  threatened.  Undoubtedly  the  negro 
race  was  civilized  by  American  slavery  as  it  could  have  been  in  no  other  way,  but  the  white 
race  was  demoralized.  The  white  race,  not  the  negro  race,  rose  in  rebellion  against  slavery 
and  abolished  it.  Thus  the  last  stone  of  stumbling  and  rock  of  offence  was  thrown  out  of 
our  path  and  there  remained  nothing  but  the  healing  of  wounds,  a  renewal  of  strength, 
a  growing  tmity  of  feeling,  and  we  discover  to-day  a  vigor,  a  prosperity,  a  progress,  an 
attainment  which  has  never  before  been  seen  ;  a  hope  and  an  aspiration  which  embraces 
all  the  ages  and  all  the  races  in  its  scope. 

THE  NATIONS  MARCHING  TOWARDS  A  DEMOCRACY. 

Under  this  unflickeriug  light  Europe  is  slowly  advancing  her  own  way  in  the  experi- 
ment of  self-government.  France,  the  France  of  the  Bourbons,  of  the  bloody  Revolution, 
of  the  autocratic  Napoleon,  has  taken  upon  itself  the  disposition  of  its  dynasties  and  is  the 
republic  of  Carnot,  the  great,  friendly  respected  republic  of  two  and  twenty  years'  standing, 
of  Parliamentar\-  assemblies,  and  popular  ballot  and  constitutional  right  ;  changing  its  gov- 
ernment by  orderly,  regular,  legal  and  peaceable  elections — a  great  Power  among  the 
nations  on  equal  footing  with  the  empires. 

The  Tuscany  of  Lorenzo,  the  Genoa  of  Christopher  Columbus,  the  Rome  of  Sixtus  IV 
and  Leo  X  are  united — on  the  lines  of  Lorenzo's  ambition  but  on  a  larger  scale  and  on 
loftier  principles  than  he  ever  divined — into  the  nation  of  Italy,  whose  chosen  head  is 
Umberto,  perhaps  the  most  conscientious,  the  most  high-thinking,  the  most  hard-working 
of  her  citizens,  whose  one  purpose  is  the  dignity  and  the  welfare  of  his  countr}'.  Italy  holds 
her  shrines   in    proud    and   fond  exhibition   for  the  world's   sacred  pilgrimage  of  art  and 


DI.ST1MjI-1>1II-.1i    l_ 


56 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


religion.  Her  Palaces  of  Cosimo  and  Lorenzo,  her  treasures  of  art  and  antiquity  belong  to 
the  world  by  the  divine  right  of  spiritual  descent ;  they  are  the  common  heritage  of  cul- 
ture, tenderly,  reverently  cherishing  the  past — as  vitally  ours  as  they  are  the  royal  heir- 
looms of  Savoy.  Her  polity  goes  hand  in  hand  with  our  Great  Republic  towards  the  future. 
The  country  which  Columbus  discovered — a  wider  nation  than  the  area  of  the  combined 
nations  of  Europe — gives  greeting  and  the  right-hand  of  hearty  feilowshijD  to  the  country 
which  produced  Columbus. 

The  thinking  men,  the  aspiring  Castelars,  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  dream  of  a  republic, 


THE    LAST  OF  MONARCHY  IN  THB  NEW  WORLD— EXILE  OF   DOM    PEDRO   FROM    BRAZIL 


and  have  even  cautiously  and  carefully  attempted  an  experimental  popular  government,  but 
the  time  is  not  yet  ;  their  people  have  not  trained  themselves  to  so  great  a  change.  But 
the  wise  men  of  Spain  are  at  the  helm  and  are  guiding  their  gentle  young  Queen  and  her 
infant  monarch  along  the  true  paths  of  constitutional  government  and  national  prosperity. 
One  by  one,  however,  the  colonics  in  America  have  fallen  off  from  Spain  and  have  peace. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  57 

ably  become  an  integral  part  of  the  nation  which  Isabella  helped  to  found,  till  now,  on  our 
four  hundredth  birthday,  Spain  bears  no  sway  on  these  continents  and  holds  no  more  in 
this  hemisphere  than  the  islands  where  Columbus  first  set  foot. 

"The  House  of  Braganza  has  ceased  to  reign,"  proclaimed  Napoleon.  The  House  of 
Braganza,  driven  from  Portugal  bj-  a  man  of  the  people,  fled  to  South  America  and  estab- 
lished a  new  and  larger  Portugal  upon  the  imperial  estate  of  Brazil.  Intelligent,  learned, 
patriotic,  beneficent,  Dom  Pedro  won  for  himself  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  his  people  that 
should  have  held  him  in  life  and  death — would  lia\e  held  him  but  for  fear  of  the  future, 
of  a  lordship  less  paternal,  and,  therefore,  otiierwise  intolerable.  Every  ocean  breeze  came 
heavy  laden  with  Republicanism,  and  over  every  mountain  and  down  ever)-  royal  water- 
course came  the  tidings  of  peaceful  compact  in  thrift  and  commerce  and  all  industrious 
traflSc.  and  mutual  sympathy  and  benefit,  by  the  nations  of  the  hemisphere — and  Brazil 
could  not  endure  her  leading-strings,  even  held  by  so  thoughtful  and  loved  a  hand.  She 
determined  not  to  await  a  tyrant  for  the  struggle,  but  gave  to  her  kind  old  emperor  her 
blessing,  and  bade  him  go.  The  House  of  Braganza  was  not  used  to  such  sort  of  dismissal, 
suspected  treachery  and  violence  beneath  it,  and  made  a  sudden  farewell  to  Brazil — a  hurried 
flight  by  night.  The  House  of  Braganza  ceased  to  reign,  and  went  back  to  Portugal  to 
die.  Except  the  inconsiderable  colonies  of  the  Guiauas,  the  whole  southern  continent  is 
held  by  its  inhabitants  in  their  own  possession  and  control. 

ENGLISH   MONARCHY  A  SHADOW  ON   DRESS  PARADE. 

The  government  of  the  British  Islands  is  an  absentee  land-holder  in  America.  But 
England  has  gone  steadily  along  the  path  of  her  history  from  the  days  of  Runnymede,  till 
her  monarchy  is  but  a  dress  parade  at  home  ;  and  the  shadow  of  a  dress  parade  stretching 
three  thousand  miles  westward  is  an  exaggerated  and  rather  grotesque  phenomenon. 

On  this  continent  England's  dependencies  are  scarcely  more  than  dependencies  in 
name,  and  the  tie  is  a  sentiment.  Because  a  man's  quickest  and  frankest  foes  are  the>'  of 
his  own  household,  our  resentment  of  English  insolence,  our  wrath  at  English  injustice, 
our  disgust  with  English  stolidit>-  and  brutality,  are  more  easily  aroused,  more  widely  and 
keenly  felt,  more  savagely  expressed  than  in  the  case  of  any  other  nation  ;  but  so  also  is 
our  respect  for  English  honesty  and  enterprise,  for  Scotch  shrewdness  and  acuteness,  for 
Irish  wit  and  wannth,  and  for  the  courage  common  to  all.  The  crimes,  vices,  weaknesses, 
and  antagonisms  of  other  nations  are  veiled  from  our  people  by  a  foreign  language;  but 
among  our  wide  nation  of  newspaper  readers  and  writers  even,-  loose  arrow  shot  from  any 
reckless  and  foolish  English  newspaper  finds  prompt  lodgment  somewhere,  and  as  prompt 
a  return  fire;  so  the  air  is  often  darkened  with  weapons  that  sting  but  do  not  slay;  while 
always  underneath  lies  the  constant  sense  of  connnon  history,  traditions,  understanding, 
aims,  which  promises  well  for  tlie  ultimate  and  perpetual  harmony  of  the  great  nation  of 
the  masses,  and  the  mas.ses  of  the  great  nation,  who  are  working  intelligently  towards 
the  same  goal.  Our  differences  are  the  relics  of  barbarism,  (^ur  agreements  are  along 
the  pathways  of  peace  and  righteousness. 

The  America  of  to-day  belongs  to  Americans,  and  Americans,  with  a  thousand  fight- 
ings and  no  fears,  are  all  friends,  .^inong  the  other  nations  of  the  world,  we  have  no 
natural  ally,  no  natural  foe.  The  armies  of  Europe  are  the  enemies  of  Europe,  but  they 
are  not  ours.  Her  standing  armies  are  the  moth  that  corrupts,  the  thief  that  steals  the 
substance  of  the  people;  but  they  do  not  threaten  us.  Our  mission  is  peace.  Our  only 
threat  to  Europe  is  the  menace  that  to  other  fonns  of  government,  supported  onh-  by  the 
insupportable  burden  of  enormous  standing  armies,  must  iniiere  in  the  spectacle  of  a  great 


DISTINGUISHED  CONFEDERATE  GENERALS. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


republic  resting  on  the  will  of  its  people,  the  pride  of  its  people,  the  reason  of  its  people, 
with  no  standing  army  save  a  little  police  force — not  enough  to  protect  a  single  city  if  the 
strength  of  that  city  did  not  dwell  in  the  honor,  the  virtue,  and  the  love  of  its  citizens. 

LIBERTY  AND  THE  PURSUIT  OF  HAPPINESS. 
The  source  of  our  rejoicing  on  tlic  four  lunuhcdlh  birthday  of  our  countr)-  is  that  here 
the  lowliest  citizen  may  by  energ>-,  industry  and  thrift,  self-denial  and  self-control,  live  m 


7>^    'j^x    _^    jj^  ! 


CASTLE  GARDEN,   THE   C.ATEWAY   OF  IMMIGRATION    TO   AMERICA. 

his  own  liouse,  cultivate  his  own  garden,  earn  and  eat  meat  ever)-  day,  educate  his  children 
in  reading,  writing,  the  rudiments  of  geography,  arithmetic,  grammar,  histor>'  and  music; 
read  a  newspaper,  wear  decent  and  comfortable  clothes  ever>-  day,  and  fresh  and  comely 
clothes  during  his  Sunday  rest;  may  take  a  holiday  with  wife  and  children  when  he  chooses, 
may  have  a  share  in  the   government  of   his  nation,  state,  town,  having  thus  a  voice  ia 


60  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUIMBIA. 

assessing  and  spending  as  well  as  paying  his  taxes;  may  worship  God  as  he  pleases,  where 
he  pleases,  and  if  he  pleases,  answering  only  to  God  for  his  course  and  never  forced  to  sup- 
port a  church  establishment  in  which  he  does  not  believe. 

We  rejoice  because  we  believe  this  material  comfort  and  peace  and  consequent  inde- 
pendence to  be  the  foundation — not  the  source,  but  the  proper  basis  of  intellectual  and 
spiritual  growth.  In  a  world  where  matter  is  the  matrix  of  mind,  where  the  animal 
is  the  shrine  of  the  spiritual,  the  animal  must  best  serve  the  spiritual  when  it  is  in 
so  good  a  condition  as  to  cause  no  undue  deflection  from  intellectual  tendencies. 
In  spite  of  the  many  and  marvellous  instances  of  mind  lording  it  over  weak  and  defec- 
tive matter,  it  remains  indisputable  that  matter  should  be  the  willing  and  capable  servant^ 
of  its  master,  mind,  and  that  time  spent  in  subduing  the  unnecessary  discomfort  and  over- 
coming the  unnecessary  weakness  and  incompetence  of  the  body  is  time  wasted.  The 
ultimate,  natural,  and  designed  dominion  of  the  human  being  is  not  over  its  own  defects, 
but  over  the  hitherto  uncontrolled  forces  of  the  world.  Just  in  proportion  then  as  the  con- 
dition of  all  the  people  is  more  comfortable  than  the  condition  of  the  people  in  the  old 
world,  in  that  proportion  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus  was  successful.  Our 
belief  that  success  in  this  respect  is  not  followed  or  attended  by  failure  in  the  spiritual  or 
intellectual  forces  is  founded  on  facts  that  are  not  at  issue.  Beyond  controversy  our  one 
hundred  years  of  self-government  show  not  only  a  larger  number  of  homes  more  comfort- 
able, better  furnished  with  the  appliances  of  a  higher  civilization  than  the  homes  provided 
for  a  people  governed  not  by  themselves,  but  by  others;  but  they  are  also  in  the  way  of 
showing  an  intellectuality  as  commanding,  a  morality  as  high  and  prevailing,  a  religion  as 
spiritual  and  as  pervasive  as  can  be  furnished  to  a  church  by  a  bishop,  to  a  State  by  a  king. 

THE  EVILS  OF  UNRESTRICTED   IMMIGRATION. 

Indeed,  our  chief  danger  to-day  lies  in  our  unparalleled  and  over-mastering  success. 
Its  stoT}'  is  told  ever)'where.  Our  wealth  is  a  proverb.  The  Republic  is  a  visible  and  per- 
petual object  lesson  in  the  great  task,  the  great  mission  of  self-government.  But  its  pros- 
perity is  also  greatly  misunderstood.  The  wretched  of  other  lands  rush  to  enjoy  its  benefits 
with  no  conception  of  the  training,  the  character,  the  self-denial  requisite  to  the  perform- 
ance of  its  duties.  The  rich  and  powerful  of  other  lauds  do  not  hesitate  to  unload  upon 
its  ample  shoulders  their  burdens  of  pauperism  and  crime  •which  they  have  created  and 
which  they  would  gladly  see  us  share.  The  idle,  the  seditious,  the  malodorous  and  mal- 
content, the  demagogue  and  the  desperado  mistake  liberty  for  license  and  flock  hither  to 
fatten  on  the  honest  earnings  of  better  men  than  themselves,  thinking  that  robbery  and 
revolt  are  permitted  industries  in  this  free  land,  that  treason  may  be  approached  and  even 
committed  with  impunity,  and  that  a  republic  is  Anarchy. 

Not  by  such  practices  did  we  reach  our  high  estate.  Not  on  such  principles  were  the 
foundations  laid  by  our  fathers.  Italy  did  not  present  to  civilization  the  American  con- 
tinent, England  did  not  furnish  to  civilization  the  American  Nation,  that  a  government 
might  be  instituted  among  men  which  should  derive  its  just  powers  from  the  dissent  of 
the  ungovernable  ;  not  even  that  the  miserable  of  the  earth  might  find  an  asylum.  The 
one  is  wholly  antagonistic,  the  other  purely  accidental  to  our  great  movement.  Liberty  is 
the  first  law  of  a  lasting  republic,  but  it  is  Liberty  under  order,  Liberty  with  equal  justice. 
The  poor  and  the  oppressed  of  other  lands  are  welcome;  but  they  are  not  welcome  to  prey 
upon  our  own  thrift,  to  violate  our  laws,  to  swell  and  not  to  share  our  burdens.  Intelligence, 
industry,  morality,  honorable  ambition  are  welcome  to  our  hospitalit\'  and  our  citizenship, 
but  not  ignorance,  pauperism  or  crime.  Let  the  dead  bury  their  dead.  America  is  for  the 
living. 


62  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

This  continent  was  discovered  for  humanity's  benefit  on  a  larger  scale  than  the  relief 
of  individual  distress.  It  is  a  stage  large  enough  for  the  enactment  of  a  drama  which  engages 
the  world's  attention — the  capacity  of  man  for  self-government. 

America  justifies  her  birth-right  only  as  she — not  relieves  merely  but — uplifts,  enlarges, 
strengthens  the  individual  man  in  the  widest  organized  community.  Her  peculiar  glory- 
is  in  the  masses — their  intelligence,  their  comfort,  their  domestic  happiness  and  dignit}^, 
their  right  thinking  and  right  acting,  their  recognition  and  due  discharge  of  respon- 
sibility, their  freedom  from  unworthy  aijibition,  their  adoption  of  intellectual,  moral  and 
spiritual  aims.  If  in  this  she  does  not  excel  all  other  nations,  America  will  have  been 
discovered  in  vain  and  Christopher  Columbus  might  well  have  died  in  the  little  grey  house 
at  Genoa-Cogeleto.  Great  men,  prodigies  of  thought,  poets,  philosophers,  inventors, 
generals,  preachers  and  scientists — the  republic  hails  them  all.  She  believes  that  her 
system  tends  ultimately  to  their  multiplication  and  enlargement ;  but  such  natures  break 
all  bonds  everywhere,  and  come  to  the  front  by  virtue  of  inborn  and  irrepressible 
energy.  No  continent  need  be  laid  bare  for  them.  They  force  their  own  field. 
It  is  the  weal  and  opportunity  of  the  masses,  helpless  except  in  combination  and  organiza- 
tion, for  whom  America  was  kept  intact  and  virgin  from  shore  to  shore — tenanted  by  no 
man  and  no  race  that  left  an  institution  to  hamper  the  future. 

THE  CORNER-STONE  OF  RELIGION  AND  A  KEY-STONE  OF  THE  TEMPLE  OF  MORALITY. 

The  opportunity  laid  upon  us  is  matchless;  but  matchless  also  is  the  responsibility.  What 
our  fathers  delivered  to  us,  that  should  we  deliver  to  our  children,  not  only  undiminished, 
but  increased,  enriched  by  our  experience  and  by  the  rapid  and  wonderful  developments  of 
science.  A  marvellous  ingenuity  is  smoothing  the  rough  ways  of  the  world.  A  scientific 
theology  is  pointing  out  the  footprints  of  the  Creator  to  common  sense.  The  brotherhood 
of  man,  the  fatherhood  of  God,  is  becoming  the  comer-stone  of  religion,  as  revealed  in 
Christ  and  as  clearly  traced  in  human  history.  Upon  the  conscience  of  every  man  and 
every  woman  in  this  country  is  laid  the  weight  of  obligation  to  certify  the  success  of  our 
great  experiment — to  certify  the  adequacy  of  the  individual  to  self-direction.  Every  man 
who  falls  below  his  highest,  harms  not  only  himself,  but  lowers  the  standard  of  his  country. 
Every  man  who  values  wealth  more  than  honesty,  rank  more  than  character,  amusement 
more  than  improvement,  ease  more  than  refonn,  to  that  extent  falls  short  of  the  perfect 
citizen.  Everj'  woman  who  abuses  the  freedom  of  American  womanhood  by  abandoning 
herself  to  unfaithfulness  lends  the  powerful  incitement  of  her  personality  to  the  slavery  of 
the  past  and  to  the  failure  of  the  republic.  Every  woman  who  leaves  the  duty  and  decorum 
of  her  native  land  and  prostitutes  her  American  name  to  the  scandals,  the  vices,  the  social 
immoralities  and  moral  impurities  of  foreign  cities  not  only  compasses  her  own  shame,  but 
mars  the  fair  fame  of  the  republic.  It  is  only  by  surpassing  the  world  in  all  chivalry  and 
dignity,  in  all  modesty  and  purity,  in  the  integrity  of  our  business,  in  the  virtue  of  our 
homes,  in  the  rectitude  of  our  intelligence,  in  the  aspiration  of  our  intellectual  life  under 
the  absolute  control  of  moral  righteousness,  that  we  can  meet  the  responsibility  of  our  con- 
tinental empire,  beautiful  for  situation,  unparalleled  in  resources,  impregnable  in  founda- 
tions, unconquered  in  history  and  we  believe  unconquerable! 


PARX  II. 


(oI(in)b(is  3Dd  l^ie  f^eW  l/iforld. 


BY  J.  W.  BCJEL 


Columbus  and  The  New  World. 

By  J.  W.  BuEL. 
CHAPTER   I. 

THE  ADVERSITIES  OF  COLUMBUS  AND    HIS   ENVIRONMENTS. 


■>.^v\ 


STORY  of  Columbus  is  at  once  an 
epic  and  an  elegy  ;  a  narration  of  bold 
conception,  persistent  courage,  heroic  at- 
tainment, mingled  with  the  gall  of  national 
^^  ingratitude,  and  the  malevolence  of  personal 
jealousies.  The  adventures  of  the  Homeric  Ulysses  were  not  more  illustrious  with  \alor  ; 
the  afflictions  of  Niobe  were  not  more  tearful  with  despair.  East  and  west  of  his  life  there 
were  bitterness  and  shadows  :  radiant  Hope  tip-toeing  on  the  pedestal  of  wondrous  accom- 
plishment, and  Faith  bowing  with  grief  before  envious  and  invidious  rivalr>'.  No  character 
in  the  world's  history  was  ever  more  highly  honored  for  chivalrous  achievement  ;  none  more 
maligned  by  perfidy  or  oppressed  by  the  spitefulness  of  malice.  He  was  a  product  of  the 
brave  days  of  old,  yet  was  he  a  victim  to  the  spirit  that  gave  birth  to  intolerance  and  perse- 
cution ;  for  the  heroism  that  sought  a  reclamation  of  the  holy  sepulchre  ;  that  produced 
Ruy  Diaz  Campeador  (the  Cid);  that  measured  lances  with  Mohamuied-al-Xasir  on  the  de- 
cisive and  bloody  field  of  Las  Navas  de  Tolosa,  was  twin  brother  to  that  purblind  theopathy 
that  established  and  energized  the  Inquisition. 
5  ^^5) 


66  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

If  we  consider  the  slavishly  superstitious,  the  intolerantly  bigoted,  the  audaciously 
savage  age  in  which  he  lived,  which  was  characterized  by  the  most  desperate  impulses,  we 
will  be  prepared  to  understand  and  to  appreciate  the  disposition  and  proclivities  of  Colum- 
bus ;  to  applaud  his  courage,  and  to  condone  his  vices.  For  he  was  not  without  human 
frailties,  as  will  be  shown,  but  these  were  national — mediaeval — rather  than  personal  ;  errors 
of  the  times  rather  than  passions  peculiarly  his  own.  His  was  an  age  when  so-called  civili- 
zation saw  no  wrong  in  banishing  Jews  and  confiscating  their  property  to  convert  it  to  holy 
purposes  ;  which  believed  that  true  piety  and  loyalty  to  God  were  best  manifested  by  burning 
heretics  at  the  stake  as  awful  examples,  or  by  torturing  the  impious  until  they  confessed  the 
vice  of  their  unbelief;  "for,"  as  answered  Torquemada,  "were  it  not  better  to  sanctify  men 
through  afflictions  of  the  flesh  than  that  they  be  suffered  to  continue  in  their  evil  ways  to 
the  loss  of  their  souls  and  their  damnation  through  all  eternity  ?  ' ' 

Cruel  as  these  horrific  measures  were,  and  barbarous  as  these  beliefs  appear  to  us  now, 
they  were  not  the  results  of  human  depravity  or  moral  debasement ;  so  far  from  this  being 
true,  the  people  were  wondrously  devout,  and  it  was  the  intensit\'  of  their  religions,  pietis- 
tical  fervor  that  led  them  to  adopt  extreme  methods  for  the  conversion  of  all  men  to  the  true 
faith,  for  they  honestly  believed  that  this  would  alone  secure  for  them  salvation  and  a  beatific 
condition  after  death.  ' '  What, ' '  argued  they,  ' '  is  the  suffering  of  the  body  on  this  earth,  com- 
pared with  the  results  that  affect  the  endless  life  in  that  world  to  come?  "  They  accordingly 
accepted  literally  that  divine  injunction  which  demanded,  or  required,  the  sacrifice  of  eye  or 
hand  should  they  offend,  and  gave  it  that  broader  significance  which  to  them  justified  a  sac- 
rifice of  the  sinful  by  any  means  howsoever  cruel. 

Though  we  cannot  excuse  the  slaveiy  that  tormented  for  opinion's  sake,  yet  it  is  not 
entirely  just  to  hastily  condemn  the  spirit  of  the  masses,  whose  pious  convictions  gave  crea- 
tion to  the  Inquisition  ;  for  no  single  Church  bears  all  the  odium  of  persecution,  any  more 
than  any  cue  people  is  chargeable  with  the  crime  of  bigoted  intolerance.  There  have  been 
transition  periods  in  the  life  of  all  beliefs,  and  of  all  denominations,  during  which  the  domi- 
nant sect  has  shown  jealousy  and  injustice.  When  the  time  shall  come  that  such  a  spirit  is 
dead,  then  may  we  conclude  that  there  is  no  diflference  of  opinion,  and  that  the  lion  and  the 
lamb  have  laid  down  in  perpetual  truce,  and  universal,  enduring  peace  hath  possessed  the 
world. 

With  this  understanding  of  the  animating  ambitions  of  the  times,  I  beg  the  reader  will 
regard  the  beliefs  and  acts  of  Columbus,  since  to  present  a  faithful  history  of  his  life  it  is 
necessary  to  record  many  facts  which  would  otherwise  put  to  shame  the  merited  fame  which 
he  won,  and  the  results  which  left  us  such  a  glorious  heritage — Columbia. 

NATIVITY  OF  COLUMBUS. 

As  the  greatest  men  in  the  world's  history  have,  as  a  rule,  risen  from  obscurity,  Colum- 
bus, who  perhaps  conferred  the  largest  benefits  upon  mankind,  was  not  an  exception,  but 
rather  a  conspicuous  exemplification  of  the  assertion.  For,  so  lowly  was  his  birth  that  little 
information  has  been  preserved  respecting  his  youth,  while  his  nativity,  like  the  place  of  his 
final  sepulture,  must  forever  remain  a  question  of  contention.  The  time  of  his  birth  is 
equally  a  matter  of  conjecture,  various  dates  being  assigned  between  the  years  1435  and  1448, 
though  the  preponderance  of  evidence  points  to  the  former,  which  we  shall  accordingl)'  adopt. 
Cuccaro,  in  Montferrat,  and  Savona,  pretend  to  the  honor  of  his  birth,  but  the  place  that 
with  best  reason  claims  his  nativity  is  Genoa,  which  was  probably  also  the  birthplace  of  his 
father,  whose  name  was  Dominic  Columbus,  the  Latin   orthography,  or  Colovibo,   as  it  is 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  G7 

written  in  Italian,  or  Colon,  as  it  is  called  in  the  Spanish.  Dominic  married  a  lassie  named 
Susana,  who  was  daughter  to  one  James  Fantanarossa,  of  the  \illage  of  Bassago,  who  brought 
him  a  small  income,  but  so  inadequate  to  his  needs  that  immediately  after  marriage  he 
moved  to  the  neighborhood  of  Genoa,  where  he  set  up  in  a  small  way  as  a  wool-comber, 
employing  one  workman  and  a  single  apprentice.  The  house  in  which  he  thus  began  busi- 
ness, which  was  at  once  residence  and  shop,  was  just  outside  the  limits  of  the  municipality, 
and  it  was  here  that  Christopher  was  boni,  and  also  his  three  brothers,  Bartholomew,  Pelli- 
grino,  and  James  afterwards  called  Don  Diego.  There  was  also  a  daughter,  who  married  a  pork- 
butcher  named  Bavarello,  of  the  vicinity,  but  her  name  and  place  of  nativity  are  unknown. 

The  first  several  years  of  Dominic's  married  life  were  spent  in  the  house  in  the  Genoese 
suburbs,  but  he  aftersvards  rented  the  building  to  an  innkeeper,  and  moved  into  a  somewhat 
more  pretentious  house  which  was  located  at  No.  i66  jMulcento  Street,  where  he  continued 
the  business  of  weaver,  but  with  indifferent  success.  It  is  maintained  by  many  of  Christo- 
pher's biographers  that  he  was  descended  from  a  noble  family  that  had  been  scattered  by 
domestic  dissensions,  such  as  were  verj'  common  among  the  Italians  in  the  early  centuries, 
and  ver\-  good  evidence  is  presented  in  support  of  this  claim.  While  the  occupation  of  wool- 
comber  represented  a  great  condescension  in  one  who  had  been  derived  from  the  noblesse 
rank,  we  know  that  Christopher  had  a  grand-uncle  who  held  an  admiral's  commission  in  the 
ser\-ice  of  Rene,  duke  of  Anjou,  which  was  the  most  illustrious  of  all  engagements  in  that 
da\-,  and  was  open  onh'  to  those  who  had  some  rightful  claim  to  distinguished  ancestrv-. 
But  that  Columbus  was  a  descendant  of  the  great  Lombard  family,  as  his  most  enthusiastic 
admirers  declare,  there  is  exceeding  doubt,  amounting  to  denial. 

That  Dominic  was  a  kind  father,  and  thoroughly  appreciative  of  the  importance  of 
education,  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  when  Christopher,  his  eldest  child,  had  reached  the 
age  of  ten  years,  instead  of  putting  him  to  ser\-ice,  where  he  might  be  helpful  towards  in- 
creasing his  slender  income,  which  indeed  little  more  than  sufEced  for  the  support  of  his 
now  considerable  family,  he  sent  him  to  the  University  of  Pavia.  Since  the  branches  which 
distinguished  that  famous  school  were  natural  philosophy,  astrology-  and  geograph\-,  the 
conclusion  is  irresistible  that  young  Christopher  must  have  had  some  previous  instruction  to 
qualify  him  to  enter  upon  such  advanced  studies.  At  this  university  he  continued  for  a 
period  of  three  years,  though  there  were  intervals  in  his  attendance  during  which  he  was  an 
assistant  to  his  father  in  the  factor}-,  so  that  he  acquired  a  fairly  good  knowledge  of  the  trade 
and  might  have  afterwards  followed  it,  as  did  his  brothers,  but  for  an  incident  that  lifted  his 
feet  from  the  dull  path  of  obscurity  and  planted  them  in  the  road  that  led  to  ineffable  glor>', 
of  which  we,  more  than  his  own  coinitr\inen,  are  the  chief  beneficiaries. 

AMONG   THE    PIRATES    OF    THE    MEDITERRANEAN. 

Young  Christopher  did  not  improxx-  his  advantages  lo  their  utmost,  for  he  was  more 
diligent  with  conceits  for  wider  fields  of  adventure  than  in  application  to  his  te.xt-books,  a 
condition  which  brought  him  into  antagonism  with  his  teachers,  that  resulted  either  in  his 
expulsion,  or  voluntary,  but  sudden  and  secret,  withdrawal  from  the  school.  We  may, 
'without  injustice  to  his  memory,  infer  that  he  was  guilty  of  conduct  which  led  to  his 
peremptory  dismissal  from  the  university,  since  history  tells  us  that  he  ran  away  and  took 
engagement  on  a  vessel  lying  at  the  port  of  Genoa,  as  a  cabin  boy.  To  a  youth  full  of 
animation  and  a  courageous  spirit,  the  dashing  waves  that  beat  up  in  restless  flow  against 
the  nigged  beaches,  and  poured  their  monody  of  complainings  at  confinement  in  his  ear, 
there  must  have  come  a  longing  to  .sail  away  behind  his  little  world  that  kissed  the  horizoa 
scarce  five  leagiies  beyond  the  green  hills  of  the  shore. 


68 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBUS. 


To  one  of  such  a  temperament  as  Christopher  later  revealed,  there  must  have  been  an 
incentive  to  adventure  in  the  wild  stories  of  heroism  on  the  sea,  when  every  day  had  its 
savage  incident  of  battle  with  pirates  ;  and  when  every  sailor  who  came  to  Genoa  sat  on  the 
quays,  the  centre  of  admiring  crowds,  telling  his  hair-breadth  escapes,  and  mo\-ing  youthful 
ambition  b}'  descriptions  of  strange  lands  visited  between  where  the  sun  rises  up  out  of  the 
^Mediterranean,  aud  the  blue  mountains  of  the  west,  where  he  sinks  down  in  dreamy  slumber. 
All  around  him  there  were  memories  of  valorous  examples,  for  the  fiery  ardor  of  the 
Crusaders  had  not  yet  burned  out.  Fresh  glories  were  being  won  b)-  brave  spirits  that  dared 
the  fury  of  predatory  Moors,  whose  ravages  spread  over  the  sea,  and  whose  gilded  crescents 
tipped  lofty  masts  in  bold  defiance  of  the  cross.  Fortune  and  fame  seemed  to  await  the 
courageous,  who  while  fighting  for  religion  made  spoils  their  reward,  and  thus  the  Mediter- 
ranean was  become  a  sea  of 
battle,  a  rendezvous  for  the 
desperate,  the  daring  and 
the  adventurous. 

History  has  not  preser\-ed 
the  facts  connected  with  his 
first  maritime  ser\-ice,  yet 
our  small  knowledge  respect- 
ing his  conduct,  gathered 
from  intimations  made  in 
subsequent  letters  to  friends, 
leads  to  the  belief  that  he 
shipped  with  a  crew  most 
likely  bound  upon  some 
piratical  enterprise  in  the  Levant.  This  suspicion  is  founded 
upon  two  incidents,  the  particulars  of  which  are  so  vaguely 
hinted  at  in  his  letters  that  they  afford  good  reason  for  the 
belief  that  he  was  connected  with  Archipelago  Corsairs. 
He  admits  having  participated  in  at  least  one  bloody  en- 
gagement, and  concerning  another  De  Lorgties,  his  most 
flattering  biographer,  says  :  "In  one  of  the  combats,  which  has  not  been  retraced  by  history, 
he  received  a  deep  wound,  the  cicatrix  of  which,  though  long  forgotten,  reopened  towards  his 
latter  years,  and  endangered  his  life."  On  another  occasion  he  was  engaged  in  a  naval  fight 
which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  his  vessel,  and  left  him  struggling  in  the  water  with 
only  a  spar  between  him  and  death.  With  good  fortune,  however,  he  contrived  to  reach  the 
shore  in  safety,  providence  having  reserved  him  for  a  noble  purpose.  This  last  adventure  is 
not  well  attested,  and  may  be  an  apocryphal  account  by  some  essayist  on  morals  not  thor- 
oughly veracious,  yet  the  story  is  not  an  improbable  one.  But  as  Columbus  refused  to  his 
death  to  make  any  statement  concerning  his  Mediterranean  ser\-ice — when  he  had  every 
reason  to  do  so  had  it  been  patriotic — and  since  the  commerce  of  that  sea  in  his  time  was  so 
joined  with  piracy  as  to  leave  the  two  professions  scarcely  distinguishable,  honesty  compels 
the  presumption,  if  it  does  not  confirm  the  belief,  that  several  years  of  his  life  were  spent 
with  his  superiors  exatting  tribute  from  merchantmen,  and  also  in  waging  war  against 
Moorish  freebooters  who  infested  the  Levant. 

Of  the  distinguished  relatives  of  Christopher  there  were  two  who  might  have  naturally 
led  him  to  the  adoption  of  such  a  career.      One  of  these,  who  is  known  to  history  as  the 


COLT-MBUS    AM)    COLl'-MBIA.  09 

elder  Columbus,  uiost  probably  a  graud-uucle,  bore  a  captain's  commission  from  I^uis  XI. 
of  France,  but  went  so  far  beyond  the  limits  of  recognized  duly  as  to  win  for  himself  the 
title  of  Arch  Pirate.  He  is  represented  as  a  man  of  almost  unexampled  recklessness,  and 
as  being  noted  no  less  for  his  cnielty  than  for  his  boldness.  Another  kinsman,  supposed  to 
have  been  also  a  grand-uucle,  was  Colombo  el  Mozo,  who.se  fame  as  a  pirate  rivals  that  of 
the  elder.  After  achieving  a  wonderful  renown  by  acts  of  incredible  valor  in  the  wars  of 
the  Genoese  Republic,  he  fitted  and  armed  a  considerable  fleet  of  his  own  and  sailed  against 
the  \'enetians,  many  of  whose  ships  he  destroyed  after  possessing  himself  of  their  cargoes. 
Subsequently  he  went  against  the  pirates  that  patrolled  the  African  coast  in  quest  of  prizes, 
and  delivered  such  decisi\-e  blows  as  to  practically  break  up  the  industry  in  that  section,  but 
only  to  transfer  it,  however,  to  other  parts  of  the  sea. 

COLUMBUS  BECOMES  A  ROVER  IN  OTHER  WATERS. 
.\fter  continuing  for  some  \ears  in  a  subordinate  position,  ha\  ing  attained  to  manhood, 
Christopher  became  such  a  competent  navigator  that  he  obtained  command  of  a  vessel  and 
as  such  sailed  out  of  the  Mediterranean,  on  cruises  to  lands  of  the  north-east,  especially 
to  Spain,  France  and  England.  The  known  facts  concerning  his  early  life  are  so  meagre 
that  we  must  rest  upon  the  very  few  and  brief  disclosures  made  in  his  "  Book  of  Proph- 
ecies," and  the.se  are  scarcely  more  than  the  merest  intimations  of  a  very  few  of  his 
acts,   so  that  we  cannot  present  his  career  either  chronologically  or  with  any  attempt  at 

completeness. 

About  the  >ear  1470,  Christopher  took  up  his  abode  in  Lisbon,  whither  his  brother 
Bartholomew  had  gone  a  year  before,  having  quitted  his  trade  of  wool-carding  to  become  a 
cosmographer.  The  inference  is  gained  from  this  known  circumstance,  that  Christopher 
and  Bartholomew  had  joined  interests  and  were  pursuing  the  same  studies  and  with  prob- 
ably identical  ambitions  ;  for  Christopher,  besides  being  a  navigator,  began  drawing  charts 
at  a  fairlv  early  age  and  these  were  no  doubt  used  by  Bartholomew  in  illustration  of  his 
theories  respecting  the  constitution  of  the  system  of  worlds.  It  was  this  study  that  un- 
doubtedlv  led  to  his  conception  of  the  earth's  shape,  and  his  belief  that  the  India  of  Marco 
Polo  might  be  reached  by  a  voyage  towards  the  west. 

MARRIAGE  OF  COLUMBUS. 

Columbus,  as  we  shall  henceforth  call  him,  was  only  a  short  while  in  Lisbon  before  he 
saw  a  most  bewitchingly  beautiful  lady  while  attending  mass  in  the  Church  of  All  Saints, 
and  immediately  lost  his  heart  to  the  fair  enchantress.  He  directly  souglit  an  introduction 
and  at  the  first  inter\-iew  rejoiced  to  discover  that  his  attentions  met  with  favor,  which 
encouraged  him  to  press  a  lover's  suit.  It  was  not  long  after  his  meeting  with  the  lad>-  that 
he  heard  from  her  lips  the  affecting  stor>'  of  her  life.  Her  name  was  Dona  Felippa  de 
Perestrello,  one  of  three  daughters  whose  father  had  once  been  a  grandee  of  both  fame  and 
fortune.  He  had  been  a  successful  navigator,  a  large  ship  owner,  and  had  rendered  such 
valuable  services  to  Portugal  that  Prince  Henry  rewarded  him  with  the  Governorship  of 
Porto  Santo,  a  fertile  island  near  :\Iadeira,  off  the  north-west  coast  of  Africa  and  on  the 
route  to  the  Canaries.  A  flourishing  colony  was  here  established  by  his  endeavors,  and  large 
estates  set  in  cultivation  which  were  bestowed  upon  him  as  jjermanent  grants  from  the 
crown.  It  was  on  this  beautiful  and  prolific  island  that  Dona  Felippa  and  her  sisters  were 
born,  and  here  they  spent  their  girihood  amid  surroundings  dreamy,  luxurious  and  ecstatic. 
The  breath  of  perpetual  summer  was  here  redolent  with  the  perfume  of  flower,  and  fruit, 
and  wildwood,  where  an  orchestra  of  gorgeously-plumaged  birds  filled  the  sensuous  air  with 
unceasing  music,  such  as  wakes  the  heart  to  blissful  realization,  and  makes  life  as  sweet  as 


70  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

a  delightful  sleep  vision.  Ten  years,  nearly  twenty  years,  thus  passed  in  the  splendors  of 
contentment  before  trouble  invaded  this  bower  of  arcadian  delight,  and  drove  them  from  a 
garden  which  peris  might  have  envied.  In  an  e\'il  hour  a  number  of  rabbits  were  imported 
into  the  island,  without  thought  o^  the  hann  which  these  innocent-appearing  animals  might 
work,  but  the}-  directh"  propagated  with  such  amazing  fecundity  that  in  an  almost  incred- 
ibly brief  time  they  became  pests  which  resisted  ever}-  effort  for  their  destruction.  Prolific 
as  were  the  crops,  so  great  was  the  destruction  of  these  animals  that  the  raising  of  an}-  kind 
of  veo-etable  became  an  impossibility  and  the  colony  was  finally  forced  to  abandon  the  island 
to  escape  starvation.  Signor  Perestrello,  who  in  the  meantime  had  invested  all  his  means 
in  Porto  Santo,  thus  found  himself  literally  brought  to  povert}-  through  the  ravages  of  rab- 
bits, and  removing  to  Lisbon,  with  the  small  remnant  of  his  fortune,  died  shortly  after  his 
return,  leaving  his  children  to  the  care  of  some  wealthy  relatives  of  that  city. 

This  narrative,  following  the  facts  as  recorded  by  nearly  all  of  the  Columbian  biog- 
raphers, ma}'  be  amended  to  advantage  by  opposing  to  the  general  statement  the  theory 
that  since  Bartholomew  Monis  de  Perestrello  colonized  Porto  Santo  as  earl}-  as  1420,  he  must 
have  died  upon  the  island,  leaving  his  government  to  Pedro  Perestrello,  his  son,  who  was 
father  to  the  beautiful  Dona  Felippa,  otherwise  she  must  have  been  too  old  for  a  fair  wed- 
ding, and  could  not  have  been  the  lovely  woman  that  captured  our  ambitious  Genoese 
navigator  at  first  sight.  But  whatever  the  facts,  it  is  true  that  after  a  reasonably  long  court- 
ship Columbus  married  Felippa,  who,  though  possessed  of  small  patrimou}',  brought  her 
husband  no  mean  distinction,  for  she  was  one  of  the  first  ladies  of  Lisbon,  and  was  of  great 
advantage  in  extending  his  acquaintance  among  influential  people,  particularly  the  nobilit}*. 

BRILLIANT  CONCEPTIONS  BORN  ON  PORTO  SANTO. 
We  do  not  know  how  long  he  remained  in  Lisbon  pursuing  his  profession  as  a  cosmog- 
rapher,  but  certainly  the  period  was  not  great,  for  his  restless  ambition  would  not  permit 
him  to  continue  a  quiet  employment,  and  thus  we  learn  of  voyages  projected  and  performed 
by  him  to  other  lands  ;  but  these  were  unsuccessful,  because  he  retired  to  the  uninviting 
estates  of  his  wife  on  Porto  Santo,  which  povert}-  alone  would  have  induced  him  to  do,  and 
there  his  first  child,  which  he  named  Diego,  was  born. 

In  this  singularly  quiet  retreat,  whence  the  first  colonists  had  been  driven  by  a  pest  of 
rabbits,  Columbus  conceived  bolder  schemes  than  had  ever  before  moved  him  to  ambitious 
undertakings.  In  poverty  his  mind  found  relaxation  from  the  worriments  of  his  fonner 
surroundings,  and  intensified  his  aspirations.  His  passion  for  the  glory  which  feats  at  anns 
invest  gave  place  to  projects  that  contemplated  beneficent  results  to  all  the  world.  Here 
he  read  with  renewed  interest  the  works  of  Ptolenn-,  the  first  geographer,  of  Aristotle, 
Strabo  and  Pliny,  and  studied  with  the  keenest  zest  Cardinal  Aliaco's  "  Cosmographia,'' 
in  which  science,  superstition  and  absurd  conceits  were  equally  blended,  to  the  confusion 
of  truth.  But  his  reflections  and  aspirations  were  most  largely  promoted  b\-  the  travels  of 
Marco  Polo,  and  of  Sir  John  IMandeville,  whose  narratives  of  adventures  in  the  far  east,  in  a 
kingdom  called  Cathay,  and  in  the  wonderful  country  of  Tartaiy,  stirred  him  with  a  new 
ambition,  and  lifted  him  from  his  impoverished  surroundings  to  a  realm  of  idealism — of 
dreamy  splendor. 

Before  reading  the  astounding  revelations  of  Polo  and  Mandeville,  picturing  a  land  of 
fabulous  wealth  and  royal  aggrandizement,  Columbus  had  arrived  at  a  theory  respecting  the 
earth's  shape,  and  had  become  convinced  of  its  sphericit}-.  Now  his  resolution  became 
suddenly  fixed  to  confirm  this  belief  and  at  the  same  time  to  find  a  water-wav  to  the  rich 
kingdom  of  the  Tartar  Khan. 


COLI'MRrS    AND    COLIMBIA. 


■1 


EARLY   BELIEFS   RESPECTING  THE  SIZE  AND  SHAPE  OF  THE   EARTH. 

It  was  given  to  Columbus  to  ilLinonslrato,  but  not  to  orii^inatc,  the  tlieory  of  the  globu- 
lar shape  of  the  earth.  Indeed,  in  this  concept  he  was  anticipated  by  writers  of  antiquity, 
just  as  he  was  preceded  by  voyagers  to  the  Western  Hemisphere  many  hundred  years  before 
his  time.  .Vristotle  and  Strabo  were  in  accord  respecting  the  cartli's  sphericity,  and  only 
difTered  in  their  estimates  of  its  size,  the  former  being  far  wrong  in  his  underestimation  of 
the  circumference,  while  the  latter's  computation  was  very  nearly  correct,  viz.,  377°. 
Mariuus,  of  Tyre,  a  geographer  of  great  renown,  of  the  eleventh 
centur>-,  also  believed  in  the  rotundity  of  the  eartli,  and  fixed  its 
circumference  at  abotit  450°,  while  Ptolemy,  in  the  twelfth  centur>-, 
disputed  the  claims  of  Marintis  only  by  reducing  the  actual  cir- 
cumference about  one-fourth.  Columbus  inclined  to  the  belief  of 
Ptolemy,  estimatiitg,  as  he  did,  that  only  one-seventh  of  the  earth 
was  water  ;  and  this  supposition  led  him  to  believe  that  Cipango, 
of  Marco  Polo,  was  not  more  than  three  thousand  miles  westward 
of  Portugal,  whereas  the  real  distance  to  that  coimtr\- — believed 
to  be  Japan — is  little  short  of  fifteen  thousand  miles. 

If  Columbus  was,  as  represented  by  nearly  all  his  biographers, 
a  student  of  the  ancient  writers,  or  geographers,  he  must  have  been 
impressed  by  the  many  allusions  made  by  these  to  lands  hing  far 
westward  of  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  (straits  of  Gibraltar).  Virgil 
is  supposed  to  have  referred  to  .such  lands  in  the  sixth  book  of 
the  .-Eneid  :  "Jacet  extra  sidera  tellus,"  a  free  translation  of  whicli 
may  read  :   "  Beyond  the  horizon  lies  a  country." 

In  Strabo's  De  Situ  Orbis  (1472)  is  to  be  found  a  clear  expres- 
sion of  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  large  countrj'  beyond  the  Atlantic, 
which  he  savs  may  possibly  compare  with  Spain  or  India.  Besides 
the  general  views  advanced  by  Ptolemy,  there  must  have  met  the 
attention  of  Columbus  the  conflict  of  theories  between  that  great 
Alexandrian  geographer  and  Pomponius  Mela,  in  which  the  former 
urged  that  discoveries  be  pursued  east  and  west,  while  the  latter 
maintained  that  better  results  would  follow  lines  of  exploration 
north  and  south,  for  by  this  philosopher,  as  well  as  by  Columbus 
himself,  the  world  was  supposed  to  be  pear-shaped.  As  early  as 
the  fifth  centur\-  Macrobius,  a  Roman,  declared  that  the  earth 
was  composed  of  four  continents,  two  of  which  remained  to  be 
discovered,  and  this  theory  had  several  distinguished  disciples  pre- 
ceding the  Columbian  age.  Similar  views,  but  somewhat  more 
specific,  and  pointing  towards  a  new  world  beyond  the  Atlantic,  were 
expressed  by  Roger  Bacon,  .Mbcrtus  Magnus  and  \'incenzius,  all  before  the  fourteenth  centur>'. 

PREVIOUS    DISCOVERIES  OF    AMERICA. 

In  addition  to  the  theories  which  gave  creation  to  tlio  idea  of  a  western  continent  long 
before  the  time  of  Columbus,  there  were  not  wanting  evidences  supporting  the  claim  that  this 
unknown  conntr>-  had  been  many  times  visited  and  described.  A  story  was  told,  first  b\-  an 
anonymous  writer,  in  about  1482,  and  afterwards  repeated  and  adopted  by  several  creditable 
authors,  to  the  effect  that  a  Spanish  pilot  named  Sanches,  while  attempting  a  jxissage 
between  Madeira  and  tlie  Canaries,  w,i<  ililx. n  (,nt  of  his  course  by  a  storm   and   landed  ou 


72 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLU^IBIA. 


the  shores  of  an  island  said  to  have  been  Ha\ti.  Subsequently  this  pilot  came  to  Lisbon 
and  found  lodgment  with  Columbus,  to  whom  he  related  the  facts  and  in  whose  house  he 
died.  It  is  also  declared,  by  not  a  few  reliable  writers,  that  John  Costa  Cortereal  made  a 
voyage  westward  and  reached  the  ice-boimd  coast  of  Newfoundland  in  the  }ear  1463,  and 
was  followed  thither  by  his  brother  a  year  later,  on  which  voyages,  however,  they  both  per- 
ished. Niccolo  Zeni,  or  Zeno,  towards  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  centur}',  started  on  a  voy- 
age from  Venice  in  quest  of  new  lands  beyond  Hercules'  Pillars,  and  after  sailing  among  the 
islands  of  the  west  for  nearly  one  year,  became  pilot  to  an  island  chief  named  Zichmni, 
■where  he  was  some  time  afterwards  joined  by  his  brother,  Antonio.  Four  }-ears  later  Nic- 
colo died  in  a  conntr)'  called  Frieslanda,  but  Antonio  continued  in  the  ser\-ice  of  Zichmni 
ten  years  longer,  at  last  returning  to  Venice,  bringing  not  only  an  account  of  a  strange  world 


NORSE    NAVIGATORS    IN    NARRAGANSKTT    BAY. 


beyond  tlie  Atlantic,  but  also  maps,  letters,  etc. ,  referring  to  the  country.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, until  1558  that  a  descendant  of  the  Zenis  discovered  these  valuable  documents  and 
caused  them  to  be  published,  accompanied  by  a  narrative  of  the  voyages.  After  a  thorough 
study  of  the  subject,  the  following  names  have  been  identified  on  the  Zeni  map,  as  follows  : 
Egronelant,  Greenland  ;  Islanda,  Iceland  ;  Estland,  the  Shetland  Islands  ;  Frisland,  the 
Faroe  group  ;  Markland,  Nova  Scotia  ;  Estotiland,  Newfoundland  ;  Drogeo,  coast  of  North 
America,  about  Labrador;  Icaria,  Ireland.  Long  anterior  to  this  (270  B.  C.)  there  was  an 
account,  incorporated  in  ancient  geographies,  of  a  voyage  by  the  Grecian  na\-igator,  Pytheas, 
to  unknown  lands  of  the  far  west,  and  a  map  was  drawn  by  Lelewel  showing  the  discoveries 
of  P_\theas,  upon  which  is  represented  tlie  island  of  Atlantis,  and  the  shores  of  a  country 
which  correspond    with  Brazil. 


CULLMIiUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


73 


Aiiioiii;  otbcr  voyagers  wiio  are  said  to  have  visited  the  new  world  before  the  time  of 
CoUiinl.nis  was  a  Pole  natued  John  Scolvus,  or  Kolno,  who,  while  in  the  service  of  Den- 
mark, in  1476,  was  on  the  coast  of  Labrador  ;  and  a  Dieppe  navigator  named  Cousin,  who 
while  bound  for  some  point  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  was  blown  far  out  to  sea  and  reached 
South  America  in  1488.  And  on  a  chart  prepared  by  the  Pizigani  brothers,  dated  1367,  there 
appear  islands  which  may  be  identified  with  Madeira,  the  Azores,  the  Canaries,  and  also  two 
islands,  called  respectively  "  Antilla  "  and  "  De  la  man  Satanaxio,"  wliich  are  undoubtedly 
the  same  as  Cuba  and  Hayti,  while  sonu-  knowledge  of  the  two  Americas  is  implied. 

STRANGE  RELICS  CAST  UP  BV  THE  SEA. 

Besides  these  testimonies  supporting  Columbus  in  his  belief  that  land,  or  India,  might 
be  reached  by  .sailing  directly  westward,  there  were  other  evidences,  though  less  convincing. 
On  more  than  one  occasion  pieces  of  wDod,  rudely  carved,  had  been  picked  up  on  the  coast 
of  Madeira,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Azores  had  been  found  \er>-  large  pine  trees  of  an 
imkuown  species  washed  up  by  the  sea.  Columbus  had  also  been  told  that  on  the  isle  of 
Flowers  there  had  been  found  on  the  strand  the  corpses  of  two  men  of  a  race  which  none  of 
the  islanders  had  ever  before  seen.  But  this  stor\-,  like  that  told  bj- 
Martin  Vincente,  of  finding  a  piece  of  car\'ed  wood  more  than  thirteen 
hundred  miles  west  of  Europe  ;  and  of  .\ntonio  Leme,  who  claimed 
to  have  discovered  a  large  island  five  hundred  miles  west  of  Madeira, 
is  undoubtedly  apocryphal,  and  comparable  to  many  preposterous 
stories  current  at  that  day.  Historians  seem  to  be  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that  there  is  no  ocean  current  sweeping  the  American  shores 
tliat  would  carr\-  objects  to  the  Azores  or  Madeira  ;  and  if  there  was 
such  a  current  bodies  of  men  would  not  be  preser\'ed,  even  in  salt 
■water,  for  a  time  necessary-  to  drift  them  such  a  distance.  Some  have 
thouglit  that  long-prevailing  winds  from  the  west  might  have  wafted 
these  curious  relics  of  a  land  beyond  the  Atlantic  to  the  shores 
where  they  were  found,  but  this  supposition  is  as  improbable  as  the 
story  of  St.  Braudan,  then  current,  having  visited  an  island  to  the 
west  that  was  peopled  by  demons  and  the  ghosts  of  men  drowned  at  sea. 

But  absurd  as  were  many  of  the  tales  told  by  the  superstitious  and  uuveracious  sailors, 
they  doubtless  had  more  or  less  effect  upon  Columbus,  who  was  not  dispo.sed  to  reject  the 
improbable  when  it  might  be  turned  to  his  advantage,  either  in  strengthening  his  own 
faith,  or  helping  to  spread  belief  in  a  western  passage  to  India  in  others. 

The  age  in  which  Columbus  lived  was  not  one  of  unbounded  libert\-  of  either  speech 
or  conscience,  and  a  degree  of  circumspection  was  necessan-  in  putting  forth  anv  theon*-  that 
controverted  the  opinions  of  the  times,  for  otherwise  public  avowal  was  likelv  to  be  followed 
by  public  condemnation.  For  this  reason  Columbus  acted  with  a  di.scretion  which  showed 
that  he  was  no  less  adroit  than  opinionated  ;  appreciating  the  influence  of  scientists,  and 
having  already  learned  the-views  of  Paul  Toscanelli,  the  most  distingui.shed  Italian  .scientist 
of  that  time,  through  a  letter  which  the  latter  had  written  to  the  King  of  Portugal,  Colum- 
bus made  bold  to  crave  an  expression  of  Toscanelli's  opinion  respecting  his  scheme  Proba- 
bly the  result  wa.s  what  he  had  anticipated,  but  whatever  may  have  been  his  expectations, 
in  a  rea.sonable  interval  Columbus  received  from  the  distinguished  Florentine  a  copv  of  the 
letter  written  to  Portugal's  King,  bearing  date  of  June  25th,  1477.  in  wliich  comnumicalion 
the  probabilit\  of  reaching  India  b\-  a  voyage  to  the  west  was  stated,  and  in  a  subsequent 
letter  the  project  advanced  by  Columbus  was  connncnded. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Toscanelli,  besides  being  a  great  cosmographer,  astronomer,  mathematician  and  astrolo- 
ger, was  a  man  of  vast  influence,  who  found  a  hearty  welcome  at  the  pontifical  court  of 
Rome,  and  who  was  chief  adviser  to  the  King  of  Portugal  on  subjects  connected  with 
geography  and  navigation.  When,  therefore,  the  views  of  Columbus  received  the  endorse- 
ment  of  a    man    of  such    eminence   as  Toscanelli,  and  in  which  there  was  a  concurrent 

expression  from  Canon  Fernando  Martinez, 
he  had  obtained  a  recognition  that  justly  in- 
creased his  enthusiasm  and  determination,  be- 
sides serving  him  greatly  in  converting  others 
to  similar  opinions.  Nor  did  Toscanelli  con- 
tent himself  with  submitting  proofs  adduced 
from  his  own  knowledge  as  a  cosmographer,  for 
so  interested  was  he  in  confinning  the  theories 
of  Columbus,  that  he  added  to  his  letters  the 
concurrent  testimonies  which  he  had  gathered 
from  records  and  correspondence  with  na\-i- 
gators,  and  thus  materially  assisted  in  leading 
others  to  embrace  the  beliefs  which  Columbus 
was  seeking  means  to  demonstrate.  These 
opinions  of  leading  scientists  of  the  time 
served  to  renew  interest  in  older  sea  tales  in 
which  unknown  islands  were  represented  as 
having  been  seen  by  shipwrecked  mariners 
and  super-pious  bishops.  It  was  this  excited 
condition  of  the  public  mind,  no  doubt,  that 
prompted  Antonio  Leone,  of  Madeira,  to 
seriously  relate  to  Columbus  an  account  of 
his  voyage  a  hundred  leagues  to  the  west  and 
his  having  sighted  three  considerable  islands, 
upon  which,  however,  he  did  not  land. 

Others  pretended  to  having  seen  islands 
suddenly  rise  out  of  the  sea,  and  as  m\-steri- 
ousl)-  sink  from  sight  again,  while  there  was 
a  legend,  now  often  recounted,  to  the  effect 
that  on  one  island  in  the  far  west  seven 
bishops  had  taken  refuge  in  their  flight 
(whether  by  ship  or  wing  is  not  related)  from 
the  Moors  and  found  thereon  seven  splendid 
cities,  presumably  with  all  the  comforts  to 
which  they  had  before  been  accustomed. 
But  the  evidences  of  previous  discoveries  of  a  western  continent,  and  the  belief  entertained 
by  many  that  Cipango,  of  !\Iarco  Polo,  might  be  reached  by  a  voyage  to  the  west,  in  no 
wise  detracted  from  the  honors  won  by  Columbus,  since  results  rather  than  accidents,  the- 
ories and  unimproved  chances,  concern  us  most.  Many  men  saw  apples  fall  from  a  tree 
before  Newton  observed  such  a  natural  accident,  yet  it  was  reserved  for  him  to  discover  in 
a  falling  apple  the  law  of  gravitation.  And  if  America  had  been  visited,  however  often, 
before  the  time  of  Columbus,  the  honor  and  glory  were  nevertheless  reserved  to  him  of 
making  the  discover}'  valuable  to  mankind. 


NICHOL.\S   ZENI,    THE   VENETIAN    MARINER. 


CHAPTER  II. 


^ 


SIGNIFICANCE  OF  HIS   NAME  LEADS  COLUMBUS  TO  SERIOUS   REFLECTIONS. 

EFORE   the  end   of    tlie  year  1477     Columbus  had 
become  so  enthusiastic  in  his  determination  to  sail 
in  quest  of  eastern  lands  that  he  returned  with  his 
family  to  Lisbon,  and  having  obtained  a  ship  he 
ailed   in  a  northwesterly  direction,    b\-   England, 
along  the  Scandinavian  shores,  and  thence  west  to 
Iceland.      Here  he  tarried  a  while  with  Icelandic 
bishops,  from  whom  it  is  reasonably  supposed  he 
obtained  infonnation  of  the  discover\-  of  Vine- 
land  by  the  Northmen — the  Viking  Navigators — 
as  early  as  the  year  985.      It  is  certain  that  the 
stor>-    of     discoveries     and      settlements    on  •  the 
American  shore — then  called  Vineland — was  pre- 
ser\-ed  in    the    Scandinavian    Sagas,    and    all    the 
attendant  circumstances  of  the  voyages  of  Herjulf- 
son,     Leif    Erickson,     Thorwald,     Thorstein    and 
Thorfinn   were  familiar  through  repetition  of  the 
histon,-  around    the    yule    logs    of  the    Icelanders, 
where  it  was  customary  to  recite  the  Sagas. 

What  he  learned  in  the  land  of  Ultima  Thule  of  Ptolemy — Iceland — served  the  more  to 
indelibly  impress  Columbus  with  the  truthfulness  of  his  theory;  besides  which  specific  infor- 
mation, he  had  observed,  through  the  philosophic  inst'r.ct  that  was  in  him,  the  length  of  time 
it  took  the  sun  to  traverse  the  length  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  calculated  time  and  distance  so 
as  to  detennine  an  arc  of  the  earth  and  thus  measure  its  circumference.  There  was  practicallv 
a  unanimity  of  opinion  at  this  period  as  to  the  hemispheric  shape  of  the  earth,  thouo-h 
several  of  the  most  distinguished  scientists  of  the  age  had  advanced  the  theor>-  of  its  sphe- 
ricity ;  but  not  a  few  cosmographers,  and  nearly  all  ecclesiastics,  ridiculed  as  preposterous 
the  idea  of  the  earth  being  other  than  a  plane  capped  with  a  dome,  the  edo-es  of  which 
marked  the  horizon,  beyond  which  were  darkness  and  possiblv  nameless  thinf^s.  To  coun- 
teract so  general  an  opinion,  not  wholly  disconnected  with  pious  faith,  Columbus  was  for  a 
time  distressed  for  opportunity  to  explain  his  theory  before  influential  bodies. 

It  is  no  discredit  either  to  Columbus  or  the  Church  to  venture  the  suspicion  that,  in 
order  to  obtain  audiences  which  other  means  appear  to  have  denied  him,  he  now  assumed  a 
degree  of  religious  devotion  and  intense  piety  which  had  not  previously  characterized  his 
life,  and  that  his  purpose  may  have  been  to  gain  the  confidence  of  ecclesiastics  throuo-h 
whom  alone,  he  justly  reasoned,  could  he  reach  the  ears  of  those  whose  assistance  he  required. 
That  Columbus  was  a  strong  Catholic,  by  conviction  as  well  as  bv  birth,  is  undeniable  but 
at  this  time  of  his  life  there  are  appearances  of  eflTorts  at  zealous  demonstrations  not  before 
noted,  and  a  purpose  may  have  been  behind  i! 


76 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Against  this  suspicion,  however,  may  be  opposed  the  equally  reasonable  conclusion 
that  long  brooding  over  his  scheme  had  developed  in  him  a  belief  that  he  had  been  divinely 
commissioned  to  carry  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the  uttennost  parts  of  the  world,  to  lands 
whereon  the  feet  of  a  Christian  had  never  pressed.  This  belief  is  even  intimated  in  one  of 
his  letters,  in  which  he  refers  to  himself  as  having  been  designed  to  fulfil  a  prophecy  of 
Isaiah.  It  is  possible  also  that  he  may  have  been  urged  to  this  conviction  b)'  reflecting 
xipou  the  interpretation  of  his  name,  in  which  there  appeared  to  be  a  foreshadowing  of  the. 
Divine  intent  operating  through  him.     The  family  name,  Colombo,  signifies  in  the  Latin  a 


LANDING   OF  I,EIF    ERICKSON    ON   THE   SHORES   OF   VINELAND    IN    9S5. 

dove^  indicative  of  purity,  innocence  and  simplicity,  and  the  Colombian  coat-of-anns  accord- 
ingly bore  a  device  of  three  white  doves  on  an  azure  field,  beneath  which  were  the  Christian 
.graces,  faith,  hope,  charity.  The  word  Colombo  also  expresses  na\-igation,  love  for  the  sea 
or  the  keel  of  a  vessel  ;  by  which  combination  it  was  easy  for  Columbus  to  conceive  that  in 
his  surname  there  was  prophetic  signification  of  an  inspired  man,  destined  to  earn,- the  gospel 
of  purity  and  simplicity  of  heart  acro.ss  the  ocean  waters  to  unknown  lands. 

But  as  if  to  reinforce  the  interpretation  of  which  the  word  Colombo  was  susceptible,  he 
had  been  baptized  in  a  church  dedicated  to  St.  Stephen  and  christened  at  that  moment 
Christophorus,  which,  as  De  Lorgues  says,  was  a  name  most  appropriate  for  the  functions 


COLUMBUS   AXI)   COLUMBIA. 


he  was  to  discharge  among  men.  This  latter  signifies  a  disciple  of  Christ,  or  one  who  bears 
the  cross  ;  hence,  he  who  spreads  the  gospel.  To  one  so  visionan,-,  so  enthusia.stic,  so  qnick 
to  tnibrace  an  opinion,  and  so  tenacious  of  his  beliefs  as  was  Cohniibus,  the  conclusion  is 
unavoidable  that  he  must  have  been  deeply  impressed  by  the  coincidence  of  his  ambitious 
conception  and  llie  si!L:^nificatiou  of  buth  liis  faniilx-  and  l)ai)lisina]  nauKs. 

COLUMBUS   IN  SEARCH  OF  ASSISTANCE  TO  CARRY  INTO  EFFECT  HIS  PROJECT. 

The  chronologA'  of  Columbus'  acts  cannot  be  detennined,  and  hence  the  diversit\-  of 
-tatement  of  his  biographers  as  to  the  time  and  place  when  he  first  made  an  appeal  for  national 
a.ssistance  in  furtherance  of  his  scheme.  By  some  his  voyage  to  Iceland  is  represented  as 
having  been  made  before  his  sojourn  on  the  island  of  Porto  Santo,  and  in  pursuance  of  in- 
fonnation  gained  at  the  pontifical  court  of  Rome,  where,  among  the  Vatican  archives,  it  is 
declared  reports  were  found  detailing  the  American  discoveries  of  Norse  navigators.  Others 
represent  him  as  perfonning  this  journey  after  the  rejection  of  his  proposal  to  the  Portuguese 
sovereign.  In  this  confusion,  arising  from  irreconcilable  dates  and  indefiniteness  of  circum- 
stances, we  can  do  no  better  than  attempt  to  relate  the  facts  in  the  order  in  which  thev  appear 
to  have  most  probably  occurred. 
That  Cohnnbus  was  sensibh 
impressed  with  a  belief  in  - 
power  bestowed  by  special  dis- 
pensation of  Providence  is 
clearly  indicated  by  the  se- 
verely independent,  command- 
ing spirit  which  he  exhibited 
when  appearing  before  the 
senates  and  courts  with  o\er- 
tures  for  aid  in  carrying  his 
projects  into  eflfect.  It  may  be 
reasonably  inferred,  from  more  than  a  single  circumstance,  that  he  made  his  first  appeal  for 
assistance  before  the  Congress  of  Genoa,  that  being  his  native  city,  and  the  republic  of 
which  he  had  helped  to  perpetuate  when  threatened  by  the  arrogance  of  Venice.  But 
to  his  arginnent  and  appeals  the  Genoese  Senate  returned  only  evasive  replies,  pleading 
such  excuses  as  a  depleted  treasury,  danger  of  the  undertaking,  and  the  probable  profitless- 
ness  of  such  a  discover^'  even  if  made. 

But,  inspired  by  dreams  of  golden  accomplishment,  hope  still  lured  him  forward  to  per- 
fect his  schemes,  and  from  Genoa  Columbus  went  directly  to  the  republic  of  St.  Mark, 
where  he  laid  his  proposals  before  the  Venetian  Senate,  hoping  to  make  Italy  the  beneficiar\- 
of  liis  enterprise  ;  but  the  council  scarcely  deigned  to  hear  his  appeal  ;  nor  did  it  give  any 
audience  to  his  views  and  arguments.  Thus  rejected,  Columbus  went  to  Savone,  at  which 
place  his  father  was  now  living,  and  where  he  remained  only  one  year,  but  in  wliat  engage- 
ment we  do  not  know.  Thence  he  returned  again  to  Lisbon,  and  spent  the  next  few  >  ears 
Irawing  charts  and  studying  the  works  of  philosophers  and  historian.s.  In  the  meantime  his 
'ie\oted  wife,  Felippa,  died,  leaving  to  him  the  care  of  Diego,  who  was  now  probablv  ten 
years  of  age.  But  the  rejection  of  .senates  and  the  loss  of  relatives  in  no  wise  abated  his 
ardor,  for  he  was  sustained  in  all  afflictions  by  remembrance  of  sacrifices  borne  by  Christ, 
and  an  inncxiblt-  bt  liif  in  the  inspiration  of  his  designs. 

THE  SELF-SUFFICIENCY  OF  COLUMBUS. 

Patiently  abiding  his  time,  Columbus  at  length   thought  lie  saw  an  opportunity  for  a 


C(J.\i    Ul-    ARMS   Oi    lUii  CuLi'.MBu    lA.MliA. 


LlKEAM    VISIONS   OF   INSPIRATION. 


(78) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


79 


successful  presentation  of  his  purposes  and  desires  before  the  Court  of  Portugal,  as  King-  John 
II.  began  to  manifest  a  disposition  to  extend  his  dominions.  But  at  no  time  would  Colum- 
bus descend  from  his  lofty  dignity,  which  bore  the  effrouter}'  of  an  affected  superiority,  and 
this  seemingly  supercilious  air,  which  was  really  a  self-consciousness  of  inspiration,  increased 
the  natural  difficulties  which  attend  an  audience  at  court.  He  had  acquired  the  character 
of  a  visionary-,  and  when  at  length  he  was  pennitted  to  appear  before  the  King,  there  was 
little  to  predispose  him  to  royal  favor.  Perhaps  he  would  not  have  been  admitted  to  the 
King's  presence  had  it  not  been  for  the  antecedent  relations  which  he  bore  towards  Don 
Henry,  John's  father,  as  the  son-in-law  of  Porto  Santo' s  governor,  and  husband  to  a  woman 
who  had  been  intimate  with  the  best  society,  court  and  others,  of  Lisbon.  Instead  of  find- 
ing Cohunbus  obsequious,  which  usually  characterized  the  conduct 
of  those  seeking  the  royal  favor,  King  John  directly  detected 
in  the  applicant  a  spirit  of  self-complacency  and  assurance  truly 
astonishing,  which  was  further  aggravating  to  the  monarch  by 
the  extravagant  conditions  accompanying  tlie  application.  In 
the  inter\uew  Columbus  entertained  no  doubt  that  he  .should 
discover  new  countries  rich  in  treasure  and  vast  in  extent.  To 
his  intense  imagination  everything  was  so  real  that  he  fancied 
himself  already  returning  from  a  long  voyage,  bringing  the  most 
glorious  fruits  of  discover}',  for  which  ser\'ice  he  esteemed  himself 
as  the  equal  of  any  potentate  however  powerful,  and  entitled  to  an\- 
reward  however  great.  Therefore  his  demands  were  made  coninien- 
surate  with  the  deed  he  was  about  to  accomplish.  He  would  not 
only  accept  nobility  for  himself,  but  required  that  hereditary  honors 
be  bestowed  upon  his  family  ;  that  he  be  commissioned  as  high 
admiral  of  the  ocean,  and  receive  a  tenth  part  of  all  gains  resulting 
from  the  expedition,  the  same  to  descend  in  perpetuit>'  to  his  de- 
scendants. 

The  extraordinary'  conditions  which  Columbus  thus  imposed 
gave  ofTenca  to  John,  which  was  increased  by  his  peremptory'  refusal 
to  accept  anything  less  ;  but  when  the  King  was  so  far  indulgent  as 
to  refer  the  matter  to  a  commission,  instead  of  instantly  dismissing 
him  as  a  presumptuous  dreamer,  Columbus  felt  certain  that,  what- 
ever the  outcome  of  the  official  inquiry,  his  plans  had  produced  a 
strong  impression  upon  Portugal's  ruler. 

COLUMBUS    BEFORE  THE  PORTUGUESE  JUNTA. 

The  council,  consisting  of  Diego  Ortiz  Cazadilla,  Bishop  of 
Ceuta  ;  Roderigo,  the  King's  physician,  and  a  Jewish  cosinographer 
named  Joseph,  upon  a.ssembling  summoned  Columbus  to  explain  more  fully  his  theories  and 
purposes.  This  opportunity  was  embraced  to  his  greatest  possible  advantage,  in  which  the 
great  navigator  set  forth  liis  beliefs  and  all  the  reasons  upon  which  liis  detenninations  were 
based.  His  arguments  seemed  to  prevail  witli  Roderigo  and  Joseph,  but  tlie  Bishop  of 
Ceuta  opposed,  in  the  most  violent  manner,  e\er}-  thcon-  that  Columbus  had  advanced, 
and  every-  conclusion  that  he  had  reached,  and  emphasized  liis  objections  bv  declaring  that 
Portugal's  treasury  was  in  no  condition  for  testing  tlie  wild  vagaries  of  an  enthusiast  while 
Moorisli  infidels  were  threatening  the  nation. 

The  harsh  language  of  the  Bishop  inflamed  Pedro  de  Mencses,  Count  of  Villareal,  who 


80 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLU^IBIA. 


was  also  Knight  of  the  Order  of  Christ,  who,  having  the  liberty  of  the  assembh',  replied  in 
a  spirited  manner  to  the  Bishop's  bigoted  reflections,  among  other  things  saying  :  "  Would 
it  not  perhaps  be  to  refuse  God,  to  reject  this  oflTer?  "  and  closing  with  these  impressive 
words  :  ' '  Soldier  as  I  am,  but  influenced  thereto  by  a  voice  from  heaven  urging  me  on,  I 
dare  to  foretell  to  the  sovereign  who  would  attempt  this  enterprise  a  happy  success,  which 
will  produce  a  greater  power  and  a  vaster  glorj-  in  the  future  than  were  ever  obtained  b>-  the 
most  celebrated  heroes  or  the  most  fortunate  monarchs."  This  speech  was  cheered  in  a 
manner  indicative  of  its  eflfect  upon  the  assembly,  but  the  Bishop,  to  counteract  its  effect,  ex- 
pressed himself  as  unfavorable  to  Columbus  for  the  ^|  j 
carrying  into  execution  of  the  undertaking,  and  '^| 
thus  he  obtained  a  rejection  of  the  conditions 
THE  PERFIDY  OF  KING  JOHN  AND  HIS  COUNSELLORS. 
King  John,  though  probably  indisposed,  tor 
personal  reasons,  as  already  intimated,  to  enter- 


=fe%^>?^-l/'"l 


_^gg^  tain    the    pro- 

^_  posals  of  Co- 
lumbus, w  a  s 
nevertheless 
deeply  affected 
b\-  the  strong  arguments  which  he  had  heard 
advanced  before  the  Junta,  and  being  covetous 
of  new  empires  called  his  counsellors  about 
him  for  advice  as  to  how  he  might  take 
advantage  of  the  theories  and  information  which  Coltimbus  had  expounded,  in  the  -^erit)' 
of  which  he  implicitly  believed.  It  is  astonishing,  and  in  no  degree  complimentar}-  to 
human  justice,  and  least  to  a  church  bishop  and  King's  confessor,  that  at  this  council  the 
Bishop  of  Ceuta  should  be  chief  adviser,  and  that  his  recommendations  should  be  as  un- 
worthy as  his  opposition  to  Columbiis  was  unjust ;  through  the  advisings  of  this  prelate 
King  John  sent  a  messenger  to  Columbus  inviting  him  to  reappear  before  the  commission, 


COLUMBUS  BEFORE  THE  PORTUGUKSE  JUNTA. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


81 


which  had  not  yet  been  discharged,  and  to  present  the  fullest  details  of  his  project, 
together  with  all  charts  that  he  had  prepared  illustrative  of  his  theory,  and  such  infonna- 
tion  as  he  was  able  to  give  ;  alleging  as  a  motive  for  this  request  a  desire  of  the  coniuiissioa 
to  reopen  the  examination  of  his  application  and  the  evidences  of  its  feasibility. 

Believing  in  the  honesty  of  the  King  and  his  counsellors,  and  greatly  encouraged  by 
this  mark  of  interest,  which  to  his  roseate  imagination  foreshadowed  an  acceptance  of  the 
conditions  named  in  his  application,  Columbus  made  a  prompt  response  to  the  invitation 
and  supplied  the  charts  and  infonnation  desired. 

Having  obtained  possession  of  the  maps,  papers  and  evidences  supporting  the  theory 
upon  which  Columbus  based  his  ambitions,  by  the  further  advice  of  the  bishop  King  John 
secretly  prepared  a  vessel,  and  placing  it  under  the  command  of  his  most  experienced  pilot, 
who  was  equipped  with  the  infonnation  thus  perfidiously  secured,  despatched  it,  ostensibly 
upon  a  \oyage  of  discover)"  down  the  coast  of  Africa,  upon  a  west- 
ward expedition  in  quest  of  the  kingdom  of  Cipango,  and  in  pursu- 
ance of  all  the  plans  submitted  by  Columbus.  The  bishop  had  re- 
commended this  graceless  act  with  the  venal  intent  of  enabling  the 
King  to  enrich  himself  without  incurring  any  pecuniary  obligations 
to  Cohnnbus,  whom  he  would  rob  under  the  highwayman's  excuse 
that  his  arrogance  and  conditions  made  it  impolitic  to  grant  his 
application. 

KING  JOHN'S   SHIP  ASSAILED    BY    DEMONS. 

The  ship  which  the  King  had  thus  provided  proceeded  first  to 
Cape  de  Verde  islands,  whence,  after  revictualling,  the  voyage  into 
the  great  unknown  was  begun.  For  a  few  days  fair  progress  was 
made,  but  as  the  distance  increased  alarm  grew,  and  when  directlv 
a  terrible  storm  assailed  the  vessel,  fear  turned  to  panic,  and  above 
the  rush  of  wind,  rattle  of  lines,  and  dash  of  sea,  there  rose  mad 
cries  of  distraction  and  prayers  of  despair.  In  ever\-  cloud  there 
lurked  a  demon,  every  billow  was  the  lair  of  monster  infernal, 
while  on  the  \vinds  rode,  like  charge  of  cavalry',  hosts  of  spectres 
diabolic,  a  marshalling  of  hellish  powers  that  held  master\-  over  the 
boundary-  of  ocean  waters,  and  resented  with  destruction  invasion  of 
that  haunted  realm.  With  one  accord,  master  and  crew  turned  about 
their  vessel  with  only  a  faint  hope  encouraging  them,  and  returned 
to  the  Portuguese  port  whence  they  had  sailed. 

Ver)-  soon  after  the  cowardly  voyagers  regained  the  shore  and  made  report  of  their 
failure  to  King  John,  to  protect  themselves  from  well-merited  ridicule  the  oflScers  and  sailors 
began  traducing  Columbus  as  the  author  of  a  scheme  most  absurd,  and  which  thev  had  been 
so  foolhard\-  as  to  so  demonstrate. 

News  of  this  swaggering  and  contumely  was  not  long  in  reaching  the  ears  of  Columbus, 
who  now  for  the  first  time  learned  of  the  King's  perfidy.  With  scorn  and  anger  at  the 
shameless  conduct  of  both  King  and  commission,  Columbus  resoKed  to  quit  a  conntrv  in 
which  venality  seemed  to  predominate  as  the  cap-sheaf  of  all  the  national  vices.  But  King 
John  did  not  accept  the  report  of  the  voyagers  as  conclusi\e  evidence  of  the  claim  that 
Columbus  was  a  crazy  adventurer.  So  far  from  entertaining  such  an  opinion,  he  regarded 
the  negative  result  as  due  to  cowardice  rather  than  as  affording  a  proof  that  the  plans  of 
Columbus  were  no  more  than  the  conception  of  a  dreamer.  Indeed,  the  longer  he  contem- 
6 


82  COLUMBUvS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

plated  the  possibilities  and  probabilities  of  such  a  discover>-  as  might  be  made  by  a  voyage 
westward,  the  more  iucliued  did  the  King  become  to  lend  substantial  aid  to  the  enterprise, 
and  to  make  atonement  for  the  perfidious  act  which  he  had  committed  through  advice  of  his 
confessor.  Resolved  at  last  what  he  would  do,  King  John  sent  a  letter  of  apolog>-  to 
Columbus,  in  which  he  also  pledged  the  resources  of  his  treasury-  in  support  of  the  enter- 
prise. But  in  a  spirit  of  lofty  indignation,  Columbus  peremptorily  and  haughtily  refused 
all  overtures  and  continued  his  preparations  for  a  final  removal  from  Lisbon,  whose  court 
he  publicly  denounced  for  its  despicable  treacher\'.  The  King,  learning  of  his  intentions, 
desio-ned  to  restrain  and  compel  him  to  the  undertaking,  but  this  conspiracy  reaching  the 
ears  of  Columbus  he  quietly  disposed  of  the  small  property  which  he  held  in  the  city  and 
took  secret  passage,  with  his  son  Diego,  in  a  vessel  bound  for  Genoa. 

It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  1484,  as  all  authorities  agree,  that  Columbus  took  his  depar- 
ture from  Portugal,  and  it  was  probably  towards  the  middle  of  that  year  when  he  arri\'ed  at 
Savone,  where  his  father  had  taken  up  his  residence  some  considerable  time  before.  By 
some  of  his  biographers,  notably  De  Lorgues,  it  is  declared,  that  on  this  visit  to  his  native 
country  Columbus  made  one  more  appeal  to  the  Senate  of  Genoa  for  assistance,  but  with  no 
better  success,  and  possibly  with  less  encotiragement,  than  attended  his  first  application. 
But  doubt  as  to  this  act  is  substantially  based  upon  the  character  of  Columbus,  who  being 
imperious  and  .still  impressed  with  a  belief  in  his  inspiration,  as  already  explained,  could  not 
easily  forget  the  indifference  of  the  Senate  to  his  original  proposals  ;  besides,  just  before 
quitting  Lisbon  he  had  sent  his  brother,  Bartholomew,  to  England  to  lay  before  Henry  VII. 
plans  and  purposes  of  his  proposed  expedition  and  to  solicit  the  aid  of  that  monarch,  upon 
tenns  which  had  been  offered  to  John  II.  Hence  circumstances  point  to  the  conclusion  that 
his  object  in  repairing  to  Italy  was  two-fold,  viz. :  to  visit  his  father,  who  was  now  greatly 
aged,  and  to  seek  there  a  temporary  asylum  from  the  designs  of  Portugal's  King.  And  this 
belief  is  increased  bv  the  fact  that  his  stay  in  Savone  was  certainly  not  less  and  probably 
more  than  one  year,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  turned  his  eyes  towards  the  Christian 
monarchies,  among  whom  he  confidently  believed  he  would,  through  God's  help,  find  a 
patron  who  woidd  give  him  all  necessary  aid  to  demonstrate  the  beneficent  problem  which 
he  had  proposed. 


CHAPTRR  III. 


COLUMBUS   PROCEEDS  TO  SPAIN. 

j,HAT  could  have  prompted  Columbus  to  proceed 
to  Spain  at  the  conclusion  of  his  visit  to  Savouc 
only  Providence  can  answer.  He  had  no  friends 
in  that  country,  so  far  as  history  acquaints  us,  if 
we  except  a  young  married  sister  of  his  wife,  liv- 
ing at  Huelva,  and  if  he  went  there  in  further- 
ance of  his  ambitions,  his  hopes  must  have 
been  poorly  supported,  for  in  no  other  nation 
were  the  conditious  apparently  so  imfavorable  to 
the  accomplishment  of  his  ends.  For  years  a 
fierce  war  had  been  carried  on  in  a  vain  effort  to 
expel  the  Moors,  who  held  the  fairest  portions  of 
Spain  despite  the  thunderbolts  of  Europe  to 
drive  them  back  into  Africa.  But  the  king- 
doms of  Aragon  and  Castile  had  been  united  b\- 
the  marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in  which 
**-  ,  '  consolidation  of  Christian  interests  the  country 

was  hopefulh-  anticipating  a  victory  that  would  destroy  the  last  vestige  of  Islamism  in 
Spain.  But  the  treasuries  of  Aragon,  Castile  and  Leon  were  nearly  exhausted,  while  the 
two  annies  were  upon  the  point  of  engaging  in  a  decisive  battle  before  the  splendor-crowned 
capital  of  Granada,  into  which  the  Moors  had  been  driven  as  their  last  resort. 

Columbus,  after  arriving  at  Palos,  with  his  son  Diego,  being  poor  in  purse  and  ill-pre- 
pared to  procure  better  entertainment,  repaired  to  a  convent  dedicated  to  the  Order  of  St. 
Francis,  and  called,  in  honor  of  the  Virgin,  Santa  Maria  de  la  Rabida,  which  stood  on  a 
high  Irill  overlooking  the  sea,  somewhat  more  than  a  mile  from  Palos.  Over  this  coin-cnt 
there  presided  the  good  bishop  Juan  Perez  de  Marchena,  who  had  been  counsellor  and  con- 
fessor of  Queen  Isabella,  and  who  was  also  a  man  much  esteemed  for  his  great  learning,  as 
well  as  for  his  exceeding  urbanity  and  gentleness  of  heart,  which  greatly  endeared  him  to 
the  queen.  He  was  both  a  cosmographer  and  an  astronomer,  who  preferred  the  solitude  and 
holy  communion  of  the  convent  to  the  glittering  pomp  and  obsequious  homage  of  ser\ile 
parasites  that  characterized  life  about  the  royal  court.  In  the  compan>"  of  such  a  man 
Columbus  found  congenial  companionship  as  well  as  a  wann  welcome,  for  the  good  bishop 
lent  an  eager  ear  to  explanations  of  his  theories  and  an  unfolding  of  his  plans,  pregnant  as 
they  were  with  mighty  possibilities  for  the  advancement  of  both  church  and  state. 

In  all  the  long  discussions  between  Columbus  and  the  prior  of  La  Rabida  there  was 
unanimity  of  opinion  respecting  the  shape  of  the  earth,  and  the  probaljility  of  reaching 
countries  of  the  far  east  by  sailing  westward  ;  but  the  means  for  demonstrating  this  belief 
doubtless  became  a  subject  of  dispute.  That  the  Spanish  stivereigns  would  extend  the 
necessary-  aid  was  problematic,  considering  the  condition  of  the  country  at  that  time,  when 

(Si) 


84 


COLUIMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  energies  and  hopes  of  both  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  directed  in  channels  leading 
away  from  all  commercial  enterprises. 

FEUDALISM  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 
In  the  ]\Iiddle  Ages  next  to  sovereign  power  was  feudal  wealth  and  influence,  and 
ever\'where  in  Spain  picturesque  sites  were  adorned  with  castles  defended  by  moats,  and 
walls,  and  brazen  gates,  the  homes  of  rich  barons,  noble  dukes  and  successful  robbers. 
These  lordly  representatives  of  feudal  timocracy  kept  bands  of  anned  ser\'itors  to  protect 
them  from  invaders  of  their  own  kind,  and  even  maintained  fleets  for  carrying  products  to 
other  ports,  and  sometimes  to  engage  in  adventures  for  spoliation  on  the  high  seas.  Among 
the  most  celebrated  of  these  lords,  at  the  time  of  Columbus'  ^•isit  to  Spain,  was  the  Duke 
of  Medina  Sidonia,  who  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious  nobles  of  Europe.  His  castle  was 
as  well  fortified  and  as  impregnable  as  Gibraltar  ;  his  wealth  was  equal  to  that  of  a  king- 
dom, and  the  splendor  of  his  court  and  equipage  rivalled  that  of  Caesar.  So  enormous 
were  his  riches  that  more  than  once  was  his  King  a  borrower  from  his  bounty,  and  a  hun- 
dred war  vessels,  manned  by  his  vassals,  was  his  contribution  to  Ferdinand  in  his  war 
against  the  Moors.  To  this  great  duke  did  La  Rabida's  prior  refer  his  guest  in  a  letter  of 
warm  commendation,  and  with  this  influential  introduction  Columbus  made  a  journey  to 
tlie  battlemented  castle,  full  of  hope,  perhaps  joyfully  sanguine  of  the  result.  But  dis- 
appointment followed  his  every 
footstep,  to  confront  him  in  the 
2  splendid  halls  of  the  rich  and 
.ui-  powerful  lord.  At  first,  excited 
by  the  boldness  of  his  visitor's 
proposals,  and  captivated  by  the 
eloquence  and  force  of  his  reason- 
ing, which  seemed  to  force  con- 
viction upon  his  willing  ears, 
the  duke  was  prompted  to  ex- 
FATHER  PEREZ  OFFERING  THE  HospiT.\LiTiEs  OF  LA  RABiDA.  tcnd  thc  aid  desircd  uutil  re- 
flecting that  his  sovereigns  might  object  to  such  an  enterprise  being  undertaken  as  a  private 
project,  he  finally  dismissed  the  subject  from  his  mind,  leaving  Columbus  no  other  resource 
than  to  return  to  the  cloisters,  where  alone  he  had  found  encouragement  and  help. 
RESOLUTION  OF  COLUMBUS  TO  APPEAL  TO  FRANCE. 
By  the  solicitation  of  the  generous  prelate  Columbus  was  afterwards  induced  to  make 
his  proposals  to  the  Duke  of  Medina  Celi,  who  was  also  a  rich  and  powerful  noble,  some- 
what famed  for  hospitalib.-,  but  his  appeals  met  with  such  decided  refusal  that,  mortified 
by  rejections  of  his  requests,  and  completeh-  discouraged  b}-  his  unfavorable  reception 
at  the  hands  of  those  who  were  most  able  to  help  him,  Columbus  resolved  to  quit  Spain  and 
repair  to  the  Court  of  France,  the  throne  of  which  was  then  occupied  bj-  Anne,  wife  of 
Peter  II.,  who  ruled  as  regent  of  Charles  VIII.  during  his  minorit>\ 

France  appeared  to  Colum.bus  as  presenting  an  inviting  field  for  the  advancement  of  his 
mighty  enterprise.  Under  Louis  XL  she  had  made  mar\-ellous  advances,  for  he  had  crushed 
out  feudalism  and  substituted  autocracy  for  anarchy  ;  at  the  same  time,  while  centralizing 
his  government,  he  gave  every  possible  encouragement  to  commerce  and  industiv".  Besides 
this  directive  spirit  of  higher  civilization  Louis  bestowed  great  favors  upon  the  universities, 
and  had  enlarged  the  borders  of  France  to  almost  their  present  dimensions,  and  on  his  death- 
bed, in  1483,  begged  that  the  policy  of  his  administration  be  continued  by  his  successor. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


85 


W'^''''^' 


Charles  VIII.  was  only  thirteen  years  of  age  when  his  father  died,  and  was  poorly  fitted 
both  by  youth  and  training  to  assume  the  duties  of  an  active  ruler  ;  so  that  Anne,  his  aunt, 
Duchess  of  Bourbon  and  sister  of  Louis  XL,  was  declared  regent,  and  for  nine  years  acted, 
by  the  king's  last  instnictions,  as  guardian  of  Charles.  So  prudently  did  she  manage  the 
govennnent  that  she  destroyed  the  last  vestige  of  feudalism,  asserted  the  power  of  France 
against  Brittany,  practically  placed  Henry  of  Richmond  on  the  throne  of  England,  and  by 
other  brilliant  successes  received  the  title  "  Madame  la  Grande."  Her  anny  was  the  largest 
in  Europe,  her  treasure  the  richest,  and  her  ambition  for  the  glory  of  her  country  the 
greatest ;  the  circumstances  and  conditions,  therefore,  seemed  to  particularly  favor  Columbus 
in  France,  and  his  resolution  to  appeal  to  that  court  was  for  a  while 
so  firmly  fixed  that  all  the  persuasive  powers  of  Father  Juan's  ^  \  Pl^ 
eloquence  were  scarcely  sufficient  to  divert  him  from  this  purpose. 

Several   years  had   passed  between  the  time  that  Columbus  first 
appeared  before  the  hospitable  door  of  the  La  Rabida  Cotuent,  and 
when   he  returned  dejected,  care-worn  and  covered  with  the  dust  of 
travel    from    his    unsuccessful 
visit  to    the   Duke  of  Medina 
Cell  ;  but  he  was  not  discour- 
aged, for  there  was  still  in  him 
a  feeling  of  inspiration  which 
urged    him    on    like    a    good 
angel   guardian,    by  reminders 
of  how  others  had  suffered  be- 
fore gaining  the  great  end  of 
their  beneficent  missions. 

Scarcely  was  his  hunger 
satisfied  at  the  generous  board 
of  the  convent  when  Colum- 
bus unfolded  his  plans  to  the 
bishop  of  presenting  his  pro- 
posals to  the  French  Court, 
and  recited  his  reasons  for  ex- 
pecting a  favorable  response. 
To  these  Father  Juan  opposed 
all  his  influence,  and  eloquently  collmbcs  .\n-d  his  son  .^t  the  convent  of  la  rabida. 

pleaded  with  his  guest  to  reserve  his  intent  until  other  chances  for  giving  the  glory 
of  his  discoveries  to  Spain  were  tried.  Thus  persuading  Columbus  to  remain  for  a 
while  at  the  convent.  Father  Juan  summoned  a  learned  ph\sician  of  Palos,  named 
Garcia  Hernandez,  who  promptly  responded  and  added  his  inducements  and  encour- 
igements  to  those  of  the  Franciscan  Father.  Several  other  influential  persons  of  Palos 
directly  appeared  at  the  convent  and  joined  their  efforts  with  those  of  Hernandez  and  the 
prelate  in  devising  means  for  gaining  the  attention  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns  and  securing 
their  assistance  in  promoting  the  project  of  Columbus. 

The  result  of  the  long  and  frequent  consultations  at  the  Convent  of  La  Rabida  was  not 
without  substantial,  though  not  immediate,  benefits.  When  the  time  for  his  departure  from 
the  monaster)'  was  at  hand  Columbus  received  from  Father  Juan  a  sum  of  money  and  a 
cordial  letter  of  earnest  recommendation  addressed  to  the  Prior  of  Prado,  Ferdinand  de  Tala- 


A   GOLDEN   DAY-DREAM   OF    CuLUMlil; 


(86) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMRIA. 


87 


vera,  who  was  then  confessor  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  whose  mediation  it  was  believed 
wonld  jjive  him  a  favorable  reception  at  conrt.  Not  beinsj  in  a  condition  to  properlv  pro- 
vide for  his  son,  Colnmbns  left  Diego  in  charge  of  the  charitable  Franciscans,  who  gener- 
ously clothed,  fed  and  educated  him  for  a  ninnber  of  years. 

SEEKING  ROYALTY   IN  THE  CAMP. 

Columbus  set  out  hopefulh-  for  Cordo\a,  and  arriving  at  the  court  confidently  presented 
his  letter,  but  instead  of  meeting  a  cordial  reception  the  prior  haughtily,  even  disdainfully, 
scnitinized  him,  nor  would  even  give  ear  to  his  representations. 

At  the  time  of  Columbus'  visit  to  Cordova  the  Moors,  who  once  held  dominion  over 
the  entire  Iberian  peninsula,  had  now  been  driven  by  the  victorious  Spanish  to  make  their 
refuge  in  Granada,  about  the  borders  of  which  an  exultant  arm\-  was  eagerly  pressing.  The 
city  of  Cordova  was  therefore  the  centre  of  military  activity  ;  trumpets  filled  the  air  with 
their  blaring  notes,  companies  of  cavaliers  rode  through  the  streets  full  annorcd,  and  all  the 
chivaln-  of  Spain  was  in  unifonn. 

It  may  with  justice  be  admitted  that  destiny  looked  wnth  favor  on  Cohnnbus  in  recom- 
mending him  to  such  a  personage  as  the  queen  of  Castile.      Isabella   llji-i.^-^   -  ^.;^- 


11 


'M^- 


was  now  in  the  prime  of  womanhood,  being  in  her  thirty-fifth  year. 
As  a  woman  she  was  beautiful,  the  effect  of  which  was  increased 
by  a  dignit}'  and  grace  that  became  her  as  a  sovereign.  Hti 
temper  was  amiable,  her  judgment  prudent,  and  as  a  wife  slu 
subordinated  her  royal  prerogatives  to  love  and  dut>-,  for  her  afftr 
tion  for  Ferdinand  was  sincere.  Though  her  rights  as  queen  ot 
Castile  and  Leon  were  unabridged  by  marriage,  she  nevertheless 
diligently  sought  to  assimilate  her  will  and  purpose  with  that  ol 
her  husband,  though  .she  could  not  fail  to  perceive  that  of  tin 
united  kingdom  she  was  at  once  the  light  and  glor\'. 

Not  less  than  the  King  was  I.sabella  concerned  in  the  nation" ^ 
ambition  to  e.xpel  both  Moors  and  Jews  from  Spain  ;  and  liei 
enthusiasm  in  this  effort  prompted  her  to  spend  much  of  her  tinu 
in  the  Spanish  camps,  inspiring  her  soldiers  to  deeds  of  valor.  In 
sunnner  the  court  was  held  at  Cordova,  but  in  winter  the  King  and 
Queen  repaired  to  their  palace  at  Salamanca,  at  which  place  Coluni 

bus  was    first    able,    after   a   delay  of   man>-  months,   to  meet  an\  

of  the  dignitaries  of  the  royal  household.  His  first  acquaintance  of  advantage  was  with 
Alonzo  Quintanilla,  comptroller  of  the  treasury  of  Castile,  who  gave  a  patient  audience  to 
Columbus,  and  who  became  a  valuable  convert  to  his  views.  Through  the  comptroller 
Columbus  was  introduced  to  Antonio  Geraldini,  ambassador  of  the  Pope,  and  to  Alexander, 
his  brother,  instnictor  to  the  princes  and  princesses,  both  of  whom  became  deeply  impressed 
with  his  theories,  and  lent  him  their  heartiest  encouragements. 

SECOND   MARRIAGE  OF  COLUMBUS. 

Though  Cohnnbus  had  made  j^rogrcss  in  the  diffiision  of  his  plans,  and  won  over  to  his 
project  the  sympathies  of  many  distinguished  persons  in  Spain,  whose  iuflnencc  with  the 
sovereigns  was  pronounced,  opportunity  for  presenting  his  application  to  either  the  King  or 
Queen  was  still  wanting.  In  the  meantime  the  money  charitably  given  by  Father  Juan  was 
expended,  and  pressing  want  gave  him  no  other  alternative  than  a  return  to  his  jiro'ession 
of  cartographer  for  a  living.  In  the  year  which  had  now  elapsed  in  ])ersistent  cffiirt  to  gain 
the  attention  of  the  court    the  mind  of  Columbus  was  diverted  b\    a  love  episode,  which 


88 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


proved  that  amid  all  his  deep  concerns  his  heart  was  not  so  absorbed  with  ambitions  for 
glory  but  that  it  was  still  susceptible  to  the  influence  of  a  woman's  eyes  and  blandish- 
ments. In  Cordova  there  were  many  beautiful  senoritas  ;  in  fact,  the  city  was  famed  for 
the  comeliness  of  its  ladies  ;  fair  graces  that  wore  the  smiles  of  Venus,  the  fonn  of  Diana, 
and  the  ravishments  of  Helen.  To  one  of  these,  Dona  Beatriz  Enriquez,  Columbus  surren- 
dered, and  lived  with  her  for  many  years,  but  whether  this  union  was  consecrated  by 
hymeneal  bonds  is  a  question  which  historians  have  vainly  debated  ;  but  true  it  is,  that 
when,  in  1487,  this  lady  bore  him  a  son,  Columbus  not  only  acknowledged  its  paternity, 
but  had  the  child  christened  Fernando  and  bestowed  upon  him  ever  aftenvards  the  same 
marks  of  legitimacy  that  he  did  upon  his  other  son,  Diego.  Indeed,  Fernando  filled  a 
larger  part  of  his  father's  life  than  did  Diego,  as  he  was  entrusted  with  the  most  important 

concerns  and  became  his  father's  biographer,  transmitting  to  all  ages 
the  stor)^  of  Columbus,  his  defeats  and  triumphs,  and  at  the  last  hour 
was  by  his  bedside  to  receive  his  blessing  and  to  close  his  e}'es  for 
that  final  rest  which  he  had  won  by  the  most  distinguished  services, 
but  which  had  been  least  requited. 

COLUMBUS  OBTAINS  AN  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  SPAIN. 
After  years  of  waiting,  years  of  disappointment,  years  of  alter- 
nating encouragements  and  humiliations,  it  fell  to  the  good  fortune 
of  Columbus  at  last  to  meet,  through  the  courtesy  of  Ouintanilla, 
the  great  archbishop  of  Toledo,  Pedro  Gonzalez  de  Mendoza, 
whose  influence  at  the  Spanish  court  was  ascendant,  in  so  much 
that  he  was  principal  counsellor  of  the  King  and  Queen  in  all 
matters  concerning  either  peace  or  war.  In  some  respects  he 
resembled  the  most  distinguished  of  French  cardinals,  Richelieu,  for 
he  was  at  once  soldier  and  statesman,  and,  being  dignified  with  age, 
liis  manners  were  also  chivalrous  and  captivating.  The  first 
audience  which  Columbus  had  with  this  gi'eat  ecclesiastic  was  not 
entirelv  satisfactory,  as  a  proposal  of  his  scheme  brought  upon 
Columbus  the  archbishop's  suspicion  that  the  theories  submitted 
contravened  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  and  that  an  assertion  of 
the  earth's  sphericit}-  was  rank  heresy.  But  he  was  not  so  bigoted  as 
to  be  wholly  obdurate,  or  iniper\'ious  to  reason,  and  before  the 
eloquence  of  Columbus,  pleading  his  anrbition  to  spread  the  gospel 
of  Christ  among  heathens  of  iniknown  lands,  he  was  compelled  to 
manifest  the  greatest  interest.  We  may  well  imagine  the  zeal  of 
the  adventurer  in  this,  one  of  the  many  supreme  hours  in  his  career.  He  must  have  ap- 
peared as  one  inspired  to  the  sedate  cardinal,  whose  intelligence  could  not  fail  to  apprehend 
the  cogency  of  the  argument,  and  the  sincerity  of  the  advocate.  Glimpses  also  of  the 
magnificent  prospect  held  forth  and  lighted  by  tlie  torch  of  Columbus'  imagination  were 
caught  bv  the  venerable  Mendoza,  and  he  yielded  to  the  appeal  in  so  far  as  to  promise  that 
he  would  procure  for  Columbus  a  hearing  before  the  Queen. 

In  fulfilment  of  his  agreement  the  archbishop  did  introduce  Columbus  at  court,  but 
instead  of  meeting  Isabella  he  was  ushered  into  the  presence  of  Ferdinand,  whose  cold, 
c>-nical  nature  was  not  improved  by  lack  of  decision,  and  an  illiberality  that  bordered  on  penu- 
riousness.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  an  audience  with  majesty  is  an  ordeal  through 
which  one  may  pass  onl\-  by  an  exhibition  of  mingled  courage  and  humilit>- — tlie  courtli- 


coLr:\iBrs  and  Columbia. 


81) 


ness  of  a  knight  combined  with  llie  awe  of  a  peasant.  But  notwitlistanding  these  disquiet- 
ing conditions,  which  might  render  tlie  most  resohite  nenous  and  misgiving,  Cohunbus,  as 
if  encouraged  bv  some  occult  power,  in  proof  of  his  claim  to  have  been  sent  of  Heaven  to 
perform  a  wondrous  work,  poured  into  the  King's  ears  matchless  arguments  in  support  of 


ARCHBISHOP   MENDOZA    INTRODUCING   COLUMBUS  TO   FERDINAND. 

his  theory,  and  pictured  in  words  of  extraordinan-  zeal  and  confidence  the  kingdoms  which 
must  lie  beyond  the  line  where  the  horizon  ki-^st-s  tlu-  c\])anding  .sea. 

THE  CONGRESS  OF  SALAMANCA. 

In  one  particular  the  interest  of  Ferdinand   was  aroused.      The  recital  of  Columbus 

had  covered  his  exixrience  at  the  court  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  and  Spain  was  at  enmity 

with  Portugal,  which  rendered  Ferdinand  sensible  to  any  plan  which  promised  to  embarrass 

John.      Therefore,  in  so  far  as  the   prospect  of  advantage  was  opened   b\  tiie   proposals  of 


90  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Columbus,  the  Spanish  monarch  was  willing  to  extend  his  assistance,  if  b)^  so  doing  he 
might  anticipate  the  Portuguese  in  reaching  India  by  a  western  route.  But  over  this 
selfish  incentive  the  coldness  and  parsimony  of  his  disposition  prevailed  ;  but  instead  of 
dismissing  Columbus,  he  withheld  final  decision  until  opinions  of  the  learned  men  of 
the  kingdom,  as  to  the  feasibility  of  the  project,  could  be  obtained. 

In  pursuance  of  the  expressed  intentions  of  Ferdinand  he  appointed  a  commission  of 
several  learned  men  of  Spain  to  consider  the  theor>-  and  proposals  of  Columbus,  at  the  head 
of  which  was  placed  Ferdinand de  Talavera,  whose  chilling  reception,  as  alread\'  described, 
gave  small  hopes  to  Columbus  of  a  favorable  determination  ;  Rodrigo  Maldenado  de  Tala- 
vera, Mayor  of  Salamanca,  and  a  cousin  of  the  archbishop,  was  appointed  secretary'  of  the 
congress,  who  shared  with  his  distinguished  kinsman  the  bigotry-  and  prejudice  which  he  had 
evinced  at  the  first  meeting  with  Columbus. 

The  congress  which  Ferdinand  thus  called  together  convened  at  Salamanca,  which  was 
the  seat  of  all  Spanish  learning,  but  still  distinctly  mediaeval  and  intensely  ecclesiastical. 
The  chairs  of  its  great  university  were  occupied  by  the  most  learned  scholastics  of  Europe, 
and  on  its  registry  were  sometimes  enrolled  more  than  eight  thousand  students.  But  church 
influence  dominated  everything  in  Spain  ;  the  professorships  were  held  b}'  priest,  bishop, 
or  cardinal,  so  that  all  instruction  was  poured  through  the  sieve  of  ecclesiasticism,  and 
only  that  which  could  pass  through  the  meshes  was  accepted  as  tn:e.  Thus  we  perceive 
that  in  the  time  of  Columbus  both  the  intellectual  and  moral  life  of  Spain  was  subordinated 
to  the  purposes  of  the  church.  So  supreme  was  prelacy  that  not  even  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
could  free  themselves  from  the  thraldom  which  it  had  imposed.  This  being  the  intellectual 
condition  of  the  nation,  the  professors  of  its  greatest  university  were  ill-prepared  for 
original  investigation,  and  the  Junta  which  had  been  assembled  was  not  more  advanced 
in  thought,  nor  liberal  in  their  views,  than  the  mass  of  the  religious  monitors  of  that  age, 
who  took  scrupulous  care  that  science  should  not  invade  thfe  precincts  of  the  church.  To 
pass  the  established  bourne,  to  trench  upon  unexplored  realms,  to  venture  a  scientific  ex- 
planation of  the  simplest  phenomenon  of  nature,  was  to  startle  and  shock  the  whole  con- 
servatism of  ecclesiasticism. 

COLUMBUS    BEFORE   THE   SPANISH   JUNTA. 

The  assembling  place  of  the  congress  was  the  Dominican  Convent  of  St.  Stephen,  and 
the  time  very  early  in  Januan,',  1487,  but  the  members  of  the  commission  cannot  be  deter- 
mined, as  the  records  were  long  since  destroyed,  if,  indeed,  they  were  ever  preserved.  When 
Columbus  was  called  to  present  his  arguments  before  this  leanied  body  of  scholastics,  he 
surely  could  not  extract  inspiration  from  the  promises  which  their  ever}'  aspect  revealed. 

But  notwithstanding  all  the  discouragements  which  confronted  him,  Columbus  arose 
before  his  critics  in  the  large  conference  hall  of  St.  Stephen,  firm,  determined,  statuesque. 
The  occasion  had  arrived  when  his  supremest  nature  must  be  exhibited  ;  when  all  the 
powers  of  his  mental  endowments  must  be  brought  into  display  ;  when  diffidence  and  doubt 
must  give  way  to  pluck  and  persistence  ;  when  courage  and  confidence  must  be  harnessed 
bj'  the  will  to  ride  through  the  ranks  of  prejudice  and  all  opposing  environment.  With  this 
undaunted  spirit  Columbus  addressed  the  bearded  Junta.  At  first  only  the  Dominican  friars, 
composing  a  part  of  the  audience,  gave  him  respectful  attention,  but  as  he  progressed  his 
zeal  grew  vehement  and  words  of  startling  import  fell  in  streams  of  eloquence  from  his  lips. 
Gradually  he  began  to  make  an  impression,  favorable  upon  the  least  bigoted,  but  antag- 
onistic to  the  greater  number,  and  these  latter  flung  at  him,  by  way  of  interruption,  puerile 
objections  to  his  theories,  opposing,  with  weak  derision,  the  evidences  presented  of  a  world 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  91 

beyond  the  gloomy  ocean.  The  Scriptures — as  they  have  been  used  alike  to  defend  and 
impeach  in  ever>-  great  moral  question  that  has  arisen  to  divide  societj- — were  appealed  to 
in  disproof  of  the  claims  of  the  Genoese  navigator.  Texts  were  quoted  by  the  dignitaries, 
each  smiling,  after  the  manner  of  his  kind,  to  think  how  the  upstart  philosopher  was 
brought  to  bay  b\-  the  levelling  stroke  of  authority.  The  Book  of  Genesis  served  the 
opposition,  while  others  quoted  the  Psalms  and  the  prophecies  and  the  New  Testament 
writings  as  conclusive  evidence  of  the  falsit}'  of  Columbus'  conclusions.  But  these 
being  controverted,  the  Junta,  who  were  also  church  fathers,  introduced  opinions  of  St. 
Chr^'sostom,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Gregory,  St.  Basil  and  St.  Ambrose  in  proof 
of  the  flat  shape  of  the  earth,  and  that  circumnavigation  was  therefore  impossible.  Lactan- 
tius  Firmiarus,  who  wrote  in  the  fourth  century',  was  also  appealed  to,  whose  opinion  that 
the  earth  is  a  plane  was  piously  and  elaborately  set  forth  in  a  work  which  he  entitled  De 
FaUa  Sapientia — an  insight  into  deceptive  things. 

A  REJECTION   OF  HIS  SCHEMES. 

Columbus  confidently  quoted,  in  support  of  his  theory  of  the  earth's  sphericity,  such 
classical  authorities  as  Pliny,  Strabo,  Seneca  and  Aristotle,  and  also  read  nian\-  passages 
from  the  Bible  which  appeared  to  refer  to  other  lands  than  those  then  known.  And  thus  was 
the  conference  turned  into  a  commission  of  disputation,  which  resulted,  as  it  had  begun,  in  a 
division  of  opinion  respecting  the  earth's  shape.  Some  there  were,  chiefly  the  Dominican 
monks,  who  believed  the  world  to  be  globular  in  fonn,  but  these  opposed  the  claims  of 
Columbus,  that  India  might  be  reached  by  a  voyage  westward,  by  declaring  that  the 
ver>'  fact  of  the  earth's  rotundit}^  would  prevent  the  possibility'  of  a  ship's  returning  if  it 
ventured  beyond  the  equatorial  line  ;  for,  said  they,  the  globe  being  spherical,  must  fall 
away  in  all  directions.  How,  therefore,  they  argued,  could  one  who  had  sailed  beyond  the 
rim,  down  the  convexity  of  the  world,  be  able  to  sail  back  up  the  slope,  which  must  be  like 
ascending  a  hill?  Terrestrial  gravitation  was  not  known  at  this  time  even  by  Columbus,  so 
he  could  only  offer  a  refutation  of  this  argmnent  by  reciting  his  own  experience  in  a  voyage 
along  the  coast  of  Guinea,  below  the  equator,  where  he  observed  nothing  to  prevent  a  ship 
from  sailing  north  or  south. 

But  while  some  of  the  assemblage  were  converted  to  his  views,  notabh-  friar  Diego  de 
Deza,  professor  of  theology-,  Columbus  was  vehemently  opposed  by  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  council,  who  submitted  their  report  in  writing  to  the  King  and  Queen, 
declaring  that  the  project  was  "vain  and  impossible,  and  that  it  did  not  belong  to  the 
majesty  of  such  great  princes  to  determine  anything  upon  such  weak  grounds  of  in- 
formation." 

While  the  commission  was  resolving  the  evidence,  and  before  a  verdict  had  been 
reached,  the  Spanish  Court  left  Salamanca,  first  proceeding  to  Cordova  and  thence  to  the 
seat  of  war  in  Granada,  leaving  Columbus  waiting  for  the  judgment  of  the  conference, 
which,  however,  lie  believed  would  be  unfavorable.  Upon  announcement  of  the  report 
Columbus  was  much  distressed,  but  his  discouragement  was  directly  relieved  by  a  message 
from  the  sovereigns,  who  in  a  few  words  gave  intimation  that,  regardless  of  the  finding  of 
tlie  congress,  they  were  not  disposed  to  wholly  abandon  the  project,  and  might  give  him 
neccssar}-  aid  when  the  war,  in  which  they  were  now  engaged,  terminated. 

RENEWAL  OF  HIS  APPEAL  TO  KING  JOHN. 

With  this  small  encouragement  upon  which  to  hang  his  hopes  Columbus  followed  the 
King  and  Queen,  first  to  the  siege  of  Malaga,  where  he  was  a  witness  to  the  surrender  of 
that  stronghold,  and  thence,  owing  to  a  plague  breaking  out  iu  the  captured  city,  to  Sara- 


92  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

gossa,  Valladolid,  and  to  Medina  del  Campo.  But  heart-sick  at  length,  through  want  of 
opportunit)^  to  press  his  project  upon  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  he  resolved  to  turn  his  atten- 
tion towards  some  other  countn,-.  Under  the  pressure  of  want  and  disappointment  he  even 
so  far  forgot  the  indignit}-  put  upon  him  by  the  Court  of  Portugal  that  he  wrote  to  John  II. 
asking  of  that  monarch  if  he  was  still  willing  to  promote  his  scheme  of  discovery.  A 
prompt  reply  was  returned,  in  which  John  addressed  him  as  "dear  and  particular  friend," 
and  invited  him  to  court,  promising  to  protect  him  against  any  suits,  civil  or  criminal,  that 
might  have  been  instituted  against  him.  There  is  in  this  cordial  letter  of  invitation  and 
assurance  an  intimation  that  Columbus  had  been  guilty  of  some  criminal  act  during  his 
residence  in  Lisbon,  but  if  so  neither  histor}-  nor  tradition  has  preser\-ed  to  us  the  offence. 

Almost  directly  upon  the  receipt  of  the  letter  from  King  John  there  came  to  Columbus 
a  communication  from  Henr)-  VII.  of  England,  requesting  him  to  come  to  that  countrj^ 
under  agreement  to  give  Iiim  encouragement  and  support.  Columbus  migh'-  have  accepted 
one  of  these  two  kindly  proffers  but  for  the  persuasions  of  Ferdinand  de  Talavera,  who  had 
been  appointed  Archbishop  of  Avila,  and,  though  a  strong  opponent  to  Columbus,  was 
instructed  by  Isabella  to  temporize  with  him  so  as  to  prevent  his  departure  from  Spain  until 
she  could  familiarize  herself  more  perfectly  with  his  theories  and  proposals.  The  new 
motives  which  the  adroit  archbishop  held  out  induced  Columbus  to  exercise  his  patience  a 
while  longer,  and  continuing  with  the  court  he  saw  the  investment  and  final  capture  of  the 
city  of  Baza,  and  the  surrender  of  Muley  Boabdil,  one  of  the  Aloorish  kings  of  Granada. 
Another  year  was  thus  spent,  and  when  at  length  he  demanded,  through  Talavera,  a 
decisive  repl}-  to  his  request  as  to  what  the  King  and  Queen  would  do  with  his  proposals, 
the  same  answer  was  returned,  that  the  Spanish  treasur}-  was  not  in  a  condition  to  gi\-e 
assistance  to  his  enterprise. 

Columbus  was  fairly  overwhelmed  by  this  disappointment,  and  first  acquainting  the 
archbishop  with  his  intentions,  he  quitted  Seville,  thence  went  to  Cordova,  and  from  that 
city  set  out  for  the  convent  of  I^a  Rabida.  In  the  meantime,  by  direction  of  the  Queen, 
another  committee  of  scholars  was  appointed  in  Seville  to  in\-estigate  and  report  upon  the 
feasibility  of  his  schemes,  which,  after  a  brief  sitting,  confinned  the  conclusions  of  the 
Salamanca  Congress,  thus  seemingly  destro}ing  the  last  hope  he  entertained  of  assistance 
from  the  Spanish  sovereigns. 


CHAPTER  I\'. 


MATERIAL  HELP  FROM  AN   UNEXPECTED  SOURCE. 

KSPONDENT,  forlorn,  wean-,  and  withal  indignant 
tlie  sorrow-crowned  navigator  bent  his  footsteps  to- 
wards the  one  asylum  whose  doors  stood  open  to  give 
him  a  joyous  welcome,  and  extend  such  comforts  as 
he  had  not  found  in  the  splendid  but  cheerless  courts 
(if  kingly  palaces,  or  baronial  halls.  If  the  Church 
in  her  blindness  branded  him  as  an  unworthy  adven- 
turer, it  was  no  less  the  Church  that  greeted  his  return 
from  a  barren  mission,  and  assuaged  his  melancholy 
with  regalement  of  hospitable  con.solement 

The  purpose  of  Columbus  in  returning  to  La 
Rabida  monaster)'  was  no  doubt  to  take  leave  of,  or  to 
provide  for  the  future  maintenance  of  his  son  Diego  ; 
but  his  reception  was  so  cordial  that  he  was  persuaded  by  Prior  Juan 
to  remain  awhile  and  recruit  his  energies  and  spirits,  which  had  been 
nearly  expended  in  his  long  and  futile  quest  of  aid  at  the  Spanish 
Court.  The  devoted  Father,  Juan  Perez,  not  only  administered  to  his  physical  requirements, 
but  infused  Columbus  with  courage  to  bear  with  resignation  the  slights  and  disappoint- 
ments which  now  weighed  so  heavily  upon  him.  The  Palos  physician,  Garcia  Hernandez, 
whose  scientific  attainments  made  his  opinions  particularly  valuable,  came  to  the  monasten.' 
with  greater  frequency  now,  and  added  his  influence  to  that  of  the  prior  towards  inducing 
Cohunbus  to  renew  his  efforts  with  the  Spanish  Court,  provided  with  further  recommenda- 
tions which  they  would  endeavor  to  supply.  But  it  was  decided  to  await  the  resi'lt  o."  the 
field  operations  in  Granada,  which  promised  a  decisive  victory  for  the  Spanish  anns. 

When  at  length  the  time  appeared  auspicious,  the  Father  Superior,  whose  fonner  con- 
fessionar\-  relation  to  the  Queen  justified  him  in  making  a  personal  appeal  for  consideration, 
^\Tote  a  lengthy  letter  to  Isabella,  connnending  the  project  of  Columbus  as  one  of  extraor- 
dinar>-  importance,  worthy  of  her  majesty's  patronage,  and  as  one  promising  the  mightiest 
results,  alike  beneficial  to  the  nation,  to  the  world,  and  to  the  glor^-  of  God.  But  appre- 
ciating the  enmity,  and  above  all  the  bigoted  prejudice  of  the  Court's  coun.sellors,  instead  of 
transmitting  this  letter  through  a  church  functionary,  who  might  prejudice  its  effect,  he  con- 
fided his  communication  to  Sebastian  Rodriqnez,  who  was  not  only  a  noted  pilot,  but  a  man 
of  polished  address  and  with  some  experience  in  court  etiquette.  This  devoted  messenger 
lost  no  time  in  making  the  jouniey  by  mule  to  the  camp  in  Granada,  where  he  delivered  the 
letter  directly  into  the  hands  of  Isabella,  and  received  the  thanks  of  the  Queen  for  his  ser- 
vice. While  the  proposals  of  Columbus  had  been  presented  to  Ferdinand,  and  by  him  twice 
referred  to  a  college  of  scholastics  for  investigation,  the  letter  from  Father  Juan  was  the  first 
direct  appeal  to  Isabella,  and  subsequent  events  proved  that  to  this  fact  it  is  not  unrea- 
sonable to  attribute  the  disappointments  and  delays  which  Columbus  had  for  more  than  seven 
years  suffered. 

(93) 


94 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


So  captivated  was  the  Queen  by  the  prospects  glowingly  pictured  by  Father  Juan,  that 
she  sent  Rodriquez  back  to  the  convent  of  La  Rabida  with  an  invitation  to  the  prior  to  visit 

her  at  the  camp 
for  a  personal 
conference  on 
the  subject  of 
his  letter. 

We  may  im- 
agine the  joy 
with  which  Co- 
lumbus and  his 


good  friend  re- 
ceived the  in- 
vitation and  re- 
port brought  to 
them  by  the 
pilot  messen- 
ger, in  which 
there  appeared 
hopeful  signs  of 
an  early  con- 
summation of 
their  ambition. 
In  the  hurry 
to    respond    to 

the  Queen's  request,  Father  Juan  borrowed  a  mule  from  his  friend  Jean  Rodriquez  Cabe- 
zuda  and  set  off  at  midnight,  through  midwinter's  snow  and  bitter  cold,  for  the  new  city 
of  Santa  Fe,  which  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Palos,  where  the  sovereigns  now 
had  their  court.  He  made  the  journey  in  safety,  though  the  route  was  infested  In-  marauders 
and  Moors,  and  though  fatigued  by  the  exertion,  yet  so  anxiously 
was  his  mind  possessed  with  the  mighty  scheme  of  Columbus, 
that  without  waiting  for  refreshment  he  immediately  sought  the 
Queen's  presence.  She  received  him  with  ever>'  manifestation  of 
the  tenderest  regard,  and  to  his  eloquent  pleadings  gave  the  most 
encouraging  audience  and  promises.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  inter- 
view she  charged  the  enthusiastic  father  to  bring  Columbus  to  court, 
and  that  he  might  appear  in  more  seemly  garb  than  his  impoverished 
condition  had  previously  permitted,  she  gave  the  prior  an  order  on  a 
maritime  broker  in  Palos  for  twenty  thousand  maravedis,  *  with 
which  to  provide  Columbus  with  a  mule,  a  suit  of  clothes  and  neces- 
sary travelling  expenses. 

CAPTURE  OF  GRANADA. 
Prompt  to  respond  to  the  royal  summons,  for  he  was  felicitated 
by  the  promise  which  the  invitation  implied,  Columbus,  with  bound- 

*  The  value  of  a  maravedi  is  difficult  now  to  fix.  Webster  defines  it  as  a  copper  coin  introduced  into  Spain 
by  the  Moors,  and  as  having  a  value  equal  to  about  one-third  of  a  cent,  .\merican  money.  De  Lorgues,  however, 
estimates  the  value  at  .018  cent ;  Helps,  at  .0154  cent,  while  others  fix  the  value  at  from  one-half  to  two  cents. 


COLUMBUS'    FIRST   INTERVIEW   WITH    FATHER    PEREZ. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


'.to 


ing  heart,  set  out,  through  the  vales  and  over  the  mountains  of  Andalusia,  for  the  court  of 

Santa  Fo,  where  he  arri\ed  in  due  season  to  be  a  witness  to  the  surrender  of  Granada,  the 

last    Moorish   stronghold   in  Spain. 

What  a  wondrous  scene  was  there 

presented,  as  the  crescent  banners, 

that  had  for  nearly  eight    hundred 

years  floated  from   the  walls  of  the 

inconceivably    beautiful   Alhambra, 

were  torn  down  and  supplanted  by 

the  cross-bearing  flags  of  Ferdinand 

and     Isabella.        This     momentous 

event  occurred  on  Friday,  the  30th 

of  December,  1491,  and  three  days 

later,  Boabdil  el  Chico,  the  Moorish 

King,  bowed  with  subjection  before 

their    Catholic    majesties    and    de- 
livered to  them  the  keys  of  the  city. 
The  occasion  was  now  one  of 

such   great   national    rejoicing  that 

the  Queen  could  not  give  Columbus 

a  reception  such  as  she  had  designed, 

but    referred     him    as    a    guest    to 

.\lonzo  de   Quintanilla,  his   friend, 

who  was  Intendant-General   of  the 

finances.      Four   days    later,    or   on 

the  Feast  of  Kings,  the  two  sove- 
reigns made  a  picturesque  proces- 
sional   entr>'  into  the  far-famed  city 

of  the  Moors,  at  the  gate  of  which 

they  were  received  b\-  the  arch- 
bishops of  Granada  and  a  numerous 

clerg\-,  chanting  hymns  of  thanksgiving. 

The  triumphal   rejoicings  were  not  yet  concluded  when  Isabella  sent  a  messenger  smn- 

moning  Columbus  before  her,  thus  illustrating  the  favor  in  which  she  estimated  his  schemes 

for  exploration,  and  the  decision  she  had 
made  in  her  own  mind  to  promote  his  pur- 
po.ses.  The  audience  which  followed  was  a 
brief  one,  for  scarcely  giving  him  time  to  ex- 
plain his  plans,  the  Queen  told  Columbus 
that  she  would  accept  his  services  and  desired 
that  he  attend  upon  a  meeting  of  her  connnis- 
sioners,  over  which  P^crnando  de  Talavera 
piesidcd,  to  arrange  the  tenns.  The  im- 
poverished appearance  of  Columbus,  the  re- 
buffs which  he  had  suffered,  the  long  plead- 
ings that  had  remained  unanswered,    might  have    been    expected    to  render  him   anxious 

to  accept  any   conditions,    and  being  a  foreigner,  with    nolhiiiii   but    his    theories  to  com- 


FATHER    JUAN'S    NIGHT  JOURNKV   TO   GRANADA. 


96 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


mend  him,  which  two  congresses  had  pronounced  visionar>-,  the  commission  anticipated 
that  he  would  gladly  accept  any  terms,  however  illiberal.  Imagine  their  surprise  when 
he  submitted,  as  his  proposals,  these  stipulations  :  That  for  his  services  he  should  at 
once  be  raised  to  the  dignity  of  viceroy;  that  he  should  be  appointed  governor-general  of  all 
the  lands,  islands  or  continents  he  should  discover  ;  that  he  should  be  honored  with  ^ 
the  title  of  Grand  Admiral  of  the  Ocean  ;  and  that  he  should  receive  as  a  further  re- 
ward a  tenth  part  of  all  the  profits  that  accrued  from  results  of  his  discoveries,  the 
same  to  be  continued  in  perpetuity 
to  his  descendants,  and  also  the 
dienities  should  be  transmitted  here- 
ditarily  to  his  family  accordmg  to 
the  laws  of  primogeniture 


..-fiSS^  M    s> 


SURRENDER  OF  GRANADA  TO  FERDINAND  AND  ISABELLA. 

When  these  imperious  demands  were  received  by  the  commissioners,  they  were  not  only 
shocked,  but  so  indignant  as  to  give  expression  to  their  feelings,  characterizing  such  proposals 
as  presumptuous  in  the  extreme  and  insulting  to  the  dignity  and  wisdom  of  their  sovereigns. 
But  Columbus  was  as  inflexible  in  his  demands  now  as  he  had  been  before  the  Portuguese 
Junta,  and  he  stubbornly  refused  to  relax  his  demeanor,  or  abate  one  tittle  of  the  tenns 
which  he  had  submitted. 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


07 


His  insistence,  hedging  his  agreements,  was  communicated  to  the  Queen  in  a  report  re- 
commending a  rejection  of  his  proposition,  the  committee  reinforcing  their  conchisions  by 
declaring  that  since  the  sclienie  hud  been  twice  before  adjudged  chimerical,  its  failure  under 
national  patronage  would  expose  their  majesties  to  the  mocker>-  and  dcrisiou  of  all  Europe. 

THE  SUN  GOES  DOWN   UPON   HIS   HOPES. 

The  report  of  the  commission  carried  the  matter  before  the  highest  counsellors  of  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella,  where  it  was  fiercely  debated,  particularly  by  its  opponents,  who  sneer- 
ingly  insisted  that,  as  an  adventurer,  Columbus  showed  great  foresight,  for  whatever  the  out- 
come of  his  project,  he  would  gain  for  himself  titles  which  the  nation 
could  not  well  afford  to  bestow  upon  an  obscure  foreigner,  and  the 
honor  of  a  distinguished  position  which  had  cost  him  no  more  than 
a  bold  and  persistent  effort  to  obtain.  But  before  these  scoffers  and 
traducers  Columbus  had  one  valorous  and  devoted  defender,  Alonzo 
de  Qnintanilla,  who  against  these  arguments  interposed  his  opinion 
that  the  demands  made  by  the  great  navigator  were  not  exorbitant, 
considering  the  ser\-ices  that  he  was  to  render  ;  for  if  he  gave  new 
kingdoms  to  Spain  he  was  entitled  to  commensurate  benefits,  and  if 
the  conditions  as  submitted  were  taken  as  an  indication  of  insincerity, 
he  w'ould  undertake  to  promise  tliat  Columbus  would  provide  one- 
eighth  of  the  expenses  for  a  like  part  of  the  advantages  that  would 
be  gained  by  the  proposed  expedition. 

The  circumstances  under  which  Qnintanilla  was  able  to  make 
this  proposition  are  not  exactly  clear.  By  some  it  is  maintained  that 
the  offer  was  made  upon  his  own  responsibility,  growing  out  of  a 
detennination  to  advance  such  a  part  of  the  expenses  from  his  own 
private  funds  in  case  the  proposal  met  the  sovereigns'  approbation. 
But  by  a  majority,'  of  the  Columbian  biographers  it  is  asserted  that  the 
proposal  was  made  in  ptirsuance  of  promises  given  by  Martin  Alonzo 
Pinzon,  a  rich  shipowner  of  PaloS,  who  held  frequent  inter\-iews  with 
Columbus  at  the  monaster^-  of  La  Rabida,  and  who  became  an 
enthusiastic  convert  and  promoter  of  his  scheme. 

But  for  the  time  the  persuasion  of  Ferdinand  de  Talavera  pre- 
vailed, for  as  Ferdinand  expressed  unqualified  aversion  to  the  proposal, 
Isabella  was  brought  to  conclude  that  the  terms  were  too  illiberal, 
and  therefore  with  much  reluctance  abandoned  the  negotiations. 

This  conclusion  was  the  severest  blow  that  Columbus  had  yet 
imagination  and  hopeful  disposition  had  filled  his  days  and  nights  with  wondrous  visions  ; 
alread\-  he  felt  himself  the  discoverer  of  inconceivably  ricli  kingdoms,  over  which  he  was 
ruler  with  princely  authority  ;  and  from  the  opulent  revenues  derived  therefrom  he  foresaw 
him.self  able  to  gratify  his  one  great  central  ambition,  to  equip  and  lead  a  vast  anny  against 
the  infidels  of  the  Holy  Land,  from  whom  he  woidd  wrest  the  sacred  sepulchre,  and  jilant 
the  cross  of  Christ  in  ever)-  vantage  place  of  the  world.  A  sudden  awakening  from  lliis 
blissful  dream  to  the  melancholy  reality  of  his  true  condition  ;  a  wanderer  upon  the  earth, 
canning  his  beneficent  scheme  in  his  heart,  like  a  peddler  weighted  down  with  a  pack  of 
merchandise  seeking  a  purcliaser,  fairly  broke  his  spirit,  strong  as  it  was,  and  left  him  to 
gloomy  reflection  on  the  unappreciativeness  of  those  in  whose  hands  reposed  the  power  to 
advance  the  cause  of  Christianity  and  promote  the  welfare  of  humanitv. 
7 


COURT   OK    THK    LIONS, 
ALHAMHRA. 

received. 


His  strong 


(98) 


QUERN    ISABELLA    IX    HER    ARMOR. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


99 


DAYBREAK  OF  JOY  OVER  THE    MOUNTAIN   OF  DESPAIR. 

With  soul  bursting  with  disappointinent,  Cohiiiibus  turned  away  from  Granada,  and  set 
out  on  his  mule  for  Cordova,  his  mind  resolved  on  taking  an  affectionate  leave  of  his  wife, 
and  then  quitting  Spain  for  France  or  England,  whither  the  small  hope  left  seemed  to  lead 
him.  Scarcely  had  he  taken  his  departure,  possibly  before,  when  Luiz  de  Santangel, 
receiver  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  in  Aragon,  hastily  sought  the  Queen,  and  with  irre- 
sistible eloquence  pleaded  with  her  to  recall  Columbus,  and  not  to  pennit,  through  ill  con- 
sideration and  unworthy  influence,  the  opportunity  which  he  had  offered  her  to  magnify  her 
g\oT\-  to  go  by  unimproved,  to  the  immeasurable  gain  of  some  other  nation,  which,  with 

P  acute  foresight,  would  be 
'^^  certain  to  accept  his  pro- 
posals. While  Santangel  was 
thtis  beseeching  the  Queen, 
Quintanilla  suddenly  and 
with  great  an.xiety,  bent  as 
he  was  upon  an  identical 
mission,  appeared  before  Isa- 
bella and  added  his  per- 
suasions in  no  less  ardent 
speech.  The  effort  was 
beneficently  successful.  Ris- 
ing to  the  occasion,  as  if 
God  had  miraculously  in- 
fluenced her  to  prompt  and 
decisive  action,  she  declared 
that  she  would  undertake 
the  mighty  enterprise  for  the 
^Ior>-  of  the  crown  of  Castile, 
and  a  moment  later  she  des- 
patched an  officer  of  the 
guards,  commanding  him  to 
lake  all  possible  haste  to  overtake  Columbus  and 
summon  him  back  to  court.  Talavera  had  repre- 
sented to  her  that  the  royal  finances  were  too  nearly 
exhausted  to  undertake  such  an  enterprise  at  that 
time,  even  though  the  promise  of  success  was  flatter- 
ing ;  but  the  Queen,  fired  now  with  the  same  zeal 
that  had  inspired  her  two  enthusiastic  counsellors,  declared  that  if  necessar>'  she  would 
pledge  her  jewels  for  the  funds  required  to  equip  the  expedition.  Santangel,  however,  as- 
sured her  this  would  not  be  nece.ssar>',  as  he  was  prepared  to  advance  the  money  needed  out 
of  the  revenues  of  which  he  had  charge,  feeling  certain  that  he  could  obtain  the  king's 
authorization  for  the  loan.  Thus  it  was  that  the  acceptance  of  Columbus'  proposals  were 
brought  about  at  a  time  when  he  had  abandoned  all  hope  of  aid  from  the  Spanish  crown. 

The  messenger  overtook  Columbus  about  six  miles  from  Granada,  just  as  he  had 
passed  over  the  bridge  of  Finos,  a  place  celebrated  by  more  tlian  one  desperate  ami  bloody 
encounter  between  Christians  and  Moors,  that  served  to  make  it  almost  sacred  in  the  annals 
of  Spanish  histon,-.     So  frequent  had  been  his  disappointments,  and  so  distnistful   was  he 


/ 


W 


\^' 


COLUMBUS  REC.\LI-ED  BY  ORDER  OF  ISABELLA. 


100 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


of  the  motives  of  sovereigns,  of  which  he  had  been  many  times  the  victim,  that  Columbus 
hesitated  about  obe^^ng  the  summons,  until  persuasion  overcame  his  first  promptings 
and  he  returned,  though  not  without  misgivings.  Scarcely  had  he  gained  the  outskirts  of 
Granada,  ho\ve\'er,  when  his  doubts  were  dispelled  b}-  the  friends  who  came  out  to  receive 
him,  and  the  magnificent  reception  accorded  him  by  the  Queen,  who  was  now  anxious  to 


\je4A^   "^ 


COLTTMBUS   IN   PRrVATE   AUDIENCE   ^V^TH    ISABET,I.A. 


make  some  amends  for  the  chilling  conduct  of  the  court  towards  hin:  during  the  seven 
painful  years  that  he  had  been  an  applicant  for  its  helpful  recognition. 

THE  QUEEN    MAKES   TERMS   WITH  COLUMBUS. 
Queen  Isabella,  holding  in  her  exclusive  right  the  crowns  of  Leon  and  Castile,  hence- 
forth became  the  patron  of  that  great  enterprise  which  gave  to  the  world  a  new  continent ; 
and  the  measure  of  its  magnitude  now  unfolding  itself  to  her  mind,  she  accorded  to  Colum- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  101 

bus  that  deference  which  confident  belief  in  his  success  appeared  to  her  to  warrant.  But 
Ferdinand,  who  held  the  crown  of  Araji^on  only,  continued  both  doubtful  and  suspicious, 
and  withheld  his  sanction,  even  exacting  a  return  of  any  moneys  advanced  out  of  the 
treasury  of  Aragon  in  aid  of  the  scheme,  and  only  gave  his  signature  to  acts  of  the  Queen 
through  her  intercession,  not  as  a  voluntary  performance  signifying  his  approval. 

The  articles  of  agreement  and  letters-patent  conferring  titles  and  privileges  were  signed 
on  the  17th  of  April,  1492,  but  it  was  not  until  a  month  later  that  Columbus  took  leave  of 
the  Queen  and  started  for  Palos,  which  port  had  been  detennined  upon  as  the  embark- 
ing place  of  the  expedition.  In  this  interval  there  were  daily  conferences  between  Colum- 
bus and  his  royal  patroness,  arranging  the  preliminaries  and  issuing  orders,  providing  for 
the  equipment  of  the  vessels.  On  the  eighth  of  May,  as  a  special  mark  of  her  favor,  the 
Queen  appointed  Diego,  the  eldest  son  of  Columbus,  who  had  lived  at  the  monastery  of 
La  Rabida  for  seven  years,  to  the  position  of  page  to  the  Prince  Royal,  with  a  pension  of 
what  was  equal  to  about  $150.00  annually. 

Columbus  left  Granada  on  the  12th  of  May  and  proceeded  to  Cordova,  where  he  took 
leave  of  his  wife,  and  then  posted  to  Palos  with  all  the  necessar>'  orders,  among  which 
was  one  that  required  that  municipality  to  furnish  two  caravels,  armed  and  equipped,  and 
to  place  the  same  at  the  disposal  of  Columbus  within  ten  days.  His  arrival  at  that  city 
was  greeted  by  Father  Juan  with  great  joy,  who  continued  to  the  end  to  encourage  his 
enterprise  and  to  promote  his  comfort. 

When  it  was  learned  that  the  schemes  and  theories  of  Columbus  were  about  to  be  put 
into  execution,  and  that  their  demonstration  was  to  be  attempted  b)'  a  voyage  into  the  vast 
unknown,  the  people  of  Palos  were  seized  with  a  panic  of  unconquerable  fear.  From  this 
port  not  only  were  the  ships  to  sail,  but  it  soon  became  known  that  there  would  be  an  im- 
pressment of  sailors  to  make  up  the  complements  of  the  vessels,  for  few  would  volunteer  their 
services  for  what  was  regarded  as  the  most  desperate  enterprise  ever  conceived  by  foolhardy 
man.  We  smile  at  the  fear  of  these  simple  people  behind  the  setting  sun  of  the  nineteenth 
centur}-,  but  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance  that  shrouded  the  middle  ages  we  can  find  more 
than  enough  to  excuse  the  bravest  hearts  for  quailing  before  the  terrors  with  which  storj-, 
legend  and  imagination  had  invested  the  realm  of  the  boiindless  sea. 

HORRIBLE  SPECTRES    OF    THE     UNKNOWN  SEA. 

Science  was  but  a  puling  infant,  and  the  small  knowledge  that  the  world  possessed 
of  physics  and  chemistry  was  born  of  the  alembic  by  accident,  with  the  hated  .\rab  as  its 
procreator.  Thus  science  was  regarded  as  the  offspring  of  Satan,  a  hellish  thing  to  be 
abhorred  by  godh-  men  ;  a  malevolent  product  of  fiend  and  Erinnys,  whose  development  was 
viewed  with  deadly  alarm.  The  compass  was  scarcely  yet  become  a  guide  to  mariners  over 
the  trackless  seas,  and  horoscope  was  more  potential  with  superstitious  minds  of  the  time 
than  all  the  philosophy  of  cosmographer,  sage  or  scientist.  In  fact,  cosmography  helped  to 
create  and  spread  belief  in  the  existence  of  frightful  things  peopling  the  Stygian  world  of 
the  sea.  Bevond  the  flaming  gates  of  the  west,  where  the  sun  sank  down  in  his  billowy 
bed,  there  were  whirlpools  in  which  Leviathan  sported,  and  there  stood  as  sentinels  over 
the  ocean's  vast  domain  monsters  more  hideous  in  aspect,  more  appalling  in  size,  than  the 
dragon  that  guarded  the  marriage  apples  of  Juno.  On  the  charts  of  some  cosmographers 
there  v/as  a  representation  of  the  sea.  Marc  Tcncbrosiim,  around  which  were  reputed  to  live, 
in  a  wanton  exuberance  of  horrific  terrorism,  such  conceptions  of  a  fearful  imagination  as 
griffins,  hippocentaurs,  gorgons,  goblins,  hippogriffs,  krakens,  .sea-serpents,  unicorns,  sagit- 
taries,  minotaurs  chimeras,  hydras,  and  other  prodigies  of  nature  run  riot  with  mon- 
strosities. 


ARABIC   CONCEPTION   OF    THE   ?.:ONSTERS    THAT    HAUNTED    THE   SEA. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  103 

But  more  direful,  i^hastl\-,  temf\iujj^  thau  all  these  was  the  Arabic  conceptiou  of  the 
fearful  daugers  that  beset  the  gloouiy  oceau.  Before  this  tropical  iuiajjinatiou  arose  \he 
o^iarled,  horrent,  portentous  hand  of  Satan,  out  of  a  tenebrious  waste  of  boundless  waters, 
with  hooked  claws,  blood-thirsty  maw,  and  purpose  damning,  to  ^asp  any  luckless  ship  that 
mitjht  venture  within  his  infernal  dominion.  And  this  belief  spread  quickly  among  all 
maritime  peoples,  until  pagan  and  Christian  alike  possessed  it.  To  these  conceits  others 
were  added,  being  importations  from  comitries  of  the  farther  east,  brought  back  by  such 
travellers  as  Mandcville  and  Polo,  and  received  with  confidence  to  swell  the  fears  of 
humanit\-.  These  pictured  the  air  filled  witli  demons,  clouds  charged  with  furies,  and 
islands  haunted  with  wraiths,  who,  holding  the  elements  within  their  control,  could  at  will 
lash  the  sea  into  madness,  provoke  the  wind  into  hurricane,  arouse  the  lightnings  of  heaven 
into  wrath,  and  launch  all  these  infuriate  powers  agai«st  vessel  and  crew,  overwhelming 
\\'ith  a  destruction  dolorific,  tragical  and  harrowing,  ever\-  venturer  w-ithin  these  forbidding 
realms. 

From  these  calamitous  fears  may  not  be  omitted  other  beliefs  no  less  terrorizing.  The 
sages  of  Salamanca  voiced  only  the  prevailing  opinion  of  all  Christendom  when,  in  opposing 
the  plans  of  Columbus,  they  contended  that  even  if  the  earth  were  round  }et  there  could  be  no 
life  at  the  antipodes  ;  that  along  the  equator  was  a  wall  of  heat  so  fien,-  as  to  be  all-consum- 
ing, a  ven-  hell  of  flame  as  unquenchable, as  the  sun  ;  while  beyond  lay  a  .sloping  plain  over 
which  was  carried  ever>-  movable  thing  towards  changeless  fields  of  ice  that  gathered  into 
mountain  peak  around  the  southeni  ]iok-. 

A  GENERAL  CONSTERNATION  SEIZES  THE  SAILORS  OF   PALOS. 

Considering  these  general  alarms,  there  is  no  surprise  in  the  fact  that  when  Columbus 
arrived  at  Palos,  with  orders  from  Isabella  to  impress  vessels  and  sailors  for  his  expedition 
into  unknown  seas,  he  found  both  ship-owners  and  seamen  seized  with  consternation,  and 
not  a  single  caravel  in  the  harbor  that  was  available  for  his  service.  They  had  attempted 
to  avoid  the  requisition  by  di.sappearing  from  the  port.  This  condition  of  affairs  caused 
additional  delay,  and  being  reported  to  the  Queen  .she  sent  an  officer  of  the  royal  guards  to 
exact  a  penalty  of  two  hundred  maravedis  (nearly  $3.00)  a  day  upon  even.-  ship-owner  who 
should  delay  or  refuse  to  execute  the  orders  of  Columbus.  At  the  same  time  she  issued  a 
pennit  authorizing  him  to  seize  any  sailor  who  might  be  found  on  the  Spanish  coast  and 
compel  his  services.  But  neither  of  these  orders  was  effectual  in  facilitating  preparations 
for  the  vo\age,  nor  was  any  substantial  progress  made  until  extremity  prompted  the  officer 
of  the  royal  guards  to  forcibly  take  possession  of  a  caravel  called  the  Piiita,  the  property  of 
two  citizens  of  Palos,  named  Roscon  and  Quinten.  These  two  owners  became  violent  in 
their  abuse  of  Columbus,  and  the.  entire  town  seemed  to  be  upon  the  point  of  an  uprising. 
In  this  disturbed  condition  of  the  populace,  which  threatened  serious  con.sequences,  Father 
Juan  appeared  and  e.xerted  his  influence  to  change  the  critical  situation  into  one  favoring 
the  schemes  of  Columbu.s.  A  man  universally  loved  for  his  amiability  and  charity,  his 
opinions  were  equally  respected  because  of  his  learning  and  piety.  He  strove  to  dispel  the 
fears  of  the  .sailors  by  decrying  the  baseless  superstitions  of  the  age,  and  by  appealing  to 
their  courage  in  the  name  of  the  Church,  which  now  called  for  their  services.  He  promised 
them  God's  blessings  in  the  great  work  which  foreshadowed  the  extension  of  Christianit\ 
among  heathen  people,  and  declared  that  they  should  account  themselves  as  elected  by  God 
for  the  enlargement  of  His  kingdom.  After  prevailing  with  sailors,  the  noble  father  sought 
shipowners  and  used  his  persuasion  to  induce  them  to  fulfil  the  orders  of  the  Queen. 
.Among   those  whom   he  best  knew  in    Palos  were  three  brotliers  naiiud    Pinzon — Martin 


104  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Alonzo,  Francis  Martin,  and  Vincent  Yanez, — and  to  these  he  applied  his  exhortations  to 
letid  Cohunbns  snch  vessels  as  would  serve  his  need.  The  eldest  of  these,  Martin  Alonzo, 
had,  as  many  biographers  agree,  been  introduced  to  Columbus  during  his  long  stay  at  the 
monaster}-  of  La  Rabida,  and  manifested  such  interest  in  his  project  as  to  acknowledge 
belief  in  his  theory  and  to  give  a  conditional  promise  of  assistance.  Now,  when  Father 
Juan  brought  the  Columbian  plans,  so  well  formulated  and  promoted  by  the  Queen,  before 
the  elder  Pinzon,  that  experienced  navigator  promptly  offered  his  aid,  not  only  as  a  mariner, 
but  in  converting  opinion  from  the  prejudices  that  seriously  threatened,  even  at  this  junc- 
ture, the  success  of  the  enterprise.  Through  Pinzon,  the  Pope  (Innocent  VIII.)  was  even 
brought  to  give  his  approbation  to  the  scheme,  and  thus  the  Church,  that  at  first  Disposed  the 
enterprise,  through  the  Spanish  ecclesiastics,  became  a  supporter  of  Columbus,  though  only  by 
friendly  encouragement.  Martin  ne.xt  secured  the  co-operation  of  his  two  younger  brothers, 
and  the  three  presently  signed  an  agreement  w'ith  Columbus  under  which  they  were  to 
provide  another  vessel,  the  Nina^  and  to  take  service  in  the  expedition,  whilst  the  youngest 
advanced  one-eighth  of  the  expenses,  though  under  circumstances  not  exactly  known. 

The  Pinzons  were  wealthy  ship-chandlers  in  Palos,  and  their  position  gave  them  great 
influence,  especially  among  seamen  ;  and  through  their  exertions  the  city  was  at  length 
induced  to  appropriate  a  third  vessel,  which  bore  the  name  of  Gallcga.  She  was  classed 
as  a  carack,  a  large  ship  such  as  the  Portuguese  afterwards  used  in  their  trade  with  India. 
She  was  old,  and  otherwise  unfit  for  the  service,  but  in  the  scarcity  of  ships,  and  the  diffi- 
culties that  had  already  long  delayed  Columbus,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  accept  her  ;  but  as  a 
propitiation  to  God,  and  to  place  the  vessel  under  His  special  protection,  he  changed  the 
name,  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  Santa  Maria  {Saint  Mary),  and  made  her  the 
flagship  of  his  little  squadron. 

EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  FIRST  EXPEDITION. 

The  Pinzons  gave  their  personal  attention  to  the  details  of  the  equipment,  but  it  was 
not  until  the  end  of  July  that  crews  were  obtained  and  the  ships  made  ready  for  departure 
on  the  long  and  perilous  cruise.  The  expedition  was  composed  of  two  caravels,  Pinta, 
commanded  by  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon  ;  the  Nina,  in  charge  of  Vincent  Yanez  Pinzon  ; 
and  the  carack,  Santa  Maria,  upon  which  Columbus  embarked  as  admiral.  It  has  long 
been  a  general  belief  that  these  were  ver}'  small  and  unser\'iceable  vessels,  hastily  put  to 
sea  and  with  imperfect  equipment.  So  far  from  this  being  true,  the  three  vessels  were 
among  the  largest  that  sailed  the  Mediterranean  or  visited  the  Canaries  ;  and  while  no 
doubt  ill  appointed  when  they  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Pinzons,  these  navigators  were 
too  prudent  and  experienced  to  venture  on  so  long  a  voyage  without  first  putting  their  ships 
in  the  most  thorough  condition.  The  vessels  were  also  well  provisioned  for  a  year's 
voyage,  and  supplied  with  the  most  effective  fire-arms  of  that  period,  but  the  working 
crews  were  composed  of  a  rifT-raff  of  criminals  and  adventurers,  anything  but  promising, 
though  over  these  most  experienced  and  influential  officers  were  appointed. 

The  records  are  sadly  incomplete,  but  from  what  has  been  preserved  we  are  able  to 
obtain  a  good  idea  of  the  composition  of  the  fleet,  though  the  exact  number  of  men  that 
completed  the  force  is  not  known.  On  the  Santa  Maria  there  sailed  a  nephew,  by  mar- 
riage, of  Columbus,  whose  name  was  Diego  de  Arana  ;  also  Pedro  Guttierrez,  keeper  of  the 
stores  ;  and  Rodrigo  Sanchez  de  Segovie,  controller  of  the  annament  ;  Rodrigo  de  Escovedo, 
register  of  the  proceedings,  or  royal  notar>' ;  Bernardin  de  Tapia,  historiographer  ;  Pedro 
Alonzo  Nino,  first  pilot  ;  Barthelemy  Roldan,  Fernand  Perez  Matheos,  and  Sancho  Ruiz, 
respectively  second  pilot,   mate    and  boatswain  ;    Ruy   Fernandez,   and  Juan    de    la  Cosa, 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  105 

sub-officers,  fillino^  various  positions  ;  Luiz  de  Torrez,  a  Christianized  Jews,  held  the 
post  of  interpreter,  for  which  his  knowledge  of  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  Arabic, 
Coptic,  and  Armenian  well  qualified  him.  Juan  Castillo,  a  gold  and  silver  smith,  from 
Seville,  was  the  official  mineralogist,  but  his  appointment  to  that  position  was  unfortunate, 
because  he  knew  little  or  nothing  about  metals  e.xcept  in  their  refined  state.  There  were 
also  two  surgeons,  called  Alonzo  and  Juan,  their  surnames  never  having  been  recorded  in  the 
proceedings  certified  to  by  the  royal  notary.  .Among  the  crew  was  an  Englishman  who 
pa.ssed  under  the  patronymic  of  Tallerte  de  Lajes,  which  is  not  translatable,  because  it  is 
a  double  family  name,  thtis  leaving  the  suspicion  that  he  had  adopted  it  to  conceal  his 
identity  ;  there  was  also  an  Irishman,  called  Guillemia  Ires,  or,  in  English,  Billy  Rice  ; 
two  Portuguese,  and  one  native  of  the  Balearic  Islands — in  all,  sixty-six  persons,  not  a  sin- 
gle one  of  whom,  however,  was  from  Palos. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  crew  of  the  Pinta,  numbering  thirty  men,  were,  with  a 
single  exception,  viz.,  Juan  Rodriquez  Bennejo,  all  from  Palos,  those  whose  names  have 
been  preserved  being  Francis  Martin  Piuzon,  brother  of  ^lartin  Alonzo,  the  captain;  his 
cousin  Juan  de  Ungria;  Cristobal  Garcia;  Garcia  Hernandez,  the  celebrated  physician 
and  his  nephew,  of  the  same  name,  who  sen-ed  him  as  secretary.  In  addition  to  the 
crew  there  were  several  passengers,  who  accompanied  the  expedition  as  ad\enturers,  or 
as  representatives  of  commercial  hotrses  anxious  to  extend  their  trade  witli  the  rich 
countr>-  of  Cathay. 

The  Xifia^  being  the  smallest  of  the  three  vessels,  had  a  crew  of  twenty-four  men, 
besides  as  many  more  passengers,  who  were  willing  to  brave  the  dangers  to  earn  the 
great  rewards  which  they  thought  would  be  reaped  in  case  the  voyage  proved  successful. 
And  it  may  be  truthfully  declared  that  every  one  who  accompanied  the  expedition  confi- 
dently believed  he  would  find  a  country  where  gold  abounded  in  such  quantities  that 
ships  might  be  loaded  with  the  precious  metal,  and  thus  each  would  return  enriched 
almost  beyond  the  power  to  compute.  This  idea  was  therefore  the  dominant  ambition 
among  all  who  ventured  upon  the  voyage,  save  alone  that  Columbus  e.xpected  to  win 
honors  more  durable  than  wealth,  though  his,  too,  was  an  inspiration  for  the  acquisition 
of  great  treasures  as  w-ell. 


CHAPTER  V. 


DEPARTURE  FOR  THE  UNKNOWN  WORLD  OF  THE  SEA. 


,ROM  sorrowing  friends  on  shore  Columbus  and  his  fol- 
lowers took  their  departure  amid  bestowal  of  blessings, 
waving  of  adieus,  and  cries  that  proclaimed  the  fear 
the}-  would  meet  them  nevermore,  while  Father  Juan 
and  Garcia  Hernandez  watched  from  the  con\-ent  win- 
dow with  anxious  solicitude  and  prayerful  hearts  the 
fading  sails  that  bore  away  their  friends  toward  a  new 
world. 

And  what  a  day  on  which  to  begin  such  a  danger- 


ST^^-'^'3'-&S'^-&< 


stition 
save  it 


ous  voyage! 

particularly 

regarded  as 

sur\-i\-ed  that 

be    the 


hanging 


Among  all  peoples  of  Christendom,  and 
among  sailors,  Friday  has  been  always 
a  day  of  evil,  and  for  ages  has  the  super- 
nothing  begun  on  that  day  can  succeed, 
of  a  man;  and    so   murderer's   day  is 


belie\-ing  that 


haneman's  dav.  And  vet  Columbus  chose  it 
instead  of  the  day  being  accursed,  it  had  been  blessed  by  holy 
sacrifice;  by  the  crucifixion  that  brought  redemption;  by  Godfrey  de  Bouillon's  victor}-, 
that  delivered  the  Holy  Sepulchre;  by  the  recovery  of  Granada  from  Islamism,  and  the 
redemption  of  Spain  from  the  profaners  of  Christianit}-.  So,  at  the  early  hour  of  three 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  August  3d,  1492,  the  Columbian  fleet  raised  anchor  and  under 
a  favoring  breeze  moved  majestically  out  of  the  harbor,  through  the  mouth  of  the  Odiel 
river,  and  soon  the  chiming  bells  from  Huelva's  steeple,  fainter  and  fainter  growing,  were 
lost  on  the  ears  of  the  sailors. 

A  sailing  chart  for  the  expedition  had  been  prepared  by  the  Admiral  himself  after 
Toscanelli's  map,  which  represented  the  kingdom  of  Zipangu  as  occupying  the  position  of 
Florida.  This  error  arose  from  the  estimate  of  a  degree  of  longitude,  which,  as  previoush' 
explained,  made  the  world  of 
nearly  all  the  cosmographers  of 
the  middle  ages  about  one- 
third  less  than  its  actual  size. 

The  route,  as  marked  out, 
lay  by  the  way  of  the  Canar}- 
Islands,  thence  with  a  south- 
westward  swoop  directly  west, 
and  over  this  wa}-  the  fleet 
passed  more  than  a  thousand 
miles  further  to  find  land,  than 
if  the  voyage  had  been  made  due  west  from  Palos. 

In  the  beginning  the  weather  and  wind  were  auspicious,  but  these  favoring  conditions, 
instead  of  inducing  encouragement,  operated  adversely  upon  the  minds  of  the  sailors,  whose 

(106) 


THE    FLEET  OF    COLUMBUS. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


1<»7 


uneasiness  crrew  gj^^ter  as  the  distance  from  their  country  increased.  Towards  the  end  of 
the  third  dav  out  discovery  was  made  that  the  steerino^  gear  of  the  IHnla  was  disabled,  and 
examination  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  owners  from  whom  the  vessel  had  been  impressed, 
liad  nialicioasly  fi.xed  the  rudder  so  that  it  would  break  under  force  of  the  waves.  Fortu- 
natelv  the  accident  occurred  when  the  wind  was  fair,  thoujjli  the  ocean  was  rough,  and  as 
Pinzon     was     a    resourceful     com- 


mander,  he  soon  had  the  damages 
repaired,  and  the  vessels  proceeded. 

On  the  morning  of  the  sixth 
day  the  Canaries  were  in  sight  and 
a  landing  was  made  at  Gomcra, 
where  all  the  vessels  were  over- 
hauled, several  defects  having  been 
detected,  so  that  it  was  not  until  the 
9th  of  September  following  that  the 
fleet  got  again  under  way. 

DANGERS  OF  FACT  AND  FANCY. 

Meanwhile,  a  serious  danger 
had  arisen  from  the  hostility  of 
Portugal.  The  news  of  the  sail- 
ing of  Columbus  had  spread  along 
the  Spanish  coast,  and  soon  reached 
Lisbon.  The  reader  will  remember 
how,  through  all  his  years  of  wait- 
ing, Columbus  had  at  intervals 
renewed  with  the  court  of  Portugal, 
as  well  as  with  the  court  of  Eng- 
land, an  intennittent  correspond- 
ence. It  was  evidently  his  intent 
to  hold  tliese  powers  in  reser\e 
against  the  ultimate  defeat  of  his 
proposals  in  Spain.  As  soon  as 
King  John  heard  how  at  last  the 
voyage  of  discover}-  had  been  ac- 
tually undertaken  under  the  patron- 
age of  his  rivals,  his  animosity 
was  so  great  that  he  resolved  to 
resort  to  the  most  desperate  ex- 
pedient to  thwart  the  enterprise.  In 
pursuance  of  this  despicable  resolution,  he  hastily  fitted  and  sent  out  an  annament 
to  arrest,  and  if  necessarj-  to  destroy,  the  fleet  of  Cohimhus.  While  his  \esscis 
were  undergoing  repairs  at  the  Canaries,  the  admiral  learned  from  a  caravel  just 
arrived  from  Ferro,  an  island  of  the  group,  that  the  Portuguese  fleet  was  making  read\-  to 
put  to  sea  in  pursuit.  This  news  induced  him  to  hasten  his  departure,  but  scarcely  had 
he  got  under  sail  when  an  eruption  of  the  volcano  of  Teneriffe  threw  the  sailors  into  a 
panic  of  terror,  who  .saw  in  the  sliooting  flames,  and  heard  in  the  rumhliug  explosions  from 
the  iieart  of  the  mountain,  Tophet  bursting  through  the  sea  in  awful  portentive  of  a  honi- 


FATHER  JU.\N  A.ND  GARCIA    HERNANnEZ   WATCHING   THE 
DEPARTURE    OK  COLUMBUS. 


108 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


ble  fate  to  which  they  were  being  surely  drawn.      Columbus  was  finally  able  to  assuage  these 

fears  of  his  crews  by  explaining  to  them  the  frequent  eruptions  of  Etna  and  Vesuvius, 

which  people  had  long  ceased  to  dread.      But  for  three  da)'S  there  was  a   calm,  during 

which  they  had  not  progressed  more  than  three  leagues  from  their  last  anchorage,  and  all 

the  while  expecting  to  see  Portuguese  ships  heave  in  sight  in  pursuit.      That  they  did  not 

appear  is  presented  as  an  evidence  in  support  of  the  assertion  that  Portugal  did  not  send 

a  squadron  to  interfere  with  Columbus  or  his  expedition. 

When  at  length  the  good  sea  breeze  swelled  the  sails  again  and  the  voyage  into  the 

great  unknown  was  renewed,  loud  cries  of  complaining  fear  broke  from  the  sailors,  who 

now  felt  themselves  adrift  on  the  boundless  flood  where 

"All  delicate  days  and  pleasant,  all  spirits  and  sorrow  were  cast ; 
Far  out  with  the  foam  of  the  present,  that  sweeps  to  the  surf  of  the  past ; 
Where  beyond  the  extreme  sea-wall,  and  between  the  remote  sea-gates. 
Waste  water  washes,  and  tall  skips  founder,  and  deep  death  waits." 

COWARDLY    FEARS   OF   SUPERSTITIOUS   SEAMEN. 

Possessed  of  an  extraordinary  imagination,  fortified  by  sincerity,  Columbus  appealed 
alike  to  the  courage  and  avarice  of  his  clamorous  and  intensely  superstitious  sailors.      He 

assured  them  constantly  of  God's  blessings,  for  that  they  had 
been  called  in  a  most  righteous  service  which  must  redound  to 
the  glory  of  themselves  in  that  life  everlasting.  But  when  their 
religious  fervor  languished,  Cohimbus  told  the  men  of  wealth 
which  they  would  acquire  in  the  land  to  which  they  were  sailing, 
where  gold  and  precious  stones  so  abounded  that  houses  might 
be  built  and  streets  paved  with  either.  He  undoubtedly  believed 
this  to  be  true  himself,  and  his  own  conviction  was  thus  the  more 
effectively  impressed  upon  those  to  whom  he  recited  these  .proph- 
ecies of  incredible  treasure  in  the  land  to  which  they  were  bound. 
Columbus,  while  chimerical  in  many  things,  was  neverthe- 
less subtle  in  contriving  against  the  mutinous  spirit  of  his  men, 
and  his  shrewdness  is  shown  by  many  wise  expedients.  He  had 
delivered,  with  becoming  gravit}-,  an  opinion  that  the  countr}-  of  Zipangu  would  be 
gained  by  a  sail  of  something  more  than  700  leagues  to  the  west,  but  lest  his  belief 
prove  ill-founded,  and  that  the  voyage  might,  if  necessar>',  be  prosecuted  much 
farther,  he  kept  two  log  books,  in  one  of  which  a  false  reckoning  was  recorded, 
representing  the  distance  made  each  day  as  less  than  it  really  was,  while  the  other  was  pre- 
pared with  great  accuracy  to  serve  as  a  guide  for  future  voyages.  The  former  was  daily 
exposed  to  all  on  board  for  inspection,  while  the  latter  was  carefully  preserved  under  lock 
and  key.  The  sailors  were  thus  deceived  into  the  belief  that  their  progress  was  extremely 
slow,  and  that  the  slope  of  the  earth  must  accordingly  be  very  small,  if  indeed  it  were 
perceptible,   and  that  a  ship  before  the  wind  could  in  any  event  overcome  it  and  return 

to  Spain. 

BLESSED  SIGNS  OF  APPROACHING  LAND. 

On  the  14th  of  September,  while  the  vessels  were  sailing  in  close  company,  a  large  main- 
mast was  observed  floating  on  the  water,  evidently  out  of  a  ship  considerably  greater  in 
size  than  the  Satita  Maria.  Columbus  at  once  hailed  the  relic  as  a  favorable  omen,  but 
the  effect  on  the  sailors  was  panick)-.  Here,  indeed,  was  a  part  of  a  ship  that  had  pre- 
ceded them,  but  to  their  timid  minds  it  came  as  a  warning  of  the  doom  that  awaited  them  ; 
as  a  proof  that  no  vessel  could  survive  the  dreadful  dangers  which  lurked  in  cloud,  wind 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  109 

and  wave  in  the  region  where  damnation  held  dominion.  About  the  same  time  Columbus 
discovered  that  there  was  a  variation  of  the  masructic  needle,  which  increased  as  he  pro- 
ceeded farther  west,  and  while  he  tried  to  keep  the  knowledge  of  this  fact  from  his  crew, 
the  pilots  soon  detected  it  and  then  consternation  was  a  hundredfold  increased.  What  pos- 
sessed the  compass?  Was  it  some  in\isible  power  that  was  turning  the  needle  from  its  true 
direction  in  order  to  lead  them  into  some  whirlpool,  or  bring  them  within  the  influence  of 
other  destnictive  agency  ?  So  serious  did  this  phenomenon  appear,  that  Columbus  was 
himself  greatly  disturbed  by  it,  but  he  contrived  an  explanation  ■vhich  partially  allayed  alarm, 
but  it  may  be  added  that  while  the  fact  is  now  universally  known,  science  has  not  yet  been 
able  to  detennine  positively  the  cause. 

Now  the  vessels  entered  the  region  of  the  westward  trade  winds,  which  urged  them 
along  at  an  increased  speed,  naturally  arousing  new  fears,  but  these  were  directly  quieted 
by  the  sudden  appearance  of  two  birds,  one  a  Mother  Carey  chicken  (petrel)  and  the  other 
a  wagtail,  which  it  was  erroneously  believed  never  \entured  a  great  distance  from  land. 
Following  this  supposed  indication  of  an  approaching  shore,  on  the  same  night  the  crews 
were  again  plagued  to  distraction  in  beholding  a  flaming  meteor  swiftly  speeding  across 
the  sky  and  plunging  into  the  sea  five  leagues  distant  from  the  ships.  The  men  at  once 
accepted  this  as  a  signal  from  heaven  heralding  their  quick  destruction,  but  Columbus 
regarded  it  as  a  holy  beacon,  and  as  a  presage  of  the  certain  triinnph  which  awaited  the 
expedition. 

Thereafter   ever)-    natural   condition  was  favorable  to  a  happ\'  passage  ;  the  sk\-  was 

serene,  the  winds  steady  from  the  east,  sending  the  vessels  ploughing  the  waves  in   their 

westward  course,  and  the  ocean  was  as  peaceful  as  a  babe  sleeping  on  its  mother's  breast. 

Under  the  balmy  fragrance  of  the  healthful  air  the  mind  of  Colinnbus  became  roseate  w'th 

blissful  reflections.      "If  we  only  had  the  song  of  the  nightingale,"  he  writes,  "we  might 

well  believe  ourselves  ashore  ainong  the  wa\-ing  groves,  and  near  the  flower-scented  gardens 

of  Spain." 

SPECTRES   OF   A  COWARDLY  IMAGINATION. 

On  the  19th  of  September  a  mist  showed,  on  the  sea  undisturbed  b\-  wind,  which 
was  taken  as  a  precursor  of  land,  and  on  the  Friday  following  other  evidence  that 
the  shore  lay  not  ver>-  far  beyond  was  presented  by  a  mass  of  weeds  into  which  the  ships 
thrust  their  bows.  A  booby  bird  came  sailing  by  to  increase  the  illusion,  and  many  fishes 
sported  about  the  vessels,  some  of  which  were  harpooned,  affording  a  sportive  divertisement 
that  was  intensely  animating.  But  the  weeds  became  more  dense  and  tangled,  until  they 
grew  into  an  imposing  barrier  to  farther  progress  and  aroused  the  sailors  to  a  sense  of  new 
dangers  more  appalling  than  they  had  before  conceived.  Here,  thought  they,  is  the 
boundar)-  of  the  world,  the  interdict  God  has  placed  upon  the  passage  of  mortals.  Once 
within  the  remorseless  fingers  of  this  verdant  sea  extrication  will  be  impossible  ;  famine 
seemed  to  show  its  hideous  head  ;  thirst  pointed  its  pale  fingers  towards  their  quivering 
lips  ;  in  this  turgid  lake  of  damned  engorgement,  green  with  the  life  of  death,  livid 
with  the  slime  of  corruption,  may  be  the  hainit  of  the  kraken,  whose  palpy  arms  could 
embrace  a  ship  to  its  destruction  ;  on  this  great  prairie  of  the  ocean  must  live  the 
hundred  monsters  that  played  such  a  part  in  the  sea-tales  of  the  age,  browsing  off  an  herb- 
age that  empoisoned  ever\-  other  living  thing.  Under  its  slowly  pulsing  bosom  there  mav 
be  deadly  reefs  to  grind  away  the  bottoms  of  the  ship.s,  or  .sandy  bars  to  hold  them  until 
stonn,  lightning  or  waterspout  could  complete  their  annihilation. 

But  still. the  ships  drove  on  through  this    Sargasso    sea  of  impediment,  until  at  last 


110 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


a  passage  was  accomplished,  but  with  this  abatement  of  fear  a  new  alarm  arose  over  the 
invariable  wind  that  day  after  day  impelled  them  westward,  until  belief  became  fixed 
that  return  was  impossible.  No  reason  that  Columbus  could  command  would  ^nve  the 
crews  encouragement  ;  despair  was  followed  by  a  mutinous  and  murderous  spirit  ;  many 
of  them  being  criminals,  whose  punishments  were  remitted  to  this  service,  they  beo-an  to 
clamor  for  a  \ictim  ;  to  openh"  murmur  their  seditions  against  Columbus,  who  mio-ht  have 

fallen  before  their  vengeance  had 
not  an  adverse  wind  begun  to  blow 
at  the  most  auspicious  moment,  as 
if  to  prove  the  unreasonableness  of 
their  apprehensions. 

On  the  23d  of  September,  Martin 
Alonzo  Pinzon  mounted  the  high 
stem  of  the  Pinta  and  shouted 
with  joy,  "Land  !  Land  !  I  declare 
my  right  to  the  pension."  Others 
were  equally  certain  that  they  saw 
land,  whereupon  there  was  an 
excitement  of  uncontrollable  delight 
among  all  the  crews,  until  in  a 
little  while  they  perceived  that 
what  was  taken  for  land  was  only 
a  thick  bank  of  clouds,  and  the 
despondency  which  succeeded  was 
the  greater  for  this  momentary 
enthusiasm. 

Complaints  of  a  violent  character 
were  renewed,  and  Columbus  be- 
came, in  the  eyes  of  the  sailors,  a 
braggart,  humbug  and  fraud,  whose 
own  nation  would  not  recognize 
him,  who  had  deceived  the  Spanish 
sovereigns,  and  whose  blind  per- 
sistence would  drive  them  to  de- 
struction. They  accordingly  favored 
a  submission  to  him  of  the  alterna- 
tive of  turning  back  or  being  cast 
VISION  OF  THE  SPECTRE-HAUNTED  SEA.  ij^ito    the   sca.     Tlic    PiuzoHS   were 

cognizant  of  this  mutinous  spirit,  but  held  themselves  aloof  from  either  encouraging  or 
reproving  it,  but  this  inaction  proved  how  strong  had  grown  their  prejudice  against 
Columbus  because  of  his  refusal  to  turn  aside  in  quest  of  islands  which  the  Pinzons 
believed  lay  near  by,  to  the  north. 

A   MUTINOUS  SPIRIT. 
From  time  to  time  cries  of  "land"   were  made,  but  everj-  such  annoimcement  proved 
delusive,  and  finally  the  long  pent-up  torrent  of  fear,  envy,  and  hatred  broke,  in  which 
even  the  Pinzons    joined.     The  united  demand  was  for  an  immediate  return  ;  all  author- 
ity was  dissipated,  the  crews  were  now  a  mob,  and  before  this  maddened  body  of  infuriate 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUxMBIA.  HI 

men  Columbus  was  powerless  beyoud  the  influence  of  his  persuasion,  which,  however,  com- 
manded respect  when  his  orders  would  have  incited  a  swift  vengeance.  To  these  howling 
caitiffs,  therefore,  he  appealed,  in  the  name  of  the  holy  image  that  was  emblazoned  on  the 
ro\al  flag  which  floated  from  the  mast  of  the  Santa  Maria,  to  their  courage  as  men,  to 
tlieir  cupidity  as  slaves  of  avarice,  and  at  last  begged  them  to  renounce  their  evil  purpose, 
or  give  him  three  more  days  in  which  to  seek  the  land  for  which  the)-  had  set  out  amid  the 
prayers  of  their  nation.  This  request  was  finally  granted  and  the  disaffected  men  went  back 
sullenly  to  their  several  posts  of  dut\-. 

On  the  following  day  e\-idences  that  land  was  not  far  away  began  to  multiply,  while  the 
wind  increased  to  push  the  vessels  more  rapidly  forward.  A  green  rush  was  seen  b\-  the 
crew  of  the  Santa  Maria,  and  almost  immediately  after  the  look-out  on  the  Pinta  observed 
two  sticks  which  had  been  e\idently  fashioned  b)'  human  hands.  Those  of  the  Nina,  who 
were  like  vigilant  in  their  watch,  were  favored  by  the  sight  of  a  green  bush  bearing 
clusters  of  red  berries,  all  of  which  several  indications  that  land  was  near  revived  the  spirits 
of  the  crews,  and  good  humor  and  delightful  anticipations  took  the  place  of  fear  and 
rebellious  feelings.  Seeing  that  the  men  were  now  in  an  amiable  frame  of  mind,  Columbus 
ordered  a  h\-mn  (the  Salva  Regitta)  to  be  sung,  and  then,  after  discoursing  to  them  on  the 
manifestations  of  God's  protecting  care  throughout  the  vojage,  elated  them  beyond 
measure  by  predicting  that  land  would  be  discovered  before  another  night  was  ended.  He 
also  charged  them  to  be  particularly  watchful,  and  promised  to  reward  the  one  who  should 
first,  perceive  the  shore  with  the  gift  of  his  beautiful  \-elvet  doublet,  which  was  trimmed 
with  gold  lace  and  considered  a  thing  of  great  value.  This  premium  was  to  be  given  in 
addition  to  a  pension  of  ten  thousand  maravedis  ($36.00),  promised  by  the  Queen  to  the 
one  who  should  first  see  the  land  of  the  new  world. 

Everv  one  on  the  three  ships  was  now  so  excited  with  expectancy  that  there  was  no 
desire  to  sleep  ;  each  was  anxious  to  earn  the  double  reward,  and  all  were  alike  curious  to 
catch  a  glimpse  of  the  unknown  shore. 

LAND!   LANDl 

About  ten  o'clock  that  night,  as  Columbus  was  watching  from  the  poop-deck  of  his 
vessel,  his  searching  eye  caught  the  gleam  of  a  moving  light  in  the  distance.  Not  fully 
satisfied  of  his  vision,  he  called  two  others  to  watch,  and  they  also  beheld  the  same  glorious 
beacon  ;  but  then  it  faded  and  was  seen  no  more.  Word  passed  quickh-  from  ship  to  ship, 
and  the  watch  !)>•  all  became  more  vigilant.  Sails  were  shortened,  but  wind  and  current 
still  gave  them  a  goodly  pace,  and  thus  the\'  pressed  on  until  two  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  Friday,  October  12th,  four  hours  after  Columbus  had  seen  the  fitful  light,  when  a  cannon 
shot  from  the  Pinta,  which  was  a  leag^ie  in  advance  of  the  Santa  Maria,  gave  loud-\'oiced 
proclamation  of  the  discovered  shore  ;  whereupon  everyone  fell  down  in  worshipful  attitude 
and  lifted  their  voices  in  holy  praise  and  thankfulness.  Juan  Rodriguez  Bermejo  had  been 
the  first  to  discover,  through  the  haze  of  approaching  morning,  the  high  lifting  banks  of  a 
land  on  tlie  western  boundary  of  that  gloomy  ocean  which  had  held  the  secrets  of  infinity, 
and  become  in  the  minds  of  men  the  representation  of  a  boundless  immensity. 

The  men  who  had  been  moved  by  nnitinous  disposition  two  da>s  before  were  now 
prostrate  in  homage  before  the  commander  whose  life  they  had  threatened  ;  from  con- 
demnation they  lifted  their  voices  in  adulation  ;  from  an  intensity  of  depression,  from  a 
prostration  of  dread  alarm,  they  were  suddenly  become  jocund,  read\-  to  embrace  all  the 
world,  so  great  was  their  delirium  of  thankfulness.  In  avowing  their  obligations  to  Colum- 
bus, they  would  also  do  penance  for  the  crime  of  their  evil  machinations  ;  and  having  no 


112 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


better  gift  to  bestow  they  would  acknowledge  him  as  the  first  discoverer  of  land,  thereby 
giving  to  him  the  fullest  meed  of  honor,  and  refute  the  claim  of  the  common  sailor  Bermejo. 
And  to  the  astonishment  of  all  mankind,  the  pension  which  he  manifestly  did  not  earn,  in 
his  thirst  for  all  the  glorj-,  ambition-mad,  he  took  to  himself;  a  reward  that  in  all  justice 
belonged  to  the  poor  sailor  whose  lot  was  so  humble  he  could  not  defend  his  right. 

What  was  the  light  that  Columbus  indistinctly  saw?  The  Pinta  was  at  least  three  miles 
ahead,  and  none  of  her  crew  saw  it ;  may  it  not,  therefore,  have  been  flashes  from  some 
taper  on  board  that  vessel  ?  Indeed,  since  the  distance  from  land  must  have  been  at  least 
fifteen  miles,  no  one  from  the  ship's  deck  could  have  perceived  an  object  on  the  flat  shore 
because  of  the  convexity  of  the  earth.  It  is  also  possible  that  the  light  which  Columbus 
saw  emanated  from  a  canoe  which  may  have  been  passing  from  one  island  to  another,  as 
it  was  a  very  common  ctistom  for  islanders  to  carry  fire  upon  a  fire-place  of  clay  laid  in 
the  centre  of  their  canoes.  In  fact,  the  fluttering  light  was  not  regarded  by  Columbus  as 
reliable  evidence  of  the  proximity  of  land  until  after  a  cannon-shot  from  the  Nina  gave 
announcement  of  Bermejo's  discover}-.  And  yet  he  claimed  and  possessed  himself  of  the 
pension,  to  which  the  poor  sailor  alone  had  any  just  right. 


CHAPTHR   VI. 


LANDING  ON   THE  BOUNDARY  OF  THE   NEW   WORLD. 


NDER  the  spell  of  a  wondrous  enchantment,  a  vision  as 
glorious  as  that  which  broke  upon  the  vision  of  Sir 
Galahad,  revealing  the  Holy  (irail  of  his  pious 
search,  was  the  beatific  view  presented  to  the 
longingly  expectant  crews  when  the  light  of  morning 
broke  uiwn  the  scene  !  There  before  them  lay  a 
stretch  of  landscape  marvellous  for  its  diversity  of 
yellow  sands,  softly  lapping  surf,  swelling  undula- 
tions in  a  stretch  of  opalescent  mists  ;  flowery  groves 
that  breathed  a  fragrance  like  incense  to  advancing 
day  ;  blue  waters  of  a  lake  peeping  in  gladness 
through  forests  of  lofty  evergreens,  while  along  the 
beach,  or  resting  in  awesome  admiration  beneath 
were  a  hundred  specimens  of 


'*-.'■ 


broad-sheltering  trees 
an    alien    race,    tawny,    sun-browned,    symmetrical, 

at 


'        disapparelled,   gazing  with  bewildering   surprise 
their  celestial-appearing  visitors. 

In  the  fair  view  before  them,  whether  it  were  the  shores  of  Zipangu,  or  other  lands  of 
the  blessed,  there  was  eagerness  to  press  its  bosom  ;  but  with  becoming  precaution  the  ships 
were  first  placed  in  a  state  of  defence,  and  then  each  member  of  the  expedition  arrayed 
himself  in  corselet,  tabard  and  helmet,  and  with  such  weapons  as  match-lock,  pike 
and  cross  bow,  prepared  to  take  possession  of  the  beautiful  land.  Columbus,  however, 
wearing  the  dignities  of  Grand  Admiral  of  the  ocean,  and  Viceroy  of  all  the  lands  he 
should  discover,  presented  a  spectacle  which  might  well  impress  even  those  familiar  with 
court  regalia  and  imperial  vestments,  for  he  clothed  himself  in  the  richest  raiment  pro- 
curable in  Spain,  provided  before  his  embarkation  in  anticipation  of  a  meeting  with  the 
Circat  Khan  of  Tartary.  Above  the  scarlet  mantle  that  covered  his  shoulders,  he  bore  the 
royal  flag,  on  which  was  emblazoned  the  image  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  taking  his  position  in 
the  bow  of  the  first  boat,  started  for  the  inviting  shore.  Immediateh-  behind  him  came  the 
yawls  of  the  A'ii'ia  and  Piii/a,  bearing  their  commanders,  each  of  whom  supported  royal 
standards  of  Castile  on  which  were  displayed  the  letters  F.  and  Y.,  initials  of  the  sovereigns, 
Hernando  and  Ysabel. 

With  lusty  arms  the  rowers  pushed  the  boats  rapidly  towards  the  shore,  nearh-  a 
league  from  the  anchorage,  where  a  landing  having  been  made,*  with  a  solemnity  befitting 
so  thankful  an  occa.sion,  Columbus  planted  the  standard  of  the  cross  and  the  flags  of  Sjiain 
in  the  yielding  sands.  This  done  he  lifted  his  voice  in  a  j^rayer,  only  the  first  accents  of 
which  have  been  prc.ser\-cd  by  history,  while  those  about  him  fell  upon  their  knees  willi 
oflerings  of  thanksgiving:    "Lord   Kternal    and  .Mmighty  God!      Who,    by  Thy  sacred 

*  Billy  Rice,  the  IrisUman,  is  said  to  have  been   first  to  leap  on   shore,  carrying  out  the  line  with  which  to 
make  the  vawl  fast. 

(113) 

8 


LANDING   ON    THE   SHORE   OF   SAN   SALVADOR. 


(114) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  115 

word,  hast  created  the  heavens,  the  eartli  and  tlie  seas,  iiia\-  Thy  name  be  blessed  and 
glorified  everywhere.  May  Thy  Majesty  be  exalted,  who  hast  deigned  to  permit  that 
bv  Thy  humble  servant  Thy  sacred  name  should  be  made  known  and  preached  in  this 
other  part  of  the  world."  Having  thus  made  his  obligation-:  to  God,  he  gave  to  the 
island  the  name  of  San  Salvador  (Holy  Saviour),  and  then  took  possession  of  it  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  the  Crown  of  Castile.  A  large  cross,  made  from 
limbs  of  a  tree,  was  next  set  up  to  mark  the  landing  site,  and  then  efforts  were  made 
to  communicate  with  the  natives,  who  stood  off  at  a  considerable  distance  watching 
with  fear  and  trembling  the  actions  of  tlicir  strange  \isilors. 

INTERCOURSE  WITH  NATIVES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

By  signs  of  amit>-,  and  a  proffer  of  presents,  Columbus  at  length  induced  some  of  the 
bolder  to  approach,  whom  he  so  graciously  received  that  their  companions  dirccth'  came 
forward,  and  an  agreeable  intercourse  was  presently  established;  but  as  their  language  was 
not  understood  b>'  any  of  Columbus'  men,  commimication  was  conducted  entirely  by  means 
of  signs.  By  these,  however,  it  was  learned  that  the  island  upon  which  landing  had  thus 
been  made,  was  called  by  the  natives,  Guana/iaiii.  Subsequent  investigation  proved  that 
it  was  one  of  a  considerable  group  afterwards  named  the  Bahamas.  The  imperfect  knowl- 
edge acquired  by  Columbus,  and  especially  the  indefinite  description  which  he  gave  of  the 
island  has  been  the  cause  of  much  dispute  respecting  the  exact  land  which  he  first 
discovered.  While  a  majority  of  authorities  maintain  that  San  Salvador  of  modern  maps 
was  the  real  landing  place,  others  declare  that,  from  the  brief  description  given,  Watling's 
island  is  manifestly  the  land  of  first  discovery;  but  the  impossibility  of  settling  this  contro- 
\ersy  renders  a  discussion  of  the  question  out  of  place  here. 

The  appearance  of  the  people,  which  interests  us  most,  is  thus  described  b}'  Columbus 
in  his  journal:  ''The  men  and  women  go  naked  as  they  were  born  into  the  world.  They 
are  well  shaped  and  with  agreeable  features.  Their  hair,  as  coarse  as  horse  hair,  falls  over 
their  foreheads,  and  is  left  to  grow  in  a  long  tail  behind,  but  it  is  not  crisp.  These  men 
are  in  truth  a  fine  race;  they  have  lofty  foreheads,  and  bigger  heads  than  any  natives  I 
have  ever  seen  before  in  my  travels.  Their  eyes  are  large  and  fine,  their  legs  straight, 
stature  high,  and  their  movements  graceful.  Some  are  painted  a  blackish  color,  but  are 
of  the  same  tawny  hue  as  are  the  natives  of  the  Canary  islands.  Many  are  painted  white, 
red  or  some  other  color,  as  to  the  whole  body,  or  the  face  around  the  eyes,  and  sometimes 
only  the  nose.  They  have  no  weapons  such  as  we  have,  and  .seem  not  even  to  know  the 
properties  of  weaponry. " 

But  though  simple  in  their  manner,  the  natives  had  such  weapons  as  lances  made  by 
pointing  pieces  of  cane  with  shark's  teeth  and  obsidian.  Some  of  the  people  were 
obser\'ed  to  bear  the  marks  of  serious  wounds,  received,  as  they  explained,  in  battles  with 
natives  of  neighboring  islands  who  sought  to  enslave  them.  When  confidence  was  estab- 
lished, the  islanders  curiously  inquired,  by  means  of  signs,  if  their  \-isitors  were  not  heaven- 
descended,  for  in  their  simple  faith  they  believed  the  vessels  riding  at  anchor  before  them 
were  huge  creatures  of  the  air  that  had  descended  in  the  night,  bearing  to  them  celestial 
passengers,  the  object  of  whose  visit  they  could  not  determine.  But  familiar  intercourse 
reassured  them,  and  before  the  day  was  ended  they  manifested  the  greatest  curiositv  to 
know  their  visitors  better,  and  evidenced  their  feeling  of  security  by  the  freest  commingling 
and  interchange  of  civilities,  taking  the  fonn  of  active  brrtcr  of  nets,  fruits,  cotton 
yarns,  parrots  and  occasional  pieces  of  gold,  for  the  attractive  trifles  that  the  Spaniards 
had  to  give. 


116  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

FAMILIARITY  FOLLOWED  BY  ABUSE. 

On  the  following  morning  hundreds  of  the  natives  came  off  to  the  ships  in  canoes  made 
from  the  trunks  of  trees,  some  of  which  were  large  enough  to  comfortablj-  carry  as  many  as 
fifty  men,  while  others  were  so  small  as  to  scarcely  support  a  single  person.  But  the 
islanders  had  such  familiarity  with  the  water  that  they  appeared  aquatic  in  their  habits,  and 
to  be  capsized  miles  from  the  shore  gave  them  no  uneasiness,  for  they  would  dextrouslj- 
right  their  crafts  and  bale  them  out  with  gourds  with  which  every  paddler  was  provided,  in 
anticipation  of  such  accidents. 

Observing  that  a  few  of  the  islanders  wore  small  ornaments  of  gold  in  their  noses,  the 
cupidity  and  avarice  of  the  Spaniards  was  quickly  excited,  and  with  great  eagerness  Colum- 
bus inquired  whence  came  those  pieces  of  the  precious  metal.  The\'  responded  by  inform- 
ing him  that  somewhere  south  of  them  there  was  a  larger  island  ruled  by  a  king  who 
possessed  immense  quantities  of  gold,  and  whose  drinking  vessels  were  all  made  of  that 
metal.  He  asked  some  of  them  to  accompany  him  upon  a  visit  to  that  auriferous  land,  but 
they  refusing,  in  his  anxiety  to  enrich  himself  and  followers,  Columbus  hastened  his 
departure.  Herein  was  the  beginning  of  that  long  and  painful  story  of  the  cupidity, 
wandering  and  gold-greed  with  which  the  Spanish  adventurers  and  heroes  of  the  sixteenth 
century  were  all  inflamed. 

Only  one  thing  restrained  the  desire  of  the  crews  for  an  immediate  embarkation  to 
pursue  their  quest  for  gold,  and  this  was  the  condemnable  passion  of  lustful  appetite. 
Before  their  unbridled  and  lascivious  senses  the  Spaniards  saw  a  people  of  modest  manners  and 
a  guileless  disposition,  and  this  they  would  violate  by  inaugurating  an  immorality  to  which 
the  natives  were  yet  strangers.  We  cannot  fail  to  reflect  upon  the  astounding  satire  fur- 
nished by  the  contrast  of  naked  modesty  and  pure  manners  of  this  untutored  island  tribe 
as  compared  with  the  lustful  appetite,  calculating  avarice,  distrust,  latent  cruelty,  and 
perfidious  spirit  of  the  Spanish  mariners,  products  as  they  were  of  one  of  the  oldest  civili- 
zations— a  civilization  upon  which  the  forces  of  literature,  art  and  so-called  religion  had 
operated  for  nearly  a  thousand  years. 

BELIEF   OF   COLUMBUS   RESPECTING    HIS    DISCOVERY. 

Believing  that  the  island  upon  which  he  had  landed  was  one  of  the  five  thousand 
described  b>-  I\Iarco  Polo  as  lying  in  the  sea  off  Cathay,  Columbus  regarded  the  natives  as 
a  fraction  of  the  great  races  of  India,  wherefore  he  called  them  Indians.  But  they  bore  none 
of  the  characteristics  observed  in  the  peoples  with  which  Polo  came  in  contact.  If  how- 
ever, they  were  a  far  outlying  contingent  of  the  natives  of  India,  or  Zipangu,  they  must  be 
serviceable  in  pursuing  further  discoveries,  so  Columbus  took  on  board  his  ship  (by  abduc- 
tion) seven  of  the  most  promising  islanders,*  whom  he  so  diligently  instructed  that  they 
soon  became  intelligent  interpreters,  and  with  these,  on  the  14th  of  October,  he  renewed 
his  voyage.  To  more  thoroughly  acquaint  himself  with  the  size  and  productions  of  the 
island,  however,  he  sailed  entirely  around  it,  finding  that  it  abounded  with  cocoanuts  and 
bananas — fruits  never  before  seen  by  Europeans — and  such  products  as  yams,  cotton,  yucca, 
and  pine-apples.  But  he  deemed  it  unsuited  for  colonization,  because  of  its  smallness,  and 
he  turned  the  prows  of  his  vessels  to  renew  the  quest  for  the  mainland  of  Cathay,  which  he 
hoped  soon  to  gain,  and  there  presenting  to  the  Grand  Khan  the  letter  of  friendship  from 
his  sovereigns,  gather  the  rich  recompense  of  his  success  and  then  return  in  triumph  to 
receive  the  favors  of  Isabella  and  the  plaudits  of  mankind. 

*  "  I  took  some  Indians,  by  force,  from  the  first  island  I  came  to,  that  they  might  learu   our  language,  and  tell 
what  they  knew  of  their  countrj'." — Letter  of  Columbus  to  Don  Raphael  Sanchez. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


117 


ADVENTURE  WITH  A    HORRID    MONSTER. 

A  few  hours'  sail  from  Guanahani  brought  the  expedition  in  sight  of  a  great  cluster  of 
islands,  more  than  a  hundred  of  which  his  native  interpreters  named.  One  of  the  largest 
appearing  he  approached,  and  finding  the  shores  inviting  made  a  landing  and  erecting 
thereon  a  cross  as  a  sign  of  Christian  occupation,  christened  the  island  Si.  Mary  of  tlie 
Conception.   ^,___ .^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^§r^ 


Two  other  large 
islands      he 
named    respec- 
tively   Feruaii- 
diiie    and    Isa- 
bella.   The  lat- 
ter was  so  full 
of   natural    de- 
lights   that   he 
remained  there 
for    two     days 
exploring     i  t  s 
beauties  of 
lovely  scener>', 
picturesque 
groves,  flowery 
meads,    and 
fruit-bearing 
trees.     The  air 
was    full  of 
sweetest  fra- 
grance and  re- 
sonant with  the 
voice  of  warb- 
ling   birds,    no 
less  gorgeously 
arrajed    than 
tuneful.     The 
natives  were 
verj'  like  those 
with  whom  he 
first     came     in 
contact,   but 
they    lived    in 
huts  more  artis- 


ADVKNTURE  OF  COLUMBUS  WITH  AN  IGUANA. 

tically  constructed,  and  possessed  more  ornaments  of  gold.  On  the  island — betraying  its 
volcanic  origin — was  a  considerable  lake  of  cr\'stal  water  abounding  with  fish.  While 
walking  along  the  shore  Columbus  was  at  first  horror-stricken  by  die  sight  of  a  monster 
lizard  with  annament  of  bristling  scales,  dreadful  claws  and  hideous  head.  But  instead 
of  standing  upon  the  offensive,  the  creature  retreated  into  the  .shallow  water,  whither 
Columbus  pursued  and  killed   it  with  a  lance.      It  being  of  such  remarkable  size  and 


118  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

repelling  aspect  he  took  off  its  skin,  which  he  declares  measured  seven  feet  in  length,  and 
preser\'ed  it  as  an  example  of  the  frightful  reptilian  life  of  the  new  world.  This  lizard 
was  an  iguana,  common  in  the  inter-tropical  countries  of  America,  where,  despite  its 
iiorrid  appearance,  the  flesh  is  so  highly  esteemed  as  to  readil)-  command  twenty-five  cents 
per  pound  in  the  markets.     It  is  not  known  to  exceed  five  feet  in  length. 

But  all  the  beauties  or  wonders  of  earth  could  not  long  retain  the  interest  of  Columbus. 
He  gave  to  them  the  tribute  of  a  passing  notice,  but  his  mind  was  absorbed  with  an  am- 
bition for  gain  ;  his  thirst  for  gold  was  unappeasable  ;  his  day-dreams  were  gilded  with  the 
treasure  which  he  set  out  to  seek.  Of  this  avaricious  passion  Barr}',  the  compiler  from  De 
Lorgues,  his  most  ardent  Catholic  admirer,  thus  w-rites  :  "In  this  voyage  his  (Columbus,) 
object  was  less  to  observe  nature  than  to  acquire  gold,  in  order  to  make  Spain  interested  in 
the  matter  of  continuing  the  discoveries,  by  giving  palpable  proofs  of  their  importance. 
He  sought  gold,  especially  in  order  to  commence  the  fund  of  the  immense  treasure  he 
desired  to  amass.  The  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Land  and  the  purchase  of  the  tomb  of 
Jesus  Christ  were  always  before  his  eyes — the  supreme  object  of  his  ambition.  He  desired 
then  to  collect,  in  order  to  convert  them  into  gold,  the  spices  of  the  Orient,  the  frontiers 
of  which  he  believed  he  had  reached.  But  it  was  gold  that  he  sought  particularly.  Everj-- 
where  he  inquired  diligently  about  the  land  of  gold.  The  sight  of  the  precious  metal 
exerted  in  him  an  ardent  desire  for  it  and  an  almost  loving  eagerness.  Never,  perhaps,  did 
a  Christian  desire  gold  for  a  like  purpose.  Not  being  able  to  find  some  as  soon  as  he  ex- 
pected, he  addressed  himself  to  God,  and  besought  Him  to  direct  him  to  some  and  to  its  beds.'* 

THE   AVARICE  AND    CRUELTY  OF  COLUMBUS. 

This,  while  intending  to  present  Columbus  as  a  man  possessed  of  the  holiest  ambition, 
actually  represents  him  as  one  of  the  most  rapacious,  \-enal  and  greedy  mercenaries  of  which 
history  gives  us  any  account.  How  his  conscience  couid  conceive  and  defend  an  aspiration  to 
purchase  the  Holy  Sepulchre  surpasses  our  comprehension.  Such  an  ambition  is  a  reflec- 
tion upon  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God  Himself,  who  for  His  own  reasons  suffered  and 
continues  to  suffer  the  enemies  of  Christianity  to  hold  possession  of  that  sacred  shrine, 
against  which  seas  of  blood  have  surged  in  vain.  And  the  unholiness  of  his  ambition  is 
emphasized  by  the  cruel  methods  which  he  employed  in  his  mad  efforts  to  acquire  riches. 
The  burning  of  villages,  massacres  of  defenceless  natives,  the  inauguration  of  ever\-  iniquity, 
and  lastly  the  enslavement  of  helpless  men,  women  and  children,  until  his  more  merciful 
sovereign  cried  out  against  his  cruelties,  whose  heart  would  not  permit  her  to  profit  by  such 
inhumanities — these  are  some  of  the  results  of  his  wanton  greed,  his  impious  lust,  his 
worldly  aspirations.  While  remembering  the  glon,-  of  his  accomplishment  in  discovering  a 
new  world,  let  us  not  forget  the  ignominy  of  those  acts  by  which  the  inoffensive,  trustful, 
guileless  and  affectionate  natives  of  the  West  Indies  were  .converted  into  slaves,  and 
oppressed  into  the  most  debased  savagers'.  Not  even  the  fanaticism  of  the  age  nor  the 
hypocrisy  of  his  pretensions  can  excuse  him  of  the  crime  of  barbarous  ferocity,  of  voracious, 
blood-thirsty  avarice,  in  which  disposition  he  was  in  no  wise  different  from  the  members 
of  his  expedition. 

Before  leaving  the  island  of  Isabella,  Columbus  was  told  of  a  countn-  somewhere  to 
the  south-west  which  the  natives  called  Cuba,  and  upon  which  it  was  declared  there  was 
such  an  abundance  of  gold,  that  a  warlike  people  from  the  north  frequently  invaded  the 
countr>'  and  carried  off  immense  quantities  of  that  valuable  metal.  To  this  exciting  recital 
was  added  a  report  that  there  were  on  Cuba  many  large  cities  ruled  by  powerful  monarchs, 
and  that  in  ever)-  respect  the  country  was  the  most  delightful  and  the  richest  in  all  the 


COLUMHl'S   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


ll'J 


world.  Or  rather,  it  ma\-  be  better  said,  that  Cohinibus  so  interpreted  tlie  .si<^n.s  by  which 
couiiuunication  was  carried  on  ;  but  his  imagination  was  at  all  times  so  energetic  that  he 
painted  the  most  connnonplace  things  with  the  colors  of  fanc\-,  and  this  strong  ideality 
was  constantly  leading  him  into  the  by-ways  of  sore  disappointment. 

DISCOVERY  OF  CUBA. 

Believing  implicitly  in  the  wild  romance  of  Cuban  grandeur  and  inconceivable  wealth, 
Columbus  again  spread  his  sails,  on  the  24th  of  October,  for  the  shore  of  tliat  gold 
embroidered  countr\-  ;  but  at  the  moment  of  weighing  anchor  one  of  the  interpreters, 
obtained  at  Guanahani,  leaped  overboard  and  made  his  escape  to  .shore,  despite  every 
exertion  made  by  four  sailors  in  a  boat  to  o\erhauI  him.  Contrary  winds  also  rose,  fol- 
lowed b\-  terrible  rain-storms,  so  that  progress  was  greatly  impeded.  On  the  third  day  a 
cluster  of  islands,  now  known  as  the  Mucaras,  was  passed,  and  on  the  succeedii:g  daj-  the 
shores  of  Cuba,  at  a  point  a  few  miles  west  of  where  the  town  of  Nuevitas  del  Principe 
now  stands,  broke  into  view.  The  most  casual  view  gave  conclusive  indication  that  the 
land  was  an  extensive  one,  even  continental  in  appearance.  Bold  promontories  distin- 
guished the  shores,  and  a  large  river  was  observed  winding  its  way  through  a  rich  valley 
and  emboguing  into  the  ocean  near  the  point  where  the  shore-line  was  first  seen. 

The  ships  were  nni  into 
an  estuan.-,  which  sers-ed  as 
an  excellent  harbor,  and 
where  an  abundance  of 
crystal-like  fresh  water  was 
obtainable,  and  a  landing 
made.  Immediately  upon 
going  on  shore  Columbus 
took  possession  of  the  island 
(which  he  thought  might 
possibly  be  the  mainland  of 
Zipangu,  or  Cathay)  in  the 
name  of  the  Empress  Isabella,  and  in  honor  of  the  heir  apparent,  Prince  Juan,  he  called 
the  country-  Juanna,  and  the  port  where  he  landed  San  Salvador. 

The  landing  of  the  Spaniards  had  attracted  the  surprise  of  many  natives,  who  watched 
with  anxious  curiosity  from  afar  the  strange  beings  and  niar\-ellous  boats  that  had  thus 
visited  their  shores  ;  but  they  in  turn  were  obser\-ed,  and  also  a  small  village  of  circular, 
conical-roofed  huts  that  lay  half  concealed  in  the  deep  .shade  of  a  luxurious  forest.  When 
the  ceremony  of  occupation  was  completed,  and  a  wooden  cro.ss  set  up  as  a  mark  of  pos- 
session, Columbus,  with  several  of  his  men,  paid  a  visit  to  the  village,  which,  however, 
was  deserted  upon  their  approach.  Kntering  the  abandoned  huts  he  was  much  disap- 
pointed to  find^  therein  the  same  evidences  of  poverty  that  distinguished  the  islanders  of 
Guanahani,  and  with  no  appearances  of  a  better  social  condition.  He  foimd  many  fishing 
nets,  harpoons  pointed  with  bone,  car\'ed  pieces  of  wood,  and  swinging  couches  made  of 
netting  which  the  natives  called  haniacs,  a  name  that  sur\-ives  with  us  in  the  slight  change 
to  hammock.  Proceeding  farther  towards  the  interior  Columbus  found  a  mar\cllous 
diversity  of  beauteous  landscape,  groves  of  palm  trees,  abundance  of  bananas,  a  sensuous 
atmosphere  perfume  laden,  crystal  waters,  and  great  numbers  <jf  parrots  and  other  beauti- 
fully-feathered bird.s.  He  was  fairly  overwhelmed  by  the  natural  .splendors  that  lay  spread 
about  him,  but  while  believing  this  must  be  the  mainland  of  Asia  he  could  not  account  for 


THIi  DKUGHTFUI.   SHORKS   OF   ISABELI..\    ISI,.\NU. 


120 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  primitive  character  of  the  people,  who  were  evidently  unacquainted  with  any  of  the 

forms  of  civilization. 

A  VISIT  TO  NATIVE  VILLAGES. 

After  many  efforts,  Columbus  at  length  persuaded  a  few  of  the  natives  to  approach  and 
receive  presents  from  his  hands,  and  intercourse  once  established,  he  was  quickly  surrounded 
by  swarms  of  islanders,  who  manifested  desire  for  pacific  relations  by  bringing  quantities 
of  fruits  to  the  Spaniards,  as  offerings  of  homage.  By  them  he  was  told  that  the  country 
was  an  island,  and  near  the  centre  were  mountains  of  gold,  while  along  the  water  courses 
precious  pearls  and  stones  might  be  found  in  great  numbers  ;  that  the  capital  city  lay  not 

far  distant  and  was  more  beautiful  than  au)-  other  thing  on  the 
island.  This  information  fired  the  Spaniards  with  new  desire  and 
they  were  all  exceedingly  anxious  to  begin  the  gathering  of  riches 
which  they  believed  were  scattered  about  in  inconceivable  profu- 
sion not  many  miles  distant. 

In  this  quest  for  the  bag  of  gold  that  lies  at  the  foot  of  the 
rainbow,  Columbus  set  out  with  his  resolute  followers  in  a  westerly 
direction  along  the  coast,  until  another  village  was  sighted  at  the 
mouth  of  a  river,  before  which  the  squadron  anchored,  and  a  visit 
made  to  the  town.  The  inhabitants  fled  with  precipitation  to  the 
hills,  leaving  their  visitors  in  quiet  possession,  and  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  return  and  open  communication.  The  houses  composing 
this  village  were  more  pretentious  in  size  and  architectural  in  ap- 
pearance than  those  first  visited,  and  within  Columbus  found 
rudely  car\^ed  effigies  and  wooden  visors  of  hideous  visage,  besides 
harpoons,  fishing  nets  and  such  other  paraphernalia  as  indicated  the 
poverty  and  low  superstitions  of  the  natives,  but  there  ^\■as  neither 
gold,  silver  nor  precious  stones. 

The  promise  of  reward  being  again  disappointing,  Columbus 
set  his  sails  once  more  and  proceeded  along  the  north  coast  until 
he  reached  an  extensive  headland,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
Cape  of  Palms,  and  which  is  but  little  more  than  one  hundred 
miles  from  the  southern  point  of  Florida.  Here  he  met  with  some 
natives  who  told  him  that  just  around  the  promontory  a  large 
river  emptied  into  the  sea,  while  a  short  distance  beyond,  no  more 
than  four  days'  journe}',  lay  Ciiba/iacan.  At  the  mention  of  this 
THE  CROSS  or  POSSESSION,  ^jqt^^  Coluuibus  was  much  excited,  because  he  now  believed  that 
the  resemblance  in  pronunciation  between  this  word  and  Kublai  Khan  was  evidence  that 
he  was  approaching  the  capital  of  that  Cathajan  monarch.  Unfortunately,  as  was  long 
afterwards  ascertained,    the   expression    Oibanacan,  in  the   native  language,    signified  the 

centre  or  interior  of  the  island. 

AN   EMBASSY  TO  A  CHIEF. 

The  anchors  were  weighed  and  the  voyage  of  discovery  was  continued,  but  no  river 

was  to  be  seen,  and  now,  believing  that  he  had  misunderstood  his  informants,  Columbus 

returned  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  los  Mares  and  renewed  intercourse  with  the  natives 

whom  he  found  anxious  to  barter,  and    pacific   in  disposition.       In  the  belief  that  gold 

abounded  somewhere  in  the  vicinity,  he  ordered  that  nothing  but  pieces  of  that  precious 

metal  be  accepted  in  exchange    for  articles  which  the   Spaniards  had  to   trade,  but  the 

anxiety  of  the  natives  and  the  vainness  of  this  measure  soon  convinced  \\va\  of  the  extreme 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


121 


scarcitv  of  sold  thereabouts.  But  oue  Cubau  wa.s  seeu  supportiuj^  a  piece  of  silver  froui 
his  uosc,  who,  heconiiug  a  great  object  of  iuterest,  told  Columbus  that  four  days'  jouruey 
in  the  interior  was  a  large  city  in  which  lived  a  mighty  emperor,  who,  having  learned  of 
ihe  white  visitors,  had  sent  messengers  to  invite  them  to  visit  his  capital.  This  news  was 
most  encourag- 
ing, and  that 
he  might  dis- 
play the  cour- 
tesies of  civiliz- 
ation, Colum- 
bus chose  a  n 
embassy  of  four, 
composed  o  f 
the  polyglot 
J  e  w,  Rodrigo 
de  J  arez,  a 
Guanahani 
native,  and  a 
Cuban  guide, 
who  were  pro- 
V  i  d  e  d  with 
many  presents, 
such  as  hawk- 
bells,  glass 
trinkets,  and  a 
variety  of  other 
gew-gaws.  Be- 
sides the  offer- 
ings, they  were 
bearers  of  let- 
ters addressed 
to  the  Grand 
Kahn,  convcy- 
i  n  g  profound 
considerations 
of  the  Spanish 
sovereigns,  and 
expressions  of 
desire  to  estab- 
1  i  s  h    amicable 

relations  with  the  .-Asiatic  potentate  whose  kingdom  Columbus  believed  had  been  reached. 
During  the  absence  of  the  embassy,  which  Columbus  knew  must  occupy  several  days, 
he  employed  the  time  making  careful  examination  of  the  adjacent  country  and  its  produc- 
tions. Finding  the  river,  near  which  the  ships  were  anchored,  navigable  for  considerable 
crafts,  he  ascended  it  several  miles  and  was  rewarded  by  finding  many  valuable  woods, 
such  as  cinnamon,  nutmeg,  rhubarb, and,  what  was  more  gratifying  still,  a  tuber  which 
the  natives  baked  in  the  fire  and  ate  with   great  relish,  and  which   the  Spaniards  found 


illi;    NATIVES   Ul-    CI  A. 


122 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


equally  palatable.  This  proved  to  be  the  potato  (derived  from  the  native  name  batata\ 
little  valued  at  the  time,  but,  as  Mr.  In.-ing  observes,  a  more  precious  acquisition  to  man 
than  all  the  spices  and  pearls  of  the  east. 

The  farther  he  proceeded,  however,  the  more  marvellous  grew  the  tales  of  native 
wealth,  until  even  the  incomparable  credulity  of  the  Spaniards  became  heavily  taxed. 
The  Indians  told,  with  deceptive  gravity,  of  places  in  the  country  where  people  wore 
bracelets  of  gold  and  necklaces  of  fine  pearls  ;  but  some  of  these  marvellously  rich  natives, 
they  declared,  were  noted  equally  for  their  astounding  aspect.  One  race,  living  in  the 
district  of  Bohio,  had  only  a  single  eye  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  forehead,  and  were 
extremely  fierce.  Another  people 
whose  principal  capital  was  called 
Kaniba,  had  the  heads  of  dogs. 
They  were  not  only  brutal  in  ap- 
pearance, but  even  more  so  in  dis- 
position, for  they  were  cannibals 
and  took  special  pleasure  in  drink- 
ing the  blood  of  their  enemies. 
There  was  also  an  island  named 
Mantinino,  in  the  midst  of  a  large 
lake,  inhabited  by  women  only,  who 
frequently  fought  with  men  on  the 
main  shore,  and  who  tortured  their 
prisoners  with  fiendish  cruelty. 

We  are  impressed  by  the  simi- 
larity between  these  traditions  and 
those    of  several     Central    African 
tribes,  which  are  so  nearly  identical 
that  the  coincidence  seems  to  point 
unmistakably  to  the    same  origin. 
Can  this  Tact   be  taken  as  an  evi- 
dence of  the  ancient  existence  of  a 
between  the  West  Indies,  South  America 
Is  it  a  link  in  the  chain  of  proof  that 
of  waters  was  at  one  time  bridged  by 
of  Atlantis,  as  Plinv  declares? 


land 


connection 
Africa  ? 
stretch 
Continent 


THK   CUBAN  CHIEF  AND  SPANISH  EMBASSY. 

RESULTS  OF    A  VISIT  TO  THE   CACIQUE. 

At  the  end  of  six  days  the  embassy  returned  with  a  most  interesting  but  extremely 
disappointing  report.  They  had  found  the  capital  city,  not  more  than  thirty-six  miles  from 
the  coast,  but  instead  of  a  place  abounding  with  riches,  they  discovered  it  to  be  a  village 
composed  of  some  fifty  huts  occupied  by  nearly  one  thousand  naked  or  half-clad  people. 
Instead  of  meeting  a  mighty  monarch,  known  as  Kublai  Khan,  by  Marco  Polo,  they  were 
introduced  to  a  tall  Indian  chief,  whose  throne  was  a  block  of  wood  ver\'  rudely  carved, 
and  who  could  provide  no  better  feast  than  cassava  bread,  bananas,  cocoanuts  and  water. 
The  Jew  turned  his  tongue  to  all  his  vocabularies,  but  without  success.  The  guide,  how- 
ever, was  able  to  make  himself  understood  and  succeeded  in  explaining  to  the  chief  that 
the  Spaniards  were  children  descended  from  the  sun,  who  were  anxious  to  establish  a 
friendship  with  his  people.      By  this  introduction    the  Cubans  were  made  worshippers  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  123 

their  visitors,  and  after  exchaii.trinfi^  some  parrots,  cotton-yarn,  cassava  and  frnits  for 
trinkets,  several  desired  to  accompany  tlie  embassy  on  their  return  to  the  ships,  but  only 
one  man  and  his  son  were  permitted  this  privilege. 

During  the  interview  with  the  native  chief  the  ambassadors  observed  what  they 
regarded  as  a  curious  ceremony,  in  somewise  connected  with  religions  worship  : — Numbers 
of  the  natives,  young  and  old,  carried  about  dried  leaves  which  they  rolled  up  in  the 
fonn  of  a  tubule,  and  applying  fire  to  one  end,  inserted  the  other  in  the  mouth,  and  after 
sucking  it  they  expelled  great  quantities  of  smoke.  These  rolls  the  natives  called  lohago^ 
whence  is  derived  the  word  tobacco^  which  the  leaves  thus  rolled  together,  forming  a 
cigar,  proved  to  be.  Another  yet  more  important  discovery  was  made  in  the  finding  of 
Indian  corn,  from  which  the  natives  made  a  fairly  good  bread,  but  on  account  of  their 
inability  to  separate  the  kernel  from  the  shell,  they  preferred  cassava.  A  transplantation 
of  this  most  useful  grain  to  Europe  quickly  followed,  however,  and  has  given  such  beneficent 
results  as  are  only  equalled  by  the  cultivation  of  the  potato. 

But  though  the  Grand  Khan  of  Columbus"  imagination  turned  out  to  be  only  a  naked 
chief,  and  the  palatial  city  of  the  conjectured  Quainsay  a  miserable  village  of  loud-smelling 
huts,  the  reports  of  gold-abounding  districts  continued  to  lure  the  avaricious  sailors.  The 
natives  now  declared  that  somewhere  towards  the  east  was  a  river  with  banks  of  golden  sand> 
to  which  people  came  ever)'  night  with  torches  to  gather  stores  of  the  precious  deposit,  which, 
however,  was  so  plentiful  that  the  gold  was  only  valuable  because  of  the  vessels  into  which 
it  might  be  easily  wrought.  The  country  where  this  wealth  of  auriferous  .sands  was  to  be 
found  the  natives  called  Babcque,  and  thither  the  expedition  started  with  a  covetous  distrac- 
tion, like  that  of  a  boy  chasing  a  will-o'-the-wisp  over  a  misty  bog,  and  with  the  same  dis- 
appointments. All  the  beauties  of  the  island,  all  its  wonderful  productions  of  forest,  gro\'e 
and  field,  all  its  opportunities  for  colonization  and  the  spread  of  Christianity,  alike  failed  l) 
impress  these  adventurers,  whose  lust  for  gold  subordinated  every  other  ambition,  and 
destroyed  even.'  commendable  impulse. 

THE  DESERTION  OF  PINZON. 

From  the  28th  of  October  until  the  19th  of  November  this  heartless  quest  for  gold  con- 
tinued, Columbus  all  the  while  dreaming,  awake  and  asleep,  of  mountains  of  the'precious 
metal  which  he  would  presently  find  and  therefrom  load  his  vessels  for  an  offering  to  the 
Spanish  sovereigns.  But  when  disappointment  after  disappointment  finally  began  to  corrode 
his  hopes  and  dispel  the  illusions  of  his  imagination,  he  grew  morose,  and  this  sullenness 
of  disposition  also  seized  upon  Alonzo  Pinzon,  who  separated  his  vessel,  the  Pin/a,  from  her 
companions,  in  order  to  make  an  independent  search  for  the  valleys,  streams  and  mountains 
of  gold  which  they  had  been  unable  to  find  while  sailing  together.  But  he  was  no  more 
successful,  and  in  rejoining  the  exjicdition,  excused  his  act  of  desertion  by  declaring  that  he 
had  been  separated  from  the  San/a  Maria  and  Nina  by  storms  that  had  violently  driven  the 
vessels  after  their  departure  from  the  anchorage  before  the  river  Rio  de  Mares. 

In  his  chagrin  at  the  failures  which  attended  his  many  efforts  to  find  the  gold  whicli 
the  islanders  declared  so  often  lay  just  a  little  way  beyond,  Columbus  decided  to  seize 
several  natives,  choosing  the  most  comely  maidens  and  young  men,  and  carry  them  back  to 
Spain  as  specimens  of  the  race  occupying  the  new  world  of  his  discovery.  In  order  to  do 
this  he  had  to  violate  all  natural  rights,  but  this  gave  small  concern  to  Spanish  conscience, 
an  1  from  this  initial  step  the  enslavement  ofthe.se  powerless,  hospitable  and  kindly  natives 
directly  followed. 

Columbus  continued  for  several  days  along  the  coast  of  Cuba,  naming  the  capes  and 


124  COLUMBUS   AND  COLUMBLA 

bays  that  he  passed,  until  the  19th  of  November,  when  the  Pinta  deserted  him  during  a 
serious  storm,  and  he  put  into  the  estuary  of  St.  Catharine  for  safety.  Here  he  seems  to 
have  been  recalled  from  his  avaricious  contemplation  to  a  consideration  of  the  beauties 
which  were  spread  around  him  in  a  boundless  prodigality  of  efflorescence — flower,  fruit  and 
forest  ;  a  mar\-ellous  versatility  of  nature — rippling  streams,  leaping  cascades,  warbling 
birds  of  iris-wing,  emerald  lands,  skies  of  azure,  clouds  barred  with  gold,  soothingly  sensuous 
air,  and  all  the  delights  that  a  blessed  clime  could  afford.  In  making  report  of  the  countr)- 
about  this  harbor  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Columbus  sa\-s  :  "  I  often  say  to  my  people  that, 
much  as  I  endeavor  to  give  a  complete  account  of  it  to  your  Majesties,  my  tongue  cannot 
express  the  whole  truth,  nor  my  pen  describe  it ;  and  I  have  been  so  overwhelmed  at  the 
sight  of  so  much  beauty  that  I  have  not  known  how  to  relate  it. "  So  proceeding,  he  dwells 
upon  the  transparency  of  the  waters,  how  the  most  exquisite  shells  coidd  be  seen  at  fi\-e 
fathoms  depth  lying  like  jewels  of  Neptune  on  the  pearly  sands  that  formed  the  ocean's 
floor,  and  then  tells  of  gigantic  forest  trees,  the  trunk  of  one  being  fonned  into  a  canoe 
capable  of  canying  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 

SOME  WONDERFUL  STORIES  ABOUT  IMAGINARY  PEOPLE. 

After  thus  spending  three  days  in  a  delightful  examination  of  the  coast  about  his 
anchorage,  which  he  named  Puerto  Santo  (Holy  Port),  Columbus  again  sailed  eastward  to 
the  extreme  limit  of  Cuba,  and  named  the  point  Alpha-and-Omega.  Instead  of  continuing 
around  the  island  and  directing  his  course  southwesterh",  which  would  have  brought  him, 
in  a  sail  of  one  Inuidred  and  thirty  miles,  to  the  shores  of  Yucatan  and  thus  gained  the  con- 
tinent, he  doubled  the  eastern  extremit)'  of  Cuba,  but  turned  directly  eastward  again  until 
another  island  burst  upon  his  vision,  which  in  his  enraptured  state  he  believed  must  be 
Babeque,  or  Bohio,  the  land  of  gold.  But  the  natives  whom  he  had  seized  exhibited  the 
gravest  alarms,  for  here  they  declared  was  the  land  of  cannibals,  of  dog-headed  men,  of 
Cyclops,  and  other  monstrosities  and  terrors,  which  would  devour  any  one  that  had  the 
temerity  to  land  upon  their  shores. 

No  alarms,  howe\'er,  were  great  enough  to  repress  the  enthusiasm  of  Cohnnbus  and 
his  followers,  whose  thirst  for  gold  rendered  them  insensible  to  all  dangers,  but  on  account 
of  adverse  winds  a  landing  was  not  effected  until  two  days  after  the  coast  was  first  sighted. 

The  new  land  which  rose  before  the  Spaniards  was  the  beautiful  island  now  known  as 
Hayti,  or  San  Domingo,  which  they,  on  closer  obser\-ation,  perceived  to  be  man-ellously 
picturesque.  The  mountains  in  the  central  part  rose  to  such  a  height  as  to  be  plainly  visible 
from  the  sea,  and  from  these  fell  away  verdant  foot-hills,  which  in  turn  faded  into  lovely 
valleys  clothed  with  a  luxuriant  vegetation.  Here  and  there  Columbus  detected  columns 
■of  slowly  rising  smoke,  indicative  of  an  industrial  community  thriving  off  the  abundant 
harvest  yields  of  a  highly-favored  countr)-. 

The  two  ships  were  put  into  a  capacious  harbor,  large  enough  to  accommodate  a  fleet 
•of  many  hundred  sail,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  St.  Nicholas,  and  by  which  designation 
it  is  still  known.  Recently  the  harbor  has  been  the  subject  of  some  diplomatic  correspond- 
ence between  the  representati\-es  of  our  country  and  the  government  of  Hayti,  looking 
towards  the  acquisition  of  coaling  privileges  by  the  United  States. 

CAPTURE  OF  A  NATIVE  WOMAN. 

Upon  going  on  shore  Columbus  found  the  island  well  peopled,  and  several  towns,  some 
of  considerable  size,  were  visited,  but  the  inhabitants  took  flight  on  the  approach  of  the 
Spaniards.  The  countr)'  was  well  cultivated,  and  the  roads  connecting  villages  were  in 
good  condition,  so  that  with  orchards,  gardens,  fields  of  grain,  houses  of  a  fair  construction, 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


125 


there  were  abundant  evidences  atte.stin<(  the  fjroat  superiority  of  these  nati\es  over  their 
Cuban  neiglibors.  But  they  were  surprisingly  timid,  notwithstanding  their  reputation  for 
fierceness,  and  being  unable  for  this  reason  to  open  intercourse  with  them,  Columbus  sent 
a  company  to  pursue  and  bring  to  him  some  of  the  people,  who  had  abandoned  their 
villages  and  taken  refuge  among  the  mountains.  Diligent  search  for  these  refugees  at 
length  resulted  in  the  capture  of  one  woman,  who  was  entirely  naked,  but  wore  a  gold 
jjendant  in  her  nose. 

The  admiral  received  his  prisoner  with  signs  of  regard,  and  after  providing  her  with 
clothes,  gave  her  presents  of  hawks, -bells  and  other  gew-gaws,  which  soon  won  her  thankful 
admiration  and  made  her  condition  such  a  pleasant  one  that  she  professed  no  desire  to  return  to 


LANDING    IN   ST.    NICHOL.\S    HARDOR.    HAVTI. 

her  people.  But  Columbus  placed  her  in  charge  of  nine  Spaniards  and  one  Cuban  inter- 
preter, who  conducted  her  to  the  village  where  she  lived,  which  was  some  fifteen  miles  in 
the  interior,  with  the  view  of  using  her  to  open  negotiations  with  the  natives.  The  town 
contained  about  one  thousand  huts  and  probably  si.\  or  seven  thousand  people,  but  even 
this  large  population  was  terrified  by  the  sight  of  white  men,  and  all  decamped  with  ]irc- 
cipitation  towards  the  hills.  After  great  patience  and  many  efibrts,  the  woman  and 
the  interpreter  induced  some  of  the  boldest  to  return,  who,  being  conducted  to  the  presence 
of  the  Spaniards,  exhibited  ever>-  sign  of  worshipful  awe.  The  woman's  husband  was 
among  the  first  to  approach,  through  her  persuasions,  and  it  was  amusing  to  see  his 
demonstrations  of  amazement  at  the  clothes  and  ornaments  with  which  his  proud  wife 
was  invested. 


126  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUxMBIA. 

A    PLEASANT   VISIT   TO   THE   HAYTIANS. 

The  confidence  of  the  Indians  was  at  length  obtained,  and  they  conducted  their 
visitors  in  great  state  to  tlie  best  houses  of  the  town,  where  a  splendid  banquet  of  cassava 
bread,  fish,  bananas  and  other  native  fruits  was  provided.  After  this  introducton-  cere-- 
mony  the  freest  intercourse  prevailed.  Columbus  observes  that  the  islanders  now  dis- 
missed their  fears  and  began  to  exhibit  their  generous  instincts  by  presenting  the  Span- 
iards with  e\er\thing  they  thought  might  be  desired  by  their  v-isitors.  They  appeared  to 
have  no  knowledge  of  values,  for  their  gifts  w-ere  made  as  if  the  act  of  giving  afforded 
^eat  pleasure.  Their  manner  of  life  was  innocent  in  the  highest  degree,  as  during  the 
W'hole  time  the  Spaniards  spent  among  the  natives,  not  a  single  act  of  violence  or 
treachery  was  observed.  It  was  also  evident  that  there  was  a  confraternity  of  interest 
among  them,  since  each  was  willing  to  share  with  his  neighbor  whatever  he  had,  exact- 
ing no  equivalent,  and  in  all  respects  exhibiting,  by  word  and  deed,  a  common  brother- 
Tiood  not  found  to  exist  among  so-called  Christian  people.  Among  them,  also,  the  sacred- 
■ness  of  the  marriage  relation  was  obser\'ed,  and  monogamy  prevailed,  except  that  chiefs 
■were  permitted  to  take  a  plurality  of  wives,  the  limit  being  twenty.  There  being  no 
<li\-ision  of  property,  or  separation  of  interests,  the  hannony  of  their  relation  was  never 
broken,  and  no  disturbances  of  any  character  aflflicted  these  innocent  and  peace-loving 
natives,  save  occasional  invasions  of  other  islanders,  which  was  followed  by  temporary- 
disquietude. 

But  while  Columbus  found  Hayti  or  Hispaniola  to  be  a  most  fertile  island,  and  inhab- 
ited by  a  prosperous  and  contented  people  with  whom  he  had  inaugurated  a  pleasant  inter- 
course, he  was  disappointed  again  in  his  expectations  of  finding  the  mountains  and  valleys 
of  gold,  towards  which  his  heart  and  hopes  continually  inclined  ;  so  on  December  14th,  he 
departed  to  renew  the  search  for  the  golden  kingdom  of  Babeque.  He  presently  discovered 
another  island  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Tortugas,  or  Turtle  Island,  and  coasted  it 
until  he  determined  that  its  size  was  inconsiderable,  though  he  observed  that  the  island 
was  well  watered  by  rivers  and  lakes,  and  that  it  supported  a  luxurious  vegetation. 

A  VISIT    IN    STATE    FROM   THE   CACIQUE. 

After  a  cruise  of  three  days,  without  important  results,  Columbus  returned  to  the 
coast  of  Hispaniola  (little  Spain),  and  put  into  a  pleasant  harbor  which  he  named  Puerto 
de  Paz,  with  the  purpose  to  renew  his  explorations  of  the  interior.  The  report  of  his 
return  was  quickly  noised  abroad  through  the  island,  and  on  the  iSth,  one  of  the  caciques, 
or  chiefs  of  the  natives,  came  in  state,  borne  as  he  w^as  b>-  four  men  in  a  wicker-work 
basket,  or  what  might  be  called  a  palanquin,  and  accompanied  by  his  ministers,  to  pay 
his  respects  to  the  Spaniards.  Proceeding  on  board  the  Saii/a  Maria,  as  Columbus  was  at 
dinner,  the  cacique  was  conducted  to  the  salon,  where  he  bowed  most  courteously  to  the 
Admiral,  and  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine,  though  he  ate  ver\-  little.  After  the  meal 
was  ended,  as  an  exhibition  of  his  amity  and  regard,  the  cacique  presented  Columbus  with 
a  belt  wrought  of  cocoanut  fibre  in  a  most  artistic  manner,  and  ornamented  with  thin 
plates  of  gold  ;  in  return  for  which  the  delighted  admiral  gave  his  imperial  guest  a  coun- 
terpane of  many  colors,  a  collar  of  amber  beads,  a  pair  of  red  buskins,  and  a  glass  flask 
filled  with  orange-flower  water,  the  fragrance  of  w-hich  w-as  very  pleasant.  After  this 
exchange  of  presents,  the  cacique  took  his  leave,  but  his  brother,  perceiving  the  profit 
that  had  attended  the  visit,  came  on  board  and  so  far  forgot  his  dignity  as  to  beg  for 
similar  mementos  of  the  white  man's  generosity,  nor  did  his  boldness  go  wholly 
■unrewarded. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


127 


While  lying  in  Puerto  de  Paz,  Columbus  was  entertained  by  the  natives  with  extrava- 
orant  stories  of  incredible  wealth,  one  of  whom  declared  that  he  knew  an  island  not  far  dis- 
tant  where  all  the  mountains  were  of  gold,  and  the  shores  were  of  the  same  precious  metal. 
But  such  tales  no  longer  had  the  effect  they  once  produced  upon  Columbus,  tliough  he  did 
not  \et  abandon  hope  that  he  would  arrive  upon  .some  island  where  gold  so  abounded 
as  to  enable  him  to  load  his  vessels  with  it,  and  enrich  him  beyond  the  dreams  of  kings. 

EXCHANGE  OF  VALUABLE  PRESENTS. 
On  the  20th  of  December,   llie  anchor-^  were  raised  and  on  the  same  day  the  harbor 
of  St.    Thomas    was    found  and    named,  where  upon  landing  before  a  large    village,   the 

capital  of  the  island,  the  natives 
flocked  about  the  Spaniards  in 
greater  numbers  than  before.  So 
liberal  were  the  islanders  that  they 
gave  more  than  tlieir  white  visi- 
tors were  able  to  receive,  which 
caused  Columbus  to  re-strain  their 
prodigality   by   issuing   an  order 


A    STATE  VISIT  OF   A   CACIQUE,    AT  THE   HARBOR   OK    HI  liKl'O    DE    I'A/.. 

forbidding  any  of  his  men  accepting  ainthing  unless  they  bestowed  something  in  return.  .\t 
this  harbor,  where  Columbus  remained  .several  days,  spending  much  of  his  time  on  shore, 
he  was  received  by  an  emba.ssy  from  the  UKJuarch  of  the  island,  the  Grand  Cacique  Gua- 
canagari,  who  despatched  a  messenger  bearing  as  a  present  to  the  .\dmiral  a  delicateh- 
wrouglit  belt,  to  which  were  suspended  colored  bits  of  bone,  and  a  face  dextrou.sly  car\ed 
in  wood,  with  the  eyes,  nose  and  tongue  of  beaten  gold,  accompanied  by  a  pressing 
invitation  from  the  chief  to  visit  his  palace. 

Not  being  willing  to  leave  the  .ships,  as  the  weather  appeared  threatening,  Columbus 
sent  his  royal   notary,  and  six  men  bearing  many  presents,  to  accept  the  hospitalities  of 


128 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Guacanagari  and  to  conve}-  to  him  assurances  of  regard  and  an  intention  to  visit  him  as 
soon  as  the  weather  became  fair.  The  Spanish  embassy  was  recei\-ed  with  great  ceremon>-, 
and  given  even,-  pri\-ilege  to  enjoy  whatever  the  town  or  its  people  afforded,  and  upon 
being  conducted  to  the  presence  of  the  great  chief  they  were  made  recipients  of  his  most 
bounteous  favors.      Receiving  from  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  the  presents  which  Colum- 


THE    GENEROUS    N.\TIVES    FOLLOW  THE    RETURNING    BO.\TS. 

bus  had  forwarded,  he  invited  them  to  remain  over  night  in  the  town,  but  this  the\-  had 
to  decline  in  pursuance  of  orders  requiring  them  to  return  on  the  same  day  ;  whereupon 
the  chief  delivered  to  them,  as  presents  for  the  Admiral,  several  pieces  of  gold  and  two 
large  parrots  that  had  been  taught  to  utter  several  words  of  the  native  tongue,  which  were 
curiosities  that  Columbus  highlv  prized. 


COLUMBUS    AND   COLUMBIA.  12!) 

LOSS  OF  THE  SANTA  MARIA. 

On  their  return  to  the  ships  the  Spaniards  wltl-  accompanied  by  more  than  a  thousand 
natives,  who  followed  after  them  in  canoes  with  liberal  gifts  of  fruit,  curious  native  handi- 
work, and  a  few  pieces  of  gold,  whicli  they  gave  with  freedom.  Seeing  that  the  latter  was 
held  in  greatest  estimation,  several  of  the  natives  declared,  as  an  inducement  to  prolong  the 
stav  of  their  visitors,  that  in  a  district  called  Cibao,  somewhere  in  the  interior,  there 
abounded  great  treasures  of  gold  and  precious  stones,  to  which  place  they  would  gladly 
pilot  the  Spaniards. 

This  report  acted  as  fresh  fuel  to  the  flame  of  his  avarice,  and  visions  of  Quainsas-,  the 
rich  kingdom  of  Kubla  Khan,  and  possessions  of  the  wealth  which  had  been  tlie  basis  of 
his  ambition,  again  rose  in  luring  grandeur  before  the  longing  eyes  of  Columbus,  and  he 
became  filled  with  desire  to  gain  that  glittering  region. 

But  the  tropical  winter  was  at  hand  and  tempestuous  weather  became  an  interposing 
barrier  to  his  aspirations.  0;i  Christmas  Eve,  when  the  anchors  were  weighed  to  proceed 
on  a  voyage  around  the  island  to  a  point  nearer  Cibao,  the  sky  was  serene,  and  with  a  feel- 
ing of  security  Columbus  retired  to  sleep,  leaving  his  subordinate  officers  in  charge  of  the 
Saii/a  .\fan'a.  It  appears  that  tlie  helmsman  soon  followed  the  example  of  the  Admiral 
and  went  to  sleep,  leaving  an  inexperienced  cabin-boy  at  the  rudder,  while  the  other  officers, 
lulled  into  a  false  security  by  the  calmness  of  the  sea,  fell  likewise  into  drowsy  unconcern. 
The  vessel  directh'  entered  a  current  that  swept  rapidly  through  channels  about  the  islands, 
by  which  she  was  carried  with  full  sail  upon  a  sand-bar  where  she  stuck  fast  and  heeled 
before  the  wind.  The  shock  of  grounding  awakened  Columbus  and  also  his  derelict  oflficers, 
who  now  rushed  upon  the  deck  to  behold  the  result  of  their  neglect  and  lend  assistance  in 
repairing  the  misfortune  for  whicli  they  were  accountable.  The  roar  of  breakers  lent  an 
aspect  of  fury  to  the  darkness  of  night,  and  the  sailors  became  distracted  with  fear  and 
superstition.  In  this  condition  Columbus  undertook  to  save  his  vessel  by  ordering  a  com- 
pan\'  of  his  men  to  take  a  boat  and  carry  an  anchor  out  astern,  in  order  to  warp  the  ship 
from  her  perilous  position.  The  men  seemed  prompt  to  obey,  but  the  moment  they  launched 
the  boat  they  shoved  off  without  the  anchor  and  made  with  all  speed  for  the  Ntfia,  which 
was  nearly  a  league  distant.  Pinzon,  the  master,  discovering  how  they  had  deserted,  refused 
to  receive  them  on  board  and  ordered  thena  back  to  their  duty  ;  but  so  slowly  did  thev 
comph-  that  a  boat  from  the  Nina,  with  a  relief  crew,  reached  the  stranded  vessel  in  advance 
of  the  returning  deserters.  Meanwhile,  the  breakers  had  thrown  the  Sa>i/a  Maria  still 
farther  upon  the  sand,  where  she  lay  careening  and  beating  with  great  force.  Columbus 
ordered  the  masts  to  be  cut  away,  hoping  thus  to  relieve  her,  but  his  efforts  were  all  in  \ain. 
The  seams  now  opened,  admitting  the  water,  but  the  tide  presently  receded,  leaving  her  fast, 
yet  safe  for  the  time  from  the  destructive  force  of  the  breakers.  Had  the  .sea  been  tem- 
pestuous all  must  have  been  drowned,  but  good  fortune  so  far  attended  them  that  all  escaped 
to  the  Xiiia,  and  in  the  morning  Columbus  .sent  two  of  his  men,  Diego  de  Arana  and  Pedro 
Guttierrez,  to  the  great  chief  Guacanagari,  to  acquaint  him  with  their  disa.ster.  This  sad 
news  moved  the  compa.ssionate  cacique  to  tears,  but  he  did  not  stop  to  ponder  over  the  mis- 
fortune. He  immediately  ordered  great  numbers  of  his  people  to  go  in  canoes  to  the  aid  of 
Columbus,  and  to  implicitly  obey  his  orders  in  securing  the  cargo  and  safety  of  the  ship. 
.\t  the  same  time  he  despatched  a  messenger  to  the  Admiral  with  expressions  of  his  sincere 
regret  and  to  offer  him  "  the  whole  of  his  possessions." 

GENEROUS  HELP  OF  THE  NATIVES. 

So  efficient  were  the  services  of  tlie  natives,  llial  in    a  short  while  all   tlie  goods  were 
9 


130 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


taken  out  of  the  ship  and  carried  to  a  secure  place  on  the  shore,  where  a  guard  was 
placed  over  them  by  the  chief,  lest  some  of  his  people  might  be  tempted  to  appropriate 
some  articles  for  which  their  fancy  longed.  No  civilized  magistrate  could  have  done 
more  to  assist  and  protect  the  interests  of  unfortunate  friends  than  did  this  honest,  gene- 
rous-minded cacique.  Nor  was  the  virtue  of  his  actions  limited  to  himself,  but  extended 
to  all  the  natives,  who  appeared  to  be  innocent  of  any  thought  of  profit  from  the  disaster. 
"The  svmpathies  of  the  people  for  Columbus  in  his  loss,  and  the  reception   he  received 


from  the  Indian  sovereign,  mitigated 
the  bitterness  of  the  accident.  In  no 
part  of  the  civilized  world  would  he 
have  recei\ed  warmer  or  more  cordial 
hospitality." 

But  the  loss  was  great  enough.  The  Pinta  was  gone  ;  and  now  the  Admiral's  flag- 
ship, with  opened  seams,  lay  prostrate  on  the  perilous  sands,  quaking  with  each  impact 
of  the  sea  ;  shivering  like  a  wounded  creature  at  every  blow  of  the  hand  that  smote  it 
down.  O  thou  Santa  Afaria,  thou  famous  remembrancer  of  the  centuries  !  The  names 
of  none  of  those  that  sailed  in  search  of  the  Golden  Fleece  are  so  well-preserved  among 
the  eternities  of  history  as  is  thine.  No  vessel  of  Rome,  of  Greece,  of  Carthage,  of 
Egypt,  that  carried  conquering  Caesar,  triumphant  Alexander,  valiant  Hannibal,  or  beau- 
teous Cleopatra,  shall  be  so  well  known  to  coming  ages  as  thou  art.  No  ship  of  the  Spanish 
Armada,  or  of  Lord  Howard,  who  swept  it  from  the  sea — no  looming  monster  ;  no  Great 
Eastern    or    frowning  iron-clad  of   modern   navies,  shall    be  held   like    thee    in   perpetual 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  i;jl 

reineuibrance  by  all  the  sons  of  luen.    For  none  ever  bore  snch  a  hero  on  such  a  mission, 
that   has  glorified  all  nations  by  giving  the  greatest  of  all  countries  to   the  world. 

Touched  bv  the  generous  treatment  which  he  received  at  the  hands  of  Guacanatrari 
and  his  subjects,  Columbus  pays  them  this  beautiful  tribute  :  "  They  are  a  loving,  uncove- 
tous  people  ;  so  docile  in  all  things  that  I  swear  to  your  majesties  there  is  not  in  the 
world  a  better  race  or  a  more  delightful  country.  They  love  their  neighbors  as  tliem- 
selves  ;  and  their  talk  is  ever  sweet  and  gentle,  accompanied  with  smiles  ;  and  tliougli 
they  be  naked,  \et  their  manners  are  decorous  and  praiseworthy." 

It  may  be  with  soberness  asked  :  Was  it  better,  in  the  eyes  of  God,  to  convert  these 
virtuous  people  from  the  happy  innocence  of  their  primitive  condition,  to  the  civilization  of 
the  Spaniards,  under  which  they  have  become  the  most  degraded  specimens  of  the  West  India 
race,  or  to  have  left  them  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  loving  confidence,  contentment,  honestv 
and  universal  brotherhood  which  characterized  them  at  the  time  of  Columbus's  coming?  In 
tnith,  it  does  appear  that  these  simple  people  had  found  Christ  before  they  heard  His  name, 
or  saw  the  cross  that  the  civilized  Spaniards  erected  to  teach  them  how  He  died. 

A  DISPLAY  OF  SPANISH    ARMS. 

To  arouse  him  from  the  despondency  of  his  situation,  the  cacique  had  the  rescued  goods 
carried  into  three  buildings  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  then  gave  Columbus  an  urgent 
invitation  to  accept  the  hospitalities  of  his  capital.  Since  the  voyage  could  not  be  continued 
until  the  Santa  Maria  was  repaired  and  floated,  or  her  final  loss  determined,  the  Admiral 
availed  himself  of  the  courtesies  so  cordially  extended  and  went  on  shore,  where  he  was 
magnificently  received.  .A.  banquet  was  then  set  by  the  native  king,  at  which  Columbus 
and  several  of  his  officers  were  regaled  with  ever>'  delicacy  that  the  island  afforded.  At  the 
meal  the  cacique  conducted  himself  with  a  dignity  and  decorum  scarcely  surpa.s.sed  by  the 
most  civilized  potentates,  and  as  if  he  had  long  been  accustomed  to  entertaining  distin- 
guished representati\-es  from  the  first  powers  of  the  world. 

In  return  for  the  kindnesses  received,  Columbus  invited  Guacanagari  and  his  ministers 
to  dine  with  him  on  board  the  JVina,  which  gave  the  cacique  intense  delight,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  interchange  of  courtesies  mutually  profitable  and  pleasurable.  A  familiarity 
thus  became  established,  and  Columbus  had  opportunity  of  displaying  before  the  natives 
some  of  the  arts  and  instalments  of  power  of  Castilian  civilization.  The  Spanish  anus  were 
exhibited  and  the  sailors  were  put  through  evolutions  to  show  their  military  precision  and 
skill  in  the  handling  of  arbalets,  Moorish  hand-bows,  arquebuses,  and  the  destruction  that 
might  be  produced  by  their  artiller\'  of  falconets.  Having  demonstrated  the  effectiveness 
of  Spanish  weapons,  Columbus  explained  to  the  chief  how  he  might  make  his  island  proof 
against  the  invasion  of  Caribs,  who  were  accustomed  to  make  predator^'  incursions  into 
Hispaniola  for  purposes  of  spoliation.  The  Caribs  of  the  Bahamas  and  of  South  America 
were  indeed  terrors  to  all  the  other  West  Indies  islanders,  who  suffered  constantly  from  their 
depredations,  and  were  not  infrequently  enslaved  by  them  ;  so  that  the  suggestions  of  Colinn- 
bus  were  hailed  with  great  delight  by  Guacanagari,  and  his  request  for  pennission  to  erect  a 
fort  on  the  island  was  accordingly  granted  with  gladness.  On  the  other  hand.  Cohnnbus 
utilized  this  privilege  as  a  proof  of  priority  of  occupation  against  all  claims  which  might  be 
thereafter  made  by  other  nations  sending  expeditions  into  these  waters,  for  it  was  his  intent 
to  recommend  the  island  as  possessing  special  advantages  for  succossful  colonization. 

AN   ENTERTAINMENT  PROVIDED   BV  THE  NATIVES. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  ver>-  impressive  exhibition  made  by  the  Spaniards,  the  cacique 
provided  an  entertainment  for  his  guests,  which,  though  devoid  of  militar)-  aspect,  was  none 


132  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  less  interesting.  The  most  athletic  natives  appeared  and  strove  for  honors  in  a  tourna- 
ment of  wrestling,  jumping,  dancing,  and  in  several  unique  games  peculiar  to  the  islanders, 
in  every  way  acquitting  themselves  in  the  most  creditable  manner.  When  the  games  were 
finished,  Guacanagari  presented  Columbus  with  a  necklace  of  gold  pellets,  deftly  united, 
and  a  crown  of  the  same  material.  He  also  gave  his  distinguished  guest  a  small  wooden 
image,  supposed  to  possess  some  potent  influence,  the  eyes,  ears  and  tongue  of  which  were 
made  of  gold  hammered  into  thin  sheets,  and  received  in  return  a  handsome  mirror,  an 
ewer,  wash-pitcher,  a  shirt,  and  pair  of  gloves. 

The  sailors,  while  not  sharing  in  the  gifts  bestowed  by  the  chief,  profited  equally  well 
bv  exchanging  with  the  natives  hawks, -bells,  glass  trinkets,  and  other  gew-gaws,  for  pieces 
of  gold,  cotton  and  provisions.  To  this  advantageous  traffic  was  the  added  pleasure  of  the 
reverential  regard  in  which  the  Indians  held  their  guests,  esteeming  them,  as  they  did,  as 
beings  so  superior  by  birth  that  their  advent  must  have  been  from  the  sky. 

There  was  nothing  for  the  sailors  now  to  do  but  wander  at  will  about  the  island  and 
enjoy  its  many  blessings  ;  where  pleasing  and  restful  conditions  abounded  ;  where  ambition 
was  satiated  by  the  prodigality  of  nature,  the  sensuousness  of  air,  the  mellifluence  of  flowering 
sweets  and  delicious  fruitage  ;  where  the  smile  of  peace,  the  laugh  of  content,  the  hand 
of  plenty,  diffiised  universal  joy  and  made  life  a  dream  of  pleasure. 

Columbus  was  himself  so  impressed  by  the  beauty  and  advantage  of  the.se  surroundings 
that  he  decided  to  effect  at  once  a  colonization  of  the  island,  and  to  this  end  he  called  for 
volunteers  to  remain  as  a  nucleus  until  he  could  return  to  Spain  and  bring  additional  force. 
Much  to  his  gratification,  a  considerable  number  indicated  their  willingness  to  accept  the 
conditions  offered.  They  were  the  more  ready  to  embrace  this  opportunity  to  spend  their 
lives  in  elegant  ease,  because  of  peculiar  circumstances  :  the  perils  of  a  return  voyage  were 
not  without  effect,  especially  since  only  one  vessel,  the  Nina^  remained,  and  she  the  smallest 
and  frailest  of  the  three  ;  but  there  was  the  more  influential  condition  of  intimacy  which 
had  been  established  between  many  of  the  sailors  and  the  maidens  of  the  islands.  We 
may  hope  that  a  few  at  least  of  the  connections  thus  formed  were  of  the  heart,  and  that 
a  consecration  of  these  informal  marriages  was  found  in  the  ennobling  emotions  and  senti- 
ments that  inspired  them,  without  which  the  most  sacred  of  human  bonds  is  profaned. 

A  FORT   AND    COLONY   ESTABLISHED    IN   HAYTI. 

Forty-two  men  having  signified  their  consent  to  remain  on  the  island  as  colonists, 
Columbus  set  about  the  immediate  construction  of  a  fort,  in  the  building  of  which  the 
timbers  of  the  stranded  Santa  Maria  were  used  for  a  block-house  and  tower  and  her  gims 
were  recovered  and  mounted  to  complete  the  equipment.  The  fort  thus  established,  as  well 
as  the  harbor  which  it  defended,  was  named  in  honor  of  The  Nativity,  La  Natividad,  the 
command  of  which  was  given  to  Diego  de  Arana,  who  was  also  appointed  governor.  Among 
the  colonists  were  several  artisans,  including  a  carpenter,  cooper,  tailor,  gunsmith,  and  also 
a  physician,  and  the  comfort  and  necessities  of  the  whole  were  carefully  provided  for  by 
leaving  a  quantity  of  wine,  provisions,  clothing  and  merchandise  for  barter,  all  of  which  were 
stored  in  a  natural  cave  of  considerable  dimensions  over  which  the  fort  was  built.  Besides 
these  there  was  a  liberal  supply  of  small  arms,  which  the  colonists  were  cautioned  to  wear 
against  surprise  from  invaders,  and  there  was  also  a  quantity  of  seed  to  sow  in  the  land. 

Having  thus  secured  the  safety  of  the  colonists,  Columbus  delivered  a  touching  address, 
in  which  he  sought  to  impress  them  with  the  responsibilities  which  they  were  about  to 
assume  as  the  first  white  settlers  in  the  new  world,  and  the  deep  sense  of  thankfulness 
which  they  should  feel  towards  God  for   the   watchful    care  and   tender  mercies  He  had 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


1:33 


shown  them.  He  exhorted  them  to  be  diligent  in  the  propagation  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion among  the  poor  natives  who  had  so  hospitabh-  received  them,  and  to  yield  loyal  obedi- 
ence to  the  officers  appointed  over  them.  He  connselled  them  particularly,  in  their  inter- 
course with  the  natives,  to  obser\-e  the  riglits  of  all,  to  practice  a  pious  continence  in 
regard  to  women,  to  keep  inviolate  the  bond  of  brotherhood  in  which  their  safet\  la\ ,  and 


7/7777'Tl 


V- 


GUACANAGARI    TAKING   HIS    LEAVE  OF  COLUMBUS. 


to  remain  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  cacique,  to  whose  favors  they  owed  so  much  and 
who  would  extend  to  them  his  protection. 

On  the  2d  of  January,  1493,  Columbus  gave  a  banquet  to  Ciuacanagari  and  took 
this  last  occa-sion  of  manifesting  to  him  his  appreciation  of  the  many  kindnesses  which  had 
been  conferred  upon  him  and  his  men  since  landing  on  the  island.  He  accordingly  gave 
the  cacique  a  .scarlet  mantle,   a  pair  of   buskins,   a  siher  ring  and  a  necklace  of  beads. 


184 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLU^IBIA. 


After  bestowing  these  gifts  he  embraced  the  chief  with  such  tenderness  that  tears  came 
to  the  eyes  of  both,  and  amid  such  emotions  the  two  parted. 

A  strong  shore  wind  detained  the  Niiia  imtil  the  morning  of  January'  4,  when 
the  final  partings  occurred,  and  the  brave  little  ship  lifted  her  sails  and  started  to  traverse 
the  wide  sea  that  separated  her  passengers  from  the  shores  of  Spain.  Many  of  these  were 
gladdened  with  thoughts  of  home  and  waiting  friends,  and  there  were  others — natives  of 
Hispaniola — who  had  consented  to  brave  the  dangers  of  the  ocean  world  for  a  sight  of 
that  countr}'  whence  the  Spaniards  came,  and  which  they  believed  must  be  some  celestial 
clime  bordering  the  region  of  the  sun. 


;<iR-«.^^ 


CHAPTER   VII. 

A    MEETING   WITH    THE    DESERTER. 

RAXD  even  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  first  ambition  was 
the  discoxen-  that  would  set  liis  name  on  the  very  spire 
of  Fame's  temple,  yet  this  supreme  accomplishment 
could  not  totally  repress  the  sense  of  present  danger. 
How,  then,  can  we  estimate  the  misgivings,  the  hopes, 
the  passions  which  must  have  agitated  Columbus  when 
the  emerald  banks  of  Hayti  faded  from  his  view, 
and  a  \ast  expanse  of  water  spread  awa\-,  sug- 
gesti\e  of  storm  and  peril  that  lay  between  him 
and  the  shores  of  Spain?  There  was  elation  for 
him,  however,  in  the  flattering  belief  that  the  colony 
planted  in  the  New  World  would  pro\e  a  nucleus 
around  which  would  gather  not  onl\-  a  glorious  pres- 
tige, but  from  which  would  spread  a  great  wave 
of  Christiauit}-  and  commerce  ,to  perpetuate  his  fame  ; 
and  there  was  joy  in  the  anticipation  of  vast  accumu- 
lation of  gold,  which  he  believed  the  colonists  would 
surely  find  on  the  island  in  quantities  to  load  manv  ships. 
In  this  enrichment  of  his  sovereigns  he  was  to  receive  an  eighth,  which  would  enable 
him  to  accomplish  his  primal  ambition.  Lifted  into  ecstas}-  by  his  ever  active  imagina- 
tion, while  contemplating  the  golden  sands  and  mountains  of  Cabique,  a  glorious  \ision 
filled  his  soul.  The  coffers  of  Spain  were  bursting  with  stores  of  gold,  which  inspired 
Christendom  with  new  resolution  to  attempt  a  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land.  What  the 
Cnisaders  through  two  centuries  had  been  unable  to  accomplish,  should  now  be  done  under 
the  gilded  banners  of  Castile  and  Aragon.  See  the  marshalling  of  a  numberless  host, 
whose  annors  dazzle  from  afar  like  dew  drops  in  the  grass  ;  whose  flaming  falchions  cleave 
the  sun  and  flash  its  lustre  back  in  gleams  scintillant.  In  God's  name,  under  the  legend 
of  the  cross,  he  sees  the  marching  ann\',  hears  the  inspiring  blare  of  tnunpet,  and  sights 
the  standards  of  Spain,  beside  which  waves  in  glor}'  his  own  banner,  emblazoned  with 
devices  that  proclaim  the  splendor  of  his  achievements  :  five  anchors  on  a  field  of  azure, 
map  of  the  sea,  thrice  turreted,  crenelated  tower,  and  rampant  lion.  Oh,  what  a  brilliant 
dream  I  Alas,  there  is  no  beauty  like  that  of  dying  day,  when  the  palaces  of  cloud-land  are 
set  aflame  with  rays  of  a  blood-red  sun.  There  is  no  pall  so  great  as  when  the  fires  die  out 
and  leave  banks  of  blackened  clouds  rolling  on  the  bosom  of  threatening  night.  So,  from 
his  dream  of  chivalr\- — of  glory  full  attained — he  awoke  at  last  to  find  the  vision  faded, 
and  that  all  his  hopes  were  dead. 

If  he  was  transported  by  the  anticipation  of  gains  wliich  lie  believed  must  come  from  his 
discoveries,  he  was  dejected  by  harassinents  tliat  sprang  from  fear,  doubts  and  dangers.  The 
one  thorn  of  his  misgivings  was  the  contemplation  of  the  results  of  Alonzo  Pinzon's  de.ser- 

(■35) 


136 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


tion.  Twice  had  reports  been  brought  to  him  while  on  Hispaniola  that  the  Pinta  had  been 
sighted  hovering  near  that  land.  As  often  did  he  send  a  boat  in  anxious  search  of  the 
missing  vessel,  but  all  efFoi-ts  to  find  her  had  been  vain.  Two  months  had  now  elapsed  since 
the  separation,  and  there  was  justification  for  the  alann  that  Columbus  felt.  The  Pinta 
ma\-  have  been  lost  on  some  dangerous  reef;  the  crew  may  have  perished  or  been  cast 
upon  some  desolate  shore.  But  there  was  }-et  a  graver  fear.  Pinzon  had  furnished  a  vessel 
from  his  own  means;  he  was  a  skilful  navigator,  and  withal  an  ambitious  man.  Chafing 
under  subordination  to  a  foreigner,  he  may  have  had  a  cunning  purpose  in  abandoning  the 
expedition.  His  ship  was  the  fastest  sailer  and  the  most  seaworthy;  might  he  not  have 
designed  a  scheme  to  rob  Columbus  of  the  honors  of  discovery  and  appropriate  them  to 
himself;  mav  he  not  have  sailed  away  for  Spain  bearing  the  first  news  of  a  world  beyond 

the  sea,  and  conceived  some  specious 
story  to  magnify  his  deeds  and  disparage 
the  Admiral,  whose  reputation  a  thou- 
sand enemies  had  been  vainly  trying  to 
destroy  ? 

(^^)\  %^^^  's«^£"  ''^?\       \^^r^  ^'-^'-  '"  the  midst  of  these  gloomy 

}y^\        rurua  I '  i,lipw=w9     TxA     S/./'ii}  fc>iW\    i  ^^s     reflections      Columbus     was      suddenly 

aroused  by  a  glad  en,-  set  tip  at  once 
by  many  sailors  :  "A  ship  !  A  ship  !  " 
Looking  towards  the  north,  there,  sure 
enough,  he  saw  the  white  sails  of  a 
•^  ^-4/  :  \-essel  heading  towards  the  shore  of 
Hayti,  and  a  few  moments  later  dis- 
covered to  him  that  the  ship  was  none 
other  than  the  Pinta^  so  long  missing. 
Turning  about,  Columbus  pointed  the 
Nina  towards  a  small  bay,  in  which 
both  vessels  soon  cast  their  anchors,  and 
an  eager  scramble  quickly  followed,  to 
exchange  welcomes  and  congratulations. 
Pinzon  paid  his  respects  to  Columbus 
as  soon  as  he  could  reach  the  Nina  and 
excused  his  desertion  b>'  a  stor\'  such  as 
might  have  been  anticipated,  though 
manifestly  lacking  the  prime  element 
of  veracity.  He  claimed  that  vio- 
lent weather  on  November  20th  had  driven  him  far  out  of  his  course,  despite  all 
his  efforts,  and  losing  sight  of  the  other  ships  he  had  spent  the  time,  up  to  this  meeting, 
in  a  vain  attempt  to  join  them.  For  prudential  reasons  Columbus  suppressed  his  feelings 
and  appeared  to  hear  with  satisfaction  the  explanations  and  apologies  of  his  subordinate, 
whose  desertion  he  knew  was  inspired  by  selfishness  and  avarice,  as  already  explained. 
Besides  this,  it  was  presently  learned  that  Pinzon  had  put  in  at  one  of  the  bays  of  San 
Domingo,  where  he  had  opened  a  traffic  with  the  natives,  from  whom  he  had  obtained  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  gold,  the  half  of  which  he  gave  his  crew  as  a  bribe  for  their  silence. 
B,ut  even  with  this  evidence  of  his  pei-fidy,  Columbus  wisely  chose  to  receive  Pinzon 
with  appearances  of  gratification  and  pardon,  since  he  was  a  man  of  wealth  and  influence 


COLUMBUS     COAT   OK    .\RMS. 


COLUMBUS   AM)   COLUMBIA. 


lo7 


in  Palos,  to  wliom  a  majority  of  the  sailors,  being  his  countn men,  were  devotedly  attached 
and  would  not  have  brooked  a  deprivation  of  his  command  or  his  treatment  as  a  mutineer. 

During  a  stay  of  three  days  in  the  bay  where  the  ships  met,  preparations  were 
completed  for  a  return  trip  to  Spain,  but  just  before  departure,  many  glittering  particles 
of  mica  were  di.scovered  in  the  mouth  of  the  river  Yaqui,  near  by,  which  were  believed 
to  he  ijold.  and  a  considerable  collection  of   the  worthless  metal   was  made  and  carried 

on  board  the  vessels  for  transportation  to  Spain. 
In  honor  of  the  supposed  fabuk)ns  find,  Columbus 
named  the  river  Rio  del  Oro. 

A  FIGHT  WITH  THE  NATIVES. 
On  the  gtli  of  January,  departure  was   made 
from   the   anchorage   where    the  vessels  liad    met, 
but  owing  to  contrar)-  winds  on  the  followijig  day 
the  ships  put  into  a  harbor  where  Martin  Alonzo 
Pinzon  had    lain  some  time  before 
trafficking  with  the  natives.      Here 
it   was    leanied    that     Pinzon    had 
seized    six    islanders,     among     the 
number  being  two    beautiful    girls, 
whom  he  desig^ied  to  carrj'  back  to 
Spain    and    sell    as    slaves.       But 
whether    prompted    by  jealousy  or 
humanity,  Columbus  ordered  them 
released    and  conciliated    the    out- 
raged  natives    by  liberal   donations 
of  hawks, -bells,  beads,  mirrors  and 

SH.\XIARDS    REPULSING   THK    NATIVKS.  clotllS. 

Proceeding  again  from  the  place  of  this  last  detention,  the  ships  rounded  a  promon- 
tor\-  and  on  the  second  da\-  came  to  land  where  a  new  and  more  warlike  tribe  of  aborigines 
was  discovered,  which  Las  Casas  describes  as  wearing  long  hair  and  decorating  their 
bodies  with  paint  and  feathers.  They  were  well  anned  with  war  clubs,  swords  of  hardened 
palm-wood,  and  bows  and  arrows  of  fonnidable  size,  so  that  in  many  respects  the\-  resem- 
bled the  North  American  Indians. 

Efforts  to  establish  intercourse  with  these  fierce  islanders  were  not  at  first  successful, 
and  some  curious  beliefs  directly  obtained  among  the  Spaniards  respecting  their  cannibal 
propensities.  At  length,  however,  a  party  of  sailors  succeeded  in  bartering  several  trinkets 
for  a  few  specimens  of  the  native  weapons,  but  when  they  attempted  to  return  with  their 
prizes  the  sailors  were  fiercely  attacked  in  an  effort  made  by  the  islanders  to  recover  the 
articles  which  they  had  exchanged.  In  defending  themselves  the  Spaniards  wounded  two 
of  the  natives,  who  retired  sullenly,  but  with  an  exhibition  of  surprise  rather  than  of  fear. 
T!iis  rupture  in  what,  for  a  while,  bid  fair  for  the  establishment  of  amicable  relations,  was 
repaired  on  the  following  day  by  peaceful  overtures  made  by  Columbus,  who,  distributing 
a  quantity  of  presents  among  the  islanders,  at  length  induced  the  cacique  of  these  people 
to  visit  him  on  board  the  Xifia,  where  he  was  most  generously  entertained,  and  requited 
this  kind  treatment  by  sending  to  the  ships  a  large  supply  of  fruits  and  vegetables. 

.Spreading  his  sails  again,  Columbus  went  in  quest  of  the  countr>-  of  the  Caribs  and 
Amazons,  and  being  variously  directed  by  all   the  natives  with  wiioin   Ik-  came  in  contact. 


138 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


his  course  was  in  as  many  directions,  until  the  sailors  became  bitter  in  their  objections 
to  further  explorations  which  prolonged  their  absence  from  home  without  bringing  any 
substantial  benefits.  In  deference  to  their  wishes,  therefore,  Columbus  turned  the  prow 
of  his  vessel  eastward  for  the  shores  of  Spain. 

Up  to  this  time,  for  a  period  of  six  months,  the  weather  had  been  propitious,  nor 
did  it  yet  become  heavy,  but  the  vessels  now  encountered  trade  winds  blowing  from  the 
east,  which  compelled  them  to  tack  and  beat  about  until  the  sailors  became  confused 
as  to  the  point  of  their  course.  It  was  also  directly  discovered  that  the  Pinta  was  falling 
behind  bv  reason  of  the  neglect  of  her  commander  to  repair  her  foremast,  which  had 
been  broken  during  his  independent  cruise  about  Hayti.  This  caused  Columbus  great 
delay,  as  he  had  to  proceed  under  half  sail  in  order  to  keep  company  with  the  laboring 
consort.  At  the  slow  pace  the  vessels  were  now  making  the  sailors  were  able  to  amuse 
themselves  by  leaping  overboard,  swimming  around  the  ships,  and  in  taking  great  num- 
bers of  fish,  which  constantly  played  about  the  caravels  in  immense  shoals.  A  large 
shark  was  also  captured,  which  lent  excitement  to  the  other  pleasures  of  the  sailors,  who 
fared  sumptuoush-  on  fresh  fish,  and  the  flesh  of  the  shark,  which  they  declared  was  most 

palatable. 

A  TERRIBLE  STORM. 

The  last  days  of  Januar}-  slipped  by  with  no  more  important  incidents,  and  in  the 

doubtfulness  of  their  course  and  position,   Columbus  and  his  officers  began  to  debate  as 

to  what  part  of  the  coast 


of  Europe  they  were 
likely  to  strike,  a  sub- 
ject rendered  particu- 
larly confusing  to  the 
sailing  officers  by  reason 
of  the  false  reckonings 
made  by  him  on  his  out- 
ward \-o\'age.  But  e\-eiA' 
prospect  continued  aus- 
picious, with  no  dissatis- 
faction save  in  the  slow- 
Februars-  12th,  when  a 
ap- 


IN    THE   CALM   LATITUDE. 


an 


ness  at  which   the  vessels  were    moving,    imtil    the    afternoon  of 

howling  wind,    swelling  sea,    and  lowering  clouds  became    nature's  prophec\-   of 

proaching  storm. 

Before  night  set  in  a  roaring  tempest  came  swooping  otit  of  the  northeast  and  struck 
the  little  vessels  with  a  fury  that  threatened  their  destruction  ;  but  Columbus  had  prepared 
them  for  the  battle  by  taking  in  all  sail,  thus  leaving  them  to  run  before  the  blast  with 
bare  poles. 

The  first  onslaught  of  the  wind  was  followed  by  a  lull,  in  which  the  stonn  gathered 
up  all  its  reserved  forces  and  then  repeated  the  charge  with  greatly  increased  rage,  heeling 
the  ships  and  hurling  mad  billows  in  tumultuous  impetuosity  against  their  frail  sides.  As 
darkness  curtained  the  lashing  waves  the  roar  of  the  bounding  sea  was  drowned  \>\  a  ter- 
rific bombardment  from  heaven's  artiller}^,  and  continuous  flashes  of  lightning  sent  ter- 
ror to  the  souls  of  the  poor  encompassed  ones.  The  anger  of  nature  seemed  turned 
against  the  ships  that  were  bearing  home  with  them  report  of  a  new  world  beyond 
the  evening  gates  of  the  sun,  as  if  jealous  of  a  discovery  destined  to  turn  the  chivalr)-  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


U9 


Europe  from  contemplating  a  rescue  of  the  Holy  Land,  to  the  reclamation  of  another  con- 
tinent, where,  thouj:;h  over  bloody  highways,  commerce  and  Christianity  would  march 
together  to  higher  attainments  than  they  had  ever  before  reached.  Down  in  the  ca\ernous 
depths,  or  on  the  spray-capped  crests  of  the  billows,  the  cr\-  of  despair  was  mingled  with  the 
voice  of  praver,  but  there  came  no  other  answer  than  wild  dash  of  surge,  deafening  peal  of 
thunder,  or  blinding  flashes  riving  the  cimmcrian  vault  of  rolling  clouds  where  all  the  fiends 
of  fur>-  appeared  to  be  holding  carnival. 

And  thus  the  dreadful  night  wore  away  in  tumultuary  distress,  and  iiiiiniin-  hruke 
with  no  pity  for  the  horrified  sailors.  In  the  riot  of  wind  and  wave 
the  two  vessels  were  separated,  and  the  crews  of  each  now  con- 
templated the  destruction  of  the  other.  When  light  of  day  came 
stealing  down  the  east  it  was  only  to  expose  a  sea  lashing  in 
impetuous  anger,  and  a  sky  black  and  ominous  of  death,  with  never 
a  rift  anywhere  in  the  dreadfulness  of  an  awful  surrounding. 
The  little  ship,  poorly  equipped  and  sorely  out  of  repair,  had  not 
bonie  these  buffetings  without  serious  impainnent,  and  before  she 
had  weathered  this  first  night  of  stonn  her  seams  began  to  open, 
thus  multiplying  the  chances  of  her  foundering  and  carrying  all 
on  board  into  graves  where  wnnding  sheets  are  not  necessarj-  to 
corses  nor  the  ser\'ice  of  sexton  essential  in  the  obsequies. 

DESPAIR   SUGGESTS   VOWS   OF    PENANCE. 

All  prayer  being  unavailing,  Columbus,  still  strong  in  his  re- 
ligious faith,  had  recourse  to  penance,  feeling  that  his  own  and  the 
sins  of  those  who  composed  his  crew,  must  have  brought  upon 
theuL  God's  wTath  in  the  form  of  stonn  visitation.  First  repeating 
his  vows  before  the  image  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  he  prepared  lots  by 
selecting  dried  beans  equal  to  the  number  of  tho.se  on  board,  upon 
one  of  which  a  cross  was  made  ;  then  exacting  an  agreement  that 
he  who  should  draw  the  marked  bean  would,  if  his  life  were  spared, 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  the  Virgin  of  Guadaloupe 
and  bear  thither  a  wax  taper  of  five  pounds  weight,  placed  the 
beans  in  a  cap  and  the  lottery  began.  Each  one  was  to  draw  in 
the  order  of  his  rank,  and  it  happened  that  Columbus,  being  first, 
drew  the  marked  bean.  A  second  vow  was  then  taken,  that  he 
upon  whom  the  lot  should  next  fall  would  make  a  holy  pilgrimage 
to  the  Chapel  of  Our  Lady  of  Loretto.  At  this  second  drawing 
the  obligation  fell  on  Pedro  de  Villa,  who,  being  too  poor  to  bear 
the  expenses  of  such  a  journey,  Columbus  generously  offered  to  discharge  liiem  liimself. 
A  third  time  lots  were  drawn,  he  upon  whom  the  sign  should  fall  \owing  to  repair  to 
the  Church  of  Santa  Clara,  at  Moguer,  where  he  was  to  participate  in  High  Mass,  and 
spend  the  entire  night  in  prayer  before  the  altar.  This  lot  also  devolved  uj^on  Columbus 
by  his  drawing  the  marked  bean.  But  the  obligations  thus  self-imposed  were  not  vet 
completed,  for  the  stonn  continuing,  without  any  signs  of  abatement,  tlie  entire  crew 
regi.stered  a  vow  that  if  all  were  spared,  they  would,  at  the  first  place  of  landing,  proceed 
in  procession,  with  no  other  gannent  upon  their  bodies  than  a  shirt,  to  the  nearest  shrine, 
and  there  offer  up  thank.sgivings  for  their  deliverance.  We  cannot  frame  a  rea.sonahle 
excuse    for  such  a  vow,   beyond  the  supposition  that  it  involved  mortification,   and  was 


140  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

imposed  as  a  sign  of  extreme  humility  ;  but  whatever  the  reason,  certainly  the  feelings  of 
those  whom  the  half-naked  sailors  might  meet  at  the  shrine  were  not  considered,  and  with- 
out irreverence  we  may  pause  to  wonder  if  such  a  display  would  have  been  pleasing  to 
the  sight  of  the  Blessed  Mrgin. 

But  all  this  manifestation  of  deep  piety  failed  to  lull  the  storm  beatings,  or  bring 
peace  to  the  angry  waters,  which  continued  to  surge  with  a  fury  appalling  in  its  intensity. 
The  fears  that  had  beset  the  sailors  now  thoroughly  possessed  their  Admiral,  who,  consider- 
ing his  destruction  as  inevitable,  began,  as  best  he  could,  to  concert  means  for  preser\-ing 
the  results  of  his  discoveries.  It  is  pathetic  to  follow  the  workings  of  his  sublime  intelli- 
gence in  the  hour  of  his  supreme  peril  and  resignation  to  fate.  The  concerns  of  his  own 
life  were  of  less  moment  to  him  now  than  were  those  of  his  children  and  patrons.  The 
somewhat  consoling  reflection  came  to  him  that  if  by  any  means  a  knowledge  of  his  deeds 
could  be  con;municated  to  their  majesties  of  Spain,  then  his  two  sons,  Diego  and  Fernando, 
would  receive  from  these  sovereigns  all  the  emoluments  and  honors  stipulated  in  the  con- 
tracts under  which  he  had  sailed.  To  conceive  the  idea  was  to  execute  a  plan,  in  pursu- 
ance of  which  he  hiirriedly  composed  a  sketch  of  his  voyage  and  the  great -discoveries  which 
he  had  made,  and  wrapping  the  precious  parchment  in  a  waxed  cloth,  which  in  turn  was 
incased  in  wax,  committed  it  to  a  water-tight  cask,  and  cast  it  into  the  sea,  hoping  that 
favoring  currents  might  carr\'  it  to  some  friendly  shore.  To  insure  the  deliver}-  of  the 
packet,  in  case  of  its  recover}-  from  the  waves,  he  directed  it  to  the  Queen  of  Castile,  and 
appended  a  promissor\-  obligation  of  a  thousand  ducats  (equal  to  as  many  dollars  of  Ameri- 
can money)  to  any  one  who  should  restore  it  unopened  to  her  Majesty. 

Bxit  not  yet  content  with  the  chance  which  he  thus  provided,  Columbus  made  a  copy 
of  the  sketch,  which  he  likewise  enclosed  in  a  barrel,  but  instead  of  entnisting  it  directly 
to  the  sea  fastened  it  securely  to  the  poop  of  his  ship,  so  that  in  case  of  wreck  it  might  be 
laorne  upon  the  bosom  of  the  sea  until  found  by  some  passing  vessel  in  the  future. 
A    PACKAGE   WHICH  THE  OCEAN    REFUSES   TO    GIVE   UP. 

What  a  secret  for  the  ocean  to  so  long  possess;  what  a  precious  thing  for  historians  to 
acquire.  To  this  day  has  hope  continued  in  its  ultimate  recovery,  and  since  its  precious- 
uess  cannot  be  computed,  enthusiasts  still  picture  the  results  of  its  restoration  from  the  sea. 
To  find  this  parchment  now,  would  be  like  the  recovery  of  a  letter  written  by  Richard  the 
Lion  Heart  in  the  German  prison,  or  the  restoration  of  the  original  manuscripts  of  the  Pan- 
dects of  Justinian;  or  the  notes  of  Demosthenes  for  his  great  oration  on  the  crown;  or  the 
Hebrew  Ark  of  the  Covenant. 

So  valuable  would  be  such  a  possession  that  reports  of  the  finding  of  the  cask  have 
been  published  more  than  once  to  excite  the  credulous,  or  amuse  the  wise.  As  late  as  1852, 
directly  after  that  unveracious  but  universal  historian — the  newspaper  correspondent — had 
been  born  into  the  world,  one  of  that  inventive  craft,  whose  business  it  is  to  create  what 
may  not  be  discovered,  contributed  to  an  English  paper  an  elaborate  story-  describing  the 
details  of  the  recover.-  of  the  barrel  by  the  captain  of  a  Boston  ship  named  the  Chieftain, 
who,  it  was  declared,  found  it  embedcjed  deeply  in  the  sand  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  For  a 
while  the  fiction  was  accepted  as  tnie,  and  even  Lamartine  adopted  it  as  a  verity,  only 
to  repudiate  it  later,  howe\-er,  when  the  hoax  was  exploded. 

The  pra\ers,  vows  and  precautions  which  so  long  seemed  unavailing,  were  followed 
by  relief  towards  e\-eniug  of  the  third  day,  when,  with  the  declining  sun  there  appeared 
promising  streaks  of  light  cleaving  retiring  clouds,  and  when  night  came  on  the  mern,-  stars 
were  revealed  as  if  laughing  with  joy  for  the  danger  passed.      But  though  the  sky  was  now 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  141 

serene,  deep  heavin<;s  of  the  sea  continued,  renderinjj  pro^i^ress  slow  and  painful,  while 
anxiety  for  the  safet>'  of  the  Piula  still  deeph'  concerned  Columbus,  whose  dreadful  antici- 
pations were  reflected  by  all  of  his  crew. 

On  the  morning  following  the  subsidence  of  the  storm,  February  i.slh,  Rui  Garcia  per- 
ceived by  the  faint  light  of  breaking  da\-  the  dark  outline  of  an  island  towards  the  north- 
east, and  all  on  board  the  Xifia  were  quickly  apprised  of  the  discover)'.  Manx  different 
opinions  were  hazarded  as  to  the  land  thus  seen,  but  the  claim  of  Columbus,  that  it  was 
one  of  the  Azores,  was  presently  confirmed  by  a  close  approach  to  shore,  when  the  charac- 
teristic peaks  of  Santa  Maria  became  unmistakable.  But  the  sea  was  still  .so  turbulent  that 
anchorage  could  not  be  attempted,  and  for  two  days  the  vessel  beat  about,  but  stood  off  the 
shore,  and  when  the  anchor  was  at  last  cast  on  the  evening  of  the  17th,  the  cable  parted, 
compelling  the  Xina  to  lie  to  until  morning. 

SAVED   AT    USTI 

It  was  a  singular  fact  that  landing  was  at  length  accomplished  at  the  same  islands  from 
which  departure  was  made  in  the  preceding  autunm,  and  that  it  was  the  frailest  of  the  three 
vessels  which  succeeded  in  returning  to  these  Portuguese  possessions,  out  of  the  very  throat 
of  the  most  violent  stonn  that  had  been  known  in  the  memory  of  man. 

No  sooner  had  the  Xiha  effected  an  anchorage  in  the  mouth  of  an  inviting  bay,  than 
many  of  the  inhabitants  came  out  to  welcome  the  voyagers,  bringing  such  provisions  as 
the  island  produced,  and  were  regaled  in  turn  with  astoimding  stories  of  discovery  and 
ad\enture  in  the  New  World. 

In  fulfilment  of  the  vow  which  the  crew  had  solemnh-  recorded  in  an  hour  of  immi- 
nent peril,  Columbus,  who  was  .suffering  severely  from  an  attack  of  gout,  besides  exhaus- 
tion from  exposure  of  a  three  days'  unbroken  watch,  sent  half  of  all  his  .sailors  to  a  hermi- 
tage not  far  from  the  anchorage  to  perform  penance,  while  he  sought  a  needed  rest  until 
their  return.  True  to  their  holy  obligation,  the  Spaniards  went  ashore,  barefoot  and  with 
no  more  clothing  than  a  short  shirt,  insufficient  to  hide  their  nakedness.  Then,  forming  in 
procession,  the\'  marched  towards  the  chapel,  where  a  priest  was  engaged  to  perform  mass. 
On  the  way,  however,  they  were  intercepted  by  a  squad  of  soldiers,  sent  b\'  Juan  de  Casta- 
neda,  governor  of  the  island,  to  apprehend  them  for  outraging  the  proprieties  of  all  civili- 
zation by  thus  exposing  their  nakedness  to  the  rabble  of  villagers  who  followed  close  at 
their  heels  with  hootings  and  objurgations.  The  arrest,  as  some  authorities  maintain,  was 
not  made  until  the  Spaniards  gained  the  chapel,  and  were  in  the  act  of  performing  their 
vows  before  the  altar,  when  the  governor  himself  appeared  and  urged  the  .soldiers  to  obey 
his  orders,  who  then  conducted  the  sailors  to  the  garrison  pri.son. 

TROUBLE  WITH  THE  PORTUGUESE. 

The  long  absence  of  those  of  his  crew  who  had  gone  t)U  shore  gave  Columbus  such 
uneasiness  that  he  moved  his  ship  to  a  position  commanding  a  view  of  the  liermitage, 
hoping  thereby  to  ascertain  the  cause,  and  to  be  in  a  position  to  afford  his  men  protection 
in  case  it  was  necessary-.  Scarcely  had  he  dropped  anchor  again  when  the  governor  was 
seen  riding  down  the  hill  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  horsemen,  who  were  able  to  approacli 
sufficiently  near  the  Nina  to  give  a  hail,  and  directly  a  boat  was  pushed  out  which  con- 
veyed the  governor  on  board  the  vessel.  .\\\  interview  then  followed  in  which  Castaneda 
infonned  Columbus  of  the  arre.st  of  his  sailors,  and  that  he  had  acted  under  commands  of 
the  King  of  Portugal.  This  developed  a  serious  condition  of  affairs,  which  Columbus 
could  not  help  regarding  as  a  hostile  act,  and  he  accordingh'  adopted  vigorous  measures  to 
resist  arrest,  believing  either  that  Spain  and    Portugal   were  at  war,  or  that  jealousy  had 


142  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

prompted  King  John  to  concert  means  for  his  destrnction.  The  defiant  air  of  Castaneda 
gave  color  of  reason  to  either  assumption,  and  prevented  an  understanding  of  the  real 
situation.  The  wind  now  increasing  strongly  off  shore,  Columbus  was  compelled  to  hoist 
his  anchor  and  move  out  to  sea  again,  where  for  two  da\s  he  was  buffeted  about  in  great 
danger  and  with  only  half  a  crew  to  manage  the  ship.  On  the  22d  the  weather  moderated 
sufficiently  to  pennit  a  return  to  his  first  anchorage,  where  he  was  visited  by  a  Portuguese 
notary  and  ten  priests.  The  interview  which  followed  was  of  a  more  conciliator}-  char- 
acter, the  officer  explaining  that  the  governor  had  taken  the  Spaniards  for  pirates,  which  at 
that  time  infested  every  sea,  but  told  Columbus  if  his  commission  and  ship's  papers  were 
regular,  the  sailors  would  be  promptly  liberated  and  proper  apologies  made.  The  misap- 
prehensions and  suspicions  of  both  parties  were  thus  relieved  b}-  an  exhibition  of  the  letters 
patent  ;  those  under  arrest  were  set  at  libert}',  and  upon  their  return  to  the  Nina  Columbus 
and  the  others  of  his  crew  proceeded  to  fulfil  their  vows,  according  to  the  conditions  of 
their  self-imposed  obligation. 

ANOTHER  TERRIBLE  STORM  ASSAILS  THE  SHIP. 
'  On  the  24th  of  February,  the  Admiral,  ha\ing  replenished  his  stores,  and  made  some 
■necessary  repairs  to  the  ship,  started  again  on  his  homeward  voyage.  For  three  days  after 
leaving  Santa  Maria  the  weather  was  fair,  and  such  speed  was  made  that  he  reckoned  the 
'  distance  to  Cape  St.  Vincent  was  not  more  than  a  thousand  miles.  Whoever  studies  care- 
fully the  movements  of  great  enterprises,  and  discovering  often  at  the  ver>'  crisis  of  the 
thing  about  to  be  accomplished  the  opposition  of  adverse  forces,  marshalled  as  if  in  a  bat- 
talion, and  bearing  down  vehemently  to  prevent  by  sheer  hostility  and  elemental  war  the 
completion  of  the  work  in  hand,  may  almost  become  superstitious  lest  nature  herself  have 
confederated  with  diabolical  agencies  to  thwart  and  ruin  the  hopes  of  men.  It  seemed  in 
the  present  case  that  sky  and  sea  and  tempest,  over  and  above  the  enmity  of  the  human 
race,  had  conspired  in  the  last  hour  to  prevent  the  success  of  the  great  enterprise,  to  hurl 
back  and  send  to  the  oblivion  of  ocean  ca\-erns  the  glorious  discoveries  which  Columbus  had 
made  in  the  Occident.  On  the  night  of  February  27th,  the  storm  god  swooped  out  of  the 
west  again  with  fell  furv  in  his  breath,  and  struck  the  little  vessel  with  such  terrific  force 
that  every  timber  in  her  groaned  with  the  impact.  Yet  she  rode  before  the  blast  without 
■material  injury  until  the  night  of  March  2d,  when  the  gale  increased  to  such  violence 
that  in  a  trice  the  little  sails  still  spread  were  burst  and  blown  into  tatters,  while  the  vessel 
was  plunged  so  deeply  into  the  sea  that  it  appeared  she  could  never  rise.  Great  guns  from 
the  heavenly  ramparts  boomed  their  responses  to  the  hissing  of  fiery  dragons  vaulting 
across  the  skies.  Clouds  boiled  like  thick  vapors  from  witches'  cauldrons  until  they  seemed 
to  take  on  shapes  of  demons,  v/raiths,  monsters  of  hellish  mien  and  Satanic  hate,  while 
■dashing  billows  leaped  up  and  shook  their  white  locks  defiant  of  the  powers  of  air.  So 
intense  were  the  paro.xysms  of  infuriate  nature  tliat  all  the  world  appeared  to  be  torn 
asunder  and  chaos  had  grasped  the  sea  in  its  withering  hand.  In  the  darkness  that  came 
as  a  mantle  to  hide  the  destruction  of  the  elements,  hope  nearly  perished,  and  but  for  the 
sustaining  strength  of  pious  faith  Columbus  would  have  abandoned  him.self  to  the  fate 
which  appeared  inevitable.  In  this  hour  of  dreadful  peril  he  had  recourse  to  the  means 
which  seemed  to  avail  him  in  an  extremity  scarcely  more  hopeless.  Yielding  to  his  soul's 
impulses,  he  mentally  resolved  to  perform  new  penances,  and  assembling  the  crew,  as  best 
he  could  despite  the  plunging  of  the  ship,  he  produced  the  cap  of  beans  and  bade  each  to 
•draw  one  therefrom.  Most  strange  coincidence,  when  the  drawing  was  completed  he  found 
the  marked  bean  in  his  own  hand  again  :  whereupon  he  took  a  vow  that  if  spared  to  gain 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


143 


the  shore  he  would  make  a  pilgrimage   in   bare   feet  to   the  shrine  of  Santa   Maria  de  la 

Cueva  (or  Cinta),  in  Huelva. 

SAFE  IN  THE  PROVIDENCE  OFGOD. 

Whatever  the  cause,  though  de\uul  persons  will  always  consider  it  as  a  mark  of  pro- 
pitiated deitv,  when  the  morning  of  March  3d  broke,  there  was  visible  along  the  horizon  of 
a  leaden  skv  the  shore  of  I'orlugal,  agaiii>i  which  breakers  wen.-  da^liiiii;  iiiMiiiil.iiii  high.      A 


EFFECTS   OF  THE   Okl-.Vr   blUKM    OF    M.VRCU,     I493. 

cheer  went  up  at  this  sight  of  land,  but  it  was  quickly  hushed  by  a  sudden  realization  of 
danger  that  broke  in  frantic  dashing  of  huge  billows  along  the  rocky  shore.  So  all  day  the 
Xif/a  held  to  sea,  bounding  up  and  down  on  the  great  waves,  until  the  following  morn- 
ing the  promontory  of  Cintra,  near  Lisbon,  was  recognized,  when  an  effort  was  made  to 
enter  the  estuary  of  the  Tagns,  which  was  accomplished  some  time  in  the  afternoon. 

The  iiiliabitants  of  the  town  of  Cascaes,  and  along  the  shore,  had  watched  with  i)aiiiful 


144  COLUAIBUS   AND   COLUAIBIA. 

suspense  the  dangerous  buffeting  of  the  strange  vessel,  every  moment,  for  many  hours,  ex- 
pecting its  engulfment,  and  when  at  last  a  safe  anchorage  was  reached  thousands  of  persons 
came  down  to  the  bay  and  put  off  in  boats  to  oifer  welcomes  and  congratulations,  which 
chano-ed  to  praise  and  thanksgiving  when  they  learned  that  the  stranger  was  the  A'ifm,  with 
Columbus  and  his  followers,  bearing  tidings  from  a  new  world.  Directly  the  anchor  was 
let  go,  Columbus  despatched  a  letter  to  King  John,  who  was  then  with  his  court  at  \'alparaiso, 
thirty  miles  from  Lisbon,  requesting  pennission  to  enter  and  refit  at  the  port  of  Lisbon,  and 
asking  protection  during  his  stay  in  Portuguese  waters,  at  the  same  time  describing,  in  the 
briefest  wav,  the  discoveries  which  he  had  made.  Before  a  reply  could  be  received,  how- 
ever, Columbus  became  involved  in  trouble  with  Alonzo  de  Acuna,  commander  of  a  man- 
of-war  which  lay  in  the  road-stead,  who  peremptorily  summoned  the  Admiral  to  report  in 
person  the  object  of  his  entering  Portuguese  waters.  To  this  command  the  Admiral  returned 
a  defiant  answer,  but  sent  his  commission  bearing  the  autographs  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
which  had  the  most  pronounced  effect.  Thus  learning  his  name,  rank  and  mission,  Acuna 
immediately  returned  his  profound  acknowledgments  and  proceeded  to  pay  a  homage  to  the 
returned  explorer  as  flattering  as  one  brave  man  may  pay  another.  Launching  his  largest 
boat,  Acuna  decorated  it  with  bunting,  in  which  Portugiiese  and  Spanish  banners  were 
blended,  and  taking  on  board  his  militar\-  band,  paid  a  visit  of  imposing  display  to  Columbus, 
to  whom  he  offered  his  services  in  the  most  generous  spirit. 

ARRIVAL   AT  THE    ESTUARY  OF  THE   TAGUS. 

The  excitement  which  followed  fast  upon  the  report  of  Columbus'  return  and  discoveries 
was  indescribably  intense,  largely  increased  by  the  belief  that  his  escape  from  the  storms 
that  had  prevailed  with  unexampled  fury  must  be  due  to  a  special  manifestation  of  pro\-: 
dence  in  his  behalf  The  people  made  haste  to  infonn  him  that  no  other  such  tempest  had 
occurred  within  the  memory  of  man.  Scarcely  any  shipping  along  the  coast  of  Europe  had 
escaped  destruction,  in  proof  of  which  the  shores  were  strewn  with  wrecks  of  vessels  ;  and 
yet  the  Nina,  small  and  frail  as  she  was,  had  survived  all  the  wrathful  violence  of  wind  and 
waves,  to  bring  back  results  of  the  grandest  effort  ever  undertaken  by  an  ambitious  mind. 

The  friendliness  and  enthusiasm  of  those  that  had  gathered  about  the  estuar\-  of  the 
Tagus  was  presently  re-enforced  by  receipt  of  a  message  from  King  John,  in  which  the 
requests  made  by  Columbus  were  not  only  granted,  but  he  was  complimented  in  the  most 
flattering  words  of  praise,  and  urgently  invited  to  visit  the  court  at  its  sitting  in  Valparaiso. 
The  same  messenger  that  handed  this  cordial  communication  to  Columbus,  also  bore  a 
patronizing  letter  from  the  King,  directed  to  his  officers,  ordering  that  the  Admiral  and  his 
crew  be  furnished  without  cost  everything  which  they  might  require. 

Recognizing  the  graciousness  and  apparent  sincerity  of  t!ie  King,  Columbus  was  re- 
solved to  accept  the  invitation,  and  accordingly  set  out,  accompanied  by  one  of  his  pilots, 
acting  as  aid-de-camp^  for  Valparaiso.  But  scarcely  had  he  started  when  he  was  met  by 
several  oflftcers  of  the  King's  household,  who  had  been  sent  to  serve  as  his  retinue  and  escort 
him  on  the  journey.  Having  started  at  a  late  hour,  it  was  necessary  for  Columbus  to  pass 
the  night  at  Sacamben,  where,  to  his  surprise,  a  princely  entertainment  was  provided  for 
him,  at  which  the  entire  town  united  in  demonstrations  in  his  honor. 

The  reception  which  King  John  accorded  Columbus  on  his  arrival  at  Valparaiso  was 
as  magnificent  as  would  have  characterized  the  welcome  of  the  most  powerful  prince 
in  all  Europe.  The  most  distinguished  ambassador  may  not  sit,  or  stand  with  covered 
head  in  the  presence  of  royalty,  but  so  great  was  his  courtesy  towards,  and  favor  for 
Columbus,   that  the  King  treated  him  with   tlie  most  cordial  consideration  regardless  of 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUMBIA.  143 

rank,  and  condiictinjj  him  to  a  seat  directly  before  the  throne  reqnested  the  great  navigator 
to  recite  the  story  of  his  wondcrfnl  disco\crics. 

COLUMBUS  HAS  AN   AUDIENCE   WITH   THE   KING. 

The  interest  of  King  Jolin  was  as  intense  as  his  regret  was  poignant,  and  he  fol- 
lowed the  narrative  of  Colunibns  as  one  might  do  who  realized  that  he  had  lost  a  world 
throngh  his  own  folly  ;  when  he  made  his  first  comment  on  the  results  of  the  discoveries, 
it  was  to  betray  the  jealousy  and  chagrin  which  disturbed  his  mind.  Said  he,  "  Voui 
enterprise  well  deserves  the  praise  of  all  mankind,  but  I  feel  the  greater  joy  because, 
according  to  the  treaty  which  we  concluded  with  Castile,  1479,  and  the  Papal  Bull  of 
partition,  the  discover)'  of  these  new  countries,  and  their  conquest,  pertain  to  the  crown 
of  Portugal  of  right."  To  this  unwarranted  inference,  which  clearly  exposed  the  King's 
feelings,  Columbus  deferentially  replied  that  he  had  not  read  the  treaty  and  was  not 
infonned  as  to  its  nature  ;  but  that  acting  under  instnictions  from  the  Spanish  sovereigns, 
which  had  taken  the  fonn  of  an  order  published  in  all  the  seaports  of  Andalusia,  he  had 
carefully  avoided  trenching  upon  Portuguese  possessions.  At  this,  the  King  cut  him  short 
by  reminding  him  that  the  question  would  be  settled  without  the  intervention  of  his  services 
as  umpire. 

The  inter\-iew  thus  tenninated  for  that  day,  and  Columbus  was  given  over  to  the 
attention  and  care  of  the  highest  officers  of  the  court,  but  on  the  following  day,  which 
was  Sunday,  King  John  invited  Columbus  to  another  conversation,  during  which  the 
monarch  asked  many  questions,  manifestly  with  the  view  of  informing  himself  as  fully  as 
possible  concerning  the  in'.abitants,  soil,  climate,  products,  landscape,  and,  above  all,  the 
route  to  the  new  world,  and  the  distance  at  which  it  lay  ;  to  all  of  which  questions  a  frank  reply 
was  returned,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  this  audience  Columbus  was  dismissed  and  the  King 
summoned  his  Council  for  a  conference.  Wliat  transpired  at  this  deliberation  can  onh'  be 
conjectured,  but  nearly  all  authorities  agree  that  a  project  for  robbing  Columbus  of  his 
discoveries  was  discussed,  and  that  some  of  the  more  perfidious  counsellors  even  recom- 
mended his  assassination.  But  such  a  proposal  is  so  monstrous  that,  in  view  of  the 
gracious  attitude  which  the  King  publicly  assumed  to  manifest  his  appreciation  of  Colum- 
bus, as  well  as  his  subsequent  generous  conduct,  the  assertion  appears  preposterous. 
Sinister  designs  may  have  been,  and  no  doubt  were,  harbored  against  the  Admiial  by  his 
many  enemies,  some  of  whom  were  very  near  the  Portuguese  Court,  but  the  King  was  too 
chivalrous  to  entertain  such  iniquitous  desire.  He  no  doubt  sincerely  believed,  in  the 
imperfect  knowledge  of  geograpliy  at  the  time,  that  some  of  the  rights  of  Portugal,  which 
had  been  guaranteed  to  her  by  the  Papal  Bull,  and  accorded  to  the  infant  Don  Henn,-,  had 
been  infringed  by  the  explorations  of  Columbus,  but  he  was  too  shrewd  a  monarch  to 
believe  that  such  right,  if  violated,  could  be  preser\-ed  through  the  assassinatioji  of  one 
who  was  but  an  instrument  or  agent  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns. 

But  while  opposed  to  personal  outrage.  King  John  was  open  to  other  proposals,  one  of 
which  flattered  his  expectations  as  appearing  to  provide  a  means  for  acquiring  peaceable 
possession  of  the  new  lands  beyond  tlie  sea.  The  suggestion  which  found  favor  was  that  the 
King  should  at  once  equip  a  powerful  squadron,  able  to  maintain  itself  against  Spain,  seize 
the  Portuguese  .sailors  who  had  returned  with  Columbus,  who  would  serve  as  guides,  and 
thus  equipped,  send  the  fleet  to  the  new  lands  to  hold  them  against  all  claims  of  previous 
discovery.  In  the  event  of  rupture  between  Portugal  and  vSpain,  King  John  could  justify 
his  act  by  the  treaty  of  1479,  and  call  upon  the  Pope  to  defend  the  Bull  guaranteeing 
certain  rights  to  Don  Henr>'. 
10 


146 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLU^IBIA. 


KING  JOHN  CONCEIVES  A  PLAN   TO   ROB  COLUMBUS   OF    HIS  DISCOVERIES. 

This  craftv  advice  so  pleased  tiie  King  that  he  immediately  resolved  to  adopt  it  as  the 
basis  of  his  policy.  To  enable  him  the  better  to  carry  it  into  effect,  without  at  once 
arousing  the  hostility  of  Spain,  he  abated  none  of  his  courtesies  to  Columbus,  but 
rather  increased  them.  When  the  Admiral,  therefore,  expressed  a  desire  to  proceed  to 
Spain,  King  John  offered  him  a  large  escort  to  conduct  him  thither  by  land  ;  but  Columbus 
desired  to  return  to  Palos  first  b>'  water,  so  as  to  discharge  his  crew  at  that  port,  where 
many  of  them  lived,  and  accordingly  declined  the  monarch's  proposal.  But  that  he  might 
not  part  from  Columbus  without  further  marks  of  his  favor,  the  King  presented  him  with 
several  valuable  gifts  and  sent  Don  Martin  de  Morofia  and  se%-eral  lords  of  the  court  to  con- 
duct him  safely  to  his  vessel. 

The  Queen,  who  was  meanwhile  sojourning  at  the  monastery  of  Villa  Franca,  sent 
word  to  Columbus  to  call  upon  her  while  on  his  way  back  to  the  coast,  which  he  did,  and 
entertained  her  with  recital  of  his  discoveries  and  adventures  in  the  new  world.  After  the 
interview  with  her  Majesty  he  continued  on  to  the  Tagus,  and  on  the  following  day  set 
sail  for  Palos,  where  he  arrived  in  safety  about  noon,  March  15th,  after  an  absence  from 
that  port  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  days.  Thus  was  accomplished  in  the  brief  space 
of  seven  and  one-half  months,  the  most  important  voyage,  because  most  resultful,  in  all  the 
annals  of  mankind  ;  one  which  crowns  the  brow  of  civilization  with  the  most  imperishable 
chaplet  that  fame  has  ever  bestowed  ;  which,  next  to  the  salvation  of  the  world,  was  the  gift 
of  a  new  one,  and  thus  next  to  the  prophet  stands  the  discoverer. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

RECEIVING  THE  PLAUDITS  OF  A  GRATEFUL  NATION. 


PIE  cit\-  of  Palos,  from  whose  quays  the  Cohim- 
bian  argonauts  had  set  out  on  tlieir  great  mission, 
stood  smiling  at  a  sea  which,  now  tamed  by 
gentle  breeze,  lapped  her  feet  with  the  affection- 
'ate  joy  that  a  himter's  hound  caresses  the  hand  of  its 
master.  Across  the  wide  expanse  of  fathomless  waters 
the  declining  sun  stretched  his  fingers  of  wannth  as 
if  to  greet  with  congratulation  and  welcome  the 
mariner  who  had  explored  the  lands  kissed  by  his 
fading  beams.  To  howling  stonn  had  succeeded 
,  the  laughter  of  zephyrs,  and  dashing  wave-beats  that 
heaved  with  fury  against  her  rock-bound  coast  now  fell 
away  like  one  ashamed  of  anger,  and  came  stealing  up 
the  beach  leaving  a  lace-like  tracery  of  foam  upon  the 
shore.  This  peaceful  scene  of  nature,  where  sea,  and 
sky,  and  landscape  had  blended  in  a  harmon\-  that 
channed  the  sensuous  appetites  of  man  in  the  soft  and  sun-lighted  climes  of  Southern  Spain, 
appeared  like  nature's  preparation  to  receive  with  triumphal  rejoicing  the  return  of  that 
great  Admiral,  who,  like  Ulysses,  had  survived  a  thousand  ocean  perils,  but  who,  unlike 
that  heroic  Ithacan,  had  brought  back  his  followers,  and  the  stor>'  of  a  new  world  found 
where  the  sun  falls  into  the  sea. 

When  the  white  but  tattered  sails  of  the  A^ina  appeared  in  the  offing,  bearing  towards 
the  gates  of  Palos,  excitement  in  the  city — whither  the  news  of  Columbus'  return  had  pre- 
ceded him — became  unbounded.  Many  wondered  what  fate  had  befallen  the  Pin/a,  but 
in  the  general  belief  long  entertained  that  all  had  perished,  there  was  unspeakable  jo\-  at 
the  survival  of  even  one  vessel  of  the  exploring  squadron.  So  when  the  A'ina  dropped 
anchor  before  Palos,  thousands  flocked  to  the  docks  in  their  eagerness  to  meet  friends  or 
relatives  wno  had  .sailed  with  Columbus,  or  to  hear  the  dread  story  of  how  they  had  perished. 
One  of  the  first  to  descry  the  incoming  vessel  was  the  faithful  Juan  Perez,  the  Father 
f  juardian  of  La  Rabida,  who  had  watched  with  true  paternal  concern  for  many  days  from 
the  upper  window  of  the  convent  for  the  return  of  his  friend.  The  Father's  long  deferred 
hopes  being  at  last  realized,  he  rushed  with,  inexpressible  delight  towards  the  landing  place, 
where  he  received  Columbus  as  he  came  on  shore  with  wide  open  ann.s,  and  raised  his  eves  in 
thankfulness  to  heaven  for  the  blessings  of  that  hour,  and  for  the  gift  from  God,  through  his 
instrument,  of  a  new  world.  Rut  faithful  to  the  vows  he  had  taken  when  jieril  was 
greatest,  Columbus  hastened  to  the  chapel  of  Palos,  there  to  return  thanks  and  give  praises 
to  heaven  for  the  success  which  had  attended  his  expedition,  and  for  the  Providence  t!iat 
had  permitted  his  safe  return. 


148  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA.  '      • 

De  Lorgues  says  that  Columbus  was  not  alone  in  his  devotions  before  the  shrine  of  the 
Virgin,  but  that  the  sacrilegious  interruption  of  their  vows  by  the  Portuguese  Governor  on 
Santa  Maria  required  its  full  accomplishment  now,  and  that  accordingly  all  the  seamen, 
bare-footed  and  in  their  shirts,  from  the  cabin  boy  even  to  the  Admiral,  in  the  piteous  garb 
of  shipwrecked  mariners,  went  in  procession  through  the  streets  of  Palos,  to  the  chapel  of 
La  Rabida,  and  there  offered  their  supplications  in  unison. 

RETURN  OF  THE  PINTA,  AND  DISGRACE  OF  PINZON. 

While  at  his  de\-otions  Columbus  heard  a  crj-  of  joy  raised  outside  of  the  chapel,  and 
rising  from  his  knees,  learned  with  rapturous  delight  that  the  Pinta  had  been  descried,  and 
was  now  making  her  way  across  the  ba)'  towards  the  mouth  of  the  Odiel.  The  pilot  of 
the  Pinta  was  the  first  to  reach  the  shore,  who  in  response  to  the  urgings  of  Columbus  gave 
report  of  the  circumstances  that  had  attended  his  ship  after  her  separation  from  the  Nina. 
The  sails  of  the  Pinta  had  been  rent  in  tatters  by  the  irresistible  blasts  of  the  stonn,  while 
her  rudder  was  crippled  by  the  powerful  impact  of  heavy  seas.  Thus,  practically  help- 
less, she  was  driven  into  the  Ba}-  of  Biscay.  For  a  while  she  appeared  to  be  doomed  to 
certain  destruction  upon  the  breakers,  but  Pinzon,  with  his  usual  skill  and  apparently 
providential  help,  succeeded  in  casting  an  anchor  which  happily  held  her  off  the  shore,  where 
the  vessel  rode  for  more  than  a  day  before  he  considered  it  safe  to  make  an  effort  to  put  into 
the  harbor  of  Bayonne.  On  the  8th  of  March  the  storm  had  sufficiently  subsided  to  permit 
of  Pinzon  bringing  his  shattered  bark  into  the  harbor,  where,  considering  his  situation,  and 
believing  that  the  Nina  and  her  crew  had  undoubtedly  perished,  he  proceeded  to  assert  his 
claim  to  the  honors  and  fame  of  the  expedition.  Accordingly,  he  ventured  to  compose  a 
letter  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  setting  forth  the  principal  incidents  of  the  voyage,  as  he 
chose  to  relate  them,  and  of  the  finding  of  the  Indies,  in  which  he  claimed  to  have  been 
the  principal  discoverer.  This  communication  he  despatched  to  the  Spanish  Court  at 
Barcelona,  and  then  put  to  sea,  arriving  at  Palos  within  a  few-  hours  after  the  return  of 
Columbus.  Having  heard  this  report  of  the  actions  of  Pinzon,  Columbus  expressed  his  sur- 
prise that  the  commander  had  not  as  yet  come  on  shore,  to  which  the  pilot  replied  that  dis- 
covering the  Nina  safe  in  the  anchorage  of  Palos,  Pinzon  was  greatly  surprised  and  cha- 
grined, and  believing  that  his  bad  faith  would  soon  be  revealed,  had  taken  his  boat  and 
gone  privately  to  shore.  Effort  was  made  then  to  find  him,  but  he  kept  himself  in  privacy, 
detennined  not  to  meet  Columbus,  pondering  over  the  perfidv  which  he  had  exhibited, 
and  which  was  soon  to  break  upon  his  head  in  the  fullest  power  of  smitten  conscience. 

In  a  few  days  there  came  in  answer  to  his  communication  sent  from  Bayonne  a  letter 
from  the  sovereigns,  who,  hearing  of  the  Admiral's  arrival,  and  perceiving  the  falsity  of 
Pinzon's  heart  and  purpose,  upbraided  him  for  his  conduct  and  forbade  him  to  come  into 
their  presence.  The  proud  spirit  of  the  captain  gave  way  under  this  stroke.  He  sank 
under  the  unspeakable  grief  and  mortification  which  this  rebuke  inspired,  and  in  a  few  days 
died,  as  ever}-  one  believed,  of  a  broken  heart. 

The  defection  of  Martin  Alonzo  Pinzon  is  not  without  many  examples  in  history-,  and 
considering  the  avaricious  and  condemnable  ambitions  of  the  age,  as  well  as  the  attendant 
circumstances,  his  attempt  to  supplant  Columbus  may  be  partially  condoned.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  to  him  was  due,  in  a  large  degree,  the  success  of  the  expedition.  Being  one 
of  the  first  in  Spain  to  appreciate  the  plans  of  Columbus,  he  not  only  used  his  influence  in 
his  behalf  to  create  favorable  public  opinion,  but  aided  the  enterprise  with  great  liberality. 
Not  only  did  he  contribute  a  vessel  from  his  own  means,  but  he  embarked  with  his  brothers 
and  friends  on  the  expedition,  thus  hazarding  both  his  property  and  his  life  in  the  enter- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


149 


prise.  These  circumstances,  thoiiti^h  receiviuof  no  consideration  at  the  time,  were  subse- 
qiienth'  generously  regarded  by  Charles  \'.,  who,  in  recognition  of  the  eminent  services 
which  Pinzon  had  rendered,  granted  liis  family  the  rank  and  privileges  of  nobility,  and 
also  conferred  upon  them  a  coat  of  arms  emblematic  of  the  great  disco\-ery. 

The  first  fonnal  act  of  Columbus  was  to  send  a  letter  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
annoimcing  briefly  his 
arrival  at  Palos  and  thc 
success  of  his  enter- 
prise. While  awaiting 
a  reply  thereto  he  was 
the  centre  of  public 
interest  and  was  as- 
sailed by  a  thousand 
inquiries  concerning 
the  new  world  from 
which  he  had  just  re- 
turned. For  a  greater 
part  of  the  inter\-al  he 
was  the  guest  of  Father 
Perez,  to  whom  fell  tlu 
pleasant  task  of  sayiny 
Mass  and  o  fFe  ring 
thanksgiving  for  the 
return  of  the  expedition 
and  the  glorious  work 
that  had  been  accom- 
plished. After  this  the 
sailors  were  for  the 
most  part  discharged, 
many  of  whom  ha' 
their  homes  in  the  towi 
or  neighborhood,  and 
few,  as  will  be  re 
called,  were  under  con- 
viction for  high  crimes 
at  the  time  of  their  de- 
parture. But  such  wa- 
the  temper  of  the  public 
mind  in  thankfulness 
for  the  great  discoveries 
made  that  their  punish- 
ment was  not  only  remitted,  but  they  were  converted  into  men  of  historic  renown.  It  was 
thus  for  a  few  days  that  Columbus  passed  the  time  in  the  Monastery  of  La  Rabida,  con- 
versing with  the  Fathers  of  St.  Francis  and  outlining  his  plans  for  the  future.  He  also 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  .send  letters  to  his  wife  at  Cordova,  and  to  transmit 
a  communication  by  messenger  to  Genoa,  bearing  the  good  news  to  the  people  of  his 
native  town,  and  a.sking  his  venerable  father,  and  his  brother  (iuiacomo,  known  in  history 


•  I'.-n:  lAklKS. 


150  COLUMBUS   AND   COLU^IBIA. 

as  Don  Diego,  to  come  at  once  to  see  him  in  Spain.  Nor  did  the  discoverer  and  his  friend, 
Father  Perez,  fail  to  forward  a  petition  to  the  Pope,  praying  the  issnance  of  a  Papal 
ordinance  establishing  a  line  of  demarcation  north  and  sonth  one  hundred  leagues  to  the 
west  ®f  the  Azores,  thus  dividing  the  seas  and  land,  and  providing  that  west  of  this  line  all 
new  discoveries  and  possessions  should  belong  to  Sj^ain.  This  petition  of  the  Admiral 
was  used  as  the  basis  of  the  famous  Papal  Bull  issued  bj-  Pope  Alexander  VI.  on  the 
3d  of  May,  1493. 

Having  attended  to  these  preliminaries,  Columbus  proceeded  to  Seville,  where  he 
received  the  first  communication  from  their  Majesties,  containing  a  request  for  him  to  repair 
at  once  to  Barcelona  for  a  personal  interview.  As  he  had  been  in  expectation  of  such  a 
command  he  immediately  set  forth  on  his  journey,  which  was  destined  to  be  the  most  mem- 
orable personal  event  ever  witnessed  in  the  Spanish  peninsula.  The  route  of  the  Admiral 
lay  through  the  provinces  of  \'alencia,  jMurcia  and  Castile,  the  fairest  portions  of  Spain, 
and  the  journey  developed  into  a  1;riumphal  procession  commemorated  in  song  and  story  for 
more  than  a  century  afterwards,  and  which  may  be  heard  in  Spain  to  this  day.  The  route 
all  along  was  thronged  with  people,  who  gave  themselves  up  to  transports  of  jubilant 
demonstration.  Crowds  of  .shouting  people  followed  after  the  procession,  eager  to  get  a 
glance  at  the  greatest  man  of  the  age,  and  moved  with  equal  curiosity  to  behold  the  strange 
being's  and  wonderful  things  which  he  had  brought  with  him  from  the  Indies. 

A  WONDERFUL    PROCESSION. 

Meanwhile,  the  Spanish  sovereigns  made  extraordinary  preparations  to  receive  the  man 
who  had  brought  such  great  honor  to  their  name.  A  solemn  and  beautiful  scene  was  pre- 
pared in  the  great  throne-room  where  the  sovereigns  held  their  court,  and  where  the  elite  of 
the  nobility  were  gathered  to  welcome  the  great  Admiral  in  the  presence  of  their  Majesties. 
As  Columbus  approached  Barcelona  on  the  morning  of  April  15th,  many  gaily-dressed 
cavaliers  rode  forth  to  meet  him,  and  to  act  as  a  guard  of  honor  in  conducting  him  into  the 
city.  A  marvellous  sight  was  presented  as  the  cavalcade  passed  through  the  gates  of  the 
city.  The  streets  were  not  only  crowded  with  people,  but  the  housetops  were  covered  with 
humanity,  rending  the  air  with  shouts  of  admiration  and  welcome.  Columbus,  too,  had 
carefully  prepared  his  little  procession  so  that  the  effect  might  be  as  striking  as  possible.  Six 
of  the  ten  natives  whom  he  had  brought  with  him  from  the  Indies  (one  dying  on  the  return 
voyage  and  three  being  left  sick  in  Palos),  gorgeously  painted  and  adorned  in  their  own 
fashion,  were  placed  in  the  front.  After  them  were  borne  parrots  and  other  creatures,  living 
or  dead,  which  the  Admiral  had  collected  as  examples  of  the  animal  life  of  the  New  World. 
Following  these  were  carried  a  collection  of  natural  productions,  including  cotton,  tobacco 
and  medicinal  plants,  and  next  to  these  were  exposed  to  view,  on  litters,  ornaments  made 
from  gold,  and  specimens  of  precious  stones  which  had  been  obtained  from  the  natives.  At 
the  rear  rode  Columbus,  accompanied  b}-  a  brilliant  throng  of  hidalgos  and  grandees 
of  Spain. 

No  prouder  moment  in  the  life  of  any  man  has  been  recorded  than  that  in  which  the 
great  Admiral  of  the  ocean  seas  was  ushered  before  Spain's  sovereigns.  ■  While  eminently 
practical  in  many  positions  requiring  genius  to  direct,  Columbus  was  acutely  susceptible  to 
the  blandishments  and  praises  of  men,  the  spectacular  appealing  especially  to  his  nature. 
Those  who  have  best  studied  his  character  have  therefore  many  times  pointed  out  the  quali- 
ties of  a  knight  and  crusader,  which  were  particularly  prominent  in  his  composition.  The 
apparent  elation  of  spirit  wliich  this  scene  inspired  in  him  was  conspicuous  in  his  bearing, 
though  he  never  subordinated  his  dignity  to  the  pomp  of  egotism.      He  was  excusable,  too, 


GREAT   COLLMBIAS    PROCESSION   TllROLt;!!    IIARCKLONA. 


II51) 


152  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBL\. 

in  contrasting  the  harsh  buffetings,  disappointments  and  mortifications  which  he  had  suffered 
for  nearl\-  a  quarter  of  a  centur>-,  with  the  triumph  which  he  had  achieved,  and  the  national 
homage  thus  paid  to  his  persistence  and  genius. 

THE  SPLENDORS  OF  THE   ROYAL  COURT  PROVIDED   FOR   THE  ADMIRAL'S   RECEPTION. 

Upon  being  ushered  into  the  royal  presence  Columbus  beheld  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
seated  upon  their  thrones  under  a  splendid  canopy  of  gold  brocade,  while  beside  them  sat 
Prince  Juan,  heir  apparent  to  the  Spanish  crown.  Upon  either  hand  were  arranged  many 
nobles  and  officers  of  the  government,  including  grandees  of  Castile,  Aragon,  \'alencia  and 
Catalonia,  and  counsellors  of  state,  ministers,-  and  other  dignitaries,  while  as  many  richly 
dressed  ladies  attended  upon  the  Queen.  Columbus,  whose  appearance  had  now  grown 
venerable  through  the  markings  of  care  in  his  countenance  and  hair,  walked  fonvard  to  salute 
their  IMajesties,  his  face  lighted  up  with  a  smile  of  intense  gratification.  About  to  kneel  in 
their  presence  and  kiss  their  hands  according  to  the  courtly  manners  of  the  age,  the  King 
and  Queen  hesitated  to  accept  the  obeisance  of  a  man  who  had  reflected  such  distinguished 
honors  not  only  upon  himself,  but  upon  the  Spanish  Crown  as  well.  They  accordingly 
themselves  arose  from  their  seats  and  raising  him  from  his  bended  posture  invested  him  with 
the  insignia  of  a  grandee,  and  commanded  him  to  sit  in  a  richly  decorated  arm-chair  imme- 
diately in  front  of  them,  a  thing  unknown  at  royal  receptions,  except  in  case  of  princes  and 
nobles  of  the  highest  rank.  Thus  seated  Columbus  was  to  recite  to  the  ro\al  ears  the  inter- 
esting storv*  of  his  voyage  and  wonderful  discoveries.  Presenting  the  trophies  and  exhibits 
of  his  expedition,  Columbus  next  introduced  the  natives,  whom  he  brought  from  the  strange 
country-  of  the  Indies,  and  in  presenting  them  before  the  interested  King  and  Queen  de- 
scribed their  manners,  virtues  and  mode  of  life  ;  likewise  the  birds  and  animals  were  exhibited, 
as  also  the  fruits  and  foreign  plants,  and  their  value  to  man  explained.  In  a  like  manner 
the  gold  ore,  in  its  native  state,  and  in  ornaments,  was  then  produced  to  delight  the  avaricious 
eyes  of  the  sovereigns  and  their  court.  Under  the  influence  of  his  sanguine  temperament 
Columbus  could  not  forbear  to  point  out,  as  if  by  prophecy,  a  greater  promise  of  future  ex- 
plorations and  discoveries.  The  things  displayed  as  the  fruits  of  his  first  voyage  were  mere 
hints  of  more  abijndant  things  to  come. 

The  eflTect  produced  by  this  recitation  and  exhibition  was  well  marked.  At  times  the 
King  and  Queen  exhibited  great  emotion,  and  at  the  close  of  the  interview,  moved  upon  by 
religious  impulse,  they  sank  upon  their  knees,  offering  up  thanksgiving  for  the  great  things 
which  had  been  accomplished  in  their  reign.  After  the  sovereigns  had  thus  poured  forth 
their  thanks  and  praises,  the  great  choir  of  the  Royal  Chapel  took  up  the  anthem  of  the 
Te  Deiim  and  rendered  it  with  all  the  unction  and  solemnity  of  the  hour. 

DREAMS    OF   YET  GREATER    TRIUMPHS. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  inter\'iew  with  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Columbus  was  conducted 
to  the  place  assigned  for  his  residence  and  entertainment.  But  the  interest  attaching  to  his 
person  and  his  deeds  did  not  quickly  subside.  The  people  of  Barcelona  and  the  surrounding 
region  continued  to  watch  for  his  appearing,  and  to  follow  his  train  wherever  he  went. 
Meanwhile  his  mind  was  occupied  with  the  revision  of  old  plans  and  with  new  dreams  which 
came  with  his  triumph.  The  possibility  of  doing  some  great  thing  for  the  extension  and 
uplifting  of  the  Catholic  cause  in  the  far  east  recurred,  as  it  had  often  done  before,  in  this 
hour  of  his  exaltation.  One  of  the  motives  which  he  had  formerly  presented  to  the  King 
and  Queen  for  patronizing  his  voyage  of  discovery  was  the  religious  use  to  which  the  vast 
wealth  of  the  Indies  might  be  diverted  by  the  sovereigns  in  case  they  should  be  able  to  replen- 


O 

z 

I! 
O 


in 

ID 
QQ 


O 

u 


RECEPTION  OF  CtLUMDUS  BY    FERDINAND  AND    ISABELLA. 


(153) 


154  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

ish  their  coffers  from  the  Orient.  The  particular  thing  now  contemplated  was  the  old  project 
of  recovering  the  Holy  Land  and  the  tomb  of  Christ  from  the  infidels. 

At  the  present  juncture,  Columbus  did  not  hesitate  to  offer  his  ser\-ices  and  the 
expected  wealth  of  the  New  World  in  the  sacred  cause  of  expelling  Islamism  from  Pales- 
tine. He  engaged  within  the  space  of  seven  years  to  furnish,  from  his  part  of  the  profits  of 
the  Indies,  the  means  with  which  to  raise  an  anny  of  fifty  thousand  infantr}-  and  four  thousand 
horse  for  a  new  cnisade.  Nor  did  he  doubt  that  in  another  five  years  a  second  anny  of  like 
proportions  could  be  raised  and  equipped  from  the  same  resources.  To  do  this  thing  he 
recorded  a  vow.  Nor  can  there  be  an\-  doubt  of  his  confidence  and  sincerity.  His  dream 
contemplated  the  deli\-erance  of  Western  Asia  and  Eastern  Europe  from  the  Turks  and 
Arabs,  and  the  setting  up  of  the  Cross  in  place  of  the  fallen  Crescent. 

In  a  short  time  the  intelligence  of  the  discovery-  of  another  world  was  disseminated  not 
onlv  throughout  Spain,  but  over  all  Western  Europe.  Ever^-where  the  tidings  were  received 
with  astonishment,  as  though  the  revelation  had  come  from  another  planet.  Perhaps  at  no 
other  epoch,  and  with  no  other  event  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  had  so  sudden  and 
great  a  transformation  been  accomplished  in  the  thoughts  and  speculations  of  men.  The 
mistv  conjectures  of  a  thousand  years  respecting  the  mysteries  of  the  ocean  and  the  figiire 
of  the  earth  were  suddenly  swept  away.  \'ague  mythologies,  geographical  fictions,  artificial 
constnictions,  and  possibilities  of  an  impossible  geograph)-,  dim  and  exaggerated  stories  of 
the  unknown  deep  and  islands  of  the  West,  were  bnished  with  one  stroke  of  a  magic  hand 
into  that  limbo  of  oblivion  where  had  accumulated,  was  accumulating,  and  still  accumu- 
lates, the  vagaries,  the  myths  and  the  superstitions  of  the  human  mind.  Henceforth  no 
rational  being,  infonned  to  any  considerable  degree  in  the  elements  of  existing  knowledge, 
could  doubt  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  and  the  practicability  of  sailing  aroixnd  it.  It  is 
from  this  point  of  contemplation  that  the  work  of  Columbus  assumes  its  just  importance  in 
the  histor}-  of  mankind. 

A   GLANCE   AT  CONDITIONS   THAT    SURROUNDED    HIM. 

In  the  Columbian  age,  intelligence  of  the  things  done  by  men  still  ran  with  difficulty 
along  the  impeded  channels  of  intercourse.  The  flying  post  was  yet  no  swifter  of  wing  than 
the  foot  of  man  or  fleetness  of  the  galloping  steed.  None  had  yet  conceived  of  the  possibility 
of  subordinating  the  elements  of  nature  to  the  purposes  of  despatch.  The  flying  car,  the 
ocean  steamer,  the  electric  flash  ;  how  far  away  were  all  of  these  from  the  imaginations  of 
that  era  which  saw  the  revelation  of  the  New  World  ! 

Nevertheless  the  news  went  abroad.  It  was  bonie  by  sea  to  Italy  and  was  heard  with 
wonder  in  those  old  seacoast  towns  of  the  Rivieras,  out  of  which  the  man  Columbus  had 
arisen  to  revolutionize  the  opinions  of  mankind  with  respect  to  the  po.ssibilities  of  the  habitable 
globe.  It  was  carried  through  the  notches  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  was  heard  at  L>"ons,  at  Aix, 
and  Paris.  It  was  disseminated  to  Northwestern  Europe,  and  Giovanni  Kaboto,  of  Venice, 
heard  the  story  in  the  streets  of  London,  marvelling  nnich  at  the  thing  done,  but  believing 
it  more  than  possible.  It  spread  through  Central  and  Eastern  Europe,  till  the  sound 
thereof  was  heard  in  the  city  of  the  Eastern  Caesars — just  fort\'  years  before  conqiiered  by 
Mohammed  II.  and  his  Turks — was  rumored  in  Antioch,  in  Cairo,  in  Damascus,  and 
fashioned  into  vagiie  stor}-  b\'  the  barbaric  Kurds  guarding  their  flocks  from  the  prowling 
jackals  among  the  ruins  of  Khorsabad  and  Nimrud. 

Such,  however,  were  the  uncertainities  of  knowledge  in  the  Columbian  age  that  none 
might  discern  the  true  nature  and  limitations  of  the  sTcat  event.  The  data  which  Columbus 
had  brought  back  with  him  from  the  hitherto  unknown  West  were  misinterpreted  and  mis- 


applied  by  the  discoverer  himself,    as 
well  as    by  all   the  wise    men    of  the 
generation.    The  Admiral  was  fixed  in 
his  belief  that  he  had  reached  the  East 
Indies  and  the  shores  of  Asia.      His  confi 
dence  that  Cuba  was  the  easternmost  cape  of 
the  Asiatic  continent  was  unshaken,  and  his  beliefs  in 
these  particulars  were  accepted  by  all.      The  errors   thus 
arising — many  and  peculiar  as  they  were — were  mixed 
and  mingled  with    all    that  was  thought  and  said  and 
done.      The  theory  of  the  situation  thus  bound  together 
the  western  shores  of  Europe  and   the  eastern  borders 
of  Asia  by  an  easy  and  practicable  \-oyage  of  less  than 
three   thousand  miles    of    unobstnicted   waters.       The 
resources  of    the  Orient  seemed    to    be  thus  suddenh- 
displayed  as  if   some  beneficent    destiny  stood    read\-, 
with  a  tremendous  cornucopia,  to  pour  out  the  treasures 


h.   GLORIOUS   DREAM — THE    WAV    IN    WHICH    1.1K   THK    WRKCKS   OK    THK   WORLDS    I.Nl'.R  ATII  IDli, 

(155) 


156 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLU^IBIA. 


of  the  most  ancient  and  opulent  nations  of  the  globe  into  the  lap  of  waiting  Europe. 
These  speculations  might  well  divert  us  from  the  mere  narrative  of  events  to  consider 
the  question  of  the  age  from  the  standpoint  of  philosophical  inquiry.  But  we  must  return 
to  the  Admiral  and  his  work,  leaving  the  reader  to  formulate  for  himself  not  only  the 
splendid  vision  of  the  scene,  but  the  true  nature  and  dependencies  by  which  the  great  event 
was  held  in  its  historical  connections.  Columbus  was  in  the  heyday  of  a  great  renown. 
Perhaps  no  man  of  history  was  ever  in  a  situation  to  enjoy  more  fully  the  honors  and 
rewards  of  successful  and  glorious  enterprise.  The  discoverer  drank  it  all  in  with  many 
a  full  draught,  but  without  satiety.      To  him,   if  much  had  been  accomplished,  still  more 

.  remained    behind.      The    mind    of    the 

and    noble 


-^  Admiral    was    of  that    rare 

fashion  which  can  only  live  in  the  heat 
and  light  of  ideality  and  imagination. 
Already,  before  his  departure  from 
Barcelona,  gxeater  visions  than  ever 
before  had  risen  upon  him,  and  though 
he  was  dazzled  with  the  realization  of 
his  dreams,  he  nevertheless,  with  his 
habitual  sagacity,  made  his  arrange- 
ments for  the  future. 

A  GLORV  THAT   DIMMED    THE     LUSTRE    EVEN 
OF  ROYALTY. 

It  has  not  happened  to  men  of  other 
than  royal  blood  to  become  in  a  half- 
feudal  age  the  familiar  companions  of 
kings  and  princes.  This  fate,  the 
happiness  of  which  the  reflective  mind 
may  well  be  disposed  to  doubt,  was 
given  in  full  measure  to  Columbus. 
His  sovereigns  treated  him  almost  as 
an  equal.  King  Ferdinand  rode  abroad 
with  him,  and  as  if  to  couple  the  honor 
with  the  honors  of  the  future,  the 
voung  Prince  Juan  was  mounted  on 
the  other  side  of  the  sovereign.  Now 
it  was  that  that  famous  Columbian  coat 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


of  arms  was  devised,  granted  and  confinned  to  the  Admiral  as  a  perpetual  memorial  to  him 
and  his  descendants.  It  was  fashioned  like  the  royal  banner  of  Castile.  In  the  lower  left- 
hand  corner  were  the  outlines  of  a  sea  dotted  with  islands  and  shores,  significant  of  the 
immortal  discover}-  which  Columbus  had  made.  On  the  right-hand  quarter,  below,  were 
the  fi\-e  memorable  anchors  ;  above  was  that  rampant  lion  which  has  been  so  much  pre- 
figured in  the  heraldry  of  nations.  Last  of  all,  and  at  the  left  hand  above,  was  the  castle, 
or  citadel  of  strength,  surmounted  b>-  the  three  towers,  significant  of  the  united  kingdoms, 
Castile,  Leon,  Aragon.      To  this  was  appended  that  Spanish  motto  of  great  fame   which 

mankind  will  not  willingly  let  die  : 

A  Castilla  y  a  Leon,     ,     - 

Nuevo  niuiido  dio  Colon. 
Castile  and  Leon.     Colon  sets 
A  New  World  in  their  coronets. 


COLUMBUS    AND    COLUMBIA.  L37 

To  all  these  honors,  other  distinctions  and  emoluments  were  gladly  added  by  the 
crown.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  question  of  the  actual  first  sight  of  the  new  lands  in 
the  West  was  adjudged  and  decided.  The  issue,  of  course,  lay  between  Columbus  himself 
and  that  Juan  Rodriguez  Bermejo,  of  the  Pinta,  according  to  the  statement  of  De  Lorgues, 
and  of  Rodrigo  de  Triana,  as  stated  by  Irving  and  other  authorities,  whose  cry  of  land  on 
the  morning  of  the  12th  of  October  we  have  mentioned  as  the  certain  signal  of  the  dis- 
covery. But  the  reader  will  remember  that  the  Admiral  had  alread\-,  several  hours  pre- 
viously, seen  a  light.  Two  things  were  in\olved  in  the  decision  :  first,  the  honor  of 
the  first  glimpse  of  the  New  World  ;  and,  secondh-  (not  to  be  despised),  the  pension  which 
the  sovereigns  had  promised  to  the  discoverer. 

The  question  was  not  easily  decided.  Doul^tless,  if  the  conditions  had  been  reversed, 
that  is,  if  Bermejo  had  seen  the  light  and  Columbus  had  seen  the  land,  the  decision  would 
have  been  more  easy.  As  it  was,  the  royal  court  adjudged  the  honor  to  him  to  whom  it  was 
only  possibly,  though  improbably,  due,  but  was  certainly  less  needy,  and  doubtless 
deser\-ed  it  less  than  the  humble  mariner  of  the  Mnta.  As  for  Bermejo,  the  decision  was 
accepted  with  infinite  chagrin.  He  had  staked  ever\thing  upon  his  claim,  and  the  judg- 
ment against  him  was  fatal  to  the  one  great  hope  of  his  life.  He  immediately  renounced 
his  country'  forever,  cast  aside  the  Christian  religion  as  a  delusion  of  fraud  and  of  sin,  went 
to  Africa,  became  an  Islamite,  and  died  under  the  banner  of  the  Prophet. 

CONCEPTIONS  OF  GREAT  THINGS  TO  BE  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

From  the  first  day  of  his  return  to  Europe — from  the  moment  that  the  intelligence  of 
the  great  discovery  was  carried  to  the  ears  of  the  sovereigns — it  was  evident  to  all  that  the 
work  done  by  Columbus  was  merely  the  first  movement  of  a  vast  enterprise.  None  were 
foolish  enough  to  suppose  that  the  new  countries  in  the  Far  West  had  been  fulh'  re\ealed. 
The  leading  minds  of  Spain  perceived  at  a  glance  that  the  thing  done  was  ouh-  the  first 
glimpse  at  a  gold  mine,  the  limits  and  extent  of  which  none  might  know.  The  imagina- 
tions of  men  flew  to  the  far  islands  of  the  New  World,  and  began  to  constnict  there  cities 
and  temples  and  palaces. 

Under  such  conditions,  the  project  of  new  discoveries  and  explorations  flashed  in  full 
light  about  the  Spanish  court  The  sovereigns  in  their  very  first  letter  to  the  Admiral  who 
was  then  at  Seville,  made  haste  to  tell  him  that  he  should,  in  that  cit>-,  before  setting  out 
for  Barcelona,  take  the  initiative  for  a  new  expedition.  Whatever  things  he  might  see 
necessan,'  to  be  done,  to  that  end  he  should  do,  even  before  his  personal  inter\-iew  with 
their  Majesties.  Columbus  himself  was  deeply  concerned  about  the  .second  voyage,  and 
eagerly  promoted  the  preparations  therefor.  The  subject  was  interwoven  like  a  thread  in 
all  the  connnnnications  which  he  had  with  the  King  and  Queen.  It  no  longer  required 
urging  to  convince  the  sovereigns  of  the  importance  of  extending  their  empire  in  the  West. 

The  outlines  of  the  new  expedition,  which  now  had  its  relation  to  the  West  Indies 
and  the  methods  of  possessing  them,  were  at  once  devised.  The  summer — season  most 
favorable  and  indeed  only  favorable  for  the  expedition — was  already  at  hand,  and  it  was. 
nece.ssary  to  expedite  the  preparations,  or  else  put  off  the  vo\age  to  another  \ear.  The 
jealousy  of  Portugal,  and  the  knowledge  of  what  she  might  attempt,  furnished  a  whip  and  spur 
to  the  crown.  The  sovereigns  deemed  it  expedient  to  establish  a  .sort  of  bureau  for  the  conduct 
of  Indian  affairs,  and  the  city  of  .Srvillc  was  scltcled  ;is  tin-  ontfitling  place  of  the  enterprise. 

PREPARATIONS    FOR   A  SECOND    EXPEDITION. 

At  the  head  of  this  branch  of  the  administration  was  placed  as  .superintendent  and 
director-general,    Don  Juan  de  Fonseca,   Archdeacon   of  Seville,  a  man  of  great  abilities, 


158  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

but  little  scrupulous  in  the  matter  of  choosing  his  means  and  methods.  The  treasurer 
of  the  new  department  was  Francisco  Pinelo,  and  the  comptroller,  Juan  de  Soria.  The  idea 
was  that  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  all  intercourse  and  commerce  between  the  mother 
country  and  the  Indies  should  belong  to  the  bureau,  and  that  ever\thing  not  de\-ised  and 
directed  thereby  should  be  under  the  ban  of  illegality.  One  of  the  first  steps  was  to  estab- 
lish at  the  port  of  Cadiz  a  custom  house,  to  which  all  the  prospective  commerce  of  the 
Indies  should  be  reported,  and  the  scheme  of  administration  extended  to  the  creation  of  a 
like  office  in  San  Domingo,  n'hich  was  to  be  administered  b}-  the  admiral  himself,  or  his 
subordinate. 

We  ma\-  pause  here  a  moment  to  note  the  favor  in  which  Columbus  was  held  by  the 
nobility.  The  greatest  men  of  the  kingdom — and  the\-  were  many — sought  his  acquaint- 
ance, and  gave  their  countenance  to  his  cause.  Among  those  with  whom  Columbus  now 
fell  into  intimate  relations  was  Pedro  Gonzales  de  ^Mendoza,  the  Spanish  grand  cardinal,  of 
whom  we  have  spoken  in  a  former  chapter.  The  latter  invited  the  discoverer  to  his  castle, 
and  discussed  with  him  at  length  the  future  policy  of  the  church  with  respect  to  the  new 
countries  of  the  West,  and  in  particular  the  best  means  of  converting  the  natives. 

It  was  during  his  stay  at  the  castle  of  Mendoza  that  Columbus,  being  at  a  banquet 
given  in  his  honor  by  the  cardinal,  ga\e  the  celebrated  reply  and  demonstration  to  one  of 
the  company  who  was  disposed  to  cavil  at  the  originality  of  the  recent  work  of  discover},'. 
This  small  courtier — not,  we  may  say,  without  some  reason,  but  with  the  worst  of  bad 
manners — ^began  to  inquire  of  the  Admiral  whether,  if  he  had  failed  to  reach  the  islands  and 
mainland  of  the  western  seas,  some  other  would  not  have  been  soon  led  under  like  motives 
to  undertake  and  accomplish  the  enterprise.  Hereupon  Columbus  took  an  egg,  and  passing 
it  to  the  company,  challenged  any  and  all  to  make  it  stand  on  end.  None  could  do  it. 
None  perceived  the  possibilty  of  doing  it.  Having  it  returned  to  him,  the  Admiral  brought 
it  down  with  force  endwise  upon  the  table,  broke  and  crushed  the  shell  to  a  certain  extent, 
and  left  it  standing.  The  application  and  meaning  of  the  act  was  sufficiently  clear;  you 
can  make  an  egg  stand  on  the  end  provided  you  know  how  to  do  it. 

The  six  Indians  who  had  been  taken  to  Barcelona  were  regarded  with  profound  interest 
by  churchmen,  who  thought  it  wise  to  have  them  baptized  and  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of 
Christianitv.  This  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  conceit  of  the  time  pointed  them  out  as 
the  first  evangelists  and  exemplars  of  the  trae  faith  in  the  Indies.  So  little  apprehen- 
sion did  an\-  man  of  that  age  have  of  the  laws  which  go\-ern  human  evolution  that  all 
supposed  the  aborigines  of  the  West  Indies  able,  by  the  touch  of  the  church,  to  advance  at 
once  to  the  plane  of  an  ancient  faith  having  its  origin  and  development  among  a  Semitic 
people  in  the  far  East,  and  to  enter  at  a  single  bound  into  the  communion  and  relationship 

of  civilized  nations. 

KING  JOHN  CHAFING  UNDER  LOST   OPPORTUNITY. 

Meanwhile,  preparations  were  going  forward  rapidly  and  successfully  for  the  new  vo\'- 
age.  The  theor)-  of  the  situation  was  this  :  Columbus  had  discovered  the  Indies  by  the 
western  route,  and  the  discover)'  having  been  made  under  the  banners  and  patronage  of 
Spain,  this  fact  gave  to  the  Spanish  crown  a  right  to  occupy,  possess  and  go\-ern  the  islands 
and  continents  which  had  been  thus  found.  As  to  the  peoples  occupying  those  lands, 
the  aboriginal  nations,  they  had  no  rights  of  possession  which  Christian  kings  and  princes 
must  recognize  and  obser\'e.  The  monarchs  of  Christendom  had,  since  the  Crusading 
epoch,  an  agreement,  amounting  to  a  clause  in  international  law,  that  any  Christian 
sovereign  v/hose  subject  might  discover  unoccupied  lands  or  regions  inhabited  by  Pagans, 


COLUMBUS   AM)   COLUMBIA. 


159 


should  have  the  rijjht  of  discover)-,  preemption  and  preoccupation,  as  against  all  other 
princes  whatsoever.  Each  monarch  conceded  to  the  others  this  right  of  discover)',  and 
the  rule  was  now  plainly  applicable  to  the  case  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  West  Indies.  It 
was  this  principle  that  had  secured  to  the  recent  Kings  of  Portugal  the  exclusive  rights 


to  their  province  of  La  Mina  and  the  coast  of  Guinea  ;  and  it  was  the  same  principle 
which  now  held  back  and  thwarted  the  ambition  of  John  II.,  chafing  and  fretting  in  his 
anxiety  to  clutch  the  islands  lately  visited  by  the  Columbian  fleet. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  letter  .sent  by  Columbus  on  his  arrival  to  His  Holine.ss, 


160  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  Pope.  The  Spanish  sovereigns  readily  took  up  the  thought  of  Cohimbus  relative  to 
a  dividing  line  through  the  Atlantic  under  the  sanction  of  Papal  authorit\-.  They  accord- 
inglv  made  haste  to  open  negotiations  with  x\lexander  VL  concerning  the  proposed 
arrangement.  The  Pope  was  himself  a  Spaniard,  and  the  tie  of  birth  had  been  recently 
strengthened  by  many  e\'ents  well  calculated  to  draw  the  attention  and  affections  of  the 
Supreme  Pontiff  to  his  native  land.  In  the  very  year  just  past  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  in 
a  war  which  had  man}'  of  the  features  of  the  Crusades,  had  first  cooped  up  and  then 
ultimately  expelled  the  Islamite  Moors  from  the  peninsula.  With  scarcely  less  zeal,  they 
had  assailed,  persecuted,  suppressed  and  robbed  the  Jews.  The  whole  of  Spain  had  thus 
been  redeemed  and  consolidated  under  the  cross — a  circumstance  most  grateful  to  the 
ambitions  and  pontifical  pride  of  Alexander. 

The  Spanish  monarchs,  in  opening  the  question  at  the  court  of  Rome,  were  doubtful 
whether  so  great  a  claim  as  that  which  they  now  advanced  would  be  acknowledged  and 
ratified.  Ferdinand  deemed  it  prudent  in  his  letter  to  the  Pope  to  assume  that  the  sanction 
of  His  Holiness,  in  confirmation  of  the  rights  of  the  Spanish  crown  to  the  new  lands 
discovered  in  the  west,  was  not  essential  to  the  validity  of  the  claim  ;  but  the  good, 
obedient  and  faithful  Catholic  IMajesty  thought  it  best — such  was  his  allegation — as  a  true 
son  of  the  Church  to  ask  the  Holy  Father  to  ratify  and  confinn  aright  that  which  the 
princes  of  Christendom  had  already  conceded  the  one  to  the  other. 

HOW  THE   POPE  SETTLED  A  GRAVE  QUESTION. 

The  Pope  for  his  part  was  greatly  elated  with  the  intelligence.  He  perceived  the 
expediency  of  granting  the  claim  of  their  most  Catholic  Alajes-ties.  Accordingly,  on  the 
3d  of  May,  1493,  he  issued  that  celebrated  Bull,  establishing  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  discoveries  of  Portugal  and  those  of  Spain.  The  line,  as  we  have  said  before, 
was  drawn  north  and  south  one  hundred  leagues  to  the  west  of  the  Azores.  On  the  east 
of  the  line  Portugal  should  ha\'e  free  course  in  the  discover}',  possession  and  occupation  of 
all  lands  not  previously  visited  or  occupied  b\-  the'  subjects  of  a  Christian  king.  To  the 
west  of  the  line  Spain  should  have  preemption.  The  New  World,  whatever  it  w-as,  should 
be  hers.  Her  work  of  discover}'  and  occupation  should  go  on  unimpeded  and  her  rights 
should  be  exclusive  and  absolute. 

Thus  were  all  the  inhabited  and  habitable  parts  of  the  globe,  except  those  regions 
which  were  already  occupied  by  Christian  states  and  kingdoms,  divided  by  a  Papal  decree 
with  an  imaginary  line  drawn  north  and  south  through  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  con- 
cession of  the  Supreme  Pontiff  was  sufficiently  ample,  and  sufficiently  surprising,  when 
followed  to  its  probable  results.  Spain  might  discover  and  occupy  all  uninhabited  and 
Pagan  lands  lying  westward  of  the  division.  Suppose  that  the  Spanish  fleets  should 
press  their  way  westward  around  the  earth,  where  would  their  rights  be  limited  ?  Might 
thev  not  sro  on  around  until  bv  circumnavigation  thev  should  take  the  whole  world?' 
Or,  in  the  case  of  Portugal,  might  she  not  press  her  disco\'eries  eastward  until  she  should 
come  around  to  these  very  West  Indies,  claim  them,  and  take  them  under  the  Papal  sanc- 
tion ?  The  Pope  had,  in  a  word,  granted  ever}'thing  "to  Spain,  and  ever}'thing  to  Portugal. 
But  the  Pacific  Ocean,  still  unknown,  as  well  as  the  American  Continents,  lay  bet-«'een  to 
prevent  a  conflict  of  claims  in  the  region  of  the  antipodes  ;  the  Papal  Bull  was  saved  from 
absurdity  by  the  bigness  of  the  globe. 

The  new  bureau  for  the  government  of  the  Indies  was  quickh'  organized.  The 
establishment  was  destined  to  grow  in  course  of  time  into  that  Ro}al  India  House,  xmder 
the  auspices  of  which  the  commercial  and  political  affairs  of  Spain  and  her  outlying  pos- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COrA'MBIA. 


161 


sessions  in  the  West  were  so  long;,  so  despoticallx ,  and  so  profitably  directed.      Tlie  authority 

of  the  office  was  absolute,  both  as  to  the  persons  concerned   in  the  trade  with  the  Indies 

and  t!ie  trade   itself.      It  was  to  this  bureau,    under  the  conduct  of  De  Fonseca,  that  the 

business  of  fitting  out  the  new  squadron  for  Columbus  was  now  entrusted. 

The  enterprise  was  pressed  with  the  utmost  vigor.      .\  decree  was  issued,  by  which 

Fonseca  and  Columbus  were  authorized  to  purcha.se  any  .ships  that  might  be  in  port  on  the 

coast  of  Andalusia,  or,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  impress   them   for  the  expedition.      The  same 

despotic  rule  was  established  in  the  matter  of  furnishing  and   equipping  the  vessels,   and 

even  in  enlisting  the  crews.      Mariners  might  be  conscripted  under  pay  for  the  proposed 

ser\-ice,  and  the  civil  officers  of  the  ]ir<n'ince  were  connnanded  to  lentl   their  aid  in  carrying 

out  the  provisions  of  the  act. 

A  RUSH  OF  VOLUNTEERS. 

As  might  be  supposed,  however,  the  work  of  obtaining  ships  and  supplies  and  men  was 
now  no  longer  difficult.  Many  captains  were  ready  to  offer  their  vessels  for  such  a  voyage. 
The  supplies  might  be  readily  procured  from  stores  that  had  been  sealed  against  all  petitions 
when  the  first  contemplated  vo\age  was  to  be  undertaken.  As  for  the  crews,  the  spirit  of 
adventure  had  now  come  tOj-^ 
supply  a  motive  of  embarkation 
on  an  expedition  to  the  won- 
derful Indies  across  the  Atlantic. 
Some  difficulty  arose  over  the 
appropriation  of  money  for  ife:; 
the  second  voyage.  The  woik 
was  under  the  patronage  (  : 
the  King  and  Queen.  .\s  lo; 
the  treasurx'  of  the  new  bureau 
of  the  India  House,  that  was 
empty.  But  the  sovereigns  set 
aside  a  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
revenue,  and  this  was  placed  to 
the  credit  of  the  Indian  Secretary,  Pinelo.  In  the  previous  \ear,  during  the  persecution 
and  expulsion  of  the  Jews,  vast  amounts  of  property-,  especially  in  jewels  and  plate,  had 
been  confiscated  by  ro\  al  edict,  and  this  also  went  into  the  new  treasury.  Finally  the 
secretary  was  authorized  to  negotiate  a  loan,  if  such  should  be  needed,  for  the  expeditious 
fitting  out  of  the  squadron. 

Columbus,  in  the.se  days  of  honor  and  influence,  took  care  to  fortify  his  own  interests 
and  those  of  his  descendants  by  obtaining  an  additional  patent  and  confirmation  of  his  rights 
from  the  King  r.nd  Queen.  The  paper  in  question  was  the  third  of  those  remarkable  docn- 
meuLs  upon  which  the  first  political  relations  between  Europe  and  .\merica  were  established. 
In  the  present  case,  Columbus  deemed  it  prudent  that  the  new  patent  of  authority  should 
recite  the  exi.sting  agreement  between  himself  and  their  Majesties  made  in  the  preceding 
year.  The  second  charter  was  drawn  ;iccordingly,  at  the  city  of  Barcelona,  under  date  of 
the  28th  of  May,  1493.  After  enumerating  all  the  existing  covenants  between  the  sovereigns 
and  Don  Christopher  Cf>lund)us,  and  stating  in  the  introductorx'  part  the  nature  of  the  petition 
which  Columbus  had  submitted,  the  document  proceeded  to  c<jnfer  upon  him  certain  specific 
riglits,  among  which  was  a  confirmation  of  all  the  benefits  previously  granted,  and  which 
were  to  descend  in  perpetuity  to  his  heirs  ;  besides  which  were  delegated  extraordinary 
II 


COLUMBUS  RECEIVING  THE  THANKS   OH   HIS   SOVEREIGNS. 


162 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


powers,  not  only  as  governor  of  all  the  new  possessions,  but  such  judicial  authority  as  made 
him  the  supreme  arbiter  of  all  disputes  arising  therein.  In  short,  he  was  practical!)-  made 
King  of  the  new  world,  with  all  the  ro\-al  prerogati\-e5  thereto  attaching. 

THE  FLEET  CHOSEN  TO  SAIL  FROM  CADIZ. 
The  new  squadron,  prepared  and  supplied  under  the  direction  of  De  Fonseca,  was  in 
its  extent  and  character  strongly  contrasted  with  the  little  fleet  which  had  made  the  first 
voyage  to  the  Indies.  The  armament  consisted  of  three  vessels  of  the  largest  build, 
nine  'ships  of  medium  burden  and  five  caravels.  The  cargo  was  of  the  most  miscel- 
laneous description.  Several  breeds  of  domestic  animals,  which  had  not  been  found  in  the 
Indies,  were  taken  on  board,  including  horses  and  swine.  A  large  variety  of  plants  and 
collections  of  seeds  and  implements  of  husbandry  were  provided,  with  a  view  to  the  agricul- 
tural development  of  the  new   lands.     The  place  selected  for  the  equipment  of  the  fleet 

w 


CITY   OF   SEVILLE   .\.ND    GUAD.\I.0U1VIR    RIVER. 


-was  Cadiz,  though  the  management  was  located  at  Seville.  Meanwhile  Columbus,  satisfied 
with  his  fame  and  honor,  bade  farewell  to  the  King  and  Queen,  left  Barcelona  on  the  28th 
day  of  May,  and  made  his  way  to  the  coast.  On  the  day  of  his  departure  the  Spanish  Court 
attended  the  Admiral  from  the  palace  to  his  own  residence,  and  there  he  took  final  leave  of 
their  Majesties.      It  was  the  high  noon  of  his  destiny. 

Before  fi.x;ing  our  attention  upon  the  squadron  which  was  fitted  and  provisioned  at  Cadiz 
during  the  summer  months,  it  may  be  well  to  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  serious  questions 
which  were  now  pending  between  Spain  and  Portugal.  It  will  be  remembered  that  after 
the  arrival  of  Columbus  at  Lisbon,  and  his  inter\-iew  with  King  John,  the  latter  had  been 
advised  by  his  council  to  anticipate  the  Spanish  government  in  the  occupation  and  posses- 
sion of  tlie  new  lauds  discovered  in  the  West      This  advice  was  adopted  by  the  King,  and 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


163 


orders  were  secretly  g^veu  for  the  eqnipiueiit  of  a  fleet  to  sail  into  the  western  waters  and 
seize  npon  the  islands  and  mainland  found  by  Columbus.  In  order  to  cover  the  move- 
ment, it  was  given  out  that  the  expedition  was  intended  for  the  African  coast,  where 
tlie  Portuguese  had  already  fi.xed  themselves  by  discovery  and  possession. 

The  King  of  Portugal  now  sent  to  Barcelona  one  of  his  diplomatists,  Ruy  de  Sande,  to 
allay  any  suspicion  that  might  be  entertained  by  the  Spanish  Court  respecting  the  move- 
ments and  purposes  of  Portugal.  The  ambassador  was  instructed  to  speak  to  King  F'erdi- 
nand  about  certain  aggressions  of  the  Spanish  fishermen  beyond  Cape  Bojador,  and  to  ask 
that  an  interdict  be  issued  on  that  question.  The  sovereigns  of  Spain  were  congratulated  on 
the  success  of  the  Columbian  voyage  and  thanked  that  the  Admiral  had,  in  the  pro.secution 
of  his  enterprise,  kept  clear  of  the  Portuguese  possessions  and  fields  of  discovery.  There  had 
been  an  understanding  between  the  two  courts  that  the 
Spaniards  in  their  maritime  adventures  should  steer  to  the 
west  of  the  Canaries,  leaving  the  seas  on  the  south  as  the 
preserve  of  Portugal.  De  Sande  was  instnicted  to  gain 
from  the  Spanish  King  a  reaffinnation  of  this  arrange- 
ment, and  to  hint  that  any  difference  of  opinion  between 
the  two  powers  should  be  settled  by  negotiation. 
A  BATTLE  OF   INTRIGUE   AND    DUPLICITY. 

There  has  not  been  a  time  in  modern  liistory  when 
the  jealousy  and  distrust  of  two  monarchs  were  more 
deeply  inflamed  than  in  the  case  of  Ferdinand  and  King 
John.  Both  sovereigns  were  endowed  by  nature  with  a 
suspicious  and  waiA'  disposition.  In  abilities  the  two  were 
not  dissimilar,  and  their  ambitions  were  of  a  like  trend 
and  limitation.  Their  principles  of  action  were  such  as 
miglit  be  expected  in  an  age  when  the  Inquisition  was 
adopted  as  a  means  of  reform  b\'  the  church,  and  when  the 
rules  of  international  law  were  deduced  from  the  writings 
of  Machiavelli.  In  tlieir  purpose  to  succeed  by  craft  and 
duplicity  the  one  king  was  even  as  the  other ;  btit  in 
subtlety  and  fox-like  shrewdness,  the  Spanish  ruler  was 
the  superior  of  his  adversary.  It  appears,  however,  that 
King  John,  better  than  his  rival,  had  learned  the  potent 
and  diabolical  influence  of  money  in  accomplishing  political 
results.  He  had  adopted  the  plan  of  bribing  certain  spies  at  the  Spanish  Court,  who  being 
attached  in  several  capacities  to  the  government  of  Ferdinand  were  able  to  keep  their 
employer  constantly  infonned,  not  only  of  the  things  done,  but  also  of  the  things  purposed. 
In  the  battle  of  wit  and  craft,  which  now  ensued  during  the  early  part  of  1493,  the  advantages 
of  intrigue  remained  with  Ferdinand,  wliile  the  benefits  of  systematic  briben.'  accrued  to 
King  John. 

It  is  not  needed  that  we  should  here  relate  tlie  details  of  the  diplomatic  contest  between 
the  two  courts.  At  one  time  Ferdinand  sent  his  amba.ssador.  Lope  de  Herrera,  to  Lisbon, 
with  two  .sets  of  instructions,  and  docuiTients  of  exactly  opposite  intent.  But  of  this  manoeuvre 
the  Portuguese  King  had  already  been  informed  by  his  spies,  and  the  scheme  of  the  Spanish 
King  was  checkmated.  At  a  later  date,  and  in  order  to  gain  time,  Ferdinand  sent  two  pleni- 
potentiaries to  his  "beloved  cousin"  to  open  a  discussion  about  tlie  Western  seas  and  the 


.\RMOR    OF    COLlMinS. 


164 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


new  lands  found  therein,  that  might  last  until  the  second  Columbian  squadron  could  set  sail. 
But  the  purpose  of  the  Spanish  monarch  had  again  been  anticipated  by  the  war>'  John,  and 
nothing  was  gained  by  the  manoeuvre. 

In  the  respective  relations  of  the  two  governments  with  the  court  of  Rome,  however, 
the  case  was  different.  At  that  tribunal  the  advantage  was  wholly  on  the  side  of  Spain. 
The  negotiations  of  Ferdinand  with  Pope  Alexander  had  already  led  to  an  understanding, 
which  presently  became  a  status  that  nothing  could  disturb.  The  Papal  Bull  dividing  the 
Atlantic  held  against  all  intrigue  and  contrivance  of  the  Portuguese  King,  and  in  the  existing 
condition  of  affairs  he  durst  not  send  his  squadron  to  the  West  Indies. 

At  one  time,  during  the  summer,  it  was  reported  at  Barcelona  that  a  Portuguese  vessel 
had  been  despatched  from  the  Azores  on  a  west-bound  voyage.  A  protest  was  immediately 
forwarded  by  Ferdinand  to  Lisbon,  and  at  the  same  time  De  Fonseca  was  ordered  to  send  two 
Spanish  caravels  in  pursuit.  After  a  brief  interval,  communication  was  received  from  the 
Portuguese  Court  to  the  effect  that  no  such  expedition  as  that  reported  had  been  undertaken  ; 
nor  did  Spanish  investigation  ever  bring  such  an  adventure  to  light.  The  stor>'  was  doubt- 
less a  fiction.  The  King  of  Portugal  was  balked  in  every  effort  which  he  made  to  recover 
his  lost  prestige.  For  him  and  his  kingdom  the  golden  opportunity  was  gone,  and  he  must 
henceforlh  unwillingly  assent  to  the  adverse  destiny  which  had  decreed  the  discovery  and 
possession  of  the  New  World  to  the  crown  of  Spain. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


EQUIPMENT    OF    THE    SECOND     EXPEDITION. 


liLAZE  of  glon-  shot  up  like  a  rocket  and  spread  its 
dazzling  shower  over  all  Spain.  The  spirit  of  war, 
which  had  produced  so  many  valorous  knights  in  the 
Moorish  contention,  now  gave  place,  by  a  sudden 
change  of  aspiration,  to  an  ambition  that  set  its  sign 
in  the  New  World,  where  brighter  opportunity  for  ex- 
ploitation was  offered  in  discover}-,  adventure  and 
conquest. 

The  work  of  fitting  the  second  squadron  for  Co- 
lumbus was  accordingly  completed  with  eclat.  We 
have  already  referred  to  the  character  of  the  fleet,  the 
crew  and  the  cargo.  Under  the  first  plan  it  was  intended  to 
^1  "^^  limit  the  number  of  sailors  and  passengers  to  one  thousand  ; 
but  so  great  was  the  enthusiasm  that,  by  solicitation  of  volun- 
teers and  the  urgency  of  friends,  the  number  was  extended  to 
twelve  hundred.  Even  this  limit  was  surpassed  under  pressure,  and 
by  means  of  various  excuses,  intrigues  and  favoritism,  three  hundred  additional  adven- 
turers managed  to  get  on  board. 

In  .so  far  as  Columbus  himself  determined  the  character  of  the  expedition,  the  pa.ssen- 
gers  were  selected  with  respect  to  the  purposes  of  the  vo)-age.  To  this  end  he  secured  a 
considerable  company  of  artisans,  representatives  of  the  various  handicrafts,  whose  work, 
as  he  foresaw,  would  be  greatly  in  demand  in  the  Indian  Colonies.  As  to  the  merchandise 
of  the  cargo  the  same  was  selected  according  to  the  experiences  gained  during  the  former 
voyage.  It  was  clear  that  the  natives  of  the  islands  thus  far  visited  were  all  begtiiled  with 
show>-  trinkets  and  decorations,  such  as  aborigines  always  prefer  to  articles  of  more  solid 
value.  The  supply  of  this  variety  of  commercial  trifles  was  accordingly  made  proportional 
to  the  expected  demand.  Indeed  the  whole  cargo  was  chosen  with  as  mucli  regard  as  pos- 
sible to  the  desires  and  necessities  of  those  people  whom  the  Spaniards  had  visited  in  the 
preceding  year. 

The  reader  must  not  conclude,  however,  that  by  this  time  the  forces  at  work  in  the  Spanish 
nation  had  become  too  strong  and  vehement  to  be  controlled,  or  even  successfully  directed, 
by  the  genius  of  one  man.  This  indeed  is  the  philo.sophical  reason  whv  Columbus  rose  at 
this  juncture  to  the  acme  of  his  career.  Up  to  this  point  he  himself  had  been  the  directive 
agency  in  all  that  had  been  planned  and  accomplished.  Thus  far  the  work  bore  the  distinct 
impress  of  his  individual  genius.  But  the  historical  forces  of  the  age  now  began  to  seize 
him  and  bear  him  away.  Hitherto  he  had  contended  onh-  witli  the  elements  of  the  natural 
world  and  the  consen-ativc  obduracy  of  man  ;  but  now  a  human  whirlwind  had  been  started 
which  was  ere  long  to  become  a  tornado  so  violent  that  the  will  of  one  was  only  a  feather  in 
the  storm.     This  substitution  of  a  general    for  an    individual    purpose,  began    to  express 

U65) 


166  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

itself  iu   the  selection  of  the  crews  and  colonists  of  the  second  expedition.     The  spirit  of 
adventure  now  rushed  in  to  supply  the  material  of  the  enterprise,  and  henceforth  passion, 
caprice  and  lust  were  to  a  considerable  extent  the  prevailing  motives  of  the  movement. 
ADVENTURERS  OF    EVERY    KINO  JOIN    THE    EXPEDITION. 

We  must  remember,  in  this  connection,  the  existing  condition  of  Spanish  society. 
The  recent  years  had  been  consumed  in  war  and  conquest.  The  final  struggle  with  the 
Moors  had  brought  into  the  field  the  chivalrous  and  adventurous  class  of  young  Spaniards 
who  joined  the  various  campaigns  in  the  spirit  of  knights,  and  cavaliers.  The  motives  of 
the  contest  were  mercenar)-  and  fanatical.  The  great  province  of  Granada,  with  its  accumu- 
lations of  jMoofish  wealth  and  art,  was  the  principal  prize.  As  usual  in  such  cases  of  spolia- 
tion and  robber)'  the  spirit  of  propagandism  and  religious  zeal  was  set  forth  as  the  reason  for 
the  conquest.  In  the  case  of  the  suppression  and  ruin  of  the  Jews  the  same  argument  was 
advanced  by  the  zealots  of  Church  and  State.  In  such  a  school  it  must  needs  be  that  the 
graduates  would  come  forth  in  the  character  of  adventurers,  bigots  and  robbers. 

The  sudden  subsidence  of  the  Moorish  war  thus  let  loose  in  Spanish  society  a  large 
element  of  restless,  mercenary  and  half  lawless  chivalry-,  wdiose  motives  of  action  flew  low 
and  settled  over  the  quagmires  of  gold,  and  glor}",  and  license.  The  appearance  of  a  new 
enterprise,  a  new  and  startling  event  like  that  of  the  discover}^  of  the  Indies,  must  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  funiish  an  occasion  and  vent  for  the  activities  and  passions  of  such  characters  as 
those  just  described.  There  was  a  strong  tending  of  all  such  towards  the  port  of  Cadiz, 
and  it  was  almost  impossible  to  prevent  the  capture  of  the  new  squadron  b)-  this  element. 
Hither  came  the  gold  hunter,  the  soldier  out  of  work,  the  drifting,  lawless  young  nobility, 
to  find  opportvmity  and  excitement  by  volunteering  in  an  expedition  to  an  unknown  world. 

There  was,  moreover,  a  certain  weakness  in  the  character  of  Columbus  which  made 
him  accessible  to  the  influence  of  mere  adventurers  and  rakes.  The}-  crowded  around 
him  and  solicited  the  privilege  of  going  abroad  tmder  his  banner.  They  seemed  to  consti- 
tute a  part  of  that  world  in  the  estimation  of  which  he  now  held  so  conspicuous  a  place. 
Their  voice  and  applause  seemed  to  be  but  an  echo  of  the  public  homage.  To  hold  them 
at  bay  and  put  them  back  was  therefore  difficult,  and  the  result  was  that  a  considerable  part 
of  the  crew  was  made  irp  of  a  class  of  men  who  might,  with  much  more  profit,  ha^•e  been 
sent  on  a  military  campaign  to  Damascus  or  Bagdad,  rather  than  despatched  as  the  first 
colonists  and  citizens  of  Europe  to  the  new  hemisphere. 

THE  JEALOUSY  OF  FONSECA  REBUKED  BY  ISABELLA. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  of  affairs  that  the  premonitions  of  a  break  betu^een  the  Admiral 
and  Fonseca  were  first  disco\'ered.  The  latter  was  a  shrewd  man  of  affairs,  ambitious, 
cold,  calculating,  unscrupulous  in  matters  affecting  his  designs.  His  talents  might  not  be 
doubted  any  more  than  his  jealous  and  ^•indictive  disposition.  He  was  one  of  those  char- 
acters whose  private  manners  and  individualities  were  carried  into  his  office,  where  they 
constituted  the  mainspring  of  his  public  life  and  policy.  He  was  secretive  in  his  methods, 
little  disposed  to  trust  his  associates,  and  not  infrequent!}'  perfidious  in  his  dealings  with 
them.  When  he  perceived  that  the  popularity  of  the  cause  was  inducing  a  larger  enlist- 
ment than  had  been  contemplated,  he  procured  an  inter\-iew  with  the  Queen,  at  which  he 
interposed  his  objections  and  began  to  speak  of  the  additional  expense  and  risk  thereb}' 
incurred.  Attempting  to  introduce  obstructive  tactics,  he  referred  the  matter  a  second 
time  to  the  sovereigns,  but  they  sent  back  a  mandatory-  order  to  Fonseca  to  concede  every- 
thing to  the  wishes  of  the  Admiral,  to  follow  his  directions  and  second  his  plans  in  all 
particulars. 


FoNSKCA    UICFORK  THE   IJUEEX    AS   A    PROTESTANT   AGAINST  THE    SCHEMES  OF  COLUMBUS. 

(167) 


168 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


It  was  under  these  auspices  that  the  fleet  of  seventeen  vessels  was  made  ready  in  the 
harbor  of  Cadiz.  The  supplies  requisite  for  the  vojage  were  drawn  for  the  most  part  from 
military'  stores  which  had  been  left  o\-er  from  the  Moorish  war.  The  summer  months  were 
consumed  with  the  preparation,  and  it  was  not  until  late  in  September  that  the  armament 
was  complete.  Pains  had  been  taken  to  furnish  the  ships  with  capable  and  zealous  officers. 
Some  of  the  best  pilots  in  the  kingdom,  noted  at  that  epoch  for  the  superior  skill  of  its 
mariners,  were  put  at  the  helm.  Columbus  himself  was  captain-general  of  the  squadron, 
and  his  commission  was  so  full  and  absolute  as  to  leave  no  question  respecting  his  authority, 
whether  on  the  voyage  or  at  the  destination. 

Many  noted  and  some  highly  picturesque  characters  were  members  of  the  expedition. 
Pope  Alexander  had  taken  full   cognizance  of  all  that  was  done  and   planned  respecting 


DEPARTURE  OF    COLUMBUS    OX   HIS  SECOND   EXPEDITION. 


the  enterprise.  He  deemed  it  well  that  an  emissary-  from  the 
Papal  court  should  be  on  board  as  the  representative  of  the 
interests  and  supremacy  of  the  Church.  For  this  office  a  certain 
Benedictine  monk,  named  Bernardo  Buyl,  was  chosen  as  apos- 
tolic vicar  for  the  Indies,  and  to  him  the  other  prelates  and 
ecclesiastical  officers,  eleven  in  number,  were  commanded  to  be 
obedient.  The  vicar  was  himself  a  man  of  large  affairs.  He 
had  been  ambassador  to  the  court  of  France  and  was  fully  con- 
versant with  the  international  relations  of  Europe.  On  coming  >^ 
to  Spain  he  demanded  and  received  from  the  Court  a  supply  of  Church  materials  and 
paraphernalia,  si:ch  as  he  deemed  necessary  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  the 
faith  in  the  New  World.  The  other  ecclesiastics,  of  higher  or  lower  rank,  went  as  his 
companions  and  coadjutors  in  the  project  of  establishing  Catholicism  among  the  people 
of  the  Indian  islands. 

After  the  Benedictine  monk  the  most  famous  person  that  accompanied  Columbus  was 
his  best  friend,  the  devoted  friar,  Juan  Perez,  to  whose  influence  was  sc  largely  due  the 
equipment  of  the  first  expedition,  and  to  whom  Columbus  and  their  Majesties  were  alike 
indebted.     The  good  father  sailed  on  the  Maria  Galaute  (Gracious  Mary),  and  was  thus  in  the 


COLL'iMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  W.) 

company  of  many  other  distingnishcd  persons,  among  whom  may  be  remarked  Gil  Garcia, 
alcaid-major;  Bemal  Diaz  de  Pisa,  lieutenant  of  the  controllers-general;  Sebastian  de  Olano, 
receiver  of  the  crown  taxes;  the  astronomer,  Father  Juan  Perez  de  Marchena;  the  physi- 
cian-in-chief. Doctor  Chanca;  some  hidalgos;  Melchor  Maldonado,  a  cousin  to  the  cosmo- 
grapher  of  that  name;  and  two  baptized  Indian  interpreters,  one  of  whom  had  as  godfather 
the  brother  of  the  Admiral,  and  was  called  after  his  name,  Diego  Colon.  There  also  was 
seen,  as  a  simple  passenger,  the  estimable  Francisco  de  Casaus,  better  known  under  the  name 
of  Las  Casas.  His  son,  Barthelmy,  whom  his  ardent  love  for  the  Indians  ought  one  day  to 
immortalize,  was  then  pursuing  his  first  studies  at  Seville. 

There  was  also  with  the  expedition  the  famous  young  chevalier,  Don  Alonzo  de  Ojeda, 
destined  to  enact  so  important  a  part  in  the  primitive  annals  of  the  West  Indies.  Of  him 
the  student  of  American  history  may  form  an  adequate  idea  from  his  likeness  in  character, 
life  and  adventure,  to  Captain  John  Smith,  of  Virginia.  The  parallel  is  in  ever\-  particular 
marked  and  striking,  with  the  exception  of  the  diversity  of  the  two  characters  in  moral 
honesty.  Ojeda  had  the  same  element  of  daring  and  romance,  of  rash  courage,  of  needless 
hazard  and  skill  of  extrication,  wliich  have  made  the  name  of  Captain  Smith  so  notable  in 
our  colonial  history.  In  the  case  of  Ojeda,  his  faulty  education,  and  the  prevailing  immor- 
ality of  the  day,  had  contributed  to  mar  his  conscience  and  to  make  liini  unscrupulous  in 
obligation  and  duty.      But  for  the  rest  he  was  the  prototype  of  Smith. 

Ojeda  was  a  cousin  to  that  other  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  who  was  the  inquisitor- general  of 
Spain.  He  was  a  soldier  and  adventurer  from  boyhood.  He  had  fought  with  the  Infidels 
in  the  Moorish  war,  and  had  acquired  the  reputation  of  une.xampled  reckless  daring  and 
audacity.  In  person  he  was  below  the  mediiun  height,  lithe,  sinewy',  agile  as  a  lynx,  with 
lustrous  black  eyes,  complexioned  like  an  Arab,  the  best  rider  in  the  anny,  generous  with 
.  ever},'thing,  never  happy  except  in  action,  most  pleased  in  a  fight,  with  a  temper — like  flint 
and  steel — blazing  and  then  cold,  a  born  leader,  loving  hazard  for  the  sake  of  it,  and  never 
safe  except  in  danger.  Happ\-  had  it  been  for  Columbus  if  this  audacious  and  restless  spirit 
had  been  left  in  Spain. 

GREAT   DEMONSTRATIONS  MADE  AT  THE   FLEET'S  DEPARTURE. 

The  departure  of  the  squadron  was  set  for  Wednesday,  the  29th  of  September,  1493. 
The  embarkation  was  made  on  the  preceding  day.  Now  it  was  that  the  greater  number  of 
that  additional  three  hundred  passengers  of  whom  we  have  spoken  managed  to  get  on  board. 
Some  of  them  did  so  with  the  consent  of  the  .\dmiral.  Others  were  smuggled  into  the 
ships  by  the  pri\-ity  of  friends.  Quite  a  number  managed  their  own  cause  of  adventure,  and 
were  presently  found  as  stowaways  when  the  ships  stood  out  to  sea.  The  fleet  weighed 
anchor  in  the  early  morning.  The  sun  had  not  yet  risen  to  witness  the  spectacle  ;  but  the 
whole  Spanish  coast,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Guadalquivir  to  the  bay  of  Trafalgar,  was  on 
the  alert  for  the  great  event. 

Xo  stronger  contrast  could  be  well  afforded  than  that  between  the  departure  of  this 
•second  squadron  and  the  going  forth  of  the  first.  Ever>'  circumstance  of  the  two  occasions 
seemed  to  have  been  altered  by  some  good  genius  from  darkness  to  light.  Glon.-  had  come 
to  take  the  place  of  despondency  ;  universal  applause  took  tlie  ])lace  of  universal  cavilling 
and  grief;  power  was  substituted  for  weakness,  and  eagerness  and  zeal  for  gloom  and 
mutiny.  The  tliree  little  .ships  constituting  the  .'\dmirars  fleet  had  become  an  annada. 
The  meagre  equipment  and  doubtful  issue  had  been  replaced  with  abundant  stores,  and  the 
confident  outlook  of  certainty.  Instead  of  the  wailing  and  dolor  of  the  panic-stricken  people 
of  Palos,  the  multitudes  of  Cadiz  and  the  surrounding  countr>-  gathered  with  glad  applause 
to  the  shore  to  cheer  and  shout  farewells  to  tin-  f(iriuii:itf  .KKintnnrs. 


170 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


With  the  break  of  day  the  harbor  was  literally  covered  with  all  manner  of  craft  swarm- 
ing around  the  ships,  till  the  water  was  darkened  with  boat-loads  of  living  beings.  They 
whose  friends  were  going  on  the  great  expedition  counted  themselves  happy  to  be  thus 
linked  with  its  destinies.  The  Admiral  himself  was  the  focus  of  all  compliments  and 
plaudits.  He  took  his  station  on  the  flagship,  the  Maria  Gala)ttc\  and  before  sunrise  gave 
the  order  to  weigh  anchor.  A  favoring  wind  had  sprung  up  from  the  shore  as  if  nature 
herself  was  eager  to  join  her  impulses  with  the  endeavors  and  hopes  of  the  human  race.  As 
the  sails  filled  and  the  vessels  began  to  move,  the  hundreds  of  boats  that  had  darkened  the 
liarbor  fell  back  to  the  shore.      The  Admiral's  two  si ni'^,  v,l!i>  had  come  to  share  the  hour 


IN  THE   BAY   OF  CADIZ. 

of  their  father's  triumphant  departure,  went  down  last  of  all  from  his  ship,  waved  their 

boyish  farewells  from  the  water,  and  were  rowed  to  land.      All  the  shores  round  about,  from 

the  point  of  St.  Sebastian  to  the  little  island  of  La  Caraccan,  were  black  with  people.      The 

water  of  the  bay  was  as  blue  and  placid  as  the  sky  ;  both  earth  and  heaven  seemed  to  drop  a 

benediction  on  the  departing  fleet. 

The  squadron  proceeded  under  fair  winds  over  the  same  course  which  Columbus  had 

taken  on  his  flrst  voyage,  reaching  Gomera,    one  of  the  islands  of  the  Canaries,  where  he 

took  on  some  necessary  supplies  of  wood  and  water,  and  also  added  to  the  cargo  a  herd  of 

sheep  and  goats,  besides  a  variety  of  domestic  fowls  for  the  new  colony  which  he  expected 

to  plant  in  Hispaniola. 

OUT  ON  THE  WIDE,  WIDE  SEA. 

bn   the   7th    the  fleet  weighed    anchor    and  continued  the   voyage,    with   the  Maria 

Galante^  Columbus'  flag  ship,  in  advance  ;  but  though  they  had  departed  imder  a  fair  wind^ 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  171 

before  they  had  gone  iwo  leagues  they  fell  into  a  calm  which  detained  them  a  period  of  six 
days.  During  all  this  time  they  continued  in  sight  of  the  harbor  whence  they  had  last 
departed  ;  but  catching  at  last  a  favoring  wind,  the  fleet  continued  in  a  southwestward 
direction  until  reaching  a  point  which  Columbus  reckoned  to  be  due  east  from  the  island  of 
Hayti,  he  set  his  prows  directly  towards  the  west,  caught  the  trade  winds,  and  by  avoiding 
the  Sargasso  Sea,  which  had  before  caused  such  great  detention,  he  made  a  quick  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic. 

On  the  2d  of  November  signs  were  perceived  indicative  of  the  near  approach  of  land. 
The  breezes  became  capricious,  the  sea  changed  color,  and  the  waves,  losing  their  regular 
swell,  began  to  assinne  the  choppy  appearance  of  a  bay.  With  the  coming  dawn  of 
Sunday,  November  3d,  anticipations  were  verified  by  the  sight  of  bold  outlines  of  an  island 
lying  directly  to  the  west,  to  which,  in  honor  of  the  day,  Columbus  gave  the  name  of  Do- 
minica. Before  the  ships  anchored,  however,  three  other  islands  were  discovered,  and  it 
was  perceived  that  the  ships  were  in  the  midst  of  an  archipelago  600  miles  southeast  of 
San  Salvador.  The  joy  which  was  infused  into  the  hearts  of  all  who  had  accompanied  the 
expedition  was  so  great  at  the  auspicious  tennination  of  the  voyage  that  the\-  united  in  an 
anthem,  solemnly  chanted,  as  an  expression  of  their  gratitude  to  Heaven. 

Coasting  about  the  shore  of  Dominica  without  finding  any  safe  anchorage  or  discover- 
ing signs  of  natives,  the  fleet  bore  away  to  the  north  a  short  distance  until  presently 
another  island  was  seen  whose  striking  features  betrayed  its  volcanic  origin.  Upon  this 
shore  a  landing  was  effected,  and  several  of  the  members  of  the  expedition  made  a  short 
journey  into  the  interior,  where  they  discovered  a  mountain  peak  hollowed  in  the  centre, 
which  had  become  the  basin  of  a  large  lake  fed  by  living  springs,  and  which,  overflowing, 
formed  a  cataract  pouring  down  in  foaming  .spray  over  a  lofty  precipice.  In  honor  of  the 
monasterv-  in  Estremadura,  Columbus  gave  to  the  island  the  name  of  Guadaloupe. 

A  VISIT  TO  THE  CARIBBEE  ISLANDERS. 

A  farther  advance  towards  the  interior  by  several  of  the  bolder  spirits  of  the  expedition 
revealed  an  inland  town,  but  from  which  the  inhabitants  had,  on  the  approach  of  their 
visitors,  hurriedly  fled  to  the  forest  In  their  precipitate  flight  several  of  the  natives  left 
their  children  behind,  which  the  Spaniards  captured  and  hung  about  their  necks  many  gew- 
gaws, hoping  thereby  to  attract  the  parents,  but  this  attempt  to  open  an  intercourse  with  the 
islanders  failed,  for  not  one  appeared  to  ascertain  what  fate  had  befallen  the  captured 
children.  The  only  difference  noted  between  these  natives  and  those  with  whom  Columbus 
had  formerly  come  in  contact  was  in  the  character  of  the  village.  The  houses  which 
the  Spaniards  now  found  were  square  instead  of  circular,  and  some  of  the  better  kind  were 
supplied  with  porticos.  The  most  singular  thing  discovered  at  this  village  was  a  sort  of 
pan  for  frying  and  boiling,  and  which  the  Spaniards  claimed  was  of»iron.  The  curiosity  of 
this  piece  of  native  workmanship  was  found  in  the  fact  that  no  specimen  of  this  metal, 
whether  ^Tought  or  native,  had  been  seen  in  the  western  islands,  and  the  Spaniards  could 
only  account  for  this  utensil  upon  the  assumption  that  it  had  been  wrought,  by  some  art 
of  the  Indians,  from  meteoric  stone.  Rut  there  was  also  discovered  a  section  of  the  mast 
of  a  ship  in  one  of  the  village  houses,  which,  if  it  had  been  driven  by  the  trade  winds  from 
the  coa.st  of  Europe,  would  supply  another  means  for  accounting  for  the  iron  pan,  since  if  a 
mast  could  drift  so  great  a  distance,  other  portions  of  a  wreck  might  do  likewise,  bearing 
articles  of  European  manufacture  of  which  the  natives  would  pos.sess  themselves. 


172 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


BUTCHER-SHCPS  WHERE  HUMAN   FLESH  WAS  SOLD. 

There  was  yet  another  circumstance  still  better  calculated  to  fix  the  attention  and  at 
the  same  time  excite  the  repugnance  of  the  Spaniards.  It  was  in  this  village  of 
Guadaloupe  that  they  first  discovered  the  ravages  and  wrecks  of  cannibalism.  Human  bones 
were  plentifully  scattered  about  the  houses.       In   the  kitchens  were   found    skulls  in  use 

as  bowls  and 
vases.  In  some 
of  the  houses 
the  evidences 
of  man-eating 
were  still  more 
vividly  and 
horribly  pres- 
ent. The  Span- 
i  a  r  d  s  entered 
apartments 
which  were 
veritable  h  u  - 
m  a  n  butcher- 
shops.  Heads 
and  limbs  of 
nienandwouien 
were  hung  up 
on  the  walls  or 
suspended  from 
the  rafters,  in 
some  instances 
dripping  with 
blood,  and,  as 
if  to  add,  if 
that  were  pos- 
sible, to  the 
horror  of  the 
scene,  dead  par- 
rots, geese,  dogs 
and  iguanas 
were  hung  up 
without  dis- 
crimination or 
preference  with 
the  fragments 

of  human  bodies.  In  a  pot  some  pieces  of  a  human  limb  were  boiling,  so  that  with 
these  several  evidences  it  was  manifest  that  cannibalism  was  not  an  incidental  fact,  but 
a  common  usage,  well  established  and  approved  in  the  life  of  the  islanders. 

Subsequent  investigation  showed  that  Guadaloupe  was  the  centre  and  stronghold  of  the 
Carib  race,  and  of  the  cannibal  practice.  The  contrast  afforded  in  the  persons  and  char- 
acters and  manners  of  these  savages  with   the  mild-natured  natives  of  the  Bahamas  was 


CANNIBAL  CABIN  IN  GAUDALODPE. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  173 

sufficiently  striking.  The  Caribbcans  were  large,  strong,  full  of  action,  courageous,  aud 
especialK-  vindictive.  The  man-eating  usage  had  its  laws  and  limitations  among  them. 
Thc\-  did  not,  as  did  some  of  the  South  Pacific  islanders,  eat  their  own  people.  The 
anthropophagous  habit  had  a  strict  relation  to  war.  The  Caribs  ate  their  prisoners — men, 
women  and  children,  especially  the  men. 

It  was  from  this  habit  that  the  warlike  nature  of  these  aboriginal  desperadoes  took  its 
impulse  and  vehemence.  War  was  made  by  them,  systematically,  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  droves  of  prisoners  with  which  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  a  horrible  appetite. 
The  usage  was  as  well  founded  and  as  customary-  as  was  that  of  the  North  American 
Indians  in  the  buffalo  hunt  or  the  bear  hunt.  \\'ith  the  Caribs  it  was  a  man  hunt 
The  men  were  all  warriors  and  were  generally  abroad  in  their  capacity  of  man- 
hunters.  They  had  fleets  of  canoes,  and  in  these  the  warriors  took  to  sea,  paddling  away 
to  the  coast  of  a  distant  island  or  shore,  and  there,  by  sudden  descent  upon  some  village, 
seizing  the  inhabitants  and  carrj-ing  them  away  as  captives.  When  the  prisoners 
were  brought  home  the  better  class  were  at  once  slain  and  eaten,  but  the  remainder  were 
turned  loose  in  the  island  until  they  should  be  in  better  condition.  The  Caribs  looked 
upon  these  prisoners  just  as  a  less  brutal  savage  scans  his  flocks  and  herds  in  expectation  of 
the  day  for  slaughter  and  feasting. 

MYTH  OF  THE  AMAZONIAN  ISUNDS. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  discover  in  these  circumstances  the  origin  of  the  myth  of  the  Ama- 
zonian Islands.  The  natives  of  the  Bahamas  and  the  Greater  Antilles,  and  as  far  south  as 
Porto  Rico,  on  visiting  the  coast  of  the  Caribbeaus,  saw  only  women.  The  men  were 
abroad,  plying  their  vocation  of  war.  From  this  fact  the  belief  would  gain  currency  that 
certain  islands  were  inhabited  only  by  women.  In  this  shape  tlie  tradition  existed  among 
the  Guanahanians  and  Cubans  when  Columbus  arrived  among  them. 

The  reactionary-  effects  of  cannibalism  were  sufficiently  marked  in  the  character  and  man- 
ner of  the  Caribs.  They  were  fierce  to  the  last  degree,  strong  as  tigers,  courageous  in  fight, 
brutal  and  merciles.s.  The  women  had  the  same  characteristics  as  the  men.  The  Spaniards 
soon  learned  the  danger  of  a  contest  with  the  Amazons  of  these  islands.  Even  the  children 
were  as  young  beasts  ready  for  the  prey.  It  was  noted  by  Columbus  that  the  natives  took 
delight  in  making  themselves  appear  as  terrible  as  possible.  To  this  end  they  painted  their 
faces,  putting  great  circles  of  bright  color  around  their  eyes,  thus  .skilfully  increasing  the 
ferocit;,-  of  the  visage.  Another  usage  was  to  tie  cotton  bands  abo\-e  and  below  the  principal 
muscles  of  the  anus  and  legs,  by  which,  when  the  body  was  in  action,  the  muscles  were 
made  to  bulge  out  in  prodigious  knots.  In  short,  every  method  known  to  savage  ingenuity 
for  increasing  the  fear-inspiring  features  of  face  and  body  was  employed  by  the  cannibals  of 
these  islands. 

Strangeiv  enough  the  Caribs  were  more  civilized  in  some  respects  than  the  islanders  of 
the  northwestern  clusters.  The  fonner  had  the  more  extensive  iuiprovement.s.  Their  chief 
town  was  laid  out  with  a  square  in  the  centre.  The  better  class  of  houses  had  porticos. 
Roads  were  surveyed  with  some  regularity,  and  were  better  constnictcd  than  tho.se  of  Cuba 
or  Hispaniola.  The  people  had  some  rude  notions  of  the  confederative  principle  in  govern- 
ment. Guadaloupe  was  the  centre  of  a  league  which  included  at  least  three  of  the  principal 
islands.  The  natives  were  expert  in  the  practice  of  their  rude  industries,  particularly  in  the 
management  of  their  canoe.s.  In  these  they  did  not  hesitate  to  commit  themselves  to  the 
open  sea,  even  to  a  distance  of  hundreds  of  miles  from  their  native  coast 


174  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

LOST    IN   THE  GLOOMY   FORESTS. 

Resuming  the  narrative,  we  note  during  the  stay  of  Cohmibus  in  Guadaloupe  the  first 
of  many  distressing  incidents  which  he  was  now  destined  to  encounter.  Bands  of  men  were 
frequently  sent  ashore  to  make  explorations  ;  but  always  under  strict  orders  as  to  plan  and 
conduct.  One  company  of  eight  men,  under  Diego  Marquez  captain  of  one  of  the  vessels, 
went  abroad  without  leave.  After  an  absence  of  a  whole  day  the  party  failed  to  reappear, 
and  the  Admiral  grew  uneasy.  Other  companies  were  sent  out  to  find  the  missing  men,  but 
returned  with  no  intelligence  of  them.  Signals  were  made  and  guns  fired,  both  from  the 
ships  and  on  the  shore,  but  there  was  no  response.  Trumpeters  were  sent  to  the  neighboring 
cliffs  to  sound  the  return,  but  still  there  was  no  answer. 

With  the  following  day  the  search  was  continued,  but  no  vestige  of  the  men  could  be 
found.  The  belief  might  be  well  entertained  that  they  had  been  caught,  killed  and  eaten 
b\-  the  islanders.  It  was  hoped,  however,  that  since  the  warriors  were  for  the  most  part 
absent  on  an  expedition,  the  Spaniards  might  be  able  to  defend  themselves  against  the  women. 
The  Admiral  was  unwilling  to  sail  away  while  the  fate  of  his  sailors,  or  any  one  of  them  was 
undetennined.  In  this  emergency  he  bethought  himself  of  the  daring  and  courageous  Ojeda. 
That  adventurer  was  accordingly  given  a  company  of  volunteers  and  sent  into  the  interior  of 
the  island  to  scour  the  country  in  all  directions  in  the  hope  of  rescuing  the  missing  party. 
The  expedition  of  Ojeda  must  again  remind  the  reader  of  some  of  the  similar  exploits  and 
services  of  Captain  John  Smith.  His  excursion  about  the  island  was  not  only  a  search,  but 
an  exploration.  He  noted  in  his  progress  from  place  to  place,  through  the  dense  native 
woods,  over  the  hills  and  along  the  verdant  valleys  of  the  interior,  the  unexampled  luxuriance 
of  the  vegetation,  the  abundance  of  fruits,  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  odorous  balm  of 
the  woods,  and  in  particular  the  abundance  of  wild  honey.  But  the  stragglers  could  not  be 
found. 

Se\-eral  da}'s  elapsed,  and  the  necessit)-  for  continuing  the  voyage  was  imminent,  when 
unexpectedly  the  missing  sailors  appeared  on  the  shore.  It  transpired  that  upon  plunging 
into  the  forest  they  had  lost  themselves.  Their  senses  had  become  confused,  and  they  had  wan- 
dered on  farther  and  farther  through  impenetrable  thickets  and  over  ledges  of  rock,  crossing 
unknown  rivers,  tearing  their  clothes  away  in  patches  on  brambles  and  thorns,  totally  imable 
to  regain  the  points  of  the  compass  or  to,  imagine  the  direction  of  the  ships.  At  last,  when 
about  to  perish,  they  had  come  to  the  coast,  and  following  it  for  a  short  distance,  had  the 
good  fortune  to  spy  the  vessels  when  they  were  just  about  to  weigh  anchor.  The  jo}'  of  all  at 
the  recover}'  was  great ;  but  the  indignation  of  the  Admiral  against  the  captain  for  his  dis- 
obedience of  orders  was  such  that  he  had  him  put  imder  arrest,  and  the  whole  company  were 
reduced  in  their  rations  as  an  exemplar}*  punishment  for  their  recklessness  and  insubordination. 

Their  stay  on  Guadaloupe  island  lasted  for  six  days,  when  the  voyage  continued 
northward  through  the  Leeward  cluster,  several  of  which  were  named,  among  the  number 
being  the  little  island  of  Nevis  on  which,  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  years  later,  was  bom  a 
great  character,  whose  profound  and  lucid  genius,  more  than  that  of  any  other  man,  con- 
tributed to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — Alexander  Hamilton. 
A  FIGHT   IN  WHICH  TWO   SPANIARDS  ARE  WOUNDED. 

Farther  on  the  expedition  reached  Santa  Cruz  and  Santa  Ursula.      At  the  fonner  island 
a  pause  was  made  to  replenish  the  store  of  water,  as  well  as  to  make  a  casual  examination  ot 
the  countr}\     The  company  sent  ashore  found  a  Carib  town  which  was  held  by  women  and 
boys,  no  men  being  seen.      It  was  found  that  many  of  those  in  the  settlement  were  captives 
who  were  awaiting  their  turn  to  be  killed  and  eaten.      Sexeral  of  these  were   taken  widi 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


175 


little  resistance  on  their  part  ;  for  to  them  it  was  small  matter  l)y  whom  they  were  to  be 
devoured.  While  retuniiu!.,'  to  the  shore  to  embark  with  the  capli\es,  the  vSpaiiiards  per- 
ceived a  boat-load  of  Caribs  paddlinjjf  around  the  headland  not  far  awa\.  For  a  moment  the 
Indians  seemed  paralyzed  with  wonder,  and  the  Spaniards  in  their  boats  were  able  to  get 
between  them  and  the  shore.  Hereupon  the  Caribs,  taking  the  alarm,  .seized  their  bows 
and  sent  a  shower  of  arrows  among  their  ad\ersaries,  at  least  two  of  whom,  at  the  first  dis- 
charge, were  seriously  wounded.  It  was  noticed  that  some  of  the  women  in  the  boat  were 
as  expert  with  the  bow  as  the  men.  The  Spaniards  held  up  their  bucklers  and  bearing 
down    upon    the  canoe,  overturned  it  in    the  water ;    but  the  Indians  continued   to   fight, 

swinnning  and   discharging 
their    arrows  at    the    same 
time.      Some   found  a  lodg- 
ment on  rocks  and  reefs  in 
the   shoal   water,    and  were 
taken  with  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty.     At   length   all  were 
captured,  including  a  woman 
and    her    son,    who  seemed 
to    be   the    queen    and   the 
prince  of    the     tribe.      The 
latter  was   thought   by    the 
Spaniards  to  be  the  fiercest 
specimen  of  a  human  being 
they  had  ever  beheld.    They 
described  him  as  ha\ing  the 
face    of    an    African     lion. 
Hough  wounded,  his  conduct  was  defiant  in  the  last  degree, 
and  he  scowled   upon  his  captors  with   such  a  hideous  ex- 
pression   of   hatred  as  to  send  through    them  a  shudder  of 
terror.      It    was  foimd,    or  believed  by    the  Spaniards,    that 
the  woiuids  which  they  received  in  the  skirmish  were  inflicted 
by  poisoned  arrows.    One  of  the  Spaniards  soon  died  from  his 
injury,  and  his  body  was  afterwards  conveyed  by  the  Admiral  to  San  Domingo  for  burial. 

Around  Santa  Ursula  the  Admiral  discovered  a  rocky  archipelago,  the  summits  rising 
here  and  there  to  considerable  heights  and  constituting  a  group  of  islands,  .some  of  which 
were  luxuriant  and  others  sterile  and  bare.  Sailing  in  this  cluster  was  diflicult  and  dan- 
gerous, and  the  exploration  of  the  group,  to  which  the.  Admiral  gave  the  name  of  the 
Eleven  Thousand  Virgins,  was  made  by  a  single  light  caravel  which  made  its  wa\-  through 
the  tortuous  channels  between  the  fifty  or  more  islands  that  were  sighted,  some  of  which  at 
least  were  inhabited  by  men  of  the  Carib  race. 

Still  farther  to  the  west  and  north  the  squadron  reached  a  larger  island,  nearly  in  the 
form  of  a  parallelogram,  lying  under  the  latitude  of  i8°  N.  This  was  called  by  the  natives 
Horiqucn,  but  was  named  by  the  Admiral  San  Juan  Baptista,  that  is,  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
and  is  known  in  modern  geograpln-  as  Porto  Rico.  Here  the  fleet  made  its  way  out  of  the 
Carib  islands  and  found  a  modified  native  population  such  as  belonged  to  Cuba  and  the 
Hahama.s.  The  aborigines  of  Boriquen  were  not  so  warlike  and  roving  as  the  tnie  Caribs, 
and  on  account   of  their  peaceful  disj^sition  snflcred  nnich  at  the  hands  of  the  cannibals. 


^1' 


SAVAGE  ATTACK    01"  THE   CARIBS. 


176 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Aloug  the  coast,  where  the  latter  were  iu  the  habit  of  making  their  incursions,  the  natives 
of  the  island  were  more  courageous,  having  learned  from  their  adversaries  the  use  of  the 
bow  and  the  war  club.  According  to  common  fame,  they  sometimes  revenged  themselves  on 
the  Caribs  by  devouring  such  captives  as  fell  into  their  hands.  But  the  body  of  the  inhabi- 
tants were  a  peaceable  folk,  subsisting  on  fruits  of  the  soil  and  fish. 

IN  SEARCH  OF  THE  COLONY  LEFT  AT  LA  NATIVIDAD. 
After   a  considerable   stay    at  Porto    Rico,    Columbus,   having   satisfied   his    curiosity 
respecting   the    Caribs,  set  sail  direct  for  Hispaniola,  the  western  extremity  of  which  he 
reached  without  further  incident.      His  return  to  the  island  was  greeted  with  much  rejoic- 


FOUR   C.\CIQUES   VISIT  THE   SPANIARDS   ON    BOARD  TBtE  SHIPS. 

ing  by  the  natives  who  had  seen  him  or  heard  of  his  previous  visit.  Four  caciques,  accom- 
panied by  hundreds  of  Indians,  came  off"  in  canoes  to  the  ships,  and  besought  the  Span- 
iards to  make  a  pennanent  camp  on  shore,  promising  to  lead  them  to  mines  of  gold,  where 
the  precious  metal  might  be  easily  gathered  in  the  greatest  quantities.  But  Cohimbus  had 
heard  such  stories  so  frequently  before  that  he  was  not  to  be  deceived  by  them  now,  so,  after 
distributing  presents  among  the  chiefs,  he  continued  towards  Natividad,  which  he  was  now 
anxious  to  reach  and  learn  how  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  which  he  had  there  planted  nearly 
one  year  before,  were  progressing.  He  accordingly  sailed  along  the  coast  and  entered  the  bay 
of  Samana,  where  he  had  had  his  first  encounter  with  the  natives  of  the  New  World.  Anxious 
to  renew  his  intercourse  with  the  people,  the   Admiral  sent  out  one  of  his  Guauahauian 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA.  177 

interpreters,  finely  clad  and  laden  with  presents.  Hut  strangely  enough,  the  man  did  not 
return.  Nor  was  the  Admiral  ever  able  to  ascertain  what  became  of  him.  The  other 
Guanahaniau,  through  many  vicissitudes,  past  and  to  come,  remained  staunch  in  his  loyalty 
to  Columbus,  accompanying  him  wherever  he  went,  proud  to  receive  and  bear  the  bap- 
tismal  name  of  Diego  Colon,  the  Admiral's  brother. 

By  the  25th  of  November  the  fleet  reached  Monte  Christo  and  anchored  there,  while 
the  coast  was  surveyed  at  the  mouth  of  Gold  River  in  search  of  a  site  for  a  fortress.  Here 
it  was  that  the  first  indications  were  discovered  of  those  dire  disasters  which  now  began 
to  rise  and  darken  the  pathway  of  Columbus  during  all  the  remainder  of  his  life.  While 
the  exploring  part\-  were  traversing  the  shore,  they  found  a  human  carcass  tied  b\-  the 
wrists  and  ankles  with  a  Spanish  cord  to  a  stake  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  Also  near  by 
was  the  body  of  a  boy.  Both  cadavers  were  in  such  a  state  of  decay  that  it  could  not 
certainly  be  known  whether  they  were  Spaniards  or  Indians.  But  the  significant  cross 
pointed  to  tlie  suspicion  that  they  were  Europeans,  and  if  so,  certainly  men  of  the  colony 
of  Natividad.     The  sign  of  crime  was  therefore  sufficiently  portentous. 

This  horrible  discovery  proved  to  be  indeed  only  the  precursor  of  worse  things  to  come. 
On  a  further  examination  of  the  coast,  two  other  bodies  were  found,  and  though  these  also 
were  reduced  to  little  more  than  grinning  skeletons,  one  of  them  was  discovered  to  wear  a 
beard.  This  told  the  story.  The  victim  had  certainly  been  a  Spaniard.  The  indications 
of  violence  and  death  were  well  calculated  to  awaken  the  most  serious  apprehensions  in  the 
mind  of  Columbus  respecting  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  island.  He  was,  however,  much 
cheered  by  the  conduct  of  the  natives,  who  acted  in  a  manner  .so  frank,  so  little  indicative 
of  treachery,  that  he  could  but  hope  everj-thing  might  still  be  well  with  the  men  whom 
he  had  left  under  De  Arana  in  the  fort. 

Within  two  days  from  leaving  ]\Ioute  Christo,  the  fleet  arrived  at  the  anchorage  of  La 
Natividad.  The  hour  was  late  in  the  evening,  and  a  landing  was  impracticable  until  the 
morrow.  It  was  hoped,  however,  that  notification  might  be  given  to  the  colony  by  the 
firing  of  a  cannon.  But  the  reverberations  died  awaj',  and  no  response  came  from  the 
fortress.  About  midnight,  however,  an  Indian  canoe  came  near  the  squadron,  and  the 
natives  shouted  for  Columbus.  They  were  directed  to  the  Maria  Galantt\  but  would  not 
go  on  deck  until  the  Admiral  himself  was  seen  by  the  lamps  at  the  railing.  Then  their 
caution  was  dismissed,  and  they  w-cre  taken  up,  and  found  to  be  an  emba.ssy  from  Guacana- 
gari,  the  leader  being  a  cousin  of  the  cacique.  As  usual  in  such  matters,  they  brought 
presents,  the  principal  one  being  two  masks  eyed  and  tongued  with  gold. 

STORY  OF  THE    MASSACRE  OF  THE  GARRISON. 

But  the  Admiral  was  far  more  concerned  about  other  matters  than  of  the  things  of 
which  they  chose  to  speak,  and  he  eagerly  inquired  of  the  Indians  what  had  become  of  his 
garrison — why  they  did  not  answer  to  his  signals.  At  this  the  natives  were  somewhat 
embarrassed  ;  but  they  managed,  by  means  of  the  interpreter,  to  tell  a  tolerably  consistent 
stor}'.  They  said  the  Spaniards  imder  De  Arana  had  a  quarrel  and  fight  among  themselves^ 
in  which  several  lives  were  lost,  and  that  sickness  had  carried  off"  quite  a  number.  Others 
still  had  married  native  wives  and  settled  in  distant  parts  of  the  island.  But  worse  than 
this,  they  gave  an  account  of  an  invasion  of  the  province  of  Guacanagari  by  the  warlike 
Caonabo,  cacique  of  the  gold  regions  in  the  mountains  of  Cibao.  He  with  a  strong  band 
had  burst  into  the  village  of  their  chieftain,  had  slain  many,  wounded  man\'  more,  and 
burnt  the  houses,  .\mong  the  wounded  was  Guacanagari  himself,  who,  but  for  iiis  injuries, 
would  have  come  at  once  to  the  Admiral.  The  reason  for  this  onset  was  that  the  friendly 
12 


178  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

cacique  had  sought  to  protect  the  Spaniards  from  the  rage  of  Caonabo,  who  had  gone  to  war 
with  them  on  account  of  their  conduct  towards  him  and  his  people.  Whether  any  of  the 
Spaniards  remained  alive  the  messenger  did  not  say. 

Morning  came,  bringing  with  it  the  greatest  anxiety.  On  looking  out  towards  shore  the 
Spaniards  could  perceive  no  signs  of  life.  Instead  of  the  native  multitudes,  only  the 
waving  trees  were  seen  along  the  coast,  and  only  the  light  murmur  of  the  surf  was  heard 
as  it  fell  and  broke  among  the  rocks.  ]\Ieanwhile  Columbus  had  entertained  the  Indian 
embassy,  and  before  the  coming  of  dawn  had  sent  them  ashore  laden  with  presents.  They 
had  gone  promising  to  return  during  the  day  and  bring  Guacanagari  with  them. 

The  onh-  circumstance  calculated  to  relieve  the  despondency  and  fears  of  the  Admiral 
was  the  fact  that  the  natives  seemed  to  be  friendl)-  and  unconscious  of  wrong-doing.  During 
the  forenoon  a  boat-load  of  Spaniards  was  sent  ashore  to  ascertain  definitely  the  situation. 
Fort  Natividad  was  in  ruins.  It  appeared  that  the  place  had  been  carried  by  assault,  broken 
down,  and  the  remnant  burnt.  Fragments  of  the  contents  of  the  fort  were  scattered  about, 
and  these  relics  included  shreds  of  Spanish  gannents,  presenting  a  scene  of  death  and 
desolation.  With  these  gruesome  relics  before  them,  they  could  no  longer  doubt  that  the 
worst  of  calamities  had  befallen  Arana  and  his  men.  As  for  the  natives,  they  carefulh-  kept 
aloof  Though  a  few  were  seen  hiding  in  the  woods  at  a  distance,  not  one  came  near  to 
explain  further  the  destruction  of  the  fort  and  its  occupants. 

When  these  tidings  were  borne  back  to  the  Admiral  he  was  in  the  greatest  distress,  and 
went  directlv  on  shore  to  examine  the  ruins  of  the  fort  himself.  Unable  to  gain  any  clue  as 
to  its  destruction  and  the  disappearance  of  his  men  at  the  first  examination,  he  deemed  it 
expedient  to  make  a  more  systematic  search.  Possibly  some  of  the  Spaniards  might  still 
live,  and  it  was  not  inconceivable  that  a  band  of  them,  driven  from  the  fort,  had  kept  to- 
gether and  defended  themselves  until  Caonabo  and  his  warriors  had  retired  to  their  own  place. 
Several  companies  were  according!}-  despatched  into  the  neighboring  districts  to  search  for 
any  possible  survivors  of  the  disaster.  The  men  went  abroad  firing  their  guns,  shouting  and 
blowing  trumpets  ;  but  the  only  sounds  that  came  back  were  the  echoes  from  the  woods  and 
rocks,  and  wave-beats  of  the  sea. 

RELICS  OF  THE  MURDERED  MEN. 

As  for  Guacanagari,  he  did  not  come,  nor  was  any  message  sent  by  him  to  explain  his 
absence.  The  Admiral  at  length  concluded  to  seek  him  out,  and  accordingly  advanced  to 
the  cacique's  \allage,  which,  to  his  grief,  he  found  burnt  to  ashes,  and  the  same  marks  of 
violence  about  its  ruins  as  had  been  found  at  Natividad.  The  conclusion  seemed  necessary 
that  the  town  of  the  cacique,  as  well  as  the  Spanish  fort,  had  been  taken  and  destroyed  by  the 
warriors  of  Caonabo.  This  circumstance,  while  it  tended  to  dispel  all  hope  of  finding  Arana 
and  his  men,  seemed  to  establish  the  belief  that  the  tribe  of  Guacanagari  had  remained  loyal 
to  the  Spaniards. 

The  Admiral  was  so  much  concerned  to  know  the  truth  that,  returning  to  the  coast,  he 
renewed  his  investigations  about  the  ruined  fortress.  He  had  given  directions  to  Arana  in 
case  he  and  the  garrison  should  be  imperiled,  to  bur>'  in  the  earth  the  treasures  which  they 
had  accumulated.  In  the  hope  of  finding  some  trace  of  the  property,  the  well  of  the  fort 
•was  examined,  and  the  whole  region  round  about,  but  there  was  no  sign  that  these  instruc- 
tions had  been  obeyed,  and  the  search  was  therefore  continued  along  the  coast. 

On  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards  to  a  native  village  not  far  away  the  inhabitants  fled, 
lea\'ing  their  houses  to  be  examined  by  the  invaders.  Here  were  foinid  several  articles  which 
had  belonged  to  the  garrison,  among  which  were  an  old  anchor  of  the  Santa  Maria  and  a 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  179 

Moorish  cloak  which  was  remcinbered  as  the  proper^-  of  De  Arana.  There  were  also  several 
articles  of  clothing  and  bits  of  merchandise,  pointing  unmistakably  to  the  spoliation  of  the 
fortress.  In  the  meantime  another  company  of  explorers,  nearer  to  Natividad,  had  found  a 
kind  of  burial  place,  from  which  they  recovered  the  remains  of  eleven  of  their  companions, 
thus  strengthening  the  belief  with  overwhelming  proof  that  all  had  perished  by  violence. 

It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  Columbus  could  induce  the  natives  to  a  renewal 
of  intercourse.  Nor  could  their  conduct  in  this  particular  be  well  understood.  If  the  sub- 
jects of  Guacanagari  were  innocent,  why  should  they  keep  aloof  and  exhibit  such  want  of 
confidence  ?  On  the  other  hand,  if  they  had  not  been  loyal,  how  account  for  the  destniction 
of  the  village  of  the  cacique  and  his  own  wounds?  The  problem  became  an  enigma,  and 
there  was  great  diversity  of  opinion  among  the  Spaniards.  De  Bu>l,  the  apostolic  vicar, 
led  the  belief  that  all  the  Indians  alike  had  been  treacherous,  and  that  the  Admiral  should 
proceed  to  punish  them  for  their  crime.  He  framed  a  theory  that  the  cacique  had  burned 
his  own  \411age  to  conceal  his  perfidy — that  the  conduct  of  the  natives  could  be  explained 
only  on  the  ground  that  they  were  crafty  barbarians  who  well  knew  the  awfulne.ss  of  the 
crime  that  they  had  committed  and  dreaded  retributive  justice. 

DEPRAVITY  OF   THE  SPANIARDS  CAUSES   THEIR    DESTRUCTION. 

Columbus,  however,  was  entirely  unwilling  to  accept  this  di.sheartening  and  pessimistic 
view  of  the  situation.  He  chose  to  believe  that  the  work  had  been  done  by  Caonabo  and 
his  people,  and  this  conviction  was  accompanied  by  the  well-grounded  fear  that  the  Spaniards 
had,  by  their  own  misconduct,  brought  the  fatal  visitation  on  themselves.  With  the  pro- 
gress of  the  investigation,  the  disconnected  facts  were  slowly  and  imperfectly  put  together 
until  a  fairly  reasonable  storj'  of  the  destruction  of  Arana  and  his  company  was  produced  ; 
and  the  conclusion  was  of  a  kind  to  brand  with  shame  and  infamy  the  first  settlement  of 
white  men  ever  planted  in  the  New  World. 

It  appeared  in  the  sequel  that  as  soon  as  the  colony  was  established  and  the  Admiral 
had  sailed  away,  the  true  character  of  the  colonists  came  out  with  dreadful  realism.  The 
men  whom  Cohnnbus  had  brought  with  him  on  his  first  voyage  to  the  West  Indies  were,  as 
we  have  said,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  lowest  order.  They  had  been  roustabouts  and  crimi- 
nals in  the  Spanish  seaport  towns,  and,  as  the  reader  knows,  had  in  many  instances  escaped 
impending  penalties  by  embarcation  through  impressment.  Such  characters  could  but 
await  the  removal  of  authority  to  seize  the  combined  freedom  of  barbarism  and  the  vicious- 
ness  of  civilization. 

It  was  in  vain  that  De  Arana  had  sought  to  curb  and  restrain  the  will  and  pa.ssions 
of  his  colonists.  Finding  that  they  could  not  be  subjected  to  discipline  by  an\-  force  which 
the  captain  could  exert,  they  at  once  abandoned  themselves  to  the  license  of  outrage  and 
excess.  Every  evil  impulse  which  for  generations,  although  restrained  under  the 
compressive  tyranny  of  despotic  govennnent  had  been  transmitted  with  accumulating 
vehemence  from  father  to  son,  now  burst  forth  in  the  depraved  descendants.  They 
turned  upon  the  mild-mannered  Indians  who  liad  befriended  and  a.ssisted  them  in 
ever}'  way  to  gain  a  footing  and  maintenance  in  the  island,  and  began  to  treat  them  as 
though  they  were  the  mere  instruments  of  their  avarice  and  lust.  They  sallied  forth  from 
the  fort  against  the  express  commands  of  the  Admiral,  and  contracted  licentious  alliances 
with  the  native  women,  whom  they  refused  to  leave  even  when  ordered  by  Arana,  and 
indulged  in  a  riot  of  debauchen,-  horrible  in  its  details. 

Guacanagari  had  .sought  to  appease  the  fury  of  vSpanish  pa.s.sion  by  granting  to  each 
sailor  two  or  three  wives.     But  even  this  was  not  enough.     The  wretches,  glorying  in  their 


180 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Island. 


license,  became  like  wild  beasts,,  assaulting  and  seducing  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the 
head  men  of  the  tribe,  and  as  if  their  crimes  inspired  greater  lawlessness,  the}-  began  to 
despoil  the  villages,  carrying  home  therefrom  great  loads  of  merchandise  and  provisions. 

In  a  few  days  the  fort  was  converted  into  a  robber's 
camp,  and  presently  the  men  fell  to  quarrelling,  brawling 
and  fighting  over  the  spoils,  sometimes  to  the  death.  Others 
remained  abroad,  preferring  the  company  of  the  native 
women.  But  a  few,  deprived  of  what  they  considered 
their  share,  began  to  form  conspiracies.  Pedro  Gutierrez 
i^^/ became  the  head  of  one  band  and  Rodrigo  de  Escobedo 
'  /  of  another.  These  two,  being  subordinate  officers  in  the 
fortress,  mutinied  against  the  commander,  and  in  a  fight 
which  took  j^lace  on  that  account  another  Spaniard  lost 
his  life. 

The  party  of  Arana  had  been  victorious,  and  Gutierrez 
and  Escobedo  left  Natividad  for  another  part  of  the 
The  remainder,  composing  a  company  of  eleven,  besides  some  native  women 
whom  they  had  taken  as  wives,  set  out  for  Cibao,  to  gather  gold.  In  a  short  time  they 
passed  the  boundaries  of  the  district  ruled  by  Guacanagari  and  entered  the  territon-  of 
Caonabo,  the  great  cacique  of  Magnana,  to  whom  the  Spaniards  had  given  the  name  of 
Prince  o^  the  Golden  House.  Subsequent  investigations  showed  that  this  warlike 
chieftain  was  a  nati-^-e  Carib,  who  had  come  as  an  invader  into  Hispaniola  and  there 
established  himself  with  his  headquarters  in  the  gold  regions. 

PARTICULARS  OF  THE  MASSACRE. 
The  invasion  of  his  territories  by  a  mere  handful  of  Spaniards  could  have  but  one 
result  with  the  cacique.  When  the  band  of  Gutierrez  and  Escobedo  approached  Cibao  and 
began  to  ply  their  trade  of  getting  gold,  Caonabo  sent  out  his  warriors,  who  surrounded 
tliem  and  killed  the  last  man  of  the  company.  The  cacique  then  made  a  league  with 
the  neighboring  chieftain  of  the  province  of  Marien,  and  the  combined  forces  of  the  two 
tribes  were  sent  into  the  province  of  Guacanagari,  to  besiege  the  Spanish  fortress  and 
sweep  it,  with  its  garrison,  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  invasion  v/as  carried  on  with 
secrecy.  The  course  pursued  by  Guacanagari  is  not  certainl}-  known  ;  but  it  appears  that 
he  tried,  at  least  fonnally,  to  defend  the  Spaniards  from  the  enemy,  for  it  can  hardh-  be 
doubted  that  the  village  of  the  friendly  cacique  was  burned,  and  that  some  of  the  Span- 
iards who  were  there  at  the  time  were  killed  in  the  attack.  The  hostile  barbarians  then 
crept  upon  the  fort,  where  all  precaution  had  been  abandoned,  and  rushed  in  at  a  time 
when  the  garrison  numbered  only  ten  men.  Two  of  these  were  killed,  and  the  other 
eight  fleeing  from  their  pursuers  plunged  into  the  sea  and  were  drowned.  Not  a  man  was 
left  alive  to  tell  the  ston,\  The  fortress  was  sacked  and  burned,  and  the  hostile  warriors, 
after  thus  glutting  their  vengeance,  returned  to  their  own  district. 

It  seems  that  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  enemy,  Guacanagari  knew  not  what  to  do. 
Perhaps  he  doubted  his  ability  to  make  things  clear  on  the  return  of  the  Admiral.  Per- 
haps he  feared  that  when  the  great  fleet  came,  he  and  his  people  would  be  oveiAvhelmed 
in  a  common  ruin  by  the  vengeful  foreigners.  Possibly  at  heart  he  had  felt  some  emotions 
of  sympathy  with  the  work  of  extermination  which  had  been  accomplished  by  the  men  of 
Cibao.  In  any  event  the  situation  was  trying  in  the  extreme.  It  would  seem  that  the 
cacique  had  not  the  confidence  to  commit  himself  without  reserve  to  the  good  faith  of  the 


COLr.MBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


181 


Admiral,  and  in  his  embarrassment,  doubtless  to  save  himself  and  his  subjects,  he  adopted 
that  subterfuije  to  which   half-barbarous  minds  naturally  resort  in  times  of  danger. 

One  circumstance  tended  strongly  to  convince  even  the  Admiral  that  Guacanagari  had 
been  guilty  of  duplicit)-.  It  was  claimed  by  the  Indians  who  came  as  ambassadors  from 
their  cacique  that  he  was  prevented  from  visiting  the  Admiral  by  the  injuries  which  he  had 

received  while  defending  his  village  against 
the  attack  of  Caonabo.    Columbus  presently 
set  out  and  found  his  friend  at  a  new  village 
which  had  been  extemporized  for  him  not 
far  away.     The  cacique,  sure  enough,   lay 
in  his  hammock,  surrounded  by  his  wives, 
and  unable  to  rise,  on  account,  he  said,  of 
his   wounded   leg,   which    he  claimed    had 
been  struck  with  a  stone  and 
■  *     so  injured  that  he  could  not 
stand.  The  limb  was  bandaged 
to  a  great  extent,  and  Colum- 
bus ordered  his  own  surgeon, 
who  was  present,  to  examine 
the  injur>'  and  see  what  could 
be  done  to  relieve  the  chief. 
The   bandages   were    accord- 
ingly taken   ofiF,   and  though 
the  cacique    made    grimaces 
and  complained  of  pain  when 
the    limb    was    handled,    no 
trace   of    the  alleged     injury 
could  be  found,  and  this  fact 
produced    the     natural    sus- 
picion that  the  wound  and  his 
stor>-  of  it  were   a  sham   in- 
vented for  effect. 

Other  warriors  of  the  tribe, 
however,  were  found  to  have 
been  really  wounded,  pre- 
sumably by  the  arrows  of 
the  enemy ;  and  of  a  cer- 
tainty the  cacique's  village 
had  been  bunied.  All  things 
considered,  Columbus  decided 
to  give  Guacanagari  the  bene- 
fit of  every  doubt,  and  so,  exhibiting  no  signs  of  distrust,  he  bestowed  on  the  chieftain  the 
usual  gifts  and  went  away.  At  this  De  Buyl  was  again  greatly  offended,  for  to  him  the 
evidence  of  guilt  was  so  clear  that  he  urged  the  Admiral  to  take  a  summan,'  vengeance  on 
the  cacique,  making  him  an  example  to  all  other  offenders.  Hut  this  counsel  was  rejected, 
and  for  the  time  amicable  relations  were  maintained  between  the  Spaniards  and  the 
natives. 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  LITTLE  GARRISON. 


182 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


THE    NATIVE   CHIEF    FALLS    IN    LOVE. 

The  difference  of  opinion  and  policy  between  Columbus  and  the  vicar  was  the 
commencement  of  a  difficulty  destined  to  become  important.  Buyl  had  in  him  the  very 
soul  of  a  persecutor,  and  nothing  could  have  pleased  him  better  than  to  see  the  head- 
men of  the  Indians  burned  at  the  stake,  as  his  favorite  method  of  introducing  the  new 
religion  which  he  came  to  represent.  It  is  an  interesting  historical  ctudy  to  see  the 
contest  between  the  vindictive  spirit  of  this  man  and  the  humane  disposition  of  the 
commander.  But  passing  from  this,  we  note  the  conduct  of  the  latter  in  inviting  Gua- 
canagari,  in  spite  of  the  suspicions  against  him,  to  visit  the  Maria  Galante  and  share 
the  hospitalities  of  his  board.  The  act  was  one  of  kindness  and  policy  also  ;  kindness,  for 
by  this  means  he  sought  in  a  generous  way  to  restore  the  confidence  of  the  chief ;  policy, 
for  he  desired  him  to  look  upon  the  Carib  prisoners  whom  the  Spaniards  had  on  board  as 
warnings  of  what  might  be  expected  b}-  all  who  durst  attack  or  oppose  the  whites.  The 
whole  cargo  of  wonders,  including  the  horses,  swine  and  goats,  was  also  shown  to  the 
cacique,  to  accomplish  a  similar  purpose. 

But  human  nature  is  always  limnan  nature.  The  barbarian,  or  half-barbarian,  is  ever 
of  his  own  kind.  Among  the  other  subjects  which  the  cacique  found  on  the  Admiral's  ship 
was  a  company  of  captives  from  Porto  Rico  ;  that  is,  they  were  liberated  captives,  whom 
the  Caribs  had  taken  and  the  Admiral  recovered.  With  these  Guacanagari  began  to  con- 
verse by  means  of  an  interpreter.  Among  the  rest  was  a  queenly  native  woman  called 
Catalina,  with  whom,  as  the  sequel  showed,  the  cacique  fell  violently  in  love.  He  conversed 
with  her  as  much  as  possible  in  the  lover's  manner,  and  would  fain  have  taken  heron  shore, 
but  the  opportunity  was  not  presented  until  the  following  night,  when  the  queen  escaped  by 
swimming  ashore,  and  the  next  day  Guacanagari  disappeared,  having  eloped  with  the 
woman,  so  that  neither  was  again  seen  by  the  Spaniards. 


CHAPTER   X. 


THE  COURAGE  WHICH   OVERCAME  ALL  ADVERSE  CIRCUMSTANCES. 


rF  COLUMBUS  had  been  affected  by  such  adversities 
as  crush  the  hopes  of  other  men  ;  if  his  enthusiastic 
and  wondrously  imaginative  nature  had  not  sustained 
him  in  every  ordeal  that  wrings  tlie  heart  witli  de- 
spair ;  if  the  sun  of  hope  and  confidence  had  not 
remained  alwa\s  \'isible  above  the  horizon  of  his  life, 
the  world  would  have  preserved  no  remembrance  of 
his  living.  A  nature  that  would  have  halted  at 
obstacles  would  lia\e  bowed  with  despondency  before 
such  persecution  as  he  received  at  the  hands  of  Por- 
tugal's ruler  ;  but  enduring  these,  the  rejections  of 
his  proposals  by  Genoa,  Venice,  and  by  two  learned 
Juntas,  as  well  as  the  derision  of  ecclesiastics,  would 
surely  have  driven  any  less  persistent  man  to  accept 
the  hopelessness  of  his  ambitions.  But  bearing  up 
against  all  these  opposing  influences,  like  a  vessel 
whose  engines  have  sufficient  power  to  hold  her 
against  the  current,  he  bravely  held  on,  continued  on, 
until,  behold,  the  reward  of  his  unyielding  activity  is  a  glorj-  that  kings  might  crave. 

The  man  who  bared  a  resolute  front  to  all  the  oppositions  that  obscurit\-,  poverty, 
antagonisms  and  ridicule  could  offer  was  not  to  be  daunted  even  b)-  the  discouraging  a.spect 
which  a  murdered  colony  presented.  Hopeful  as  he  was  persistent,  Columbus  was  not 
awakened  from  his  dreams  of  conquest  by  the  dreadful  fate  of  those  whom  he  had  estab- 
lished as  the  nucleus  of  a  vast  commercial  power,  which  he  believed  would  expand  in 
influence  until  it  accomplished  the  Christianizing  of  the  world  of  his  discoven-.  The  first 
seed  had  perished  even  as  it  lay  in  the  ground,  but  he  would  now  sow  again  and  tnist  for  a 
more  favorable  season.  The  first  colon>-  had  wrought  its  own  destruction,  perhaps  a  second 
would  be  successful,  and  with  this  sanguine,  trustful  feeling  he  set  about  the  planting  of 
a  settlement  either  above  the  graves  of  those  who  had  fallen  victims  to  their  lustful,  sedi- 
tious and  avaricious  appetites,  or  to  establish  a  colony  near  by,  where  there  might  be  con- 
stant reminder  of  the  fate  of  those  who  had  subordinated  virtue  and  honest  dut\-  to  stlfisli 
greed  and  the  basest  desires  of  human  nature. 

AWAKENING  TO  HARSH  CONDITIONS. 
After  the  first  excitement  of  the  landing,  despondency  ensued,  and  the  men  began  to 
realize  something  of  the  pro.saic  character  of  the  enterprise  in  which  they  were  engaged. 
Worst  of  all,  they  found  that  labor  was  a  necessit\-  of  their  situation.  Houses  would  not 
build  themselves.  The  fortress  would  not  grow  without  human  effort.  Nothing  could  be 
accomplished  on  this  virgin  shore,  any  more  than  elsewhere,  without  strenuous  exertion  of 
mind  and  body.      Here  it  was  not  merely  a  question  of  exciting  adventure  incident  to  the 

(18.1) 


184  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

gathering  of  golden  sands  from  the  banks  and  beds  of  impossible  rivers.  Toil,  toil  was  the 
order,  and  all  alike,  cavaliers  and  soldiers  though  they  were,  must  bend  to  the  appointed  task. 

Again  the  situation  can  but  impress  the  mind  of  the  reader  by  its  likeness  to  the  found- 
ing of  Jamestown  b)-  the  English  a  hundred  and  fourteen  years  afterwards.  Thus  came 
disappointment  and  gloom  instead  of  the  exhilaration  of  ideal  enterprises,  and  this  fact 
tended  to  aeeravate  the  diseases  of  the  colonists. 

Cohnnbus,  as  we  have  said,  felt  his  strength  ebb  away.  He  may  have  perceived — for 
the  greatest  minds  are  given  to  such  intuition — that  the  golden  but  visionary-  schemes 
which  had  passed  before  his  imagination,  and  which  he  had  imparted  to  the  King  and 
Queen,  lay  farther  away  in  their  realization,  and  were  to  be  reached  by  a  rougher  road  than 
any  which  his  feet  had  ever  yet  tra\-elled.  Moreover,  the  sorrows  and  weaknesses  of  old 
age  were  now  coming  iipon  him,  and  he  could  hold  up  no  longer.  No  sooner  had  the  pre- 
liminaries of  the  settlement  been  determined  upon  than  his  faculties  of  body  and  mind 
succumbed  to  the  sore  pressure,  and  for  several  weeks  he  was  confined  to  his  couch. 
During  part  of  the  time  he  was  able  to  give  directions  for  the  prosecution  of  the  work 
of  laving  out,  building,  fortifying  and  planting  ;  but  for  the  rest,  the  enterprise  must 
be  remanded  to  the  hands  of  his  subordinates.  Whenever  this  was  done,  confusion  began 
to  reign  as  the  result  of  cross  purposes  and  lack  of  talent.  It  was  thus  imder  dismal 
auspices  that  the  eventful  year  1493  ended  with  small  prospect  that  the  Admiral  would  be 
able,  in  his  first  report  to  his  sovereigiis,  to  meet  the  glowing  expectations  which  his  own 
oversanguine  temperament  had  given  rise  to  at  the  court. 

By  the  opening  of  the  following  year,  all  the  materials  of  the  fleet  had  been  transferred 
to  the  shore,  and  there  was  no  further  need  of  the  squadron.  It  had  been  predetermined 
that  after  the  planting  of  the  colony  the  greater  number  of  the  vessels  should  be  sent  back 
to  Spain.  It  had  also  been  intended  by  Columbus  that  these  returning  ships  should  be 
laden  with  the  merchandise  and  treasures  which  he  expected  his  colony  of  Natividad  to 
gather  during  his  absence.  The  disappointment  in  this  respect  was  overwhelming.  De 
Arana  and  his  garrison  had  not  onh-  gathered  nothing,  but  had  lost  all,  including  them- 
selves— a  melancholy  awakening  from  delightful  dreams. 

The  second  vo}-age  had  thus  far  been  an  expedition  of  discovering  and  mere  planting. 
No  commercial  intercourse  had  been  opened  or  renewed  with  the  native  islanders.  Indeed 
such  a  condition  of  unfriendliness  and  distrust  now  prevailed  that  it  was  doubtful  whether 
any  profitable  trade  could  again  be  established  with  the  Indians.  But  it  was  necessary'  to 
freight  the  ships  with  something,  if  only  with  an  additional  cargo  of  golden  dreams.  To 
this  end  the  Admiral  was  constrained  to  rouse  himself  from  his  enfeebled  condition  and  to 
prepare  his  report  to  his  sovereigns.  As  in  the  case  of  all  men  of  genius,  his  active  mind 
foreran  the  event,  and  he  sought  to  find  in  the  surroundings  such  elements  of  siiccess 
as  might  be  truthfully  wrought  into  a  suitable  report  to  gratify  their  Majesties. 

AN   EXPEDITION  TO    THE  GOLD    MINES. 

To  this  end  the  Admiral  deemed  it  expedient  to  send  out  exploring  parties,  two  of 
which  were  organized  and  despatched  into  the  gold  countn,-.  The  first  of  these  was  put 
under  the  command  of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda.  To  him  nothing  could  have  been  more  agreeable 
than  the  responsibility  of  an  expedition  into  the  mountains  of  Cibao,  or,  missing  that,  into 
the  mountains  of  the  moon.  The  other  company  was  placed  under  a  Captain  Gorvalan,  a 
cavalier  of  like  disposition  with  Ojeda,  but  less  adventurous.  Both  parties  went  out  full- 
armed  into  the  country  of  Caonabo,  expecting  to  fight  their  way  to  the  mines,  which  they 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


185 


were  directed  to  examine  and  explore,  to  the  end  that  Columbus  might  faithfully  infonn 
their  Majesties  as  to  the  probable  gold  yield  of  the  island. 

It  required  but  two  days  to  reach  the  hill  countr>-.  On  the  third  nioniing  the  gold 
fields  were  approached,  and  to  the  astonishment  of  the  Spaniards  the  Indians  of  the  district 
were  not  only  friendly  but  familiar.     They  welcomed  the  strangers  as  brethren,  fed  them, 

aided     them    in  V     /         ^    ' 
ever\-  way  to  carry  (! 
out  their  purpose. 

The  fonnation  of    '  U        IS  J\U  Y|j[^jy  111  \//    //  |\ 
the  island  in  this      \\      /'|  '|V  MvAmj  j||  \l    J/    j  \\ 
part   was    as    pe-       "    '^  \' II  II  HI  //   h\:\J 

culiar  as  i  t  was 
beautiful.       The 
gold    mountains  \^j« 
constituted      a  "^' 
range  of  moderate 
height,  beyond  I^ 
which  lay  a  plain  '^ 
traversed  by  many  .■ 
streams    and    oc  p.,;v,.vi\\  • 
cupied    with    nu-  rii»^ 
merous    villages  V' 
and  a  large  popu- 
lation.      Crossini: 
this   plain   the 
adventurers  came  j;' 
to  a  second  ridge, 
out  of  which   the  _ 
rivers  gathered  •;;■ 
their  waters.  This  L- 
was  the  raining  J. , 
district;  but  there 
were     no    mines.  ^, 
Nevertheless  t  li  e 
signs  of  gold  were 
sufficiently   abun- 
dant, for  the  sands 
of     the     running 
streams    glittered 

here  and  there  with  particles  of  the  precious  metal.  Specimens  of  these  sands  were  taken 
up  and  the  gold  gathered  out  with  little  difficulty,  while  some  of  the  Spaniards  were  so 
fortunate  as  to  pick  up  pieces  of  considcral)le  weight. 

Here,  then,  the  secret  was  out.  It  was  clear  that  the  specimen?  of  gold  dust  which  the 
Spaniards  had  procured  in  other  parts  of  the  island,  and  farther  north,  had  been  derived 
froTU  these  mines  of  Cibao.  But  everything  was  in  the  native  condition.  Ojeda  very 
properly  concluded  that  the  yield  of  the  precious  metal,  as  shown  in  the  river  sands,  was 


^^axi  iXZ(i'n3).C9 


PREPARINC.    FOR    AN    EXPEDITION   TO  THE  GOLD  MINES. 


18G  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

but  a  hint  of  the  rich,  perhaps  limitless,  treasures  of  the  mountains.  He  accordingly 
surveyed  the  landscape  and  carried  back  to  the  Admiral  a  glowing  report.  The  expedition 
of  Gorvalan  had  a  similar  result.  That  captain  had  also  discovered  the  gold  country,  and 
had  gathered  specimens  from  the  sands  and  returned  with  a  cheering  account  for  the 
Admiral.  Thus,  while  Columbus  was  not  able  to  send  home  a  cargo  of  treasure,  he  would 
fain  transmit  a  glamour  of  visions  and  hopes. 

A  REPORT  CALCULATED  TO  DECEIVE  THE  SOVEREIGNS. 

It  was  under  these  conditions  that  the  discoverer  now  prepared  his  report  for  the  King 
and  Queen.  He  determined  to  retain  five  ships  from  the  squadron  for  his  own  use  in  the 
service  of  the  colonists,  and  in  prosecuting  the  work  of  discovery.  The  remaining  twelve 
were  put  under  command  of  Antonio  de  Torres  for  the  return  Voyage.  As  for  treasure  he 
was  able  to  send  nothing  except  the  specimens  of  gold-bearing  sand  which  his  lieutenants 
had  gathered  about  Cibao,  and  to  add  some  additional  samples  of  the  animal  and  vegetable 
products  of  the  island.  His  report  was  of  course  the  principal  thing,  and  this,  while  it 
contained  an  account  of  the  disaster  which  had  befallen  the  garrison  of  La  Natividad,  of  the 
sickness  to  which  he  and  the  colony  had  been  recently  subjected,  and  some  complaints, 
well  founded,  of  frauds  and  blunders  committed  by  the  home  bureau  in  the  preparation  of 
the  cargo  and  provision  of  the  squadron,  nevertheless  glowed  with  the  usual  enthusiasm  and 
promise  of  great  things  to  come. 

The  document  was  prepared  with  his  accustomed  elaboration,  embracing  a  report 
proper  and  many  recommendations  which  the  Admiral  took  the  responsibility  of  making  to 
the  sovereigns.  Some  of  these  suggestions  were  of  a  kind  to  show  forth  in  full  sight  not 
only  the  sentiments  and  opinions  of  the  discoverer  and  his  sovereigns,  but  also  the  general 
civilization  in  that  age.  Fortunately  the  document  has  been  preserved  to  our  own  time,, 
and  the  curious  inquirer  may  still  read  not  only  the  words  of  the  Admiral,  but  the 
marginal  comments  which  the  sovereigns  appended  to  each  clause  of  the  report.  In  the 
first  place  the  Admiral  opens  with  those  fonnal  and  complimentar}-  addresses  which  were 
the  style  in  the  fifteenth  centur>',  and  even  at  a  much  later  date,  in  all  documents  directed 
to  royal  personages.     To  these  the  King  and  Queen  made  on  the  margin  this  remark  : 

"Their  Higlm esses  hold  it  for  good  service." 

In  the  next  place  the  Admiral  gives  an  enumeration  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
second  voyage  up  to  date,  including  an  account  of  the  various  islands  which  he  had  dis- 
covered and  visited,  and  finally  of  the  planting  and  establishment  of  the  colony  of  Isabella. 
To  this  the  sovereigns  affixed  the  co-marginal  comment  : 

'■'Their  Highnesses  give  much  thanks  to  God,  and  Iiold  as  ver}-  honored  service  all  that  the  Admiral  has  done." 

In  the  third  paragraph  he  tells  of  the  ill  fortunes  that  had  come,  explaining  how 
his  men  had  fallen  sick,  how  the  new  plantation  had  been  delayed,  how  it  had  become 
necessar}^  to  detail  a  considerable  number  of  soldiers  to  guard  the  settlement  from  possible 
attacks  by  the  natives,  and  how,  for  these  reasons,  he  had  been  unable  to  gather  and  send 
home  with  the  cargo  any  products  or  treasures  worthy  of  the  work.  To  this  clause  the 
sovereigns  wrote  in  the  margin  the  simple  words  : 

"He  has  done  vcell." 

In  the  fourth  place  the  Admiral  went  on  to  suggest  the  best  means  of  gaining 
possession  of  the  gold  mines  of  Cibao.  Tc-  this  end  he  recommended  that  a  fortress  be 
built  in  the  gold-producing  regions,  and  that  it  should  be  garrisoned  and  held  that  the 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  187 

niiiits  might  be  systematically  worked.      To  this  proposition  the  sovereigns  also  gave  their 
approval  as  follows  : 

"This  is  well  and  so  it  must  be  done." 

The  Admiral  next  proceeded  to  discuss  the  question  of  provisions  for  the  new  settle- 
ment, U!itil  such  time  as  the  products  of  the  island,  including  new  crops  to  be  raised  and 
gathered  b>-  the  colonists,  should  be  sufficient  to  render  unnecessar)-  all  further  draft  on  the 
mother  country-.  This,  too,  received  the  approval  of  royalty  with  the  marginal  comment, 
thus  : 

"Juan  de  Fonseca  is  to  provide  for  this  matter." 

In  the  next  place  Columbus  proceeded  to  touch  the  delicate  subject  of  the  frauds  and 

blunders  that  had  been  committed  in  the  purchase  and  preparation  of  supplies  for  the 

squadron  and  the  colon>-.      This  part  related  most  of  all  to  the  wine  which  the  bureau  had 

supplied  for  the  expedition.     Ver}-  soon  after  the  sailing  of  the  fleet  it  was  discovered  that 

the  wine-casks  were  old   and  leaky,  and  before  the  end  of  the  voyage  much  of  the  supply 

had  been  wasted.     Concerning  this  complaint  the  marginal  comment  of  the  sovereigns  was 

as  follows  : 

"Juan  de  Fonseca  shall  find  out  the  persons  who  played  this  cheat  with  the  wine-casks,  that  thej'  may  make 
good  from  their  own  pockets  the  loss,  and  also  see  that  the  sugar-canes  (for  the  colony)  are  good,  and  that  all  that 
is  here  asked  for  be  provided  immediately." 

We  have  alreadj-  remarked  above  how  greatly  Columbus  was  distressed — how  sensitive 
he  was — relative  to  the  failure  of  the  expedition  thus  far  to  yield  any  profitable  returns. 
He  knew  well  enough  that  profit  was  expected.  Indeed,  that  had  been  with  the  sovereigns 
the  prevailing  motive,  and  it  is  likely  that  glimpses  of  a  probability  had  now  reached  the 
Admiral's  judgment  that  the  treasures  of  gold  he  had  been  seeking  were  still  far  remote. 
It  was,  therefore,  expedient  that  he  should,  if  practicable,  divert  the  minds  of  their  Majesties 
to  some  other  enterprise,  promising  great  and  immediate  advantages. 

A  RECOMMENDATION  TO  ENSLAVE  THE    NATIVES. 

It  is  possible,  therefore,  or  probable,  that  the  next  suggestions  of  his  report  were  in 
part,  at  least,  the  result  of  a  wish  to  point  the  ro>al  mind  to  a  new  method  of  commercial 
gain.  Or  it  may  be  that  he  conscientiously  believed  the  recommendations  made  to  be 
philanthropic  and  humane.  The  thing  which  he  suggested  in  the  next  paragraph  was 
ba.sed  on  a  policy  which  he  had  on  his  own  responsibility  adopted  with  respect  to  the  Caribs. 
The  reader  will  recall  the  fact  that  while  cniising  among  the  cannibal  islands  Columbus 
seized  a  number  of  the  natives  and  retained  them  as  prisoners.  These  he  now  sent  to 
Europe  witii  the  returning  squadron,  recommending  to  the  sovereigns  that  the  islanders 
should  be  taught  Spanish,  be  baptized  into  the  church,  and  that  they  be  retained  as  slaves 
to  ser\-e  as  interpreters,  or  be  made  useful  in  other  ways.  He  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  such  a  measure  would  be  a  just  punishment  for  the  Caribbcans,  and  that  it  would  tend 
to  inspire  confidence  in  the  other  islands,  where  the  people  lived  in  dread  of  the  cannibals. 
Of  course  the  .\dmiral  laid  much  stress  upon  the  religious  feature  of  the  suggestion,  insisting 
that  the  proposed  subjection  of  the  cannibals  was  to  their  own  interest  as  well  as  to  the 
benefit  of  Spain  and  the  advantage  of  the  whole  colonial  enterprise.  But  to  this  recom- 
mendation there  was  entered  on  the  margin  a  guarded  reply  of  the  sovereigns,  as  follows  : 

"Their  Majesties  think  tliis  very  well,  and  so  it  must  be  done  ;  but  let  the  ■\dmiral  see  whether  it  cannot  be 
managed  there  that  they  (the  Indians)  should  be  brought  to  our  Holy  Catholic  faith,  and  the  s.-ime  thing  be  done 
with  the  Indians  of  those  islamls  where  he  now  is." 

Having  thus  opened  the  way  Columbus  proceeds  boldly  to  the  general  suggestion  of 
the   enslavement  of  the  natives   as  the  best  means    of  making  them    Christians,  and    of 


188  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

gathering  profit  by  new  commercial  relations  that  might  be  established  on  the  foundation 

of  a  trafl&c  in  human  beings.     The  Admiral  suggests  that  the  ships  in  the  Indies  could  be 

laden  with  cargoes  of  natives,  who  might  be  exchanged  in  Spain  for  live  stock  and  other 

supplies  requisite  for  the  purposes  and  development  of  the  colon}-.     The  policy  should  be 

adopted  by  the  Indian  Bureau  of  sending  out  a  fleet  each  year  bearing  all  things  demanded 

by  the  colonists,  and  the  vessels,  as  soon  as  their  cargoes  could  be  discharged  in  the  Indies, 

might  gather  an  equivalent  cargo  of  Indian  slaves.      It  was  necessary  that  this  policy  should 

be  at  once  adopted  and  that  the  answer  of  the  sovereigns  should  be  transmitted  by  Antonio 

de  Torres  to  the  Admiral,  so  that  the  latter  might  proceed  to  capture  the  requisite  ship-loads 

of  cannibals  for  the  return  voyage.      The  project  was  sufficiently  audacious  and  cold-blooded, 

being  redeemed  only  from  absolute  shame  and  contempt  by  the  intermixture  of  religious 

motives,  real  or  fictitious,  which  the  Admiral  pleaded  in  justification  of  his  proposals.      In 

view  of  the  situation  the  reader  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  centurj'  will  notice  the  reply  of 

the  Spanish  sovereigns  with  peculiar  interest : 

"As  regards  this  matter,  it  is  suspended  for  the  present  until  there  come  some  other  way  of  doing  it  there,  and 
let  the  Admiral  write  what  he  thinks  of  this." 

COLUMBUS   SENDS    HOME  A  CARGO   OF  SUVES. 

Certainly  it  was  to  the  honor  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  that  they  refused  to  adopt  the 
suggestions  made  by  their  favorite,  as  to  establishing  a  slave-trade  in  tlie  West  Indies. 
Whether  or  not  they  were  moved  thereto  by  reasons  of  justice  and  humanity,  or  whether 
they  detected  in  the  proposition  elements  of  trouble  and  inexpediency,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
say.  A  careful  reading  of  their  answer  and  comment  would  indicate  that  while  it  was 
deemed  inexpedient  to  begin  the  enslavement  of  the  Indians,  there  was  nevertheless  a 
reluctance  on  the  part  of  the  sovereigns  to  pronounce  the  interdict.  They  put  it  from 
them  with  such  gentle  kind  of  veto  as  Csesar  employed  in  rejecting  the  crown.  The  sar- 
castic comment  of  Casca  might  almost  be  repeated  and  applied — at  least  to  Ferdinand, 
whose  cold  and  subtle  disposition  we  may  discover  in  the  language  of  refusal  :  ' '  He  put 
it  by  ;  but  for  all  that  to  my  thinking  he  woitld  fain  ha\'e  had  it.  .  .  He  put  it  by  again  ; 
but  to  m\-  thinking  he  was  ver\'  loath  to  lay  his  fingers  off  it. ' ' 

The  proposal  of  Columbus  was  brought  to  the  sovereigns  in  a  ver}-  practical  and 
emphatic  way.  The  Carib  prisoners  were  put  on  board  the  fleet  and  despatched  to  Spain 
as  the  earnest  and  first  fruits  of  the  enterprise.  The  monarchs  were  told  that  a  s}-stem  of 
royal  revenue  might  be  established  by  laying  a  duty  on  the  slaves  imported.  In  a  word, 
the  thing  proposed  was  to  be  profitable  to  evers'body;  profitable  to  the  colonists,  for  by  this 
means  their  energies  might  be  exerted  in  the  excitement  of  slave-hunting,  and  at  the  same 
time  their  resources  augmented  by  the  supplies  and  merchandise  to  be  brought  from  Spain 
in  exchange  for  the  captives  ;  profitable  to  the  people  of  the  mother  countr}^-,  for  in  this 
way  they  would  obtain  at  cheap  rates  a  full  retinue  of  ser\-ants  forever  ;  profitable  to  the 
merchants,  for  their  cargoes  would,  under  such  a  system,  be  expeditioush-  provided  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic ;  profitable  to  the  sovereigns,  for  hereby  the  royal  revenue  could  be 
steadily  replenished  ;  profitable  to  the  Caribs  themselves,  for  by  the  blessings  of  capture, 
deportation  and  sale,  they  would  be  rapidly  civilized,  saved  from  their  sins  and  through  all 
their  sufferings  be  brought  to  Heaven.  The  inhuman  fallacy  was  complete  in  all  its  parts 
and  needed  only  the  assent  of  the  sovereigns  '.o  make  it  pass  as  the  greatest  civilizing  argu- 
ment of  the  age. 

The  returning  squadron,  under  command  of  Antonio  de  Torres,  left  San  Domingo  on 
the  2d  of  February,  1494.       Other  communications  from  leading  characters  were  added 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA.  I8y 

to  that  of  Columbus,  o^enerally  corroborating  his  report  and  repeating  his  recommendations. 
Such  w;is  a  letter  from  the  apostolic  vicar  De  Buyl,  and  such  were  the  reports  made  by 
Ojeda  and  Gorvalan  respecting  their  explorations  in  the  mines  of  Cibao.  On  the  whole, 
the  infonnation  which  the  fleet  was  to  bear  back  to  Europe  was  of  a  kind  to  make  up  in  a 
large  measure  for  the  disappointment  in  the  matter  of  merchandise  and  gold.  Thus,  at  the 
close  of  the  winter  the  home-bound  annada  dropped  out  of  sight,  and  the  colonists  of 
Isabella  were  left  to  resume  and  prosecute  the  necessary  enterprises  of  the  settlement. 

SEDITION  SHOWS  ITS  HORRID   HEAD. 

By  this  time  the  Admiral  had  recovered  somewhat  his  wasted  energies,  and  with 
returning  strength  he  devoted  himself  to  the  administration  of  affairs.  Never  was  govern- 
ment more  difficult.  The  distraction  of  the  colonists  became  extreme.  Sickness  increased 
rather  than  abated.  Provisions  began  to  fail,  and  the  fare  was  as  scant  as  the  work  was 
incessant.  The  Admiral  established  laws  for  the  government  of  the  colony,  but  these  could 
hardh-  be  enforced,  for  the  character  of  perhaps  a  majority  of  the  colonists  forbade  the 
operation  of  wholesome  rules  for  all. 

Man\-  of  the  men  were  of  high  rank  by  both  birth  and  profession.  There  were  young 
hidalgos  who  had  never  before  been  obliged  to  stoop  to  toil.  There  were  courtiers  from 
Barcelona,  and  functionaries  whose  immemorial  business  it  was  to  live  by  the  labor  of 
others.  The  viceroy  could  make  no  exceptions  in  the  application  of  his  laws,  and  sullen 
rage  and  vindictiveness  soon  appeared  among  those  who  were  compelled,  as  they  thought, 
like  slaves,  to  toil  in  building  houses  and  fortifying  the  town.  Some  began  to  complain  of 
the  Admiral  and  his  government.  Discontent  grew  rife,  and  conspiracy  soon  builded  its 
nest  and  hatched  its  dangerous  brood. 

Now  it  was  that  the  celebrated  Bemal  Diaz,  of  Pisa,  a  man  of  rank  and  influence,  but 
of  a  low  grade  of  moral  principle,  appeared  as  the  leader  and  mouthpiece  of  the  malcon- 
tents. In  him  all  the  Adullamites  of  the  island  discovered  a  vent  for  their  rage  against  the 
Admiral.  He  held  the  appointment  of  comptroller  of  the  colony,  and  in  this  oflSce  he  soon 
showed  his  disagreeable  and  seditious  spirit.  In  the  gloomy  days  which  came  down  after 
the  departure  of  the  squadron  for  Spain,  Diaz  conceived  the  project  of  virtually  destroying 
the  enterprise  by  secret  mutiny.  His  scheme  contemplated  the  seizure  of  the  ships,  or  at 
least  most  of  them,  and  a  departure  from  the  island  with  all  on  board  who  desired  to  return 
home.  The  leader  had  persuaded  himself  that  all  this  discover}-  of  the  Indies,  and  in 
particular  all  the  representations  made  by  the  Admiral  respecting  the  resources  of  the 
islands  and  their  commercial  importance  to  the  Spanish  government,  were  fallacious,  mis- 
leading, and  in  short  without  foundation  in  fact.  It  was  believed  by  the  conspirators  that 
on  reaching  Spain  they  could  appeal  to  the  sovereigns,  having  Benial  Diaz — himself  a  man 
of  the  court — for  their  spokesman,  and  easily  persuade  them  that  they  had  been  duped, 
deceived  and  cajoled  by  the  foreign  Admiral,  who  had  gained  an  unmerited  ascendenc)  in 
their  confidence. 

OVERCOMING   THE    MUTINOUS    SPIRITS. 

While  this  perfidious  business  was  still  in  the  egg  another  factor  was  added  to  the 
cabal.  A  certain  Fermin  Cedo,  who  was  the  assayer  of  the  colony  and,  as  the  sequel 
showed,  a  charlatan,  ignorant  of  the  work  he  professed,  joined  himself  with  Bemal  Diaz, 
and  encouraged  the  mutiny  with  a  false  statement  respecting  the  gold  product  of  the  island. 
He  declared  that  the  reports  relative  to  the  mines  of  Cibao  were  without  foundation  ;  that 
nothing  more  than  a  few  scattering  particles  of  the  precious  metal  had  been  found  by  the 
explorers  ;  that  the  better  specimens — small   ingots  and  the  like  brought  home  by   the 


190 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


exploring  party,  or  procured  iu  trade  with  the  nati\es — had  been  produced  by  melting 
down  a  quantit}'  of  the  gold-dust,  and  that  such  specimens  signified  nothing  in  the  general 
estimate.  He  also  alleged  that  much  of  the  reputed  gold  was  spurious,  being  nothing  more 
than  macasite,  or  some  such  mineral.  Since  the  hopes  of  the  colonists  were  centred  on 
mining  and  the  gathering  of  precious  stones,  these  declarations  of  the  assayer  prevailed 
with  many,  even  against  the  testimony  of  their  own  senses. 

The  occasion  seemed  auspicious  for  the  success  of  the  scheme.  The  Admiral  was 
again  confined  to  his  couch  by  sickness.  The  conspirators  might  avail  themselves  of  this 
fact  and  get  away  without  discover}'.  Nevertheless  the  thing  was  borne  at  length  to  the 
ears  of  Columbus,  and  he  was  enabled  to  nip  the  project  in  the  bud.  Bernal  Diaz,  Cedo 
and  several  other  leaders  of  the  mutiu}-  were  seized  and  put  under  guard  on  the  vessels.  A 
search  instituted  by  the  Admiral  brought  the  whole  thing  to  light.  The  plan  of  the  enter- 
prise, including  the  report  which  the  conspirators  were  to  make  to  the  Queen  and  King, 
drawn  up  in  the  handwriting  of  Bernal  Diaz,  was  discovered,  and  the  whole  sedition  was 
thus  suddenly  delivered  over  to  the  master. 

It  was  the  first  time  in  which  anything  had  occurred  of  such  a  character  as  to  make 
punishment  a  necessity.  Columbus  deemed  it  prudent,  however,  not  to  proceed  against 
Diaz  himself,  but  to  remand  him,  with  all   the  proofs,  to  the   Spanish  authorities.     The 

leading  mutineer,  with  several 
others,  was  accordingly  con- 
fined on  board  one  of  tlie 
ships  until  such  time  as  they 
might  be  sent  to  Spain  for 
trial.  Other  precautionary 
measures  were  taken  against 
the  possible  revival  of  the 
sedition.  All  the  guns,  muni- 
tions and  supplies  of  the  fleet 
were  transferred  to  a  single 
ship,  and  this  was  put  in  com- 
mand of  officers  known  to  be  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Admiral.  The  measures  were 
salutary  enough,  and  the  effect  was  marked  b)'  some  immediate  improvement  in  the  dis- 
cipline and  progress  of  the  colony.  But  it  was  noted  by  the  Admiral  himself  that  the 
wounds  and  alienations  produced  by  the  e\'ent  could  not  be  healed.  Confidence  was 
never  again  fully  restored  among  the  colonists  of  Isabella,  and  the  cloud  began  to  settle  on 
the  Admiral  which  was  never  to  be  lifted. 

ANXIETY  OVER  PORTUGAL'S  ACTIVITY. 
With  the  recover}'  of  his  health  Columbus  deemed  it  expedient  to  prosecute  at  least 
two  of  the  general  objects  for  which  the  enterprise  had  been  undertaken.  The  first  of  these 
was  to  continue  the  work  of  exploration.  In  order  to  understand  the  strong  motive  for  the 
immediate  enlargement  of  the  borders  of  discover)'  in  the  Indies  (as  the}'  were  supposed  to 
be),  the  reader  must  recur  to  the  intense  rivaln'  existing  between  Spain  and  Portugal  The 
decision  of  the  Pope  had  been  against  the  latter  power  ;  that  is,  the  decision  had  been  in  the 
natiire  of  an  interdict  against  Portuguese  enterprise  towards  the  west  But  there  was  noth- 
ing to  hinder — indeed,  much  to  encourage — the  endeavor  of  the  Portuguese  mariners  to 
reach  the  Indies  by  the  eastern  route. 

This  question  had  continued  uppermost  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  leading  at  length  to  the 


COLUMBUS    BEFORE   THE    MUTINEERS. 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA.  191 

discoven-  of  a  water  route  by  the  east  to  India,  which  was  found  by  De  Gama  four  years 
later.  A  knowledge  of  Portugal's  activity  and  ambitions  was  therefore  a  spur  to  Columbus 
to  accomplish,  as  quickly  as  possible,  the  full  possession,  by  discovery  and  occupation,  of 
the  rich  Pagan  countries  of  the  east  But  while  thus  eager  to  anticipate  the  Portuguese  he 
entertained  a  project  having  a  local  significance,  though  it  was  a  preliminary'  step  towards 
the  attainment  of  his  larger  ambitions.  Accordingly,  Columbus  acquainted  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  with  his  proposal  to  enter  the  gold  fields  of  Hispaniola,  and  take  permanent  posses- 
sion of  them  by  the  erection  of  a  fort  As  his  purpose  was  to  thereby  establish  a  local 
government  at  Isabella,  thus  enabling  him  to  proceed  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  other 
mission,  their  Majesties  prompth-  appro\-ed  his  plans. 

OFF    FOR   THE  GOLD   MOUNTAINS   OF  CIBAO. 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  he  had  succeeded  in  suppressing  the  sedition  of  Diaz,  the  Admiral 
issued  an  edict  committing  the  government  of  Isabella,  as  well  as  the  command  of  the  ships 
in  the  harbor,  to  his  brother,  Don  Diego,  and  a  council  of  municipal  officers  by  whom  he 
was  to  be  advised  and  assisted. 

Having  made  these  preparations  at  Isabella  the  Admiral  proceeded  at  once  to  organize 
his  expedition  for  the  gold  region.  To  this  end  he  selected  about  four  hundred  of  the  ■well 
and  able-bodied  colonists,  preferring  the  young  and  adventurous.  The  movement  involved 
the  arming  of  the  whole  band  ;  for,  in  the  existing  state  of  things,  the  loyalty  of  the  natives, 
how  much  soever  manifested,  could  not  be  depended  on  under  triaL  In  fact,  the  object  of 
the  expedition  was  as  much  militar}'  as  it  was  industrial. 

It  was  on  the  i2th  of  March  that  the  equipment  of  the  cavalcade  was  complete,  and  the 
march  began.  To  such  men  as  those  composing  the  regiment  action  was  everjthing.  They 
rejoiced  to  be  once  more  freed  from  the  servilit}'  and  lethargy'  of  the  settlement.  It  was  like 
going  again  on  a  campaign  in  the  Moorish  war.  The  start  was  accompanied  by  all  the 
demonstrations  and  spectacular  scenes  peculiar  to  the  age  and  the  race.  The  greater  number 
were  organized  as  a  cavalr.-  brigade.  They  were  anned,  and  for  the  most  part  annored, 
cap-a-pie,  and  rode  out  with  their  lances  and  shining  helmets,  and  clumsy  but  fonnidable 
arquebuses,  which  at  intervals  they  discharged,  making  the  gjeen  woods  ring  with  the  un- 
familiar music  of  musketr}'.  Meanwhile  many  natives,  drawn  after  the  cavalcade,  like  curi- 
ous boys  following  in  the  wake  of  a  menagerie,  hung  around  the  expedition,  joining  in  the 
advance  as  much  as  they  were  permitted  to  do,  and  seemingly  well  content  at  the  strange 
invasion  of  their  countr\'. 

FERTILITY  AND   BEAUTY   OF   THE   ROYAL  PUIN. 

For  the  first  day  or  two  of  the  advance,  the  route  lay  through  a  somewhat  broken  and 
difficult  country,  rising  from  the  sea-level,  but  still  bearing  the  matted  thickets  and  heavy 
forest  of  the  coast  At  length  the  way  became  difficult,  and  it  was  necessarj-  to  widen  the 
path  for  the  invaders.  A  company  of  advanced  guards  and  pioneers  was  accordingly  or- 
ganized, and  for  this  ser\-ice  the  young  noblemen,  now  aroused  from  their  apathy  and  dis- 
content, gladly  volunteered.  In  honor  of  their  endeavor,  the  Admiral  gave  to  their  new 
military-  road — the  first  highway  opened  by  European  hands  in  the  New  World — the  name 
of  El  Puerto  los  Hidalgos,  that  is,  the  Pass  of  the  Hidalgos. 

.\fter  this  preparation  the  expedition,  following  the  route  already  explored  bv  Ojeda, 
reached  the  crest  of  the  ridge  dividing  the  province  of  Caonabo  from  the  territory'  of  the 
coast-people.  It  was  the  first  of  many  such  situations  which  we  shall  see  repeated  in  the 
adventures  and  campaigns  of  Europeans  in  the  New  World  to  the  time  when,  in  the  sumtner 
of  1847,  the  invading  army  of  the  United  States  looked  down  from  the  rocky  heights  of  the 


192 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Cordilleras  upon  the  valley  of  Mexico.  Before  the  Spaniards  stretched  the  beautiful  plain 
of  Cibao.  According  to  the  estimate  of  L,as  Casas  it  was  two  hundred  and  fortj-  miles  from 
east  to  west,  and  as  much  as  thirty  miles  in  breadth,  a  region  capable  under  such  culture  as 
that  of  the  Netherlands  of  supporting  several  millions  of  inhabitants.  At  the  time  of  the 
invasion,  however,  oul)-  Indian  villages,  scattered  sparsely  over  the  landscape,  were  seen. 

This  vision  of  a  beautiful  and  marvellously  fertile  valley  might,  in  other  more  refined 
and  appreciative  minds,  have  suggested  vast  cities,  peaceful  populations,  and  blessings  of  a 
splendid  civilization,  but  the  Spaniards  were  so  besotted  with  vice  and  avarice  that  they 
could  consider  it  only  for  its  possible  mineral  productions  ;  for  the  gold  that  might  lie 
hidden  in  the  river  sands  and  in  the  mountains  that  reared  their  heads  hieh  into  the  reeion 
of  cloud-laud.     They  accordingly  descended  into  this  delightful  valley,  called  by  Columbus 

I  'cp-a  Real,  the  Roval  Plain,  and  set  their 


way  across    it  towards  the  gold-bearing 

mountains. 

In  traversing  this  beautiful  district 
orders  were  given,  on  approaching  the 
first  village,  to  enter  after  the  manner 
of  a  cavalr}'  charge.  So  the  trumpets 
were  sounded,  the  banners  shaken  out, 
and  the  Hidalgo  horsemen  rode  forw-ard, 
their  armor  flashing  in  the  sun.  The 
people  of  the  plain  had  never  before  seen 


OVERLOOKING   THE  VEGA   REAI<. 


horses,  and  to  their  astonished  and  credulous  gaze  the  oncoming  of  the  cavalry  seemfed  as  a 

charge  of  armored  centaurs  might  have  appeared  to  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  Grecian 

archipelago. 

FALSE   SECURITY   OF   THE    NATIVES. 

In  the  face  of  such  an  apparition,  there  was  of  course  no  show  of  fight.  Columbus 
failed  to  discover  in  the  towns  of  Vega  Real  those  bands  of  fierce  warriors  whom,  according 
to  report,  Caonabo  had  led  in  the  preceding  year  against  Guacanagari  and  Fort  Natividad. 
On  the  contrary,  the  Indians  of  this  region  seemed  almost  as  timid  as  their  fellows  of  the 
coast.  They  fled  before  the  Spaniards,  some  escaping  into  the  woods  and  others  taking 
refuge  in  their  houses.  It  was  a  matter  of  amusement  to  the  Spanish  soldiers  to  see  the 
simple  natives  building  flimsy  barricades  of  cane-reeds  across  the  doors  of  their  huts.  The 
obstructions  were  not  such  as  to  have  impeded  the  charge  of  a  ram,  and  yet  the  Indians 
seemed  to  think  themselves  safe  from  assault  behind  their  wicker  defences.  The  Admiral 
gave  orders  to  humor  the  natives  in  all  particulars;  and  it  was  not  long  before  their  confiding 
disposition  showed  itself  in  familiarit}'  and  free  intercourse.  As  the  expedition  advanced, 
the  natives  of  the  town  thronged  around  the  army,  and  the  usual  traffic  was  begun.  The 
Indians  had  a  keen  perception  in  discovering  the  thing  most  desired,  and  before  reaching 
their  destination  the  Spaniards  were  able  to  procure  considerable  quantities  of  gold  dusL 

On  the  second  day  Columbus  discovered  a  river  Avhich  proved  to  be  the  headwaters  of 
the  Rio  del  Oro,  but  here  the  country  became  so  rough  that  farther  progress  had  to  be  made 
on  foot,  up  the  sides  of  lofty  foot-hills,  which  had  now  been  reached.  In  small  streams 
falling  down  the  mountain  sides  glittering  particles  of  gold  were  found,  and  this  discover\' 
determined  Columbus  to  build  here  a  fort,  the  point  being  sixt\'  miles  from  Isabella.  A 
suitable  location  was  quickly  found  on  a  fine  plateau  around  which  two  small  streams  unit- 
ing formed  almost  a  circle.      No   sooner  had  the  expedition  halted  than  jasper,  lapis  lazuli, 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  193 

amber  ami  other  valuable  products  were  fouud,  aud  a  profitable  trade  was  opened  with  the 
Indiaus,  who  frccK  exchauged  iugoLs  of  gold,  weighing  as  much  an  ounce,  for  any  brilliant 
eewsraw  that  was  offered  them. 

After  great  labor  a  fort  of  considerable  strength  was  built  and  named  St.  Thomas,  the 
ruins  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen.  Being  now  placed  in  a  good  state  of  defence,  Columbus 
sent  out  an  e.xploring  party  under  Juan  de  Lu-xen  to  traverse  the  surrounding  country.  He 
was  accompanied  by  Indian  guides  who  showed  him  where  gold  was  said  to  abound,  but 
though  signs  of  the  precious  metal  were  often  seen  in  the  beds  of  small  streams,  it  was  not 
discovered  in  any  place  in  considerable  quantities. 

After  a  stay  of  two  weeks  at  St.  Thomas,  Columbus  returned  to  Isabella,  leaving  a 
compauv  of  fifty-six  men  to  serve  as  a  garrison,  but  stopped  on  the  way  at  the  village  of 
Vega  Real  to  purchase  from  the  Indians  a  fresh  supply  of  food.  He  was  here  enabled  to 
make  a  study  cf  the  social  condition  of  the  natives  and  to  note  the  character  of  their  agri- 
culture, and  marvelled  at  the  fecundity  of  the  soil,  which  seemed  to  produce  as  if  by  magic. 
But  on  reaching  Isabella  his  wonder  in  this  same  particular  was  increased  by  what  had  de- 
veloped during  his  absence.  He  found  the  plantation,  which  had  been  laid  out  scarcely- 
more  than  one  month  before,  already  yielding  ripe  melons,  pumpkins,  cucumbers  and  fruits 
in  extraordinar>-  abundance. 

SERIOUS  TROUBLE  ARISING  FROM  ABUSES  OF  THE  GARRISON. 

Drought  and  barrenness  were  unknown.  Moisture  pervaded  the  teeming  surface  of 
the  earth,  and  the  genial  sunshine  caused  it  to  produce  in  abundance.  The  addition  of  new 
fruits  planted  by  themselves  gave  delight  to  the  colonists,  and  the  first  bunch  of  Spanish 
grapes,  blushing  to  purple  in  the  caresses  of  the  tropical  air,  was  a  prevision  of  the  coming 
da\-  of  wine  and  plenty.  The  Admiral  could  but  be  delighted  with  the  outlook,  and  for 
a  few  days  he  was  again  happy  and  exuberant  in  hopes. 

But  it  was  not  long  until  misfortune  returned.  A  messenger  arrived  from  Fort  St 
Thomas  with  bad  tidings  of  the  new  settlement.  The  Indians  had  become  first  suspicious 
and  then  hostile.  They  had  withdrawn  altogether  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Spani.sh  settle- 
ment, and  receded  from  sight  in  the  mountains  and  forests.  It  was  evident  that  a  con- 
spiracv  of  some  kind  was  ripening.  Pedro  Margarite,  the  connnandant,  had  become 
alanned,  and  requested  the  Admiral  to  send  him  reinforcements  and  supplies.  On  inquiring 
into  the  circumstances  the  latter  soon  perceived  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  It  was  the  old 
story  of  Arana  and  La  Natividad.  No  sooner  had  Columbus  retired,  leaving  another  in 
charge  of  his  outpost,  than  disorder  appeared,  following  as  a  quick  result  of  unbridled 
license.  The  soldiers  began  to  wander  about  and  inflict  injuries  and  outrages  on  the  natives. 
Wherever  they  could  find  gold  they  took  it.  The  old  savage  nature  of  the  man-beast, 
recovering  its  freedom,  ran  hither  and  yon  de\-ouring  like  a  tiger  from  the  jungle.  Lust 
was  added  to  robber\-.  The  Spaniards  demanded  and  took  the  Indian  women  without 
waiting  to  inquire  whether  they  were  wives,  widows  or  virgins. 

Meanwhile  Caonabo,  who  had  held  aloof  with  his  warriors,  leaving  the  village  folk  to 
^'et  on  with  the  Spaniards  as  best  they  might,  rallied  with  the  evident  purpose  and  will  of 
\  tngeance.  It  was  not  likely,  however,  that  these  manifestations  could  lead  to  serious 
results.  No  catastrophe  might  be  feared  in  a  battle  between  the  natives  and  the  Spanish 
soldiers,  provided  alwa\s  that  the  latter  were  under  discipline.  The  .\dmiral  sent  back  to 
Fort  St.  Thomas  a  company  of  twenty  men  as  reinforcements,  and  also  a  new  stock  of  pro- 

13 


194  COLUMBUS    AND   COLUMBIA. 

visions.      Meanwhile  he  despatched  another  company  to   improve   and   perfect  the    road 
between  his  two  principal  stations  in  the  island. 

At  Isabella,  thongh  natnre  seemed  to  smile,  and  showered  from  her  cornncopia  all 
manner  of  gifts  upon  the  colonists,  yet  on  the  hnman  side  of  the  problem  there  were  suffi- 
cient grounds  for  apprehensiveness  and  foreboding.  The  sickness  prevailing,  instead  of 
growing  less  with  the  advancement  of  the  season,  seemed  to  be  aggravated.  The  Spaniards 
appeared  unwilling  or  unable  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  climatic  condition.  Their  excesses 
told  fearfully  upon  their  health  and  spirits.  The  disease  was  of  the  mind  as  well  as  of  the 
body.  IMelancholy,  despondency,  discontent,  sullen  moping,  and  every  other  ill  of  the 
liuman  spirit,  when  once  it  fell  under  the  dominion  of  pessimism,  tormented  and  dejjressed 
the  colonists  with  an  ever-darkening  mental  cloud.  As  to  ills  of  the  bod\-,  there  were 
fevers  and  dysenteries  and  congestions,  and,  worst  of  all,  the  outbreak  and  prevalence  of 
those  horrid  diseases  which,  since  the  epoch  of  the  Crusades,  were  rapidly  becoming 
at  once  the  scourge  and  the  hell  of  the  human  race. 

A  HORRIBLE  CONDITION    OF  AFFAIRS. 

For  all  this  there  was  but  slight  remedy.  Medical  science,  in  so  far  as  such  science 
exists  among  men,  has  always  adapted  itself  in  practice  to  a  certain  environment.  The 
physician  has,  out  of  the  nature  of  the  case,  been  unable  to  generalize  to  any  great  extent 
beyond  the  limits  of  that  horizon  within  the  boundary  of  which  he  has  familiarized  himself 
with  the  natural  and  morbid  conditions  of  life.  At  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  medi- 
cine was  still  mere  empyricism  in  its  crudest  forn:.  The  Spanish  doctors  who  accompanied 
the  expedition  were  totally  unacquainted  with  the  conditions  of  health  and  disease  in  the 
new  lands  at  which  they  had  arrived.  Their  supply  of  medicines  gave  out,  and  nature, 
depraved  by  disease,  was  left  to  take  her  course. 

By  this  time  several  kinds  of  provisions  Avere  exhausted,  and  it  was  difficult  to  procure 
such  diet  and  such  nursing  as  were  required  for  the  sick.  About  the  beginning  of  April  the 
supplies  were  so  diminished  that  the  rations  of  the  well  were  reduced  to  almost  a  minimum, 
and  this  circumstance  added  to  the  discontent  and  gloom.  At  last  the  flour  of  the  colony 
ran  out,  and  the  work  of  grinding  new  supplies  by  hand-mills  was  severe  and  irksome.  To 
set  the  Spanish  soldier — who  had  fought  in  the  Moorish  war  and  stood  near  the  sovereigns 
when  the  Islamites  came  out  to  deliver  to  them  the  keys  of  Granada— to  grinding  on  miser- 
able hand-mills,  in  order  to  keep  himself  and  his  fellows  from  starvation,  was  more  than 
human  nature  could  bear  without  protesting  ;  but  the  Admiral  would  make  no  exception, 
even  with  the  priests.  He  enforced  his  regulations  and  discipline  with  a  strong  and 
impartial  hand,  and  the  result  was  the  reappearance  of  sedition. 

In  this  instance  a  head  centre  of  the  mutinous  spirit  was  found  in  the  vicar,  De  Buyl, 
who,  though  a  member  of  the  council,  gave  countenance  to  the  malcontents,  promising  to 
defend  them  against  the  exactions  of  the  governor,  until  the  latter,  discovering  the  infidelity 
and  treachery  of  the  priest,  reduced  him  to  the  ranks  and  put  bin:  on  .short  fare  as  a  punish- 
ment. This  was  an  unforgivable  thing,  and  the  vicar  was  henceforth  the  enemy  of  the 
.\dmiral  and  his  government.  But  this  action  did  not  arrest  the  fatalities.  The  reader 
may  well  be  reminded  of  the  starving  time  at  Jamestown  or  the  desolation  of  the  first 
Puritan  colonists  at  Plymouth.  Under  such  conditions  the  leader  is  blamed  for  everything. 
But  for  him,  says  the  common  prejudice,  we  should  never  have  been  provoked  to  leave 
our  homes  and  been  led  forth  into  these  far  lands  of  fever  and  scrofula  to  die  of  starvation 
and  despair. 


COLUMHUvS   AND   COLUMBIA.  195 

PREPARATIONS    FOR   AN    EXPEDITION. 

It  was  in  this  emergency  lluu  Columbus  devised  the  project  of  additional  exploring 
expeditions,  rather  as  a  means  of  revival  by  reaction  and  excitement  than  with  the  e.xpecta- 
tion  of  great  discoveries.  The  idea  of  the  new  enterprise  was  to  organize  several  companies 
of  the  discontented  at  Isabella  and  to  despatch  them  on  adventures  into  the  interior  of  the 
island.  Many  parts,  even  the  greater  part,  of  Hispaniola  had  not  \et  been  visited  by  the 
Spaniards.  Xo  intercourse  had  been  opened  with  at  least  two  of  the  caciques.  Besides, 
the  hostility  of  Caonabo  might  supply  an  excuse  for  one  of  the  expeditions. 

Tlie  Admiral  found,  after  dnly  considering  his  resources,  that  a  considerable  force  of 
well  men  still  remained  for  the  work  in  hand,  and  he  was  therefore  able  to  organize  on 
expedition  of  cavaln,-,  infantry,  crossbowmen,  and  arqnebusiers.  For  the  present,  the 
command  was  given  to  Alouzo  de  Ojeda.  Tliat  officer  was  to  lead  the  wdiole  as  far  as  Fort 
St.  Thomas,  when  he  was  to  turn  over  the  little  ann\-  to  Pedro  Margarite,  and  become 
himself  the  commandant  of  the  fortress. 

As  to  the  conduct  of  the  expedition  Columbus  prepared  full  instructions  for  Margarite, 
entering  into  details  respecting  his  interconr.se  with  the  Indians  and  indeed  all  contingen- 
cies that  might  arise.  The  captain  was  ordered  to  hold  eventhing  in  strict  militar)' 
subjection.  Provisions  should  be  obtained  from  the  natives  by  public  purchase.  The 
comptroller,  Bernal  Diaz,  was  to  act  as  the  commissan.-  officer  of  the  expedition.  There 
should  be  no  private  trade  w-ith  the  Indians.  The  latter  should  in  all  instances  be  treated 
witli  kindness  and  justice.  Tlieft,  to  which  the  natives  were  somewhat  addicted — though 
the\-  themselves  hardly  regarded  the  act  of  taking  without  leave  as  a  criminalit}- — was 
to  be  properly  punished.  Regard  must  be  had  to  the  conversion  of  the  natives.  The 
campaign  was  to  be  directed  first  of  all  into  the  country  where  Caonabo  had  his  town. 
That  cacique,  against  whose  conduct  Columbus  had  a  just  resentment,  was  to  be  taken 
with  his  chieftains  and  delivered  over  for  trial  this  on  account  of  the  destruction  of  La 
Natividad  and  the  killing  of  the  garrison.  In  the  capture  of  Caonabo,  duplicity  and 
stratagem  might  be  used,  the  same  being  among  the  methods  of  warfare  which  the  .Vtlmiral 
had  discovered  in  the  native  usages.  The  instructions  were  amply  sufficient  for  a  well- 
ordered  and  decent  campaign  of  exploration,  commerce  and  the  contingency  of  war. 

Having  completed  these  arrangements  Columbus  next  gave  his  attention  to  a  new 
enterprise  of  his  own.  This  was  no  less  than  the  long-postponed  vo\age  of  discovery, 
which  was  a  part  of  his  general  plan.  As  for  the  local  expedition,  Ujeda  set  out  from 
Isabella  on  the  9th  of  April,  and  proceeded  by  water  as  far  as  the  estuar\-  of  Crold  River, 
for  the  identity  of  that  stream  with  the  river  found  in  the  Royal  Vega,  near  the  gold 
fields,  had  now  been  detennined,  and  it  was  the  purpose  of  Ojeda  to  ascend  the  stream, 
first  bv  water  and  afterwards  by  land,  to  his  destination.  This  would  be  an  easier  route 
than  the  Pass  of  the  Hidalgos,  so  laborioush-  followed  on  the  former  occasion. 

A    PERFIDIOUS    ACT    SEVERELY    PUNISHED. 

But  an  incident  now  occurred  which  had  in  it  the  genns  and  portent  of  great  mischief. 
On  arriving  at  Cxold  River  three  men  from  Fort  St.  Thomas  fell  in  witli  the  ex])cuition 
wlio,  according  to  their  story,  had  been  jx-rfidiously  robbed  by  the  natives  ;  {3erfidiousl\-, 
because  they  were  under  conduct  of  the  caci(|ue  of  one  of  the  villages  of  the  Vega,  wlio 
liad  promised  to  aid  them  in  crossing  the  ri\er.  Thus  were  they  robbed  by  the  Indians, 
and  the  cacique,  instead  of  punisliing  the  Indians,  winked  at  tlie  theft  and  look  a  part  of 
the  booty  for  himself 

The  hot-blooded  Ojeda  marched  inunediately  to  the  town,  seized   the  cacique,  also  his 


19G 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


sou,  the  prince,  and  one  of  the  thieves,  cutting  off  the  ears  of  the  latter,  aud  sending  the 
prisoners,  bound,  to  the  Admiral  at  Isabella.  This  sumuiar}'  punishment  produced  the 
wildest  alarm  among  the  Indians,  aud  the  cacique  of  another  village  interceded  for  the 
captives.  But  all  in  vain.  He  then  followed  them  to  Isabella  and  appealed  to  the  Admiral. 
The  latter,  deeming  the  robbery  a  serious  matter,  was  unusually  severe,  and  condemned  the 
thieves  to  be  beheaded  in  the  public  place  of  the  settlement.  It  appears,  however,  that  he 
intended  to  pardon  the  culprits  in  time  to  save  their  lives. 

Just  at  this  crisis  of  the  affair  a  cavalryman  arrived  from  Fort  St.  Thomas,  who  on  the 
way  had  found  five  Spaniards  held  as  prisoners  by  the  subjects  of  the  captured  cacique. 
He  had,  however,  charged  into  the  village,  put  the  whole  town  to  flight  and  rescued  the 
prisoners.  According  to  his  report  he  had  chased  out  of  the  town  all  the  four  hundred 
inhabitants,  scattering  them  in  every  direction.  The  incident  was  sufficiently  amusing, 
and  also  sufficiently  significant  of  the  relative  ability  of  the  natives  and  Spaniards  in  open 
war.  When  the  Indian  prisoners  were  brought  to  the  place  where  they  were  to  be  beheaded 
and  the  friendly  cacique  Guarionex,  ruler  of  the  villages  of  Vega  Real,  continued  to  sup- 
plicate for  their  liberation,  Columbus  granted  his  petition  and  set  the  captives  free.  He 
a^so  sent  off  Guarionex  with  many  presents  and  evidences  of  good- will. 


CHAPTER   XI. 


PURSUING  THE  GOLDEN  IGNIS  FATUUS. 

EASSURED  by  the  peaceful  condition  of  affairs  at  Isa- 
bella, before  leaving  that  post  for  the  mountain  district 
of  Cibao,  to  pursue  his  quest  for  gold,  Columbus 
had  purposed  to  extend  his  discoveries,  with  the 
hope  of  ultimately  reaching  the  borders  of  Cathay, 
there  to  greet  the  great  Khan  in  his  resplendent 
capital  of  Quainsay.  Upon  returning,  there- 
fore, he  set  about  preparations  to  continue  his 
explorations,  ail  the  while  believing  that  Cuba, 
three-fourths  of  which  coast  he  had  seen,  was  a 
part  of  the  mainland  adjoining  the  Tartar  territory'. 
For  this  purpose  he  equipped  three  vessels,  one  of 
which  was  the  old  Nu'ia^  to  which  the  name  of 
Santa  Clara  had  been  given,  the  San  Juan  and  the 
Cordera.  Fort  St.  Thomas  had  been  left  in  charge  of  a  lieutenant  named  Margarite,  but 
during  his  absence  on  a  campaign  in  the  interior,  Ojeda  was  appointed  temporarily  to  the 
command. 

Feeling  secure  in  the  arrangements  which  he  had  made  for  the  occupation  of  both 
Isabella  and  St.  Thomas,  Columbus  was  able  to  set  sail  upon  his  proposed  expedition  on 
the  24th  of  April.  Proceeding,  he  made  a  short  pause  at  IMonte  Christo,  but  found  no 
natives  there  with  whom  to  open  communications,  so  he  moved  forward  a  few  miles  and 
anchored  off  La  Xatividad,  where  he  hoped  to  see  Guacanagari,  and  to  obtain  from  him, 
finally,  the  full  particulars  of  the  massacre  of  the  garrison  under  Arana.  Though  the 
replies  of  the  messenger  whom  Columbus  sent  out  to  meet  the  cacique  were  favorable,  the 
natives  refused  to  expose  themselves,  and  the  promise  of  the  chief  to  visit  him  was  not 
fulfilled,  and  after  a  wait  of  two  days  Columbus  sailed  away  without  unravelling  the 
mystery  of  the  cacique's  conduct. 

Leaving  La  Xatividad,  Columbus  continued  along  the  southern  coast  of  San  Domingo 
until  he  came  to  the  westernmost  extremity  of  that  island,  where  he  found  a  beautiful 
harbor,  in  which  he  anchored  to  make  some  investigations  on  the  shore.  He  found  two 
considerable  villages  not  far  inland,  upon  entering  one  of  which  a  fresh  laid  feast  was 
prepared,  but  the  natives  having  been  alanncd  upon  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards,  had  left 
them  to  enjoy  the  banquet,  though  without  invitation.  Subsequently,  a  few  of  the  natives 
were  persuaded  to  approach  the  Spaniards,  but  beyond  the  giving  of  a  few  presents 
no  intercourse  was  attempted.  The  voyage  was  then  continued  until  reaching  the 
harbor  of  St.  Jago,  in  Cuba,  where  a  landing  for  the  day  was  made  and  brief  connnunica- 
tion  was  had  with  the  natives,  who  repeated  to  Columbus  the  reports  which  he  had 
before  heard  concerning  the  rich  gold  fields  of  Rabeque.  The  repetition  of  this  story- 
was  given   with  such  embellishments    and    assurances   that   he  at   length   decided   to  tesJ- 

(■97) 


198 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  truth  of  the  assertions.  Accordingly,  on  the  3d  of  ^Nlay.  1he  squadron  again  weighed 
anchor,  left  the  Cuban  coast  and  drifted  into  the  open  sea.  The  voyage  had  not  extended 
far  until  the  bold  outlines  of  a  large  island  were  discovered  towards  the  south.  Ov 
approaching  near  the  shore  the  countrj-  was  found  to 
be  thickly  populated,  and  upon  reaching  shoal  water  a 
fleet  of  seventy  canoes,  all  manned  by  warriors  who 
were  painted  and  feathered  after  the  manner  of  North 
American  Indians,  came  out  to  meet  the  ships. 
Their  first  manifestations  were  those  of  implac- 
able hostilit\-  as  the  warriors  set  up  a  great  yelling^ 
and,  on  coming  within  range  shot  their  arrows 


r  ^^^*  ■'" 


THE   NATWES   OF  LA   CRrZ   GENEROUSI.Y 
SUPPLY  THE  SPANIARDS  WITH  FRUITS. 

and  hurled  their  darts  against 
the  sides  of  the  vessels,  but  with 
such  poor  effect  that  the  attack 
appeared  ridiculous. 
A  FIGHT  WITH  THE  INDIANS. 
Instead  of  regarding  the  demonstration  as  an  invitation  to  battle  Columbus  chose  rather 
to  make  signs  of  peace  and  to  tell  the  Indians,  through  his  interpreter,  that  he  came  on  a 
friendly  mission  and  to  present  gifts  to  the  people.  This  speech  assuaged  the  anger  of  the 
natives,  who  permitted  the  ships  to  come  to  anchor  near  the  coast  of  the  island,  which  to  the 
present  day  has  retained  its  native  name  of  Jamaica.  But  as  no  advantage  could  be  gained 
by  an  intercourse  with  the  people  at  this  first  landing  Columbus  continued  his  wa}-  along 


COLUMBUS   AND   CULU.MHIA.  I'.rj 

the  western  shore  for  several  miles,  until  reachinjj  an  inviting  harhoraore  he  anchored 
with  the  intention  of  going  on  shore  to  make  some  explorations.  The  nati\es  at  this  latter 
place,  however,  exhibited  the  same  hostility  that  their  neighbors  had  manifested,  and  were 
so  persistent  in  their  detennination  to  do  the  Spaniards  injur}-  that  as  a  last  resource  the 
Admiral  concluded  it  would  be  necessar>-  to  teach  them  a  sharp  lesson.  To  this  end  a 
boat-load  of  crossbowmen  was  sent  to  attack  and  disperse  the  Indians;  drawing  near,  the 
Spaniards  fired  a  volley  at  the  eneni)-,  wounding  several  ;  at  the  second  discharge  the  nati\es 
beat  a  hasty  retreat  and  on  the  following  da>-  sent  an  embassy  of  six  warriors  to  treat  for 
peace.  Columbus  accepted  their  overtures  of  amity,  and  the  quiet  which  followed  was  im- 
proved by  him  to  repair  his  ships,  one  of  which  was  in  a  leaky  condition.  During  this  short 
sta>-  the  native  Jamaicans  seemed  to  ha\e  become  con\inced  that  the  vSpaniards  were  visitors 
from  some  far  celestial  countr}-,  and  from  their  first  hostile  feeling  there  succeeded  an  idola- 
trous affection,  which  influenced  several  of  the  natives  to  beg  of  Columbus  pennission  to 
accompany  him  whither  he  might  choose  to  voyage.  One  of  the  caciques  was  so  determined 
to  join  the  Spaniards  that  some  force  was  necessary-  to  overcome  his  intention.  As  the  fleet 
was  about  to  sail  a  \ouiig  chieftain  wrested  himself  from  the  restraining  grasp  of  his  friends, 
and  running  with  all  possible  speed  to  the  shore  sprang  into  a  canoe  and  paddled  off  to  the 
Admiral's  ship,  which  he  gained  and  hid  himself  in  order  that  he  might  not  be  prevented 
from  carrying  out  his  purpose.  Columbus  received  him  kindly,  and  he  perhaps  lived  to 
see  the  shores  of  Europe,  with  other  natives  of  the  West  Indies  who  afterwards  joined  him. 

Unable  to  find  any  indications  of  gold  in  Jamaica,  Columbus  departed  for  Cuba,  and 
without  further  incident  arrived  at  La  Cruz,  having  been  ab.sent  from  Isabella  a  period  of 
fifteen  days.  While  lying  at  anchor  in  this  latter  harbor  he  was  visited  by  many  natives, 
who  manifested  the  same  friendly  disposition  as  those  whom  he  first  met  in  Hispaniola,  and 
generously  supplied  the  expedition  with  fruits  and  such  pro\isions  as  the  vicinitv  afforded. 
While  here  Columbus  also  learned  from  some  of  the  natives  that  the  country  was  an  island, 
but  of  ver>-  great  extent,  so  large  indeed  that  none  of  the  people  with  whom  he  had  vet  come 
in  contact  knew  its  limits.  To  determine  this  question  Columbus  resolved  to  continue  his 
explorations,  but  hardly  had  the  voyage  been  renewed  when  fate,  so  long  tempted,  became 
sullen  and  ad\'erse.  A  great  tempest  swept  the  bay  and  for  some  hours  the  ships  were  in 
imminent  peril  of  being  wrecked  on  the  rocks  ;  and  when  they  had  gained  the  open  sea  tlie 
squadron  became  entangled  in  the  Cuban  keys,  out  of  which,  on  account  of  the  tortuous 
channels  and  numerous  sandbanks,  it  seemed  for  a  while  impossible  to  escape.  The  archi- 
pelago into  which  he  had  thus  .sailed  was  named  by  the  Admiral,  in  honor  of  Isabella,  The 
Queen's  Gardens. 

The  storm  finally  abated  without  any  serious  injur\- having  been  inflicted  upon  the  ships, 
and  the  i.slands  through  which  they  were  sailing  offered  so  many  opportunities  for  interesting 
investigation  that  Columbus  landed  on  the  shores  of  several  and  was  richh-  entertained  by 
the  curiosities  of  animal  life  which  he  discovered  ;  flamingoes,  cranes,  and  parrots  of  richest 
coloring,  were  numerous,  thus  lending  animation  to  the  incomparable  beauties  of  the  land- 
scape. 

A  CURIOUS  METHOD  OF  FISHING. 
Many  of  the  islands  appeared  to  be  witliout  inhal>itants,  while  others  were  thicklv 
populated  by  amiable  Indians  who  received  Columbus  and  his  men  with  the  same  kindness  a:; 
had  characterized  those  of  San  Salvador  and  Hispaniola.  The  Indians  on  some  of  the  larger 
islands  were  .seen  tf)  employ  a  fi.sh  somewhat  after  the  manner  that  tlie  mcdiievals  used 
the  hawk  in  hunting.      This  falcon-fish,  which  the  Indians  u.scd  with  such  singular  results, 


i       1 


3 


M 
» 

u 

ft 


3 

O 

o 


(2CX)"> 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  201 

had  the  power  of  attaching;  itself  to  objects  by  means  of  a  sucker  with  which  it  was  supplied. 
Such  was  the  strengtli  of  the  liold  which  the  leech-like  creature  was  able  to  take  that  the 
body  might  be  pulled  in  two  without  breaking  its  connection  with  the  object  to  which  it  had 
fixed  itself.  As  if  to  favor  the  use  to  whicli  the  fish  was  applied  by  barbaric  ingenuity  it 
was  furnished  with  a  long  tail,  to  which  the  natives  attached  a  line  ;  this  done  the  creature 
was  allowed  to  take  its  own  course  in  the  water,  where  it  had  the  instinct  to  attack  several 
kinds  of  fish  and  marine  animals.  The  turtle  was  the  favorite  object  of  the  pursuit,  and  how- 
ever great  the  size  the  fish  would  fi.\  itself  so  finnly  to  the  flat  bottom  of  its  prey  that  it 
could  be  drawn  up  to  the  boat  by  the  fisherman,  only  quitting  its  hold  after  it  was  lifted  out 
of  the  water.  The  fish  thus  used  was  the  reniora,  which  is  verj-  common  in  southern  waters. 
Columbus  again  gained  the  shores  of  Cuba  nearly  one  hundred  miles  from  La  Cruz, 
where,  upon  landing,  he  was  visited  by  a  subject  of  a  cacique  named  Mangon.  Upon 
hearing  the  name  of  this  chief  Columbus  immediately  associated  it  with  that  of  the  IVIangi, 
about  whom  Mandeville  had  written.  The  natives  also  infonned  him  that  in  the  kingdom 
immediately  adjoining  them  there  lived  a  people  who  clothed  themselves  in  white  to  hide 
their  tails,  a  report  identical  with  that  which  Mandeville  had  niade  concerning  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Mang^.  Believing  that  he  was  now  near  the  country-  upon  which  h'e  had  placed  his 
largest  hopes,  Columbus  stood  westward  along  the  unbroken  coast,  freqtiently  stopping  to 
hold  intercourse  with  the  natives.  Thus  proceeding  across  the  broad  Gulf  of  Xagua  and 
into  the  White  Water  Sea,  peculiar  to  that  region,  the  Spaniards  were  greatly  astonished 
and  somewhat  alanned  at  seeing  the  ships  mo\-ing  through  what  appeared  to  be  an  ocean 

of  milk. 

STARTLED    BY   SPECTRAL    FIGURES    IN   THE   FOREST. 

After  making  their  way  through  another  group  of  small  islands  the  fleet  ancliored  at 
Point  Serafin,  and  Columbus  sent  a  company  on  shore  to  procure  wood  and  water.  While 
lying  here  one  of  the  Spaniards  wandering  some  distance  into  the  forest  was  startled — 
such  was  his  own  stor\- — by  the  spirit  of  a  being  clad  in  a  long  white  robe  moving 
solemnly  along  like  a  Druid  priest.  Two  others  came  in  his  train,  also  in  white,  followed 
by  a  considerable  guard  carrying  lances.  The  white-robed  priest  approached  as  if  for  a 
conference,  but  the  Spaniard  was  too  much  frightened  to  ascertain  his  desire,  and  ran  back 
to  his  companions.  Upon  hearing  this  stor)-  Columbus  was  firm  in  his  belief  that  he  was 
ver\-  near  the  kingdom  of  Cathay,  and  that  ere  long  he  would  find  the  civilized  people 
of  Asia  to  whom  he  thought  these  white-robed  persons  must  belong.  Two  companies  of 
soldiers  were  accordingly  despatched  to  investigate  the  mystery.  One  of  these  came  to  a 
great  plain  covered  with  reeds  and  marsh-grass  growing  to  such  a  height  as  to  hide  a  man 
on  horseback.  The  grass  so  impeded  their  progress  that  they  were  obliged  to  turn  back 
without  discovering  the  priests  who  had  so  startled  the  Spaniard.  The  other  company 
reached  a  wooded  countn,-,  where  they  found  the  tracks  of  some  monstrous  creature.  Their 
imagination  at  once  conceived  the  prodigious  outlines  of  an  impo.ssible  beast  (which  in 
fact  was  probably  an  alligator)  in  whose  great  jaws  the\'  would  all  soon  j^erish  should  they 
seek  a  further  exploration  of  the  interior.  Without  continuing  their  investigations  further, 
therefore,  they  returned  to  the  coast,  bringing  back  no  other  trophy  of  their  expedition 
than  a  large  cluster  of  wild  grapes.  The  conclusion  was  accordingly  reached  by  Columbus 
that  the  so-called  spectral  figures  which  had  .so  alarmed  the  lone  Spaniard  were  nothing 
more  in  reality  than  .some  ver\'  tall  white  cranes  moving  on  the  edge  of  a  savannah. 

Once  again  the  voyage  was  resumed  until  the  coast  was  reached  .some  fifty  miles 
further  west,   where  communication   was  sought  to  be  established  with   tin.-  ]ico]>Ie,   who 


202  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

came  off  in  canoes  to  the  ship  and  whose  speech  was  unlike  that  of  any  of  the  natives 

with  whom  the  Spaniards  had  come  in  contact.    In  the  broken  conununication  held  through 

the  interpreter  additional  hints  seemed  to  be  obtained  of  the  proximity  of  the  Tartar  empire. 

Columbus  understood  that  in  the   high-lands  far  to  the  west  a  great  king  resided.     This 

king  was  clad  in  white  from  head  to  foot  and  was  such  a  holy  man  that  he  would  hold  no 

communication  with   those  of  his  kind,   but  gave  his  orders  by  means  of  signs.       What 

should  the  Admiral  think  but  that  now,  indeed,  he  was  coming  to  the  coast  of  Tartary, 

over  whose  multitudes  the  magnificent  Prester  John  sat  in  state,  surrounded  with'  splendor 

and  dispensing  treasures  to  his  friends  ?    Sure  enough,  in  their  imaginations,  the  Spaniards 

perceived  the  blue  outlines  of  the  delectable  mountains  rising  from  the  western  horizon. 

One  of  the  natives  who  had  told  his  pleasing  story  was  taken  along  to  point  the  way  ta 

the  court  of  the  great  Khan,  and  the  ships  proceeded  to  solve  the  mystery  of  the  Eastern 

Empire. 

DELIGHTFUL  VISIONS   DISPELLED  BY  HARSH    EVENTS. 

As  the  voyage  continued,  the  mountains  seemed  to  dissolve  in  a  mist  of  smoke,  and 
for  many  leagues  the  shore  was  a  broad  sunken  marsh  where  landing  was  impos- 
sible. Beyond,'  the  coast  assumed  its  wonted  aspect,  and  blue  smoke  was  observed  curl- 
ing up  hither  and  yon  in  the  distance,  and  the  shore-line  of  Asia  was  again  believed 
to  be  near  at  hand.  Indeed,  so  strong  were  the  hopes  and  so  vivid  the  imagination  of 
Columbus  at  this  time  that  he  seemed  to  see  the  whole  of  the  East  stretched  before  him 
in  a  grand  panorama,  revealing  the  golden  Chersonese,  the  Ganges,  the  Straits  of  Bab-el- 
mandeb,  and  even  the  Holy  Land.  He  even  contemplated  a  visit  to  Jerusalem,  and  a 
return  to  Spain  through  the  Red  and  Mediterranean  Seas  ;  but  in  these  golden  visions 
the  sailors  had  no  participation  ;  seeing  the  westward  trend  of  the  coast  they  began  to 
offer  objections  to  a  further  voyage  in  that  direction,  since  they  were  well  spent  with 
constant  exertion  in  keeping  the  ships  from  the  reefs,  which  were  so  numerous  as  to  be 
almost  impossible  to  wholly  avoid.  Besides  this  the  vessels  were  already  in  a  precarious 
condition,  from  having  been  run  several  times  on  bars  in  making  a  passage  of  the 
Queen's  Gardens.  Being  in  a  leaky  condition,  their  sails  were  also  torn  and  the  cables 
were  so  strained  as  to  be  no  longer  trusted.  Thus,  notwithstanding  his  belief  that  the 
kingdom  of  the  great  Khan  was  ver}-  near  at  hand,  Columbus  was  persuaded  b}'  the  com- 
plaints of  his  men  to  abandon,  for  the  present,  his  undertaking  to  reach  that  countr\'. 

As  one  of  the  chief  objects,  however,  had  been  to  solve  the  question  of  the  relations  of 
Cuba  to  the  mainland,  he  decided  to  prepare  a  statement  and  affidavit  that  the  country 
which  he  had  now  coasted  was  peninsular  in  its  character,  jutting  out  from  the  east  rim 
of  Asia.  In  pursuance  of  this  desire  Fernando  Perez  de  Luna,  Notary  of  the  expedition, 
drew  up  such  a  deposition,  which  was  signed  not  onh-  b}-  Columbus  but  also  by  all  the  fifty 
officers  and  men  composing  the  expedition.  Though  there  was  thus  obtained  a  perfect 
unanimity  of  opinion  Columbus  provided  that  severe  penalties  should  be  inflicted  ujdou  any 
one  of  the  expedition  who  should  thereafter  make  any  denial  of  this  statement.  The 
punishments  ranged  from  a  fine  of  ten  thousand  maravedis,  in  case  the  offender  was  an 
officer,  down  to  a  whipping  of  a  hundred  lashes  in  case  of  a  cabin  boy.  The  place  where 
this  statement  was  drawn  up  and  compared  was  in  the  Bay  of  Cortez,  and,  strange  to  say, 
a  point  from  which  less  than  a  two  days'  sail  to  the  west  would  have  brought  him  to  the 
extremity  and  thus  proved  to  his  satisfaction  the  insular  character  of  Cuba  ;  this  done,  he 
could  hardly  have  failed  by  an  easy  voyage  through  a  placid  sea  to  reach  the  true  shore  of 
the  Continent.      But  the  human  equation  entered  in.      The  discontent  of  his  men,  his  own 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  203 

preconception,  cherished  for  more  than  eighteen  months,  that  Cnba  was  an  outlying^  part  of 
Asia,  once  more  diverted  him  from  the  possibility  innnediately  witliin  his  grasp  and  tnrned 
him  back  from  what  may  well  seem  to  the  blind  eyes  of  men  the  true  line  of  his  strange 
destiny. 

This  place  where  the  ships  were  anchored,  in  the  Bay  of  Cortez,  was  the  westernmost 
point  ever  reached  by  the  discoverer  of  America.  When  we  consider  how  near  he  came  to 
discovering  that  Cuba  was  an  islaud,  that  Florida  on  the  north  was  scarceh-  a  day's  sail 
away,  and  that  the  Continent  on  the  west  was  so  near  at  hand,  the  fate  seems  hard  by  which 
the  great  mariner  was  projected  so  far  to  the  west  without  being  able  to  reach  the  true  shore 
of  the  New  World. 

A  CACIQUE  TEACHES  THE  LAW  OF   THE  GOLDEN   RULE. 

Having,  as  he  believed,  established  for  all  futurity  the  Continental  character  of  Cuba, 
regardless  of  what  might  be  its  true  geographical  configuration,  on  the  13th  of  June  Colum- 
bus continued  in  a  southeasterly  course  until  he  discovered  another  island,  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  Evangelista^  after%vards  known  as  Isle  de  los  Pinos,  or  Island  of  Pines.  Here 
he  took  on  a  fresh  supply  of  wood  and  water  and  then  stood  out  to  sea  with  the  intention 
of  circumnavigating  Jamaica.  But  instead  of  finding  a  direct  course  he  was  intercepted  by 
a  cluster  of  islands,  several  of  which  were  of  coral  formation  and  thus  a  source  of  the 
greatest  peril.  From  these  dangers  he  did  not  escape  without  uuich  damage  to  the  Santp 
Clara,  which  ran  upon  a  dangerous  bar  and  was  only  saved  from  destruction  by  the  almost 
superhuman  efforts  of  the  crew. 

His  course  having  been  changed  by  obstacles  encountered,  Columbus  turned  again 
towards  Cuba,  the  coast  of  which  lie  sighted  on  the  6tli  of  Jul)-,-  and  going  on  shore  the 
following  day  he  set  up  a  cross  and  began  a  solemn  celebration  of  Mass.  While  he  was 
thus  engaged  some  natives  had  watched  the  proceedings  until  one  of  their  venerable 
priests,  comprehending  its  import,  came  forward  and  addressed  Columbus,  first  proffering 
him  a  basket  of  fruit  as  a  peace-offering.  The  aged  priest  told  him,  through  the  interpre- 
ter, that  he  iinderstood  the  ceremony  which  he  had  thus  witnessed  to  be  an  act  of  worship  ; 
that  he  did  not  doubt  the  greatness  and  glor}'  of  the  people  and  countr}'  whence  the 
Spaniards  were  descended,  but  that  haughtiness  and  pride  were  not  becoming  even  in  the 
greatest  He  then  explained  to  the  Admiral  that  the  philosophy  of  his  religion  taught  him 
to  believe  that  the  souls  of  the  dead  have,  according  to  merit,  two  destinies  after  lea\ing 
the  body.  Those  who  had  spent  their  lives  in  wickedness  were  compelled  to  go  into  a  hor- 
rible country  where  all  was  dark  and  dangerous  ;  but  the  ghosts  of  those  who  in  their 
earth-lives  were  good  in  all  their  actions  towards  mankind  journeyed  after  death  into  a  laud 
of  blessedness  and  light.  This  nile  of  division  he  assured  the  Spaniards  would  be  applied 
even  to  themselves,  however  superior  they  might  be  in  their  civilization  ;  and  he  even 
declared  that  the  Admiral  himself  would  be  punished  with  banishment  into  the  dismal 
abodes  if  he  were  not  just  and  gracious  to  the  people  among  whom  he  had  come. 

The  speech  of  the  native  priest  had  in  it  an  element  not  only  of  ethical  soundness 
but  of  orthodoxy  as  well,  which  greatly  surprised  Columbus,  who  heartily  improved  the 
occasion  to  confirm  the  aboriginal's  notions  and  to  extend  toward  them  the  doctrine  of 
Christianity.  Columbus  accordingly  explained  to  him  the  practical  part  of  his  mission — that 
he  had  come  to  these  island  countries  to  subdue  the  cannibals  in  order  that  the  dread  of 
their  race  might  be  taken  away  ;  but  that  for  the  rest  he  was  on  an  embassy  of  peace  from 
his  sovereigns,  to  whom  he  always  gave  the  greatest  praise  and  glory.  He  also  described 
to  the  natives  some  of  the  leading  features  of  the  Old  World  civilization,  especially  its 


204 


COLUMBUS   AND  COLUMBIA. 


splendors  and  mighty  cities  and  the  vast  yield  of  its  cultivated  fields.  The  interest  of 
the  old  priest  was  so  excited  by  these  explanations  that  he  sought  the  privilege  of  going 
on  board  and  sailing  away  with  Columbus,  and  he  was  only  restrained  from  this  inten- 
tion by  his  wife  and  children  throwing  themselves  at  his  feet  and  beseeching  him  with 
tears  not  to  lea\-e  them. 

PLEADINGS  OF  A  CACIQUE  TO  ACCOMPANV  COLUMBUS. 
Columbus  continued  on  the  coast  of  Cuba  on  this  last  visit  until  the  i6th  of  July,  when 
he  resumed  his  voyage.  But  upon  regaining  the  Queen's  Gardens  the  squadron  w^as  assailed 
by  a  terrific  storm  which  raged  with  such  great  fur)-  that  for  two  days  the  vessels  were  in 
the  greatest  danger,  and  reached  Cabo  la  Cruz  in  an  almost  dismantled  condition. 
Here  it  was  necessary  to  beach  the  \-essels  for  needed  repairs  to  the  bottoms,  as  well  as  to 
supph-  them  with  new  sails,  after  which  he  resumed  the  voyage  with  intention  to  pro- 
ceed to  Jamaica  and  there  carr)-  into  execution  his  plans  for  circumnavigating  that  island. 
In  pursuance  of  this  design  Columbus  left  La  Cruz  and  gained  the  shore  of  Jamaica  in  a 
sail  of  two  da}-s,  but  was  for  a  while  prevented  from  continuing  around  its  coast  bj-  the  in- 
terruption of  another  storm,  which  compelled  him  to  put  into  a  harbor  of  that  shore,  where 
the  natives  received  him  with  great  kindness.  In  one  instance  a  cacique  came  in  the  man- 
ner of  royalt}-,  accompanied  by  his  queen  and  her  daughters  and  a 
retinue  of  councillors  and  guards,  all  ornamented  and  painted  accord- 
ing to  aboriginal  custom  and  etiquette.  Obtaining  pennission 
they  came  on  board  the  Satita  Clara  and  were  there  hospitably 
received  and  entertained  b}-  Columbus,  whose  kindness  so  affected 
the  cacique  that,  though  ruler  of  a  rich  go%'ernment,  he  expressed 
his  desire  to  abdicate  and  return  with  the  Spaniards  to  the  celestial 
country'  whence  he  supposed  the}'  had  come.  For  man}-  reasons 
Columbus  could  not  accept  this  proposal,  but  he  had  to  use  much 
persuasion  to  induce  the  chief  and  his  family  to  return  on  shore 
and  resume  their  royal  functions  among  their  people. 

Proceeding  from  one  point  of  the  island  to  another,  as  temporary 
abatement  of  the  stonn  permitted  a  continuance  of  the  voyage, 
on  the  19th  of  August  the  circumnavigation  of  the  island  was 
completed,  after  which  the  Admiral  steered  for  San  Domingo,  and 
three  da}s  thereafter  came  in  sight  of  Cape  San  ]\Iiguel.  From  this  point  efforts  were  made 
to  proceed  directly  to  Isabella  but  many  new  islands  were  encountered,  to  which  names 
were  given  and  short  landings  made.  But  these  presentl}-  became  so  numerous  that  the 
sand-bars  presented  serious  obstacles  and  detained  the  squadron  nearly  two  weeks  before 
they  could  be  extricated  from  the  dangers  which  surrounded  them. 

COLUMBUS  STRICKEN  DOWN  WITH  A  STRANGE  ILLNESS. 
The  hardships  of  the  voyage,  though  alternating  at  times  with  pleasant  episodes  on  the 
shores  of  the  various  islands  visited,  had  been  extreme,  and  the  crews  were  well-nigh  the 
limits  of  their  endurance.  The  Admiral  himself,  more  than  ever  before,  showed  the  effect? 
of  the  great  strain  and  sleepless  anxiety  to  which  he  had  been  subjected.  In  his  case  ex- 
haustion was  not  only  of  the  body,  but  also  of  the  mind  and  spirit.  He  could  but  feel,  now 
that  he  was  returning  to  his  colony,  that  the  aggregate  results  of  his  voyage  fell  far  short, 
not  indeed  of  reasonable  expectation,  but  of  that  visionar}-  and  picturesque  dream  of  which 
he  himself  had  been  the  principal  author.  A  rapturous  vision  of  the  Indies  was  entertained 
by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  and  by  all  the  people  of  Spain  ;  indeed,  the  nations  of  Europe 


COLU.MBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  205 

were  on  tiptoe  to  catch  the  first  tidin<js  of  things  more  marvellous  than  had  yet  been  related 
concerning  the  borders  of  the  newly  discovered  world.  Failing  to  realize  these  gorgeous 
anticipations,  we  may  imagine  the  depressing  effect  produced  by  the  disappointments  which 
Columbus  must  have  so  keenly  felt. 

Whatever  may  ha\e  been  the  cause,  Columbus,  on  leaving  the  island  of  Mona  and  steer- 
ing for  Isabella,  broke  down  completely  and  yielded  to  some  fonn  of  malady  which  physical 
science  may  well  be  puzzled  to  understand.  He  became  drowsy,  and  his  senses,  one  by  one, 
were  covered  with  an  oblivious  veil  through  which  no  thought,  no  perception  of  external 
things,  could  penetrate.  He  fell  into  a  sort  of  coma  almost  as  deep  as  death  ;  iudeed,  it 
was  believed  by  the  officers  and  men,  including  Dr.  Chanca,  that  the  hour  of  the  Admiral 
had  come.  They  accordingly  set  all  sail  and,  catching  a  favoring  trade  wind,  bore  off 
lirectly  for  the  harbor  of  Isabella,  where  on  the  29th  of  September,  1494,  they  arrived, 
bringing  back  Columbus,  who,  though  still  living,  was  wholly  insensible. 

The  joy  felt  by  those  who  had  remained  faithful  to  the  government  of  Diego  was  ver>' 
great  when  they  saw  the  squadron  of  three  vessels  making  into  the  bay,  but  the  jubilation 
was  quickly  chilled  when  the  knowledge  of  the  Admiral's  condition  became  known. 

We  may  here  obser\'e  that  it  was  nearly  five  months  from  the  time  that  he  was  stricken 
down  before  Columbus  recovered  his  health,  and  even  at  the  expiration  of  that  long  period 
of  debilit}'  his  powers  were  not  fully  restored.  Indeed,  advancing  age  prevented  rejuvena- 
tion and  he  was  never  himself  again.  His  restoration  was  due  in  the  largest  measure  to 
the  unfaltering  care  of  Father  Juan  Perez,  who,  having  shared  with  the  Admiral  all  the  dis- 
appointments and  hardships  of  the  recent  voyage,  could  not  be  persuaded  to  leave  him  at 
any  time  throughout  the  long  period  of  his  severe  illness,  but  watched  unremittingly  beside 
the  couch  of  his  sick  friend,  speaking  words  of  encouragement  and  ministering  in  ever\ 
possible  way  to  his  needs. 

MEETING   BETWEEN   COLUMBUS  AND    HIS   BROTHER— A   STORV  OF  ADVENTURE. 

When  Columbus  opened  his  eyes  to  consciousness,  after  mau\'  da\s  of  insensibilitv,  he 
found  his  brother  Bartholomew  standing  by  his  side.  His  surprise  was  not  only  inexpressi- 
ble but  for  a  while  he  believed  himself  dreaming  and  that  his  mind  was  still  held  fast  in 
the  shackles  of  the  disease  that  had  stricken  him  down  ;  and  well  it  might  be  so,  for  long 
had  it  been  since  he  had  seen  the  face  of  his  faithful  and  resolute  brother.  How,  then,  and 
why  had  Bartholomew  Columbus  come  so  far  to  receive  and  minister  to  his  half-dead 
brother?  The  stor>-  is  long  and  full  of  interest,  but  we  may  not  here  pause  to  enter  fully 
into  the  episodes  and  details  of  the  extended  adventures  which  had  kept  Bartholomew  at 
the  courts  of  Europe.  The  reader  will  readily  recall  the  situation  of  affairs  at  the  time  when 
Columbus'  mule  was  turned  about  on  the  bridge  of  Pinos  on  the  evening  of  the  last  day  of 
his  appeal  for  the  patronage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Believing  that  his  cause  was  ended 
in  Spain,  Columbus  had  despatched  Bartholomew  to  the  court  of  Henr>-  VII.,  of  England, 
to  propose  to  that  monarch  the  project  of  discover)'.  Tradition  tells  us,  for  the  facts  may 
not  be  obtained  from  any  authenticated  histcn*-,  that  the  ves.sel  in  which  he  sailed  was  run 
down  by  pirates,  who,  after  despoiling  the  ship  of  ail  its  valuables,  left  the  crew  on  some 
shore  which  is  not  named  in  the  stor\'.  Bartholomew,  robbed  of  his  resources,  was  for  a 
long  time  harassed  by  pressing  want,  his  poverty  being  the  greater  because  of  his  ignorance 
of  the  language  of  the  people  among  whom  he  was  thus  harshh-  thrown.  It  was,  therefore, 
several  vears  before  he  succeeded  in  reaching  England,  and  having  at  last  arrived  at  that 
country-  he  was  compelled  to  spend  two  years  more  in  acquiring  the  English  language, 
learning  the  usages  of  the  people,  and  in  oilierwise  preparing  himself  to  properly  appear  at 


206 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  court  of  that  nation.  It  was  not  until  the  middle  of  1493,  it  is  said,  that  he  obtained 
an  audience  with  the  king,  to  whom  he  first  presented  a  painted  atlas,  and  then  followed 
his  request  for  aid  to  Christopher's  enterprise  with  such  convincing  reasoning  that  the  mon- 
arch not  only  welcomed  the  proposal,  but  signified  his  desire  to  enter  as  quickly  as  possible 
upon  the  preliminaries  of  a  contract,  acceding  to  the  demands  made  in  the  stipulations  which 
Christopher  had  presented  to  the  King  of  Portugal. 

Rejoicing  at  the  success  of  his  mission  to  England,  Bartholomew  departed  in  great 
haste  to  seek  his  brother.  While  passing  through  Paris  on  his  way  back  to  Spain  he 
was  first  infonned  of  the  discover}-  of  the  New  World  and  of  the  triumphal  reception  of 
the  great  discoverer  by  the  Majesties  of  Spain  and  Portugal.  Immediately  Charles  VIII. 
heard  of  Bartholomew's  presence  in  Paris  he  sent  for  him,  and  not  onl)'  welcomed  him 
as  the  brother  of  the  most  distinguished  explorer  of  the  world's  history-,  but,  finding  him 
in  need  of  money,  induced  Bartholomew  to  accept  a  hundred  gold  crowns  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  his  return  to  Spain. 

A  SAD  DISAPPOINTMENT  TO   BARTHOLOMEW. 

Not  considering  that  it  was  now  important  to  hasten  his  journey  Bartholomew  remained 
a  while  in  France,  and  when  he  reached  Seville  it  was  to  learn  that  Christopher  had 
departed  on  his  second  voyage.  Greath-  disappointed  at  being  thus  prevented  from 
accompanying  him  Bartholomew  visited  Dona  Beatrix,  at  Cordova,  and  then  took  his 
nephews  Diego  and  Fernando,  who  were  studying  there,  to  Valladolid  and  presented 
them  at  Court,  where  they  were  tenderly  received  and  retained  for  a  considerable  while. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  both  much  impressed  by  the  chivalric  bearing  of  Bar- 
tholomew, as  well  as  by  his  knowledge  of  many  languages,  including  Latin,  Portug^iese, 
Spanish,  Danish,  and  English,  and  for  his  great  skill  as  a  navigator.  To  show  her  appre- 
ciation of  his  several  conspicuous  attainments  and  merits  the  Queen  granted  him  letter^  of 
nobility  and  the  command  of  three  ships,  which  she  ordered  him  to  load  with  provisions 
and  take  to  the  colony  in  Hispaniola.  When  he  arrived  at  Isabella,  however,  he  found 
that  the  Admiral  had  started  upon  his  second  exploration  of  Cuba,  and  he  was  therefore 
compelled  to  endure  the  anxiety  of  five  months'  further  separation  before  circumstances 
pemitted  him  to  greet  at  last  the  distinguished  brother  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  more 
than  eight  long  and  eventful  years. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


FIRST  SUBJUGATION  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

VER  the  whole  island  of  Hispaniola  there  brooded  the  spirit  of 
disquiet,  which  only  needed  the  Admiral's  absence  to  bring 
forth    insubordination    and    riotous    spoliation.      Following 
his  departure  the  succeeding  events    may  be  thus   briefly 
traced:    As  for  the  local  affairs  at  Isabella    the  administra- 
tion had  been  conducted  with   tolerable  success   and  con- 
formably with  the  Admiral's  instructions.     It  was  only  as  the 
colony  had  been  embroiled  by  the  conduct  of  Margarite, 
leader  of  the  military  expedition  in  the  interior,  that  con- 
fusion,  clamor,  and  injustice  had  arisen  among  the  colonists  of 
the   coast.       It    should  be  said  once  for   all  that   Don    Diego 
Columbus,  whom  the  Admiral  had  left  in  authority',  was  a  man 
of  mild  manners  and  moderate  characteristics  such  as  unsuited 
him  to  a  considerable  degree  for  the  responsibilities  and  duties  of  this 
rough  frontier  government.     But  doubtless  he  would  have  succeeded 
better  had  he  not  been  from  the  first  impeded  and  treated  with  contempt  by 
the  militarj-  commandant  and  his  followers. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  by  the  Admiral's  order  Ojeda  was  assigned  to  the  com- 
mand of  Fort  St.  Thomas  and  the  leadership  of  the  exploring  expedition  to  Margarite. 
The  latter  was  strictly  enjoined  to  explore  the  mountain  region  and  if  possible  discover 
the  sources  of  gold.  He  was  also  to  traverse  as  far  as  possible  the  five  provinces  of  the 
island  and  prepare  himself  by  actual  observation  and  experience  to  report  on  the  products 
and  resources  of  even.-  district  visited.  But  astonishing  to  relate,  this  reckless  and  obsti- 
nate commander,  as  soon  as  he  knew  that  the  Admiral  had  gone  forth  on  his  voyage  of 
discovery-,  discarded  his  instructions  and  entered  upon  a  career  of  insubordination  and 
wickedness  so  flagrant  as  to  brand  him  with  the  contempt,  if  not  the  hatred,  of  after  time. 
Instead  of  going  forward  to  explore  the  gold-bearing  mountains  of  Cibao — instead  even 
of  marching  northward  through  the  countries  of  unvisited  and  unknown  caciques — Margarite 
turned  about  from  Fort  St.  Thomas,  marched  back  into  the  populous  and  fertile  regions  of 
the  \'ega  Real,  and  quartered  himself  and  his  men  among  the  native  villages.  Here  he  be- 
gan at  once  a  course  of  inaction,  licentiousness  and  outrage  so  brutal  and  vile  as  to  defy 
narration.  They  began  their  abuse  of  the  natives  by  violently  appropriating  whatever 
pleased  them,  paying  nothing  for  their  provisions,  taking  what  they  wotild,  and  waste- 
fully  destroying  the  residue. 

It  was  not  long  until  the  supplies  in  the  villages  ran  low  and  the  natives  found  them- 
selves without  food.  At  the  same  time  the  vSpaniards  began  to  take  all  tJie  gold  which 
the  Indians  had  gathered,  with  no  pains  to  recompense  them  even  with  trinket.s.  The  next  step 
was  to  compel  the  natives  to  gather  more  of  the  shining  dust  for  their  masters.  The  latter 
assumed  the  manner  of  slave-drivers   and  abu.sed  the  timid  people  of  the  towns  as  though 

I  207  > 


208  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

they  were  dogs  and  cattle.  From  seeking  wives  respectfully,  the  Spaniards  began  to  claim 
the  native  women  and  to  take  tliem  without  regard  to  the  rights  or  rank  of  the  fathers, 
husbands  and  brothers.  The  women  of  the  villages  were  in  the  power  of  the  stranger, 
and  mere  hist  ran  riot  until  the  barbaric  nature  of  the  islanders,  however  meek  and 
subserv'ient,  could  bear  it  no  longer. 

REBELLION  OF  MARGARITE  AND  BUYL. 
While  this  reign  of  shame  and  wickedness  prevailed  in  the  villages  of  the  Vega,  undei 


MARGARITE    AND   VICAR    lil'XX    REBEL    AGAINST   DON    DIEGO. 

th-  example  and  leadership  of  Margarite,  the  evil  extended  along  social  and  political  lines 
to  the  colony  at  Isabella.  In  general  the  Hidalgo  element  among  the  Spaniards  fell  into 
sympathy  with  Margarite.  When  the  news  of  the  proceedings  of  the  latter  were  carried  to 
Don  Diego  he  immediately  laid  the  matter  before  his  council,  and  the  result  was  a  letter   of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA  2i)'3 

Tcbuke  to  the  offendinjj  officer  and  his  coininand.  He  was  reminded  of  the  instructions 
which  had  been  given  him  b\-  the  Admiral,  and  directed,  in  compHance  therewith,  to  break 
off  from  his  comipt  life  in  the  Vega  and  prosecute  the  expedition  of  discoverv.  Instead, 
however,  of  accepting  this  authoritative  paper  and  obeying  it,  Margarite  broke  into  open 
rebellion.  He  renounced  Diego  Columbus  and  the  council,  declaring  himself  independent, 
and  affecting  contempt  for  the  par\-enu  Columbuses,  who,  through  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune, 
had  gained  a  rank  under  which  they  thought  to  lord  it  over  men  having  in  their  blood 
noble  currents  of  ancient  Spain. 

In  this  contumacy  the  captain  was  supported  by  the  reckless  young  nobles  of  the  colony, 
whom,  as  the  reader  will  remember,  the  Admiral  himself  had  found  so  much  difficulty  ia 
controlling.  The  general  result  was  the  establishment  of  an  aristocratical  faction  in  the 
island,  embracing  the  Hidalgos  and  all  the  Adullamites  of  the  colon)-.  The  name  of  these 
was  legion,  and  legitimate  authority  was  soon  paralyzed  in  their  presence. 

Perhaps  after  all  Diego  and  the  council  might  have  been  able  to  maintain  order  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  defection  of  the  Vicar  Buyl  and  his  subordinate  ecclesiastics.  Those 
priests,  including  Father  Perez,  who  were  faithful  to  the  Admiral  first  and  last,  had  gener- 
ally accompanied  him  on  his  voyages,  while  the  Buyl  faction  remained  in  the  island  and 
had  gone  o\-er  in  a  body  to  the  malcontents.  In  such  a  state  of  affairs  sedition  was 
the  natural,  perhaps  the  inevitable,  result.  When  Bartholomew  Columbus  arrived  disorder 
was  king.  Nor  had  he  any  other  than  moral  force  with  which  to  support  his  brother  in  the 
government.  On  the  other  hand  Margarite  felt  himself  strong.  He  had  the  backing  of 
the  nobilit}-  and  the  priesthood.  Besides,  both  he  and  Bu)l  belie\ed  with  good  reason 
that  they  stood  well  with  Ferdinand,  and  that  the  Admiral  was  not,  and  never  had  been,  in 
great  favor  with  the  monarch. 

Thus  fortified  by  the  circumstances,  jMargarite  and  the  vicar  made  a  conspiracy  to  seize 
the  three  ships  constituting  the  fleet  of  Bartholomew  Columbus  and  to  sail  back  to  Spain, 
where  the  whole  cave  of  Adullam  might  discharge  itself  in  the  royal  court.  The  enter- 
prise gathered  head,  and  this  time  was  successful.  The  mutineers  seized  the  vessels,  and 
under  the  lead  of  Margarite  and  the  Vicar  Buyl  sailed  away  for  the  mother  countrj-.  Xor 
was  there  any  power  to  prevent  them  from  doing  so.  Among  the  many  squadrons  bearing 
from  port  to  port  of  our  poor  world  their  cargoes  of  lies,  this  seditious  fleet,  commanded  by 
a  brigand  and  a  priest,  was  conspicuous  for  earning  the  heaviest  load. 
A  BLOODY  RETRIBUTION  VISITED  ON  THE  SPANIARDS. 

All  this  was  done  long  before  the  return  of  the  Admiral.  As  for  the  anny,  whether 
in  the  \'ega  Real  or  straggling  back  to  Isabella,  it  had  no  longer  a  commander  and 
quickly  fell  to  pieces  of  neglect  and  insubordination.  The  soldiers  broke  into  bands  and 
ranged  at  will  among  the  Indian  towns,  taking  the  same  course  of  vice,  outrage  and 
depravity  which  they  had  pursued  with  the  consent  and  by  the  example  of  Margarite. 
The  natives,  driven  to  desperation,  at  length  rose  against  the  wretched  criminals  who  had 
violated  ever>'  principle  of  honor  and  decency,  and  the  Spaniards  soon  began  to  feel  the 
sting  of  retributive  justice.  In  one  case  ten  of  the  straggling  soldiers  were  taken  bv  Ciiief 
Guarione.x  and  put  to  death  without  much  regard  to  form.  He  next  succeeded  in  throwing 
a  large  force  of  his  warriors  around  tlie  fortress,  where  another  band  numbering  forty-six 
had  taken  possession,  and  the  houses  were  fired.  Almost  all  of  tlic  Spaniards  perished, 
either  in  the  flames  or  by  the  darts  of  the  enemy.  In  the  next  place  the  garrison  of  a  lit- 
tle block-house  called  Magdalena  was  cooped  up  in  a  siege  and  was  unable  to  extricate 
itself  until  reinforcements  were  sent  out  from  Isabella. 
»4 


210 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


The  situation  was  sufficiently  alarming.  As  soon  as  the  Admiral's  health  was  in  a 
measure  restored  he  applied  himself  with  diligence  to  the  restoration  of  order.  Matters 
had  now  gone  so  far,  however,  that  mere  personal  kindness  could  not  avail,  and  diplomacy 
had  to  give  place  to  war.  The  greater  part  of  all  the  islanders  had  become  positively 
hostile.  There  were,  as  we  have  said,  in  Hispaniola  five  provinces  or  principal  cacique- 
doms.  The  first  and  most  northerly  of  these  was  called  Marien  in  the  native  tongue,  and 
was  ruled  over  by  Guacana-  R..'-_^^^^g^rfe^^,.44}.,iifeA;i't;-jJiiiVv-^-,^-;A^v:-.:...v,,..:;^-'v:.: ..,:;,:. ■s::;,-kify:!;si:i,^^\v 
gari.  The  second  was  called 
.Magiiaiia,  lying  on  the 
soutliern  coast  between  the 
lagoons  and  the  river  Ozema. 
The  third  was  the  great  cen- 
tral province  of  Xaragua, 
lying  over  to  the  south-west 
and  having  for  its  most 
conspicuous  physical  feature 
the  great  headland  called 
Cape  Tiburon.  The  fourth 
division  was  called  Higiicy, 
and  occupied  the  eastern 
extremit}^  of  the  island  as 
far  north  as  Samana  Bay 
and  the  River  Yuna.  The 
fifth  and  most  important  of 
all  included  the  great,  fer- 
tile and  populous  plain  of 
the  V'cgia  Real. 

As  we  have  said,  the  ruler  of  the  first-named 
district  was  that  Guacanagari  whose  generous  friend- 
ship had  been  extended  to  Columbus  in  the  perilous 
day  when  the  Saii/a  Maria  was  wrecked  on  the  coast. 
The  second  cacique,  by  far  the  ablest  and  most  war- 
like, was  of  Carib  extraction  and  was,  as  the  reader 
knows,  called  Caonabo  (King  of  the  Golden  Realm). 
The  third  ruler  was  named  Behechio.  He  it  was 
whose  sister,  the  peerless  beauty  Anacaona,  was  the 
wife  of  King  Caonabo.  The  cacique  of  Higuey 
was  named  Cotubanama,  whose  subjects  had  many  Carib  elements  in  their  disposition, 
but  who  was  not  himself  of  a  warlike  character.  The  cacique  of  the  Vega  Real  region 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  that  Guarionex  with  whom  for  about  six  months  the  Spaniards  had 
been  in  close  relations. 

BEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES. 

Of  these  five  caciques  four  were  now  hostile  to  the  Spaniards,  and  possibly  Guacana- 
gari might  himself  have  been  added  to  the  league  but  for  the  fact  that  the  others,  suspect- 
ing his  tinchangeable  friendship  for  the  foreigiiers,  had  attacked  him  in  his  own  village,  and 
besides  massacring  several  of  his  people  had  killed  the  beautiful  Catalina,  who,  it  will  be 
remembered,  escaped  from  Columbus'  vessel  and  fled  into  the  forest,  where  she  was  directly 


COLUMBUS   AXn   COLUMBIA. 


•JU 


afterwards  followed  by  the  chief  who  made  her  his  wife.  This  violent  outrage  confirmed 
the  friendly  feclint^  which  he  had  before  entertained  for  the  Spaniards,  and  to  their 
fortunes  he  now  attached  himself  more  firmly  than  e\er.  Immediately  upon  the  Admiral's 
return  Guacanagari  opened  communication  with  him  and  supplied  valuable  iuformatiou 
respecting  the  movements  that  were  going  on  in  the  island,  and  otherwist  manifested  his 
deep  concern  for  the  welfare  of  his  visitors,  so  that  he  completely  dispelled  all  suspicions 
which  Columbus  had  formerly  entertained. 

The  popidation  of  Hispaniola  at  this  time  was  variously  estimated  at  from  five  hun- 
dred thousand  to  a  million,  a  number  sufficiently  great  to  more  than  compensate  for  the 
poor  weapons  with  which  they  had  to  make  the  attack.  They  were  naked  as  to  their 
bodies,  having  no  defensive  armor,  while  their  weapons  extended  no  further  than  a  hard- 
ened shaft  of  wood  pointed  with  bone,  which  served  the  purpose  of  a  lance,  and  in  the 
matter  of  discipline  they  were  barbarians.  But  they  were  very  courageous,  and  having 
ojeat   confidence    in   the 


su- 
periority of  numbers,  they 
made  bold  to  attack  the 
Spaniards  even  in  their  de- 
fenses. In  going  to  battle 
the  natives  advanced  in  a  dis- 
organized body,  every  warrior 
being  allowed  to  direct  his 
own  attack  from  such  covert 
as  he  might  find. 

Though  something  was 
to  be  feared  from  the  mere 
pressure  of  numbers,  the 
Spaniards  might  in  other  re- 
spects smile  at  the  puny  rage 
of  these  naked  men  of  the 
forest  as  they  howled  from 
the  thickets  and  discharged 
their  harmless  darts.  Caonabo 

was,  by  general  consent,  com-  caonaho  at  thk  hicad  di-  ms  army. 

mandant  of  the  native  force,  and  besides  being  at  the  head  of  the  most  powerful  tribe 
on  the  island,  he  possessed  many  special  qualities,  chief  of  which  were  coitragc  and 
sagacit\',  and  with  eflfective  weapons  he  would  have  been  a  formidable  antagonist.  He  had 
not  failed  to  note  the  dissipated  and  wretched  bands  of  Margarite's  army,  which  had  been 
destroyed  or  expelled  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  on  his  borders,  and  he  now  naturally 
directed  his  attention  to  Fort  St.  Thomas,  which  he  knew  to  be  poorly  defended,  and  de- 
termined to  assault  and  destroy  that  place,  as  he  had  done  La  Natividad.  At  the  head  of 
ten  thousand  men  he  advanced  cautiously  to  the  vicinity  of  the  fort;,  expecting  to  surprise 
the  garrison  and  overwhelm  them  before  the\-  were  able  to  make  preparations  to  receive  him. 
Rut  in  this  he  was  fatally  deceived.  The  command  of  the  fort  liad  been  entrusted  to  Ojcda, 
who  was  not  likely  to  be  caught  off"  his  guard,  for  of  all  men  among  tlie  Spaniards  he  was 
the  most  alert,  intrepid  and  active.  Discovering  before  he  made  his  attack  that  the  garri- 
son wa-s  ready  to  receive  him,  Caonabo  changed  his  tactics,  and  instead  of  attempting  to  carry 
it  by  assault  contented  himself  with  surrounding  the  fort  with  the  hope  of  compelling  it 
to  yield  through  famine. 


212  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

A  BRAVE  MAN'S  SELF-DENIAL. 

This  siege  continued  for  a  month,  and  brought  the  Spaniards  to  such  great  distress  that 
thev  were  compelled  to  resort  to  ever>-  expedient  in  order  to  obtain  supplies.  Occasional 
sorties  were  made  by  Ojeda,  by  which  a  few  provisions  were  procured,  but  the  main  depend- 
ence of  the  garrison  was  in  the  assistance  brought  to  them  by  friendly  Indians,  who  man- 
aged on  many  occasions  to  smuggle  in  small  supplies  of  food.  A  characteristic  anecdote 
is  presented  of  the  coming  in  of  one  of  the  friendly  Indians  with  two  wood-pigeons  for  Ojeda. 
When  they  were  given  to  him  some  of  the  officers  looked  wistfully  at  the  birds  as  though 
they  would  devour  them  alive.  Thereupon  Ojeda  took  the  pigeons  to  a  window  and  toss- 
ing them  forth  into  the  air,  said,  "  It's  a  pity  there  isn't  enough  for  all  of  us."  "  It  is  plain 
that  such  a  character  as  this  would  not  easily  succumb  to  any  of  the  harsh  conditions  which 
the  siege  might  impose.  This  long  delay  also  affected  the  hostile  Indians,  who,  obser\dng 
how  futile  had  been  the  results  of  the  siege,  began  to  desert,  until  at  the  expiration  of  a 
nionth  Caonabo's  forces  were  so  much  reduced  in  numbers  that  he  decided  to  retire  from  the 
countr}-.  But  his  ill  success  in  the  long  effort  to  destroy  the  Spaniards  at  Fort  St.  Thomas 
abated  none  of  his  detennination  to  visit  a  sufficient  punishment  upon  his  aggressors,  and 
accordingly  Caonabo  retired  into  the  countr\'  and  for  a  season  used  all  his  efforts  in  central- 
izing the  power  of  the  several  chiefs,  whose  consent  he  at  length  obtained  to  make  a  demon- 
stration against  the  colony  at  Isabella.  A  league  having  thus  been  formed,  Caonabo  made 
an  examination  of  the  surroundings  of  Isabella,  and  found  that  an  attack  on  that  place  might 
be  made  with  ever\'  promise  of  success.  The  garrison  was  small  and  the  fort  was  nothing 
like  so  strone  as  that  at  Fort  St.  Thomas,  besides  Caonabo  had  ever\-  reason  to  believe  that 
the  commandant  possessed  little  of  the  skill  and  brave-}'  of  Ojeda.  But  the  expectations  of 
Caonabo  were  yet  a  long  ways  from  realization.  He  fo:ind  directly  that  even  the  promises 
of  the  chiefs  themselves  might  not  be  implicitly  relied  on,  while  Guacanagari  was  a  con- 
stant menace  to  the  success  of  his  plans.  Columbus  was  duly  apprised  of  the  intentions  of 
the  natives,  and  adopted  the  most  energetic  measures  to  repel  and  break  up  the  Indian  con- 
federacy. His  first  step  was  to  make  sure  of  the  condition  of  his  three  forts  in  the  Vega  Real, 
after  which,  throiigh  some  influential  Indians,  he  succeeded  in  opening  communications 
with  Guarionex,  who  had  joined  the  league  with  some  misgivings.  While  not  succeeding 
in  securing  his  assistance,  he  obtained  a  promise  that  in  case  of  hostilities  he  would  main- 
tain a  neutral  attitude.  But  Columbus  was  not  content  with  the  bare  promise  of  the  chief, 
and  in  order  to  bind  him  to  a  performance  of  his  agreement  Columbus  sought  the  daughter 
of  the  cacique  and  gave  her  in  marriage  to  his  interpreter,  Diego,  the  Guanahanian.  He  also 
obtained  the  consent  of  the  chief  to  build  a  fortress  in  his  territory',  to  which  the  name  of 
Fort  Conception  was  given.      This  gave  the  Spaniards  an  advantage  which  they  were  not 

slow  to  appreciate. 

A  HAZARDOUS  ENTERPRISE. 

By  this  time  Columbus  had  come  to  believe  that  a  great  part  of  the  strength  of  the 
confederation  lay  in  Caonabo  himself,  and  it  was  evident  that  that  great  chieftain  furnished 
the  energy,  the  spirit  and  the  warlike  skill  of  the  whole  movement.  It  therefore  seemed 
essential  that  by  some  means,  fair  or  foul,  Caonabo  should  be  captured.  This,  however, 
was  no  easy  task,  whether  by  force  or  by  stratagem.  Yet  the  situation  was  precisely  of  the 
kind  to  evoke  the  adventurous  spirit  and  genius  of  Ojeda.  That  captain,  after  considering 
the  nature  of  the  thing  to  be  done,  volunteered  to  kidnap  Caonabo  and  to  bring  him  a  pris- 
oner to  the  Admiral.  From  the  very  nature  of  things  such  an  enterprise  was  more  easily 
conceived  than  accomplished.  But  Ojeda  was  equal  to  the  emergency,  and  with  a  small 
company   of   horsemen  he  sallied  forth   into   the  territories  of  Caonabo,    bent   upon    his 


COLUMBUS    AND    COLUMHIA.  213 

desperate  enteqjrise.  In  the  meaiitinie,  by  some  ineans  whicli  liistory  has  not  made  suffi- 
ciently plain,  Ojeda  had  succeeded  in  establishing  some  friendly  relations  with  Caoiiabo, 
whose  admiration  might  possibly  have  been  excited  by  the  resolute  resistance  with  which 
that  brave  Spaniard  had  met  the  attack  of  the  over^vhelming  force  of  natives  at  Fort  vSL 
Thomas. 

At  all  events,  it  is  declared  that  Ojeda  went  into  the  territory  of  Caonabo  under  the 
cover  of  friendship,  and  upon  his  approaching  in  the  character  of  an  ambassador  he  was 
readily  pennitted  to  enter  the  chief's  village.  Ojeda  had  formed  his  j)lans  with  his  u.sual 
skill  in  warfare,  his  idea  being  to  gain  the  chieftain's  confidence  and  then  to  allure  him  by 
some  specious  promises  to  Isabella,  where  he  might  be  .seized  and  confined.  He  first  tried 
the  stratagem  of  the  bell.  The  Spaniards  of  the  colony  had  erected  a  small  chapel  and 
placed  a  bell  in  the  steeple,  which  as  good  Catholics  they  were  constantly  ringing.  The 
music  of  this  resonant  monitor  rang  out  on  llie  morning  air  and  fell  on  the  astonished  ears 
of  the  natives.  In  answer  to  their  expressions  of  surprise  they  were  told  that  the  bell  was 
calling  the  people  to  prayers.  So  the  myth  was  scattered  abroad  that  the  metallic  voice  in 
the  steeple  was  a  living  thing — a  spirit  that  could  cry  out  and  summon  the  Spaniards  to 
worship.  Great,  therefore,  was  the  fame  of  this  bell,  a  delusion  whicli  Ojeda  encouraged 
by  adding  many  embellishments,  until  the  interest  of  the  natives  was  thoroughly  aroused. 
And  he  finally  told  Caonabo  that  if  he  would  repair  to  Isabella  and  make  a  treat\-  of  friend- 
ship with  the  Admiral  he  should  have  the  marvellous  bell  as  a  present  for  himself  His 
desire  was  so  great  to  possess  this  wondrous  relic  that  Caonabo  took  the  bait,  though  warily. 
He  made  his  preparations  to  visit  the  Spanish  colon\-,  but  called  a  large  body  of  his  best 
warriors  to  go  with  him.  When  Ojeda  protested  that  this  was  not  necessar)-  the  caciqf.e 
replied  that  it  would  be  unbecoming  in  him  as  a  king  to  go  about  the  countn,-  without  the 
company  of  a  royal  guard. 

A  STRATAGEM  WHICH   LED  TO  THE  CAPTURE  OF  CAONABO 

Perceiving  what  might  be  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  seize  Caonabo  when  surrounded 
by  a  large  body  of  native  soldiery,  Ojeda  abandoned  this  first  scheme  and  adopted  another 
equally  bold  expedient.  Believing  that  he  might  have  need  of  such  instruments,  Ojeda  had 
taken  with  him  into  the  Indian  country-  some  manacles,  or  handcuffs,  which  the  Spaniards 
humorou.sly  called  espoitsas,  or  "wives."  This  significant  apparatus  was  made  of  bra.ss  and 
steel,  polished  to  perfect  brightness.  These  Ojeda  displayed  one  day  to  Caonabo,  and  when 
the  cacique  inquired  about  them  he  was  informed  that  they  were  a  kind  of  ornament  which, 
in  the  country  across  the  ocean,  were  worn  only  by  kings  and  queens.  Such  jcwclr>',  he 
was  told,  the  monarchs  of  Castile  always  wore  when  they  went  to  bathe,  or  to  dance,  or  to 
preside  at  festivals.  Having  thus  excited  both  his  interest  and  desire,  he  finally  told 
Caonabo  that  as  a  token  of  honor  he  himself  might  wear  them  when  thc\-  went  to  the 
river  for  his  bath  ;  that  the  cacique  should  play  Spanish  king,  and  he,  Ojeda,  would  show 
him  how  it  was  done.  In  such  a  proposition  Caonabo  could  discover  no  ground  of  sus- 
picioii.  He  accordingly  accepted  the  invitation  and  the  manacles  were  adjusted  to  his 
wrists.  When  the  bath  was  finished,  Ojeda  courteously  assisting,  the  cacique  was  told  that 
the  Spani.sh  king  on  such  occasions  always  mountetl  behind  one  of  his  courtiers  after  the 
bath  and  thus  rode  triumphantly  back  to  his  palace  ;  but  it  was  the  custom  of  Spain  that 
the  courtier  should  direct  his  horse  in  circles,  like  the  flight  >)f  a  bird.  To  all  these  things 
consenting,  the  cacique  was  mounted  Ijehiud  Ojeda  on  the  back  of  a  ven.-  fine  and  fleet 
horse,  and  putting  spurs  to  the  animal  they  began  to  circle  round  and  round,  Ojeda  at  the 
same  time  giving  the  signal  to  the  Spaniards  who  had   accompanied  him   to  mount.      He 


214 


COLUAIBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


made  the  circles  larger  and  larger,  for  that  was  no  doubt  the  wa>-  the  king  of  Castile  did 
on  such  occasions  !  At  length,  however,  when  the  curve  of  the  comedy  swung  out  near 
the  edge  of  the  woods,  the  tangential  force  became  too  great  for  Ojeda,  and  putting  spurs 
to  his  horse  he  stnick  away  with  his  prisoner  at  full  gallop  into  the  forest. 

The  Spanish  troop  continued  its  flight  through  villages,  fighting  and  charging,  swam 
rivers,  plunged   through   thickets,  and  by  this  fierce   riding  brought   back   in  triumph  to 

Isabella  the  astonished 


and  humiliated  Caon- 
abo.  vStrange  enough, 
the  rage  of  the  cacique 
was  directed  not 
against  Ojeda  whose 
skill  in  war  and  ex- 
ploit he  regarded  as  the 
most  marvellous  things 
in  histor}-,  but  rather 
against  the  Admiral, 
who  he     declared  had 


.^'^ 


yi^^'::mfK^ 


A   DESPKRATE    ADVENTURE. 


acted  in    the   most    cowardly    manner  by  keeping  himself  within   his  borders   while    his 
brave  captain  had  gone  forth  and  by  adroitness  had  made  prisoner  a  king. 

A  BATTLE  AND   REPULSE  OF  THE  NATIVES. 
Caonabo  was  placed  in  confinement  in  a  room  of  the  Admiral's  own  house  and  was 
treated  for  the  time  with  the  distinction  and   courtes)-  usuall\-  accorded  to  royal  prisoners. 
But  notwithstanding  this  considerate  treatment  and  the  fact  that  the  head  of  the  confed- 
eracy was  now  in  confinement,  the  duplicity  by  which  he  was  taken  aroused  the  subjects  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   CUIAMHIA.  210 

Caonabo  to  still  greater  hostility.  During  his  captivitx'  a  league  of  the  three  principal 
caciques  was  consolidated  under  a  brother  of  the  captive  king  who  had  now  become 
eacique  in  his  stead.  War  alanns  began  to  be  sounded  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  island, 
and  in  an  incredibly  short  time  an  army  of  seven  thousand  Indians  advanced  against  Fort 
St.  Thomas.  Rut  Ojeda,  learning  of  the  movement  and  anticipating  the  prospects  of 
another  siege,  increased  his  force  by  a  detachment  sent  to  him  by  Bartholomew  Columbus, 
who  had  received  an  appointment  as  Lieutenant-GoN'eruor,  and  boldly  marched  forth  to 
gi\e  them  battle.  By  forced  inarches  he  came  upon  the  Indians  when  they  were  least 
expecting  his  presence,  and  fell  upon  them  with  such  fury  that  the  natives  were  quickly 
routed  and  driven  in  all  directions  before  the  charge  of  the  cavalry. 

In  the  meantime  affairs  at  Isabella  had  greatly  improved  by  the  arrival  of  four  cara- 
vels under  the  command  of  .Vntonio  de  Torres,  bringing  a  good  supply  of  pro\-isions, 
medicines,  clothing  and  merchandise,  and  also  several  arti.sans  ver\-  needful  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  colony.  As  for  the  .\dmiral  he  was  particularlv  delighted  1)\-  the  receipt 
of  a  package  of  documents  from  their  Majesties,  in  which  among  other  things  were  some 
letters  filled  with  expressions  of  regard  and  high  compliment.  His  whole  course  of  man- 
agement was  heartih'  approved,  and  tlie  pleasing  intelligence  was  conveyed  that  all  serious 
difficulties  with  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  which  were  pending  at  the  time  of  Columbus'  last 
departure,  had  been  adjusted,  with  a  compromise  involving  a  new  line  of  division.  To 
detennine  the  tnie  place  of  the  line  the  sovereigns  thought  it  expedient  that  Columbus 
should  return  to  Europe,  bringing  his  charts  with  him;  but  in  case  he  could  not  conveniently 
leave  the  colony  he  was  instructed  to  send  some  one  in  his  stead.  In  compliance  with 
this  request  of  the  King  and  Queen,  the  .\dmiral,  who  could  not  leave  the  colony  in  its 
present  condition,  commissioned  Diego  Columbus  to  return  to  Spain  and  aid  their  Majesties 
in  the  settlement  of  their  business  with  the  Portuguese  Court. 

Other  things  n:ore  important  than  the  mutters  referred  to  in  their  Majesties'  com- 
munication concerned  Columbus  and  made  it  very  im])ortant  that  he  sliould  despatch  a 
representative  to  the  Spanish  Court  to  counteract  the  influence  of  Margarite  and  BunI, 
who  were  now  making  their  way  across  the  Atlantic  to  falsely  represent  tlie  Admiral's 
administration  in  the  Indies.  Columbus  knew  well  that  as  .soon  as  the.se  unscrupulous 
but  able  messengers  of  mi.schief  should  reach  the  Spanish  Court  they  would  e.xert  them- 
selves to  the  utmost  to  destroy  his  place  in  the  affections  and  confidence  of  the  sovereigns. 
He  therefore  determined  to  follow  u])  the  emissaries  of  evil  with   an   embass\-  in  his  own 

interests. 

THE  FIRST  SHIP-LOAD  OF  SLAVES. 

Ships  were  at  once  prepared  for  a  home-bound  voyage,  and  the  Eagle  was  despatched 
not  only  as  the  bearer  of  the  charts  requested,  but  with  the  .Admiral's  representative  in  tlie 
affairs  which  now  so  deeply  concerned  him.  Columbus  took  pains  to  send  home  a  large 
contribution  of  gold,  as  great  as  he  could  procure,  and  other  metals  were  added  as  an  evi- 
dence of  the  mineral  wealth  of  Hisjianiola.  The  viceroy  was  also  able  to  supplv  man\- 
new  specimens  of  plants  and  animals,  some  of  which  were  of  value  and  all  of  interest. 
Finally  he  ordered  forth  and  sent  on  board  the  ships  nearly  five  hundred  Indian  captives, 
to  be  sold  a.s  slaves  in  the  markets  of  Spain.  Doubtless  he  thought  by  this  mean.s,  even 
against' the  recent  admonition  of  the  .sovereigns  to  "find  .some  other  way,"  to  add  so 
nmch  to  the  Spanish  treasury  that  the  inhumanity  of  the  enterprise  would  be  overshadowed 
by  the  profit.  It  may  be  said,  in  extenuation  of  this  act,  that  slavcn.'  and  the  .slave  trade  were 
the  ever)-day  and  well-approved  vices  of  .nil   Cliristian  states,  and  that  only  a  few  loftier 


21G  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

minds  had  in  those  ages  of  cruelty  and  gloom  perceived  the  atrocity  and  horror  of  the 
system. 

After  the  departure  of  his  fleet  Columbus  was  left  to  consider  and  solve  the  local  com- 
plications of  his  government.  It  directly  appeared  that  the  decisive  defeat  of  the  natives 
by  Ojeda  had  by  no  means  ended  their  hostility.  Caonabo  had  several  brothers,  all  of 
whom  became  more  active  than  ever  in  exciting  the  Indians  and  fonning  confederations. 
A  powerful  influence  was  also  exerted  by  Anacaona,  the  favorite  wife  of  the  captive  king, 
who  freely  circulated  among  the  tribes,  like  Boadicea  among  the  Britons,  encouraging  the 
caciques  to  renew  the  war.  So  successful  were  her  efforts,  joined  with  those  of  the  cacique's 
brothers,  that  all  the  native  princes  except  Guacanagari  and  Guarionex  were  brought  into 
a  league  by  which  an  army  estimated  at  a  hundred  thousand  men  was  collected  for  a  final 
struggle  with  the  Spaniards.  This  large  force  was  under  the  command  of  Manicaotex,  one 
of  the  brothers  of  Caonabo,  a  warlike  and  able  general  who  had  some  skill  in  arranging  and 
controlling  the  warriors  in  battle.  This  vast  force  had  already  gathered  and  set  out  for  the 
southern  part  of  the  island  to  attack  Isabella  when  infonnation  of  the  impending  avalanche 
was  brought  to  Columbus  by  Guacanagari.  The  Admiral,  though  his  bodily  powers  were 
not  yet  fully  restored,  immediately  prepared  for  the  onset.  He  was  able  to  bring  into  the 
field  only  two  hundred  crossbowmen  and  arquebusiers  and  twenty  cavalrymen,  but  as  allies 
he  had  in  his  ser\'ice  a  great  number  of  the  men  of  Guacanagari,  though  in  such  an 
emergency  reliance  could  be  placed  only  on  the  mailed,  heavily-armed  and  well-disciplined 
soldiers.  Another  element  of  strength,  or  rather  of  ferocity  and  terror,  was  added  to  the 
equipment,  in  the  way  of  twenty  bloodhounds,  whose  malign  instincts  made  them  as 
desperate  in  fight  as  so  many  enraged  tigers. 

Columbus  himself  took  the  field,  with  his  brother  Bartholomew  as  his  chief  com- 
mander. Both  had  skill  and  courage  in  war,  and  though  the  enemy  was  a  host' and  the 
Spaniards  but  a  handful,  the  commanders  little  doubted  the  result  of  the  conflict.   Says  Irving: 

"The  whole  sound  and  effective  force  that  he  could  muster,  however,  in  the  present 
infirm  state  of  the  colony  did  not  exceed  two  hundred  infantry  and  twenty  horse.  They 
were  armed  with  cross-bows,  swords,  lances,  and  espingardas,  or  heavy  arquebuses,  which 
in  those  days  were  used  with  rests  and  sometimes  mounted  on  wheels.  With  these 
fonnidable  weapons  a  handful  of  European  warriors  cased  in  steel  and  covered  with 
bucklers  were  able  to  cope  with  thousands  of  naked  savages.  They  had  aid  of  another 
kind,  however,  consisting  of  twent}'  bloodhounds,  animals  scarcely  less  terrible  to  the 
Indians  than  the  horses  and  infinitely  more  fatal.  They  were  fearless  and  ferocious  ;  nothing 
daunted  them,  nor  when  they  had  once  seized  upon  their  prey  could  anything  compel  them 
to  relinquish  their  hold.  The  naked  bodies  of  the  Indians  offered  no  defence  against  their 
attacks.      They  sprang  on  them,  dragged  them  to  the  earth  and  tore  them  to  pieces." 

A    FURIOUS    CHARGE   OF  SPANISH    CAVALRY. 

Advancing  from  Isabella  the  small  army  made  its  way  to  the  mountain  region  over 
which  lay  the  Pass  of  the  Hidalgos.  The  Indian  forces  advanced  from  the  southwest  across 
the  Vega,  while  the  Spaniards  came  down  from  the  opposite  side  to  the  plain.  The  battle- 
field was  near  the  present  site  of  the  town  of  St.  Jago.  Here,  on  the  29th  of  March,  1495, 
the  opposing  annies  came  in  sight  of  each  other  and  prepared  for  the  conflict.  Small  as 
were  his  forces,  Columbus  divided  his  anny  into  several  detachments  of  thirty  or  forty  men, 
so  as  to  extend  as  much  as  he  could  his  lines  from  right  to  left.  It  was  by  far  the  most 
serious  situation  which  had  yet  appeared  in  the  relations  of  the  two  races  in  the  New  World. 

The  Spaniards,  without  waiting  to  be  attacked,  sounded   their  trumpets,  beat   their 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


217 


dniins,  discharged  their  murderous  arquebuses,  aud  rushed  forward  to  the  attack.  It  was 
impossible  that  tlie  warriors,  however  numerous,  could  withstand  the  assault  wherever  it 
fell.  Ojeda's  troop  of  cavalry  galloped  at  full  speed  with  drawn  swords  among  the  thickest 
aggregations  of  the  enemy,  and  cut  them  do\vn  as  a  mower  might  lay  the  grass.  To  all 
this  havoc  was  added  the  terrible  work  of  the  bloodhounds,  which  rushed  upon  the  Indians 


and  tore  them  to  pieces.  The  spectacle 
was  appalling.  For  a  short  time  along  the 
front  line  there  was  nothing  but  butcher}-, 
and  there  was  more  likelihood  that  tlie 
Spaniards  would  be  exhausted  from  the 
over-exertion  of  killing  than  that  they 
would  receive  injury-  from  the  barbarians. 
Of  course  such  work  could  not  long  be  borne. 
The  Indians  gave  way  before  the  assault 
and  fled  in  all  directions.  Terror  super\-encd,  and  the  wretched  creatures,  panic-stricken 
before  the  charging  cavalr>',  the  raging  bloodhounds  and  the  thundering  arquebu.ses,  taking 
themselves  to  flight,  hid  in  the  woods  and  thickets  or  climbed  into  trees  and  rocky  places  of 
the  cliflTs,  from  which  they  immediately  began  to  set  up  piteous  cries  and  make  signs  of 
submission.  Before  nightfall  the  work  was  done.  The  confederacy  was  utterly  broken  up. 
Nor  was  it  likely  that  any  great  concerted  cfibrt  would  any  more  be  made  to  extcnninate 
the  terrible  foreigners  who  had  got  their  relentless  grip  on  the  island.      It  only  remained  for 


218 


COLUMBUS    AND   COLUMBIA. 


Columbus  to  dictate  what  terms  he  would  to  the  conquered  tribes  and  make  the  most  of  his 
victory. 

For  a  while  after  the  battle  the  Admiral  remained  in  the  field,  marching  from  place  to 
place  through  a  wide  range  of  territor\-,  visiting  the  towns  and  receiving  the  submission  of 
the  caciques.  The  expedition  was  in  tcrrorcm.  Ojeda  with  his  company  of  cavalr\-  dashed 
hither  and  von  through  the  provinces,  and  all  opposition  quailed  before  him.  Guarionex 
was  the  first  to  make  peace.  Soon  Manicaotex  was  humbled  and  brought  to  submission. 
As  for  Behechio  and  Anacaoua,  their  place  was  in  the  long  peninsula  which  reaches  out, 
like  the  left  arm  of  a  cray-fish,  from  the  southwest  shoulder  of  the  island.  The  situation 
was  the  most  inaccessible  of  all,  and  this  cacique  and  his  warlike  sister  were  correspond- 
ingl)'  haught}-  and  unsubdued. 

For  a  time  a  measure  of  independence  was  retained  by  the  natives  of  this  part  of  the 
island  ;  but  in  all  other  parts  the  conquest  was  complete  and  final.  Guacanagari  had  already 
accepted  for  himself  and  his  people  the  position  of  vassals  under  the  viceroy's  government. 
It  only  remained  for  the  latter  to  assess  upon  the  conquered  the  damages  of  war  ;  and  this  he 
proceeded  to  do  in  a  manner  that  might  well  give  a  hint  of  the  terrible  exactions  and  tyran- 
nies and  cruel  grindings  to  which  the  native  races  of  Spanish  America  were  soon  to  be  sub- 
jected by  their  conquerors. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


ENSLAVEMENT  OF   THE   NATIVES  TO    GRATIFY  SPANISH   GREED. 

^()RniI)  ambition,  g^eed,  unappeasable  avarice  consti- 
tuted the  ruling  passions  of  the  Spaniards,  to  which 
other  unholy  aspirations  were  added  as  the  outj^rowths 
of  opportunity.  It  is  an  easy  and  natural  descent  for 
the  covetous,  from  whom  are  removed  the  restraints 
that  keep  in  curb  the  basest  natures  of  man,  to  be- 
come the  voluptuary,  and  under  the  license  which 
savao^e  life  affords,  it  is  not  surprisiufj  that  even  the 
hidalgos,  bom  in  luxur>-,  should  fall  into  excesses 
from  which,  under  better  influences,  they  would  have 
recoiled.  Columbus  has  not  been  accused  of  suc- 
cumbing to  these  evil  temptations,  but  though  he  may 
have  been  at  times  inspired  by  pious  emotions,  and 
was  sincere  in  his  desire  to  extend  Christianity  among 
the  islanders,  it  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  the  a\arice 
in  his  nature  predominated  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
blunt  his  sense  of  justice  and  place  him  on  an  equality 
■with  the  greed-besotted  subjects  who  shared  his  fortunes. 

The  one  centralizing  ambition  of  all  who  had  any  part  in  tlie  expeditions  was  to 
acquire  gold.  If  Columbus  entertained  aspirations  different  from  all  others  associated  in 
his  enterprise,  it  was  because  he  liad  not  been  tainted  by  contact  with  the  rich  before  con- 
ceiving his  grand  project.  But  the  most  tmh'  pious  cannot  remain  long  insensible  to  the  effects 
of  aggrandizement,  and  the  most  humble  nature  is  not  proof  against  the  pride  that  rises  with 
its  own  exaltation.  The  motives  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  became  by  the  most  natural 
corollar>-  the  motives  of  Columbus,  not  only  to  gratify  the  sovereign  will,  whose  favors  it 
was  policy  to  court,  but  to  .satisfy  a  longing  created  by  his  own  environment.  And  thus  it 
was  that  his  own  heart  beat  responsive  to  the  one  supreme  de.sire  that  craved  gold,  gold,  gold  I 
Under  existing  circumstances  it  was  positively  necessar\-  for  Columbus  to  satisfy  the 
prevailing  passion  of  the  .Spanish  sovereigns  as  well  as  his  own,  or  to  acknowledge  the 
failure  of  his  enterprise,  which  had  already  been  strongly  denounced  by  his  enemies,  Mar- 
garite  and  De  Bu\l,  who  had  gone  before  to  make  evil  report  of  the  results  of  his  di.s- 
coveries  in  the  New  World.  It  was  in  the  light  of  these  circumstances  that  he  must  now 
proceed  to  organize  wealth,  in  the  fonn  of  gold  if  possible,  in  the  form  of  slaves  if  he 
nuist ;  for  such  was  the  only  argument  with  which  the  flood  of  detraction  and  calumny 
could  be  effectually  checked  at  its  fountain. 

TERRIBLE   EXACTIONS   PUT   UPON  THE   NATIVES. 

For  a  considerable  while  Columbus  revolved  in  his  mind  the  most  effective  means  for 
procuring  such  supplies  of  gold  as  might  sati.sfy  the  avarice  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  as 
well  as  his  own  ambition.      The  resolution  at  length  came  of  subordinating  the  natives  of 


220 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  island  to  the  work  of  collecting  and  delivering  the  precious  metal.  The  measure 
adopted  by  Columbus  was  sweeping,  univ'ersal  and  severe.  It  contemplated  no  less  than  a 
tribute  laid  upon  all  the  youth  and  adult  natives  of  the  island,  the  limit  of  age  being  fixed 
at  fourteen  years.  Under  this  edict  every  native  was  required,  under  heav)-  penalt}',  to 
deliver  to  the  Admiral,  at  the  expiration  of  every  three  months,  a  quantity  of  gold-dust 

suSicient  to  fill 


a  hawk's  bell, 
in  value  about 
$25.  This  was 
the  requirement 
of  the  people  at 
large,  while  the 
headmen  and 
caciques  were 
taxed  more 
heavily  accord- 
ing  to  their 
rank.  The 
amount  assessed 
against  the 
kings  who  had 
headed  the  re- 
cent confeder- 
acy was  half  a 
gourd ful  each, 
'  about  $150. 
In  his  rapa- 
city Columbus 
failed  to  regard 
the  fact  that 
gold  was  not 
universally  dis- 
tributed, and 
t  h  a  t  t  h  e  diffi- 
culty of  collect- 
ing it  was  ten 
times  greater 
in  some  parts 
of  the  island 
than   in  others. 

AXACAONA,  QUEEN  OF  THE  cARiBs.  pjjg     proclama- 

tion was  nevertheless  universal,  and  explicit  compliance  therewith  was  severely  demanded. 
It  was  only  a  short  while  before  the  islanders  bowed  to  the  exactions  thus  imposed 
and  entered  upon  their  slavish  task.  But  the  impossibility  of  universal  compliance 
directly  became  apparent.  Gnarionex  was  the  first  to  appear  before  the  .\dmiral  with 
his  complaint  and  to  assure  him  that  his  people  could  not  possibly  meet  the  exaction, 
and  in  a  spirit  of  humility  suggested  a  commutation  of  service.    As  an  evidence  that  he 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  221 

was  not  a  petitioner  for  the  removal  of  tlie  burdens  that  had  been  imposed,  he  accord- 
ingly offered  to  substitute  agricultural  products  of  more  than  the  equi\-alent  value,  on 
condition  that  his  people  be  relieved  from  the  exaction  of  gathering  gold.  He  also 
told  the  Admiral  that  under  such  terms  his  people  would  devote  themselves  to  planting 
and  cultivating  the  territory  of  the  island,  reaching  from  sea  to  sea,  which  might  be 
rendered  sufficiently  productive  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  all  Spain,  and  the  value  of 
which  would  be  greatly  in  excess  of  all  the  gold  that  might  be  gathered  from  the  island. 

At  the  time  this  proposition  was  made  the  colony  was  well  provided  with  provisions, 
and  Columbus  had  no  mind  to  listen  to  the  petitions  of  the  chief.  But  perceiving  directly 
the  impossibility  of  securing  the  amount  of  gold  which  he  had  imposed  as  a  tribute, 
under  sheer  necessity  he  finally  agreed  to  reduce  the  amount  to  one-half  of  that  first 
named  per  capita. 

PITILESS   HARDSHIPS  IMPOSED   BY  GREED. 

Under  these  pitiless  exactions  the  Indian  pojjulation  of  Hispaniola  was  virtually 
reduced  to  ser\itnde.  The  oppres.sion  of  this  despotic  law  was  ten-fold  greater  by  reason 
of  the  fact  that  the  natives  had  always  enjoyed  a  perfect  freedom,  the  natural  produc- 
tions of  the  soil  relieving  them  from  all  necessity  of  manual  labor.  Even  their  alle- 
giance to  their  caciques  was  so  loo.se  as  to  leave  them  in  a  state  of  semi-license,  nature 
having  confederated  with  the  simple  laws  of  barbaric  life,  which  forbade  servitude  and 
encouraged  freedom.  Their  diet  being  almost  exclusively  \egetable,  they  posse.s.sed  little 
strength,  and  engagement  in  severe  labor  quickly  exhausted  their  energies.  The  greater 
part  of  their  time  had,  therefore,  been  spent  in  sleep,  plays,  or  dances.  They  were  a  people, 
too,  not  without  other  amusements,  for  they  had  their  wandering  poets  and  story-tellers  who 
rendered  in  simple  lays- adventures  of  the  Caribs  and  the  histories  of  sorcerers.  They  had 
also  their  poems,  called  arcytos,  which  were  translated  into  several  idioms  of  the  island 
and  chiefly  celebrated  Anacaona,  a  wife  of  one  of  the  chiefs,  whose  name  signified  "golden 
flower."  Under  the  circumstances  the  edict  of  the  Admiral  fell  tipon  them  like  a  pall. 
The  inhabitants  had  intelligence  enough  to  understand  the  alteration  in  their  condition 
and  the  hopelessness  of  the  future.  Gloom  came  like  the  shadow  of  an  ominous  cloud  and 
settled  upon  the  Indians,  transfonning  them  from  a  cheerful  and  careless  race  into  a  people 
whose  characteristics  now  became  sullen  repugnance  and  despair.  Complaints  which  he 
knew  to  be  well  founded  had  no  other  effect  upon  Columbus  than  to  increase  his  activities 
in  extending  his  power  against  the  day  when  he  perceived  it  would  be  necessar\'  to  meet 
an  uprising  of  the  oppressed  people.  To  this  end  he  adopted  the  plan  of  multiplying  the 
fortifications  which  he  had  established  in  the  island,  locating  them  in  such  situations  as  to 
give  a  military  advantage  to  the  government. 

THE  COLUMBIAN   DEFAMERS  AT  COURT. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1495  complications  thickened  around  Columbus  until  the 
threads  of  sequence  may  with  diflicnlty  be  traced  through  the  tangled  web  of  the  general 
event.  Complex  forces  1)egan  to  work  on  both  sides  of  the  .\tlantic  and  to  combine  in 
unexpected  proportions  in  the  issue  and  course  of  current  histon.-.  In  due  course  of  time 
Margarite  and  the  treacherous  prelate,  Buyl,  arrived  in  Spain  fully  charged  with  the  false- 
hoods which  they  were  anxious  to  deliver  to  their  Majesties.  In  the  reports  which  they 
proceeded  to  make  and  authenticate  by  means  of  others  as  treacherous  as  themselves 
were  blended  all  the  elements  of  prejudice,  misrepresentation  and  malice.  Having 
broken  completely  with  the  .Admiral,  the  conspirators  were  now  under  the  necessity  of 
utterly  destroying  his  fame  or  being  themselves  driven  in  disgrace  from  the  royal  presence. 


■>•)') 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Having  a  temporary  advantage  they  employed  it  to  the  fullest  extent,  and  going  directly 
to  the  King  and  Queen,  deli\-ered  such  mendacious  assaults  against  the  methods  and  per- 
sonal character  of  Columbus  that  even  the  Queeu  herself  was  affected  b}-  the  serious 
charges  that  were  made.  At  all  events  the  effect  on  the  court  was  sufficient  to  procure 
an  order  for  the  sending  out  of  a  royal  delegatiou  to  the  West  Indies  to  thoroughly  con- 
sider the  condition  of  affairs  and  prepare  a  complete  report  respecting  the  administration 
of  Columbus  and  his  subordinates.  At  the  same  time  the  exclusive  license  which  had 
been  granted  to  Columbus  was  revoked  and  general  permission  was  given  to  all  native 
Spaniards  to  sail  on  voyages  of  discovery-  or  to  establish  themselves  as  landholders  in  His- 
paniola  and  other  parts  of  the  New  World.       This  measure,  b>-  which  the  well-established 

prerogatives  of 
the  viceroy 
were  to  be  put 
aside  and  the 
countries  which 
he  had  discov- 
ered thrown 
open  to  miscel- 
laneous adven- 
turers, was  pro- 
moted by  Vinc- 
ente  Yanez  Pin- 
zon,  who  after 
the  death  of 
Alonzo  became 
the  representa- 
tive of  that 
powerful  famil)- 
at  Palos.  He 
being  a  man  of 
w  e  a  1th  and 
rank  proposed 
to  the  Spanish 
sovereigns      t  o 

DE   TORRES    MAKING    HIS    REPORT    TO    THE   SOVEREIGNS.  fjt    QUt   a    SQUad- 

ron  and  prosecute  the  work  of  West  Atlantic  discover}'  at  his  own  expense,  which  was  con- 
sidered with  such  favor  that  his  requests  were  promptly  granted,  thus  sweeping  away  all 
the    grants,    privileges    and    honors    which    had    been    reser\-ed    by    solemn    compact    for 

Columbus. 

CIRCUMVENTING  THE  CALUMNIATORS. 

In  anticipation  of  the  assaults  that  would  be  made  by  IMargarite  and  De  Buyl  against 

his  character,  Columbus  had  wisely  despatched  Antonio  de  Torres  to  carry  home  to  Spain 

the  antidote  for  the  poison  which  was  to  be  administered  b\-  the  mutineers.      Just  at  the 

time  when    Margarite  and    the  vicar  had  secured    the    order  from  the  sovereigns  for  an 

examination  of  the  Admiral's  administration,  the  fleet  of  De  Torres  arrived  at  Cadiz,  and  the 

captain  proceeded  to  report  to  the  sovereigns  the  actual  condition  of  affairs  in   the  island. 

He  was  also  able  to  verify  his  declarations  by  a  display  of  products,  including  much   gold 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  223 

and  the  fi\e  luindred  Indian  sla\es  that  had  been  sent,  as  already' narrated.  His  statements 
and  the  material  proofs  produced  the  happiest  effects  upon  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  who 
could  not  fail  to  perceive  the  manifest,  tangible,  indubitable  evidence  of  the  conspiracy 
of  Margarite  and  De  Bu\l  and  the  falseness  of  the  greater  part  of  their  narration.  Some- 
thing of  a  reaction  innnediately  followed,  and  a  new  order  was  issued  which,  while  it 
did  not  completel\-  rescind  the  fonner,  was  nevertheless  much  more  favorable  to  Colum- 
bus and  his  party.  It  was  now  directed  that  instead  of  sending  to  the  Indies  a  person  to 
be  nominated  by  De  Fonseca,  whose  enmity  towards  Columbus  he  had  never  sought  to 
disguise,  the  appointment  should  be  given  to  Juan  Agnado,  a  Spaniard  of  high  standing 
whom  Columbus  considered  his  friend  and  whom  he  liad  on  an  occasion  recommended  to 
the  favor  of  the  King  and  Qnocn. 

THE  QUEEN  ORDERS  THE  SUVES  RETURNED. 

But  while  commending  Columbus  in  some  particulars,  their  Majesties  disclaimed  his 
methfxi  of  discipline,  and  even  condemned  some  of  his  harsh  measures,  the  salntan*-  effects 
of  which  they  had  not  been  able  to  appreciate.  In  addition  the  Queen  specially  repre- 
hended the  enslavement  of  the  natives,  and  instead  of  putting  them  on  the  market  in 
Seville  for  sale,  as  Columbus  had  suggested,  she  detennined  that  they  should  be  returned 
to  their  native  land,  and  not  only  given  their  freedom,  but  that  proper  apology  should 
be  rendered  for  the  outrage  that  had  l)eeu  committed  b\-  this  attempt  to  force  them 
into  bondage.  However,  this  decision  was  not  immediately  reached,  as  the  Queen  had  a 
mind  to  first  defer  to  a  conference  of  theologians  with  a  view  to  obtaining  their  opinions  as 
to  the  justice  of  converting  an\-  of  the  Indian  subjects,  pagans  though  they  were,  into  slaves. 
A  majority  of  the  prelates  having  debated  the  question  among  themselves,  decided  in  the 
affirmative,  to  which  decision  a  small  minority  objected. 

It  would  appear  from  the  results  that  the  Queen  deferred  to  the  conference  of  prelates 
through  courtesy,  as  slaver}-  was  a  recognized  institution  in  Spain  at  the  time,  and  there 
was  a  general  approval  of  it  among  what  were  called  true  Christians.  But  her  humane  in- 
stincts prompted  her  to  take  the  question  out  of  the  hands  of  the  referees,  and  with  a  sense 
of  right  which  must  ever  hold  her  name  among  the  justice-loving  rulers  of  all  the  ages  she 
liberated  the  captives  and  thereby  established  a  precedent  and  rule  which  reflect  the  brightest 
lustre  upon  her  reign. 

Among  other  in.structions  which  she  gave  Aguado  was  one  to  limit  the  colony  at 
Isabella  to  five  hundred  souls,  that  the  expenditure  for  provisions  and  supplies  might  be 
kept  within  the  .smallest  limit ;  and  she  specially  charged  him  to  see  that  the  rights  of  the 
islanders  were  justly  observed,  to  the  end  that  peace  might  reign  and  the  Church  be  estab- 
lished among  them. 

A  CRIMINAL  FINOS  A  NATIVE  WIFE  AND  FORTUNE. 
Meanwhile  affairs  in  San  Domingo  had  been  tending  in  such  a  direction  that  another 
crisis  was  about  to  ari.se  in  an  unexpected  manner.  An  officer  named  Miguel  Diaz 
fell  into  a  quarrel  with  another  officer,  and  in  the  duel  which  followed  he  wounded 
his  antagonist,  .is  he  supposed  fatalU'.  Some  witnesses  of  the  affair  claimed  that  advan- 
tage had  been  taken  b\  Diaz,  so  that  the  circumstance  had  the  complexion  of  murder  ; 
and  to  escape  a  puni.sliment  which  he  thought  might  be  inflicted  he  fled  from  the  settle- 
ment and  took  refuge  in  an  Indian  town  on  the  extreme  southcni  border  of  the  i.sland, 
where  he  was  well  received  and  safe  from  piirsuit.  It  chanced  that  the  tribe  on  this  coast 
was  governed  by  a  prince.s.s,  who  became  infatuated  with  the  white  refugee,  and  whether 
this  feeling  was  reciprocated  or  not,  Diaz  was  married  to  her  in  some  infonnal  manner  and 


224  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

continued  to  reside  in  the  village  for  some  time.  At  length,  however,  he  wearied  somewhat 
of  his  Indian  bride,  which  she  perceiving,  employed  all  her  instincts  and  talents  to  devise 
some  plan  by  which  to  hold  the  affections  of  her  white  husband.  She  had  learned  through 
her  intercourse  with  Diaz  that  the  prevailing  passion  with  the  Spaniards  was  a  desire  for 
gold.  She  therefore  conceived  that  by  revealing  the  fortunate  resources  of  the  territory" 
over  which  she  ruled  she  might  bring  hither  a  colony  of  Spaniards  with  whom  her  husband 
could  affiliate  and  be  at  peace.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  province  which  the  princess  gov- 
erned was  the  richest  in  gold  dust  of  all  the  districts  of  the  island.  Indeed,  as  the  sequence 
shows,  an  ancient  race,  long  before  the  incoming  of  the  present  islanders,  had  discovered 
the  riches  of  this  shore,  and  gathering  much  of  its  treasure  had  left  behind  their  mining  pits  as 
the  unmistakable  evidences  of  their  work  to  after  times.  This  fact  the  Indian  princess  revealed 
to  Diaz,  whom  she  begged  to  bring  his  coinitrymen  and  abide  with  her  forever. 

To  verify  his  wife's  assertions  Diaz  paid  a  visit  imder  the  direction  of  guides  to  the 
district  which  she  had  described.  There,  to  his  amazement,  he  found  gold  scattered  every- 
where, and  that  the  particles  were  much  larger  than  any  that  had  been  found  in  tlie  mines 
of  Cibao.  The  Spaniard  at  a  glance  perceived  that  the  discovery,  if  once  known  at  Isabella, 
would  produce  the  greatest  excitement  and  perhaps  lead  to  a  transfer  of  a  large  part  of  the 
colony.  To  this  tremendous  motive  there  was  also  added  another  consideration,  and  that 
was  the  unhealthfulness  of  the  northern  coast  where  the  colony  was  established,  while  here, 
on  the  river  Ozema,  the  breezes  were  healthful  and  every  prospect  pleasant.  All  this  did 
Diaz  consider  as  an  argument  which,  he  was  confident,  would  secure  his  pardon  for  the  crime 
with  which  he  was  charged  at  Isabella. 

Before  Diaz  could  put  his  plans  into  execution  Aguado  arrived  on  the  coast  of  His- 
paniola,  whose  presence  for  the  time  being  repressed  the  desire  which  Diaz  had  to  com- 
municate his  fortunate  discovery  to  the  colonists.  At  the  time  of  Aguado' s  arrival  Colimibus 
was  conducting  an  expedition  into  the  interior  of  the  island,  leaving  Bartholomew,  his 
brother,  exercising  the  office  of  Adelantado  in  his  absence. 

THE  ARROGANCE  OF  AGUADO. 

Aguado,  instead  of  coming  as  the  friend  of  Columbus,  was  so  exalted  by  the  authority 
which  had  been  placed  in  his  hands  that  he  assumed  the  bearing  of  a  dictator,  and  presenting- 
his  credentials  from  the  King  and  Oiieen  to  Bartholomew  Columbus,  he  claimed  the 
authority  that  had  been  delegated  to  the  vicero}-.  The  colonists  at  once  perceived  that  so 
far  as  Columbus  was  concerned  and  his  government  of  the  island,  this  assumption  of  power 
was  the  practical  overthrow  of  his  rule.  No  sooner  was  this  discovery  made  than  all  the 
pessimistic  diabolism  of  the  colony  came  to  the  surface.  Order  was  at  an  end  and  all 
authority  set  at  naught.  A  state  of  circumstances  immediately  supervened  on  which 
Aguado  might  well  have  based  a  truthful  report  of  anarchy.  Placing  himself  under  the 
influence  of  malcontents  and  criminals,  this  royal  agent  went  about  to  organize  a  consti- 
tution embodying  all  the  vicious  principles  of  the  malevolent  band  who  from  the  beginning 
had  used  their  efforts  to  overthrow  Columbus.  He  began  also  to  gather  materials  for  a 
tremendous  incriminating  report,  which  he  expected  to  make  to  their  Majesties  against  the 
man  who  had  recommended  him  to  them  for  promotion. 

Of  all  this  Columbus  for  the  time  knew  nothing.  But  it  was  spread  abroad  that  he 
had  heard  of  the  coming  of  Aguado  and,  knowing  himself  superseded,  had  personally 
absented  himself  from  the  colony  to  avoid  arrest.  Instead  of  this  being  true,  however,  as 
soon  as  the  Admiral  learned  of  the  high-handed  business  that  had  occurred  at  Isabella,  he 
at  once  proceeded  to  that  place  and  presented  himself  before  Aguado.     There  was  much 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


225 


expectation  of  a  square  issue,  perhaps  of  violence,  between  the  two 
men.  But  the  Admiral  forestalled  such  a  sensation  by  askinf;;  in  a 
mild  and  complacent  manner  to  hear  the  reading  of  Aguado's  com- 
mission, and  when  this  request  was  granted  he  declared  his  perfect 
deference  and  respect  to  the  will  and  purpose  of  their  Majesties. 
While  this  conduct  in  a  measure  disarmed  the  malice  of  Aguado, 
the  Spaniards  looked  upon  Cohnnbus  as  a  fallen  man,  for  they  had 
no  doubts  that  the  reports  which  had  been  carried  to  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  by  Margarite  and  Ru\  1  had  sufficed  to  work  his  niiu. 

A  DREADFUL  HURRICANE. 

The  effect  upon   the  natives  was  even  more  disastrous.     The 

caciques  and  head   men  began   at  once  to  take  council  how  they 

might  throw  off  the  Spanish  yoke  and  regain  their  independence. 

All  these  discontents,  threatenings,  mutterings  and  rising  troubles 

were  so   much    pabulum    to    Aguado,  who    soon   gathered  all   the 

desired  materials  and  information  and  reckoned  himself  ready  to 

return  to  Spain.      He  accordingly  prepared  his  ships  and  was  aboi;' 

to  sail  when,  without  warning,  the  sky  grew  black  on  the  side  of 

the  east,    the  sea  and  the  heavens  began  to  commingle  and  roar, 

while  the  lightnings  blazed  and  a  terrific  hurricane  such  as  not 

even  tradition  had  ever  before  recorded  burst  along  the  coast.    The 

havoc  was  astounding.      The  ocean  rolled    in  landward,  deluging 

the  lowlands  for  miles  from  the  shore.     The  forests  were  torn  and 

tvs-isted  out  of  the  semblance  of  nature  by  the  irresistible   winds  ; 

dwellings  were    blown  away  like  bunches    of   straw  ;  and   worst 

of  all  the  ships  in  the   harbor,  with  the  solitary  exception  of  the 

little  Nina  of  blessed  memory,  were  dashed  to  pieces.     After  .some 

hours  of  this  terrible  work   the   tempest  went  on  its  way  to  Cuba, 

and  -\guado  and  his  proposed  report  were  indefinitely  stranded. 

It  now  remained  for  the  Admiral  to  reorganize  the  resources 

of  the  colony,  and    even  to  provide    for   the    home  \oyage   of  hi 

adversan.'.    To  this  end  he  ordered  that  the  Nina  should  be  repaired, 

and   that  the  timbers  of  the  wrecked  vessels  should  be  collected 

for  the  construction  of  another  ship,  which    he  named  the  San/ti 

Ot/^  (Holy  Cross).      At  length,  the  work   having  been  completed,  thk  hukki^xn... 

preparations  were  made  to  sail. 
But  it  was  the  purpose  of  Co- 
lumbus to  take  one  of  the  ships 
for  himself,  leaving  the  other  to 
Aguado,  the  Admiral  having 
made  up  his  mind  that  the  royal 
emissar\-  should  not  return  to 
vSpain  alone.  He  also  would  go 
thither  and  confront  .Aguado  in 
the  ver)-  court  and  before  their 
Bi'ii.DiNr.  OF  THK  SANTA  cRiz.  Majcstics.      lu     tlic     meantime, 

however,   destiny  had  prepared  for  him  an  argument  of  more  solid    structure  than  any 
IS 


226  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUIMBIA. 

which  his  sanguine  nature  had  been  able  to  devise.  Now  it  was  that  young  Miguel 
Diaz,  having  heard  of  the  disaster  and  discontent  at  the  colony,  had  arrived  at  Isabella 
from  the  new  gold  fields  of  the  river  Ozema,  thinking  that  the  time  was  most  pro- 
pitious for  the  plans  which  he  had  conceived.  As  fortune  would  have  it,  the  soldier  whom 
be  had  wounded  as  he  supposed  to  death  had  recovered,  so  that  to  his  surprise  Diaz  could 
return  to  the  colony  without  being  under  the  reproach  of  a  serious  crime.  He  at  once 
communicated  to  the  Admiral  and  his  brother  Bartholomew  the  tidings  about  the  new 
discovery  of  gold.  This  intelligence  was  accompanied  by  the  presentation  of  many  fine 
specimens  of  the  precious  metal,  so  that  nothing  was  left  for  skepticism.  So  often  had  he 
been  deceived,  however,  that  Columbus  deemed  it  expedient  to  despatch  Bartholomew  and 
a  company  of  experts  to  make  a  thorough  examination  of  the  new  mines,  to  the  end  that 
his  infonnation  might  be  definite  and  e.xact. 

OPENING  OF  GOLD  MINES  FOR  CENTURIES  ABANDONED. 

The  explorers  crossed  the  island  without  accident  and  arrived  at  their  destination  on 
the  southern  coast  about  two  hundred  and  fort}-  miles  distant  from  Isabella,  where  they 
found  ever^'thing  as  Diaz  had  represented.  Not  onh'  were  evidences  of  gold  to  be  found 
in  great  abundance,  but  particles  were  picked  up  without  difficult}'  and  in  a  fair  measure 
of  abundance.  This  distribution  of  gold  was  found  to  be  uniform  over  a  district  or  terri- 
tory about  six  miles  square,  where  Bartholomew  discovered  many  old  mining  pits  in  which 
the  workmen  of  a  vanished  race  had  toiled  and  gathered  the  precious  metal  ages  before  the 
coming  of  Columbus.  The  company  of  explorers  were  able  to  gather  and  take  away  such 
considerable  quantities  of  gold  as  to  furnish  the  Admiral  with  a  visible  proof  of  the  value 
and  promise  of  the  new  discover)-.  With  these  valuable  specimens,  which  were  to  prove 
a  blessing  to  Columbus  in  the  hour  when  he  should  meet  the  Spanish  sovereigns  to  give 
account  of  his  stewardship,  he  prepared  his  ships,  also  taking  on  board  a  cargo  of  trophies, 
including  Caonabo,  his  brother  and  nephew,  and  Carib  Indians  to  the  number  of  thirty. 
There  had  been  so  much  sickness  and  melancholy  in  the  colony  that  when  the  ships  were 
ready  to  sail  a  majorit)'  entreated  Columbus  for  pennission  to  return  home,  and  not  being 
willing  to  oppose  these  requests  in  the  presence  of  Aguado,  who  might  constnie  the  act  as 
cruel,  Columbus  granted  the  privilege  to  nearly  all  those  who  asked.  For  this  reason  the 
ships  were  crowded  with  passengers  whose  disappointment  and  grief  might  well  have  dark- 
ened any  voyage. 

On  the  loth  of  March,  1496,  the  two  vessels  departed  from  Isabella  and  set  out  to 
sea,  bearing  towards  the  south.  Had  the  Admiral  veered  toward  the  north  he  might  have 
escaped  the  adverse  trade  winds  and  found  free  sailing  towards  the  European  coast.  Taking 
the  other  route,  however,  the  eastern  winds  struck  his  vessels  and  constanth'  pressed  him  back 
among  the  Caribbean  islands,  so  that,  all  of  March  and  the  first  week  of  April,  the  vessels 
made  scarcely  any  progress  whatever.  In  fact,  on  the  9th  of  April  the  Admiral  found 
himself  on  the  coast  of  Maria  Galante,  which  he  had  named  in  the  early  part  of  his 
second  voyage.  On  the  next  day  he  was  at  Guadaloupe,  where  the  ships  were  anchored 
and  exploring  parties  sent  on  shore.  Their  reception  by  the  islanders  was  as  hostile  as 
it  had  been  two  years  previously,  and  descending  to  attack,  the  Spaniards  opened  fire  upon 
the  savages,  who  fled  into  the  interior  and  took  refuge  in  their  village  which  stood  nearly  a 
league  from  the  shore. 

MORE  EVIDENCES  OF  CANNIBALISM. 

The  Spaniards,  making  an  incursion  some  miles  from  the  beach,  discovered  honey  in 
considerable  quantities,  and  at  one  of  the  villages  they  found  implements  apparently  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


227 


iron  (probably  iron-wood),  and  the  limbs  of  hninan  beings  roasting  on  spits  before  the  fire, 
where  they  had  been  abandoned  by  the  Indians  at  the  approach  of  the  white  visitors. 

Several  wild  exploits  characterized  this  visit  of  the  Spaniards,  who  not  being  able  to 
come  in  contact  with  the  Indian  men,  succeeded  in  apprehending  a  band  of  native  women  and 
boys.  Among  the  former  was  one  who  had  the  appearance  of  a  savage  princess.  At  all 
events  she  was  an  aboriginal  Bellona,  whom  the  whites  had  great  difficulty  in  capturing. 
Outstripping  all  her  pursuers  except  one  fleet-footed  Spaniard,  she  suddenly  turned  round, 
and  seizing  him  with  the  clutch  of  a  tiger  was  about  to  strangle  him  to  death,  and  would 
no  doubt  have  succeeded  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  his  companions,  who  relieved  him  from 
his  dangerous  situation.  This  company  of  women  and  boys  was  taken  on  board  the  Admiral's 
ships,  but  he  immediately  set  .  ^  ^      v,-^;' 

tliem  all  at  liberty  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  orders  which 
he  had  received  from  the 
Queen.  The  Amazonian  prin- 
cess, however,  became  ac- 
qainted  with  the  captives  on 
the  vessel,  in  particular  with 
king  Caonabo,  with  whom 
she  fell  wildly  in  love  and  re- 
fused to  return  on  shore,  thus 
casting  in  her  lot  with  the 
other  captives.  On  the  20th  of 
April  the  squadron  finally 
cleared  the  islands  and  stood 
off"  for  Europe,  but  a  more 
tedious  vojage  or  one  ulti- 
mately attended  with  greater 
hardships  lias  rarely  been  known. 

STARVATION  AND  A  MUTINOUS  SPIRIT. 

Progress  was  particularly  slow  and  the 
vo>-age  was  so  long  protracted  that  both  crews 
and  passengers  were  reduced  to  a  short  allow- 
ance through  the  failure  of  provisions.  Week 
after  week  passed  and  when  the  first  of  June 
came  the  condition  of  the  crews  and  pa.sseno-ers 
was  horrible  in  the  extreme.  A  rage  of  hunger 
began  to  prevail  over  reason,  until  at  last  came 
the  suggestion  of  that  ver>-  cannibalism  which 
the    Caribbean    i.slanders.        Some   of    the   .sailors 

prisoners,  and  then  the  propo.sal  was  openly  made  that  they  be  killed  and  eaten.  This 
proposition,  however,  Columbus  strongly  resented,  and  wlicn  the  enraged  men  were 
disposed  to  execute  their  threats  in  defiance  of  his  orders  he  put  himself  between 
them  and  the  cowering  Caribs,  exhibiting  at  once  such  dignity  and  resolution  that  the 
sailors  shrank  from  his  glowering  gaze.  Next  the  men  proposed  that  the  Indians  .should  be 
thrown  overboard,  that  the  consumption  of  f.xxl  might  he  thus  diminished.  But  this  propo- 
sition was  likewise  refused  by  the  Admiral,  and   the  nmtinous  spirit  of  the  men   rapidly 


;^^^ 


A   NATn'E  WOMAN  STRANGLING   HER    PURSUER. 

the    Spaniards  had    observed    among 
began  to    look  a.skance    at   the    Indian 


228 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


increased.  In  an  honr  when  hunger  and  rage  were  upon  the  point  of  manifesting  them- 
selves in  violent  action  the  Admiral  perceived  from  his  chart  that  the  vessels  were  near 
Cape  St.  Vincent.  He  tried  with  this  assurance  to  soothe  the  rage  of  the  crew  but  they 
only  mocked  at  his  hopefulness  and  faith.  With  the  coming  of  the  evening  he  ordered  the 
taking  in  of  sails  lest  the  vessels  might  in  the  darkness  be  nm  upon  the  rocks  of  the 
expected  shore,  which  orders  the  men  obeyed  with  sullen  looks.  But  in  the  morning 
there,  sure  enough,  rose  St.  Vincent  from  the  sea,  and  the  usual  reaction  from  despair  to 
confidence  was  exhibited  by  the  men  gathering  around  Columbus  and  apologizing  for 
their  insubordination. 

It  was  the  nth  of  June  when  the  harbor  of  Cadiz  was  reached  and  the  storm-shat- 
tered ships  brought  to  safe  anchorage.  Such  was  the  pitiable  condition  to  which  both 
passengers  and  crew  had  now  been  reduced  that  the  going  ashore  was  a  spectacle  most 
melancholy  and  disheartening.  Nor  may  we  conclude  this  narrative  of  the  second  vo}-age 
without  noting  the  end  of  Caonabo.  That  haiighty  chieftain  had  maintained  his  indignant 
but  silent  anger  against  the  Spaniards  until  his  barbaric  pride  at  last  yielded  to  death, 
which  occurred  just  before  the  completion  of  the  voyage.  By  his  side  in  his  last  hours 
were  assembled  his  brother,  his  nephew,  and  the  Amazonian  princess  of  Guadaloupe,  and 
the  other  captives.  Thus  he  expired — perhaps  the  bravest  and  most  capable  chieftain  of  the 
West  Indies.  Certainly  his  character  was  of  a  kind  to  impress  itself  strongly  upon  the 
minds  and  memories  of  the  Spaniards,  who  could  but  hold  him  in  respect  for  his  courage 
and  manly  bearing.  His  body  was  committed  to  the  sea  ;  there  in  that  deep,  oozy  bed 
which  has  swallowed  up  in  everlasting  silence  so  many  of  the  secrets  and  tragedies  of 
human  life,  tlie  Carib  King  of  Cibao  sleeps  until  the  final  day,  whi^^ — 

"  Descends  on  the  Atlantic 
The  gigantic 
Storm-wind  of  the  Equinox." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


RETURN  OF  COLUMBUS  FROM    HIS  SECOND  EXPEDITION. 


AMH  is  as  fickle  as  fortune  and  rarely  more  enduring. 
Like  the  flower  that  blooms  in  beauty  for  a 
season  and  is  cut  down  by  chilling  frosts,  so  does  fame 
perish  under  the  withering  breath  of  calumny  and 
eu\ious  ri\-alr)-.  Rewards  for  great  deeds  are  rarely 
bestowed  upon  the  living,  so  slow  is  man's  appreciation, 
the  disposition  of  mankind  being  to  withhold  acknowl- 
edgment of  dues,  to  confer  apotheosis  after  death,  when 
jealousy  has  nothing  more  to  feed  upon.  How  singu- 
larly trite  do  these  observations  appear  when  we  apply 
them  to  the  life  of  Columbus  !  In  the  beginning,  so 
obscure  as  to  invite  the  ridicule '  of  dignitaries  when 
appealing  to  the  great  for  recognition  of  his  beneficent 
scheme  ;  in  his  success  raised  to  such  eminence  as  won 
the  homage  of  the  world  when  even  royalty  would  pay 
to  him  a  degree  of  reverence.  But  while  winning 
renown  the  sleuth-hound  of  \-indictive  en\y  was  pursuing 
with  relentless  muzzle  of  hate  to  tear  with  teeth  of  spite  and  malice  his  reputation  and 
bring  him  into  national  disrepute. 

So  well  had  the  power  of  malevolence  been  exercised  by  his  enemies  that  when  Colum- 
bus landed  from  his  second  voyage  there  were  none  to  give  him  becoming  welcome  ;  none 
to  offer  congratulations  ;  no  royal  messenger  to  greet  his  return.  Stung  by  the  deceits  of 
those  who  should  have  been  his  votaries,  and  overwhelmed  by  the  success  of  his  traducers, 
Columbus  for  a  while  seriously  contemplated  retirement  from  the  vanities  of  the  world 
within  the  convent  walls  of  La  Rabida,  whither  his  best  friend,  Father  Perez,  had  returned 
to  end  his  days.  To  this  purpose  he  adopted  the  garb  of  a  Franciscan  monk  and  wrapped 
about  him  the  cord  of  consecration,  intending  henceforth  to  devote  himself  to  pious  con- 
templation, trusting  in  God  to  reward  the  ser\'ices  which  those  who  were  most  advantaged 
by  them  neglected  to  recognize. 

Informing  the  Spanish  sovereigns  of  his  arrival,  it  was  not  until  one  month  afterwards 
that  a  reply  came  to  his  notification  in  the  fonn  of  a  message  written  from  Almozan, 
which  was  manifest  proof  that  the  director  of  marine  had  awaited  the  report  of  Aguado,  as 
well  as  statements  of  others  who  had  proved  themselves  hostile  to  his  acts  and  purposes, 
before  giving  him  any  recognition.  But  strange  as  it  may  appear,  the  royal  message,  tardy 
as  it  was,  felicitated  him  upon  his  successful  voyage  and  invited  him  to  repair  at  once  to 
Burgos,  where  the  Court  had  a  temporary  residence.  So  encouraging  and  congratulatory 
was  the  letter  that  Columbus,  roused  from  his  despondency,  cast  aside  his  Franciscan 
habit  and  proceeded  at  once  to  Burgos,  carrying  with  him  the  rich  trophies  of  his  second 
expedition,  among  which  were  many  masks  and  nuggets  of  gold  to  please  the  avaricious 

(229) 


230 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


eyes  of  Ferdinand.  Several  of  the  Indian  captives  also  accompanied  him,  including  the 
brother  of  Caonabo,  who  wore  around  his  neck  a  chain  of  gold  weighing  six  hundred 
castellanos,  equal  to  the  value  of  $3, 200. 

Greatly  to  his  delight  Columbus  was  received  by  Isabella  with  many  marks  of  admira- 
tion  as  if  to  show  him  that  her  faith  in  his  integrity  and  noble  intentions  had  not  been 


COLUMBl-S   PRESENTING  THE   BROTHER   OF   CAONABO   TO   THE   SO\'EREIGNS. 

affected  by  the  base  charges  of  his  enemies;  and  with  a  feeling  of  thankfulness  and  pride  he 
narrated  to  their  Highnesses  his  new  discoveries  among  the  Antilles,  and  presented  the 
valuable  as  well  as  many  curious  specimens  which  he  had  brought  from  the  New  World. 
Ferdinand  was  sensibly  touched  by  the  nuggets  of  gold  that  were  shown  in  proof  of  Colum- 
bus' statements  concerning  the  wealth  of  Hispaniola,  but  Isabella's  interest  was  excited 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  231 

most  by  the  many  curious  objects  exposed,  includiutj  images,  weapons,  birds,  animals  and 
plants,  of  which  Columbus  brought  a  large  collection.  So  pleased  were  the  Spanish 
sovereigns  with  the  interview  that  in  dismissing  Columbus  they  took  occasion  to  publicly 
honor  him  to  the  great  contusion  of  his  enemies. 

A  week  later  the  Queen  consulted  Columbus,  by  letter  written  from  Laredo,  as  to  the 
best  route  to  be  taken  by  the  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  vessels  commissioned  to  convey- 
to  Flanders  the  Infanta  Dona  Juana,  affianced  to  Archduke  Philip  of  Austria,  which  fur- 
nished additional  evidence  of  her  confidence  in  him  as  a  faithful  servitor.  But  while 
Columbus  was  grateful  for  these  royal  kindnesses,  he  chafed  under  disappointments  which 
threatened  the  colonists  in  Hispaniola.  On  arriving  at  Cadiz  he  found  three  caravels,  under 
command  of  his  old  pilot,  Pedro  Alonzo  Nino,  ready  to  sail  with  supplies  for  the  colonists, 
and  was  barely  able  to  receive  despatches  intended  for  him  and  to  transmit  a  few  additional 
instructions  to  his  brother,  Don  Bartholomew,  before  the  flotilla  departed.  These  supplies 
were  sufficient  to  meet  present  emergencies,  but  the  necessity  for  Columbus'  quick  return  to 
Hispaniola  was  still  very  great,  because  he  had  left  the  island  in  a  disturbed  state,  as  already 
explained,  and  in  case  the  islanders  rose  in  rebellion  or  withheld  supplies  the  colonists 
would  be  in  a  dangerous  situation.  He  had  therefore  expected  to  meet  his  accusers  at  the 
Spanish  Court,  clear  his  good  name,  recniit  a  large  additional  force,  and  with  a  fleet  well 
laden  with  stores  accomplish  his  return  to  Hispaniola  in  less  than  three  months.  Instead 
of  realizing  his  expectations  he  found  no  opportunity  to  present  his  requests  to  the  Queeii» 
whose  urgent  engagements  gave  her  no  time  to  consider  his  needs.  He  was  therefore  com- 
pelled to  wait  in  silence,  to  restrain  his  impatience,  and  trust  to  time  for  a  favorable  presen- 
tation cf  his  necessities.  Month  after  month  thus  slipped  by  until  autumn  arrived,  and 
nothing  was  as  yet  done  towards  securing  a  fleet  of  vessels.  When  at  length  application 
was  made,  Ferdinand  met  the  request  with  the  statement  that  the  condition  of  the  public 
treasury  would  not  permit  of  the  equipment  of  another  squadron  ;  besides,  neither  vessels 
nor  men  were  procurable  for  the  purpose. 

In  his  dilemma  Columbus  finally  found  opportunity  to  appeal  to  Isabella,  wlio 
promptly  responded  with  an  advance  of  si.x  million  maravedis  from  the  treasury-  of  Castile  ; 
but  about  this  time,  October  20th,  Pedro  Alonzo  Nino  returned  from  Hispaniola,  and  pro- 
ceeding to  his  home,  sent  a  letter  to  the  Court  announcing  that  he  had  a  large  amount  of 
gold  on  board  his  ships.  Upon  receipt  of  this  news  Ferdinand  diverted  the  six  millioa 
maravedis  contributed  by  the  Queen  to  perfecting  the  fortifications  of  Roussillon,  threat- 
ened by  the  French,  and  ordered  that  a  like  sum  be  supplied  to  Columbus  from  the  gold 
brought  by  Nino's  caravels.  Thus  affairs  rested  initil  the  latter  part  of  December,  when  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  large  amount  of  gold  which  Nino  claimed  to  have  brought  from 
Hispaniola  was  in  the  form  of  three  hundred  Indian  captives,  which  he  explained  might  be 
converted  into  the  treasure  of  which  he  exultingly  spoke. 

This  harmful  metaphor,  or  rather  absurd  hyperbole,  threw  Ferdinand  into  a  fit  of  rage, 
while  the  Queen  was  both  angered  and  chagrined,  and  Columbus  was  grieved  beyond  ex- 
pression. Isabella,  mild  in  manner  and  always  generous,  was  nevertheless  prompted  to 
punish  the  presumption  of  Nino,  or  whoever  was  responsible  for  the  violation  of  her  orders, 
and  she  was  only  persuaded  from  such  a  course  by  the  defence  that  was  set  up,  wherein 
allegation  was  made  that  the  Indian  captives  were  charged  with  the  murder  of  many  Span- 
iards, who  had  been  brought  to  Spain  for  sentence,  enslavement  being  the  most  fitting 
punishment. 

After  his  awakening  from  a  golden  dream,  the  enemies  of  Columbus  as.sailed  him  anew 


232 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


■with  increased  disparagement  and  virulence,  but  Isabella  continued  steadfast  in  her  friend- 
■ship  through  all  the  evil  report  that  mendacity  could  devise.  But  she  was  not  able  to  give 
•him  substantial  encouragement  until  April  23d,  1497,  when  she  issued  an  ordinance  for  the 
purchase  of  supplies  for  the  expedition  and  granted  permission  to  the  Admiral  to  enlist 
under  pay  of  the  crown  three  hundred  and  thirty  persons,  representing  the  various  trades, 
who  should  become  colonists  of  the  Indies  ;  at  the  same  time  reaffirming  all  the  privileges 
granted  to  him  by  the  compact  signed  at  Santa  Fe  five  years  before.  But  it  now  became 
necessary  to  make  some  modifications  in  that  agreement,  because  Columbus  had  been  unable 
to  carry  out  his  part  of  the  covenant.  He  joyfully  accepted  the  conditions,  which  were  in- 
deed of  his  own  proposing,  that  for  an  eighth  of  the  revenue  accruing  from  his  explorations 
he  was  to  provide  a  like  part  of  the  expense,  but  to  his  mortification  his  expeditions  while 
of  great  geographical  importance  and  prospective  commercial  value  to  the  Spanish  Crown, 
had  not  been  attended  by  those  profits  which  his  over-sanguine  mind  had  pictured,  and 
hence  he  was  too  poor  to  comply  with  his  agreements.     Thus  was  he  therefore  still  depend- 

ent  upon  the 
Queen's  bounty, 
even  as  much  as 
when  a  petitioner 
for  royal  patron- 
age under  which 
to  equip  his  first 
expedition. 

Queen  Isabella 
was  as  magnani- 
mous as  she  was 
pious,  and  being 
appreciative  of  the 
honor  which  his 
glorious  deeds  had 
conferred     upon 

her  crown  she  remitted  that  part  of  the  agreement  which  imposed  pecuniary-  obligations 
xipon  Columbus,  and  yet  confirmed  to  him  not  only  the  rights  stipulated  in  the  original 
■compact  but  also  made  a  generous  tender  to  him  of  a  dukedom  in  Hispaniola,  compris- 
ing a  tract  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long  by  half  as  many  wide.  This  kindly  proffer, 
however,  he  declined,  foreseeing  that  its  acceptance  would  only  serve  to  expose  him  to 
more  malignant  attacks  of  his  enemies,  who  would  make  the  most  of  such  a  gift  as  an 
evidence  of  his  sordid  ambition.  But  the  Queen,  anxious  to  show  her  regard  for  his  unselfish 
service,  granted  to  him  the  _  right  of  perpetual  entail  of  his  estates  and  titles,  and  at  the 
same  time  rescinded  the  prerogatives  given  in  1495  to  other  explorers  to  make  discoveries 
in  the  New  World. 

In  the  exercise  of  the  privilege  the  Queen  had  in  her  magnanimity  conferred,  Colum- 
bus executed  his  will  at  Seville  in  April,  1498,  by  which  he  made  a  devisement  to  his 
male  descendants  and  in  default  of  these  to  his  female  lineage,  of  all  his  property,  titles, 
royalties  and  benefits  accruing  under  the  terms  of  his  agreements  with  the  Spanish  crown. 
By  this  testament  he  provided  generously  for  his  brother  Bartholomew,  then  serving  as 
Adelantado  or  governor  in  his  absence  at  Hayti,  and  likewise  settled  bountiful  portions 
upon  his  sons  Diego  and    Fernando  though  the  bequests  were  of   properties  prospective 


.?>^' 


COLUMBUS   EXECUTING    HIS   WILL   AT   SEVILLE. 


COLUMBUS   AND   CULUMHIA.  233 

rather  thau  real.  His  relatives  at  Genoa  were  also  reinenibered  liberalh",  after  which  he 
set  aside  oue-teuth  of  all  the  revenues  that  remained  for  charitable  purposes.  Nor  did 
he  forget  to  provide  for  the  execution  of  his  controlling  ambition,  which  was  the  recovery 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  to  which  end  his  will  contained  a  request  that  Diego,  or  whoever 
inherited  his  estate,  should  in\est  whatever  mone\s  he  could  spare  in  the  stock  of  the  bank 
of  St.  George  at  Genoa,  there  to  remain  as  a  permanent  and  growing  fund  until  it  could  be 
used  in  reasonable  effort  to  accomplish  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem.  If  the  king  did  not 
undertake  the  recovery,  then  at  an  auspicious  time  Diego  himself  was  charged  to  set  on 
foot  a  crnsade  at  his  own  risk  and  invite  other  sovereigns  to  join  him  in  wresting  the  holy 
shrine  from  the  profanation  of  infidels. 

The  hopes  renewed  by  these  evidences  of  the  Queen's  regard  lifted  Columbus  again 
into  latitudes  of  golden  expectation,  a  felicitous  feeling  which  was  further  accentuated 
by  official  permission  to  equip  another  expedition  at  government  expense,  consisting  of 
three  hundred  and  thirty-  persons  in  the  royal  pay,  and  a  fleet  of  six  vessels  ;  of  those  to 
be  enlisted  for  the  expedition,  one  hundred  men  went  as  foot-soldiers,  and  there  were 
forty  servants,  thirty  sailors,  thirty  cabin  boys,  fifty  agriculturists,  twenty  miners,  twenty 
mechanics,  ten  gardeners,  and  thirty  females.  As  an  incentive  to  enlistment  Columbus  was 
authorized  to  grant  lands  to  those  desiring  to  engage  in  agriculture,  and  to  issue  patents 
after  an  occupation  of  four  years. 

But  while  the  interests  of  the  colonists  were  thus  promoted  by  generous  concessions,  the 
Queen  showed  her  care  for  the  natives  by  charging  Columbus  to  treat  them  with  the 
greatest  leniency,  and  to  see  that  their  religious  instruction  was  attended  to  ;  in  short,  to 
conciliate  them  by  acts  of  kindness  and  in  no  case  to  exercise  harshness  except  as  a  last 
resort  in  restraint  of  rebellious  or  murderous  propensities. 

The  preliminaries  having  been  arranged,  Columbus  published  a  call  for  volunteers 
under  the  royal  manifesto,  but  it  only  served  to  bring  him  into  unexpected  difficulties 
which  threatened  to  abort  all  his  plans.  The  activity  of  enemies  operating  to  bring 
him  into  odium  and  to  depict  the  world  of  his  discover^'  as  a  land  of  miser\,  po\erty, 
hardships  and  death,  chilled  the  ardor  of  enthusiasts  and  adventurers  so  effectually  that 
none  could  be  induced  to  proffer  their  services.  The  sorr>'  showing  which  Columbus  had 
been  able  to  make  on  his  return  from  two  expeditions  likewise  inspired  shipowners  with 
caution,  and  these  now  hesitated  to  charter  their  vessels  for  such  an  enterprise.  His  plans 
being  thus  brought  to  an  abrupt  termination  through  the  influences  of  envy  and  cowardice, 
Columbus  was  compelled  to  apply  to  the  Queen  for  pennission  to  impress  men  and  ships  for 
his  service.  This  request  was  not  fully  complied  with,  but  the  second  propcsal  that  a  comjwny 
be  recruited  from  condemned  criminals  was  accepted.  Under  this  arrangement  culi)rits 
convicted  of  crimes  other  than  heresy,  treason,  counterfeiting  and  murder  were  pennitted 
to  enlist,  and  their  terms  of  imprisonment  were  commuted  to  service  under  Columbus  in 
the  New  World  for  periods  proportionate  to  the  atrocity  of  their  crimes. 

But  even  after  the  required  ships  and  recruits  were  obtained,  vexatious  delays  con- 
tinued to  harass  Columbus  and  threaten  the  departure  of  the  expedition.  A  change  was 
made  about  this  time  in  the  superintendence  of  Indian  affairs  which  necessitated  a  with- 
drawal of  commissions  issued  jointly  to  Columbus  and  .Antonio  de  Torres  ;  while  F'on- 
seca,  one  of  Columbus'  most  bitter  enemies,  was  reinstated  as  de  Torres'  successor.  The 
commissions  and  contracts  had  therefore  to  be  issued  anew,  which  it  took  some  time  to 
do.  As  if  in  confirmation  of  the  old  adage  that  troubles  never  come  singlx ,  in  llie  midst 
of  these  annoyances  the  good  Queen  was  overwheluK-d  witli   intelligence  of  the  death  of 


(234) 


COLUMBUS    KNOCKING   DOWN    THE    INSOLENT  JEW. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  235 

her  only  son  and  heir  apparent  to  Leon  and  Castile,  Prince  Jnan,  whom  Fernando  and 
Uieg^o  had  ser\ed  as  pages.  To  add  to  the  woe  that  had  crushed  lier  great  heart,  her 
daughter,  Juana,  just  married  to  the  Archduke  Philip  of  Austria,  was  seized  by  a  mental 
malady  that  clouded  her  mind  forever. 

Poor  Isabella  I  Even  a  queen  filled  with  such  tender  graces  as  thine  may  not  escape  the 
blinding  calamities  that  break  the  hearts  of  mothers  whose  throne  is  set  up  in  the  affec- 
tions of  their  children.  But  bravely,  as  became  a  woman  consecrated  to  the  holiest 
ser\-ice  of  God  and  man,  she  bore  up  under  her  afflictions,  and  though  her  eyes  were  filled 
with  scalding  tears  her  ears  opened  to  the  appeals  of  Columbus.  She  never  forgot  that  across 
the  great  sea  was  a  feeble  colony  possibly  suffering,  aye,  dying,  for  want  of  supplies  which 
she  only  could  furnish.  So,  from  the  money  which  she  intended  as  an  endowment  for  her 
daughter  Isabella,  who  was  soon  to  marry  Emanuel,  King  of  Portugal,  she  took  enough  to 
load  two  ships  with  supplies,  and  these  were  despatched  early  in  1498  under  the  com- 
mand of  Pedro  Fernandez  Coronel.  Then  as  an  evidence  of  her  special  regard  for  Co- 
lumbus she  made  Fernando  and  Diego  pages  in    her  own  court. 

Fonseca  spared  no  pains  in  his  malignant  effort  to  harass  Columbus,  which  his  new 
position  enabled  him  to  do  so  effectually  that  on  several  occasions  the  great  mariner  was 
so  disheartened  as  to  secretly  resolve  to  abandon  his  enterprise.  And  these  resolutions 
would  no  doubt  have  detenniued  his  actions  had  they  not  been  overborne  by  the  kind 
encouragement  of  the  Queen,  for  whom,  especially  under  her  afflictions,  he  entertained  the 
tenderest  attachment  bom  of  profound  sxinpathy.  But  ever\-  harassment  has  an  end,  as 
life  itself,  and  Columbus,  after  great  length  of  time  found  himself  making  progress.  The 
six  vessels  were  finally  fitted  for  sea,  crews  and  companies  obtained,  to  which  a  surgeon, 
apothecan-,  physician,  several   priests  and  a  baud  of  musicians  were  added.. 

The  annoyances  from  which  he  had  now  suffered  for  two  years  %vere  to  continue  even  to 
the  hour  of  his  departure,  and  their  effects  were  felt  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Among  the 
pestiferous  hirelings  of  Fonseca  was  a  Christianized  Jew  named  Ximeno  Breviesca,  who  held 
the  position  of  accountant  to  his  equally  iwworthy  master.  This  most  turbulent  and  inso- 
lent fellow  seized  the  occasion  to  as.sail  Columbus  with  all  manner  of  vituperation,  even  at 
the  time  of  weighing  the  anchors,  evidently  obeying  Fonseca's  wishes  to  humiliate  him  be- 
fore the  people  whom  he  had  been  appointed  to  command.  Incensed  beyond  the  power  of 
further  control,  Columbus  struck  down  the  wretch  and  administered  to  his  contemptible 
body  the  kicks  which  he  deserved.  It  was  only  the  spirit  of  manhood  asserting  itself 
against  the  wolfish  instinct  of  contumelious  jealousy  that  had  bitten  his  heels  and  showed 
its  ravening  teeth  wherever  he  had  gone  ;  but  enemies  turned  this  exhibition  of  outraged 
nature  against  him  by  pointing  to  the  act  as  a  proof  of  his  overbearing  cruelty  with  which 
he  had  long  been  charged  by  his  traducers. 


CHAPTER    XV. 


r 


DEPARTURE  OF  THE  THIRD   EXPEDITION. 


HE  equipment  of  the  expedition  having  at  last  been  completed, 
Columbus  ordered  the  anchors  lifted  and  his  fleet  of  six  cara- 
vels departed  on  May  13th,  1498,  from  the  harbor  of  San 
Liicar  de  Barrameda.  Gaily  the  vessels  trimmed  their  sails 
and  swept  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Guadalquivir,  past  the 
old  Moorish  castle  that  stood  commanding  the  entrance  to 
the  harbor,  a  mute  reminder  of  the  commercial  importance 
of  the  port  before  the  invaders  had  been  driven  out  of  Spain 
through  the  persistent  valor  of  Spanish  anns. 

This  third  voyage  of  discover}'  was  undertaken  in  pur- 
suance of  two  distinct  purposes,  namely  :  Believing  that 
Cuba  was  part  of  the  main  continent  with  a  severe  trend  to- 
wards the  west,  along  which  he  had  sailed  a  considerable 
distance,  Columbus  concluded  that  another  continent  lay  somewhere  towards 
the  south,  an  opinion  first  advanced  by  King  John  II.,  of  Portugal.  This 
conjectured  continent  he  now  detennined  to  seek  ;  but  he  was  actuated  to 
this  search  not  merely  by  the  honors  such  a  discovery  might  bestow,  for  his 
ambition  now  took  a  more  decidedly  commercial  turn,  but  also  with  the  hope  of  being  able 
to  satisfy  the  covetous  desires  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  who  had  become  importunate  for 
some  compensation  for  the  large  expenditures  which  the  two  previous  voyages  had  entailed. 
Columbus  was  also  greatly  inflirenced  by  the  opinion  advanced  by  a  philosophic  lapidary, 
who  maintained  that  all  productions  of  nature  were  sublimated  by  the  rays  of  a  torrid  sim, 
and  that  not  only  was  vegetation  forced  into  the  greatest  exuberance  by  the  tropic  heat,  but 
that  precious  metals  and  stones  were  likewise  produced  in  the  largest  profusion  under  the 
rays  of  a  vertical  sun.  Towards  the  equinoctial  line  he  accordingly  bent  his  way  in  the 
belief  that,  discovering  a  southern  continent  he  would  find  there  in  great  abundance  those 
precious  articles  which  would  enrich  his  sovereigns,  and  that  while  thus  obtaining  their 
favor  he  would  also  bring  confusion  to  his  enemies. 

The  voyage  was  directed  southward  to  Porto  Santo  and  ^Madeira,  now  known  as  the 
Canar\'  Islands,  upon  reaching  which  Columbus  came  unexpectedly  upon  a  French  war- 
ship that  had  just  captured  two  Spanish  prizes.  He  abandoned  his  purpose  for  the  time 
being,  and  pursued  the  French  vessel,  the  commander  of  which,  having  discovered  the 
great  odds  against  him,  had  sought  safety  in  flight.  Two  days  were  thus  lost.  But  Colum- 
bus had  the  satisfaction  of  recovering  one  of  the  Spanish  vessels  and  seriously  crippling 
the  French  cniiser.  Turning  south  again,  he  proceeded  to  the  island  of  Faroe,  where  he 
brought  his  vessels  to  for  some  needed  repairs.  He  then  decided  to  divide  his  fleet  by 
sending  three  of  the  vessels,  with  all  the  stores  that  he  could  spare,  directly  to  the  colonists 
at  San  Domingo,  while  he  retained  the  other  three  to  pursue  the  purpose  for  which  the 
expedition  was  organized. 

(236) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


237 


HORPIBLE  SUFFERING  IN  THE  CALM  LATITUDES. 

The  next  detention  occurrcJ  upon  icaching  tlic  Cape  Wnl  Islands,  where  he  arrived 
on  the  27th  of  June,  and  having  taken  in  some  additional  supplies  and  a  quantity  of  water, 
he  set  sail  in  a  southwesterly  direction  until  he  fell  into  the  calms,  where  his  crew  suffered 
all  the  agonies  of  extreme  lieat,  and  his  provisions  were  so  seriously  injured  as  to  render  a 
great  part  of  them  unftt  for  human  food.  As  they  gradually  advanced  further  into  this 
fiery  heat  the  fears  of  the  sailors  were  increased,  as  they  well  might  be,  by  tlie  alarming 
effects  which  they  now  observed.  The  pitch  with  which  the  ships  were  smeared  was 
melted  and  the  seams  opened,  admitting  the  water,  so  that  it  was  only  by  the  n:ost  extraor- 


COLfMnrS   RKCAPTrRTVG   THK    FRKNCH    PRIZE, 


dinary  exertions  that  they  were  kept  afloat.  So  also  the  wooden  vessels  in  which  their 
store  of  fresh  water  was  kept  shrank  until  the  hoops  dropped  off  and  the  contents  were 
wasted.  Occasional  showers  fell,  but  these  seemed  rather  to  intensify  than  alleviate  the 
dreadful  heat,  for  the  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  \Vas  thereby  increased  and  rendered  all 
the  more  oppressive. 

This  alanning  situation   continued   for  eight  days  and   was  so  debilitating    that   the 
superstitious  crew  concluded  that  they  were  upon  tlie   confines  of  that  world  to  which  lost 


238  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUxMBIA. 

souls  are  condemned,  and  Columbus  was  forced  to  exert  all  his  persuasive  influence  to 
prevent  them  from  leaping  into  the  sea  and  thus  concluding  their  insupportable  misery. 
But  as  the  crews  of  former  expeditions  had  been  relieved  by  changes  which  they  had 
despaired  of  realizing,  so  at  length  they  passed  out  of  this  intolerable  condition  and  beyond 
the  meridian  of  heat,  emerging  at  last  into  a  cooler  atiuosphere  where  a  fresh  breeze  stimu- 
lated their  hopes  anew,  and  they  proceeded  with  great  encouragement  out  of  their  despond- 
ence. But  the  spoiling  of  the  provisions  rendered  it  necessary  that  Columbus  should  reach 
land  as  soon  as  possible,  and  accordingly  he  changed  his  course  directly  westward,  in  the 
hope  of  gaining  some  of  the  Caribbee  Islands,  where  he  might  anchor  and  repair  his  vessels. 

DISCOVERY  OF  THE  SOUTH  AMERICAN  CONTINENT. 

Their  progress,  however,  was  slow,  and  food  so  scarce  that  serious  alanu  was  renewed. 
But  good  fortune  was  to  attend  them  in  the  hour  of  greatest  despair,  for  on  the  last  day 
of  July  a  mariner  of  Huelva,  named  Alonzo  Perez  Nizzardo,  acting  as  watch  on  board  the 
Admiral's  ship,  gave  the  signal  of  land  ahead.  Ever}-  eye  was  quickl}-  strained  westward, 
and  to  their  inexpressible  delight  they  saw  the  triple  peaks  of  a  mountain  range  rising  from 
the  ocean.  By  one  of  those  coincidences  which  Columbus  was  always  quick  to  discover  and 
upon  which  his  mind,  still  deeply  immersed  in  the  bonds  of  superstition,  rested  with  so 
much  confidence,  these  three  mountain  heights  were  imagined  b}'  him  to  answer  to  a  vow 
which  he  had  made  that  he  would  name  the  first  new  land  discovered  The  Trinity.  Accord- 
ingly he  gave  the  name  La  Trinidad  to  the  new  island — for  such  it  proved  to  be — and  that 
name  it  has  borne  to  the  present  day.  A  short  sail  to  the  westward  brought  him  along  a 
shore  on  which  all  the  luxuriance  of  the  tropical  islands  was  exhibited,  but  no  natives  were 
visible.  Further  inland,  however,  villages  were  seen,  but  the  people  had  taken  flight  and 
concealed  themselves  in  the  forest  coverts. 

A  voyage  of  several  leagiies  was  necessary'  before  a  safe  landing-place  was  found,  but  a 
favorable  anchorage  was  at  length  reached  in  a  sheltered  cove,  on  the  banks  of  which  was 
a  luxurious  vegetation,  and  running  down  the  hillside  was  a  brook  of  cr\-stal  water.  Here 
the  crews  went  on  shore  and  collected  native  foods  and  laid  in  a  supply-  of  fresh  water. 
But  though  many  marks  of  human  habitation  were  visible  on  ever}'  hand,  the  inhabitants 
continued  to  keep  themselves  so  well  liidden  that  not  one  was  anywhere  to  be  seen. 

A  sufficient  quantity  of  supplies  having  been  obtained,  the  voyage  was  renewed,  and 
presenth-  scanning  the  southern  horizon  Columbus  disco\-ered  the  outline  of  a  long,  low 
country  rising  but  a  few  feet  above  the  sea  but  extending  a  distance  which  he  estimated  at 
twenty  leagues.  He  did  not  doubt  but  that  it  was  another  of  the  islands  so  plentifully 
distributed  in  the  western  waters.  It  proved,  in  fact,  a  tongue  of  land  stretching  out  from 
the  South  American  continent,  which  for  six  A'ears  he  had  been  half-consciously  approach- 
ing. Reaching  the  southwestern  extremity  of  Trinidad,  another  stretch  of  land 
was  seen,  the  point  of  which  was  marked  by  a  lofty  eminence  resembling  a  tremendous 
rock,  separated  from  the  main  land  b}-  a  dangerous  channel  through  which  the  water  was 
rushing  with  an  ominous  sound.  Here  the  vessels  were  greeted  b\-  a  boat-load  of  natives 
■who  paddled  out  in  their  canoes  from  the  shore  and  hailed  the  ships,  but  in  a  tongue  which 
the  interpreters  could  not  understand.  Every  inducement  was  offered  the  natives  to 
approach,  but  they  were  extremely  wary,  holding  their  paddles  ready  for  instant  flight  in 
case  any  movement  was  made  to  arrest  them.  The  men  were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows 
and  some  of  them  also  had  bucklers.  Around  their  heads  they  wore  rolls  of  cotton  cloth 
fashioned  somewhat  like  a  turban,  while  their  persons  from  the  loins  to  the  thighs  were 
covered  with  colored  clothing,  in  which  respect  they  bore  some  resemblance  to  the  fiercer 
nati^'es  that  Columbus  had  met  on  the  island  of  Cuba. 


COLl'MHrS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


239 


A  SPAT  WITH  THE  NATIVES. 
In  equipping  the  expedition  Columbus  liad  lakeu  a  band  of  musicians,  appreciating 
how  great  was  the  influence  of  music  upon  the  Indians  with  whom  he  had  come  in  con- 
tact. Being  unable  to  induce  the  new  people  to  approach  his  vessel  he  now  ordered  his 
musicians  on  deck,  and  to  the  lively  music  which  thc>-  produced  the  Spaniards  executed  a 
dance,  but  the  significance  of  this  action  was  radicall}-  mistaken  by  the  Indians  who  instead■^ 


of  responding  with  some  form  of  native  music  and  jubilation,  let  fly  a  .shower  of  arrows  at 
the  performers,  which  belligerent  action  Columbus  met  by  ordering  a  discharge  from  his 
cross- bown:en,  tvhercupf)n  tlie  barbarians  fled  with  great  precipitation.  T!ie\-  were  after- 
wards induced  to  approach  one  of  the  smaller  ships,  the  captain  of  which  made  them  some 


240  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

presents  of  hawk-bells  and  looking-glasses.  Bnt  their  confidence  they  strangely  withheld^ 
and  when  a  boat  was  lowered  to  follow  then:  to  shore  they  took  alarm  and  gaining  the 
beach  ran  into  the  woods  and  were  seen  no  more. 

While  lying  at  this  point  of  land,  which  he  called  Cape  Arenal,  Cohnnbns  watched 
with  great  interest  the  ocean  river  which  was  seen  to  msh  between  the  island  and  the 
opposite  promontory.  Acquainted  thongh  he  was  with  ocean  cnrrents  he  had  never 
beheld  before  such  a  turbulent  and  tossing  rapid  as  was  presented  in  this  down-flowing 
channel.  The  seething  salt  sea  river  looked  to  him  like  a  vast  serpent  rising  and  twisting 
between  the  two  shores,  on  which  account  he  called  the  pass  into  this  roaring  channel 
Boca  del  Sierpe,  meaning  the  Mouth  of  the  Serpent.  Notwithstanding  the  dangers  which 
seemed  to  threaten  a  passage  of  this  turbulent  strait  Columbus  was  resolved  upon  gaining 
the  mainland,  but  as  a  precautionary  measure  he  sent  forward  one  of  the  boats  to  make 
soundings  and  was  greatly  pleased  to  find  that  instead  of  a  reef  the  depth  was  fully  ten 
fathoms,  which  fact  ser\'ed  to  proVe  that  the  disturbance  of  the  water  was  due  to  the  meet- 
ing of  incoming  tides  and  a  counter  current.  Before  entering  upon  the  passage  a  striking: 
and  frightful  portent  occurred,  which  the  Admiral  thus  describes  : — "Late  at  night,"  says- 
he,  ' '  being  on  board  my  ship,  I  heard  a  terrible  roaring  and  as  I  tried  to  pierce  the  dark- 
ness I  beheld  the  sea  to  the  south  heaped  up  in  a  great  hill,  the  height  of  the  ship, 
rolling  slowly  towards  us.  The  ships  were  lifted  up  and  whirled  along  so  that  I  felt  that 
we  should  be  engulfed  in  a  commotion  of  waters  ;  but  fortunately  the  mountainous  surge- 
passed  on  towards  the  mouth  of  the  strait  and  after  a  contest  with  the  counter  current  grad- 
ually subsided."  Such  tidal  waves  as  Columbus  thus  described  are  of  frequent  occurrence 
on  the  coast  of  South  America,  to  which  they  seem  to  be  peculiar,  though  at  rare  intervals 
they  have  been  seen  along  the  shores  of  other  tropical  countries  and  e^•en  in  mid-ocean. 

IN  THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  DRAGON. 

Fortunately  he  escaped  injur)-  by  this  awe-inspiring  occurrence,  and  setting  his  sails 
moved  into  the  broad  and  open  Gulf  of  Paria,  or  Gulf  of  Pearls,  bounded  on  the  east  by 
the  curving  coast  of  Trinidad  and  on  the  north  by  the  long-projecting  peninsula  of  Car- 
riaco.  He  had  proceeded  only  a  few  leagues  into  the  gulf  when  his  attention  was  called 
to  the  appearance  of  the  water  through  which  he  was  sailing,  and  on  testing  it,  to  his- 
great  surprise  he  found  it  fresh,  yet  everywhere  as  far  as  his  ej'e  could  discern  was  an 
open  sea.  He  was  struck  by  the  anomaly  of  a  fresh  water  sea  which  was  manifestly  a. 
part  of  the  Atlantic,  and  he  was  therefore  deeply  anxious  to  pursue  his  inquir)-  to  a  solu- 
tion of  this  singular  myster}'.  He  was  not  a  long  while,  however,  in  concluding  that  he 
must  be  near  a  great  continent,  from  the  shores  of  which  rushed  down  rivers  in  such 
great  volumes  as  to  overreach  the  sea  and  make  the  surface  fresh,  as  it  frequently  is- 
after  a  heavy  rain.  He  sailed  northward  across  the  gulf,  discovering  that  the  passage 
from  it  led  through  another  tempestuous  outlet,  even  more  threatening  in  appearance 
than  was  that  of  Boca  del  Sierpe.  Rocks  lined  either  shore  and  the  current  -was  so 
swift  that  to  this  exit  he  gave  the  name  of  Boca  del  Dragon^  signifying  the  Mouth  of 
the  Dragon.  He  did  not  choose  to  enter  this  passage  at  once,  but  continued  westward 
on  the  side  of  the  peninsula  until  he  came  to  a  district  some  parts  of  which  appeared  to 
be  under  cultivation.  Before  this  alluring  region  a  landing  was  made  and  Columbus  with 
several  of  the  crew  went  on  shore,  this  being  the  first  time  he  had  put  his  foot  upon  the 
soil  of  the  great  South  American  continent.  Several  natives  were  observed  along  the  coast, 
but  in  even,'  case  they  exhibited  great  timidity  and  took  refuge  in  the  forests  whenever- 
effort  was  made  to  approach  them. 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


241 


'_5^fS3^; 


As  Columbus  weut  further  inland  he  found  the  countn-  in  such  a  state  of  cultivation 
as  to  indicate  the  great  industry'  of  the  inhabitants.  At  length,  by  the  ofrcr  of  presents  and 
pacific  assurances,  some  of  the  Indians  were  induced  to  enter  a  canoe  to  visit  the  ships, 
when  some  of  the  Spaniards  who  were  near  by  succeeded  in  capsizing  the  boat  and 
capturing  half  a  dozen  of  the  natives,  upon  whom  they  showered  every  possible  favor,  and 
after  loading  them  with  presents  sent  them  off  to  their 
friends,  trusting  that  the  result  would  be  beneficial.  And 
so  it  proved,  for  seeing  how  well  the  captives  had  been 
treated,  their  friends  became  more  free  in  their  intercourse, 
and  at  length  a  covenant  of  friendship  was  established 
wherebv  some  of  the  natives  acted  as  guides  and  not  onlv 
showed  Columbus  a  considerable  district  of  the  country-,  but  Ml 
supplied  him  with  information  concerning  its  people  and  #1 
products. 


ENTERTAINED  BY  A  NATIVE  CHIEF. 

a  stay  of  a  few  days  at  their  first  landing  place 


After 
the  vessels  resumed  their  course  until  the\-  came  to  another 
beautiful  countn,-,  in  which  the  landscape,  as  presented  from 
the  ship,  was  fascinating  beyond  anything  the  Spaniards  had  ever  before  beheld.  The 
natives  were  also  found  to  be  friendly  and  ver>'  numerous,  nor  were  tliey  so  timid  as  the 
other  Indians  whom  Columbus  had  seen,  for  they  sought  intercourse  with  the  Spaniards  and 
presentlv  came  with  a  message  from  their  cacique  inviting  the  strangers  to  go  on  shore. 
Tlie  Admiral  noted  with  delight  that  personal  adornments,  particularly  collars  and  wristlets 
of  burnished  brass,  were  plentifully  worn.  But  the  natives  insisted  that  these  precious 
things  were  obtained  from  afar  off  and  were  the  products  of  cannibal  workmanship.  Not 
so,  however,  w'ith  the  pearls,  which  were  now  for  the  first  time  found  in  the  hands  of  these 
Indians,  for  the  natives  assured  him  that  they  might  be  obtained  in  the  greatest  profusion 
among  the  oyster  beds  on  the  northern  coast  of  their  country',  which  was  the  peninsula  of 
Carriaco.  Presenth'  came  the  Indian  king  himself,  accompanied  by  his  son,  the  prince, 
who  having  heard  of  the  arrival  of  the  white  people  upon  the  borders  of  his  country 
became  anxious  to  see  and  welcome  them.  His  conduct  was  that  of  a  dignified  official, 
appreciative  of  royal  honors,  and  yet  having  a  generous  demeanor  which  innnediately 
excited  the  admiration  of  Columbus.  He  extended  an  urgent  in\itation  to  the  Spaniards 
to  visit  his  capital  and  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  his  board,  which  was  accepted  by  a  company 
of  twelve  ;  but  Columbus  was  at  this  time  suffering  so  severely  from  gout  that  he  could  not 
accompany  them.  The  Spaniards  returned  on  the  same  evening  with  enthusiastic  reports 
of  the  richness  of  the  country  and  the  abundance  of  the  feast  that  had  been  set  before  them, 
besides  collections  of  pearls,  many  implements  of  brass,  also  ornaments  of  the  same,  and 
not  a  few  trinkets  of  gold.  The  manner  of  their  reception  was  more  refined,  too,  than  any 
hitherto  witnes.sed  among  the  West  Indian  people.  Nor  was  their  visit  mtirely  without 
profit,  for  they  found  the  Indians  glad  to  exchange  their  pearls  and  necklaces  for  such  gew- 
gaws as  the  Spanish  visitors  cliose  to  offer.  They  also  brought  back  to  tlie  Admiral,  as 
presents,  from  the  cacique,  many  pearls  of  ven,-  great  size  and  fine  quality,  wiiich  Columlxis 
treasured  with  sacred  pride  with  the  intention  of  presenting  them  to  her  Majesty  the  Queen. 

ON  THE  BORDERS  OF  PARADISE. 

The  countr\-  was  indeed  so  piclurcMjuc,  pnidiiclivc   and  licalthful,  that  Coluinl)us  was 
for  a  while  persuaded  that  he  had  discovered  here  the  site  of  the  terrestrial  paradise,  which 
i6 


242  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

legend  had  described  as  being  in  some  inaccessible  part  of  the  earth,  around  which  the  air 
was  freighted  with  most  delicious  perfumes  and  out  of  which  four  great  rivers  that  watered 
the  banks  of  Eden  poured  down  their  sweetened  tribute  to  the  sea.  Indeed,  several  subse- 
quent letters  written  by  Columbus  confinned  the  impression  which  the  rare  sights  that  he 
beheld  in  this  favored  region  excited  in  him.  He  could  not  but  believe,  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  that  he  had  been  thus  pennitted  to  approach  as  near  to  the  Eden  out  of  which 
sprang  the  mother  and  father  of  mankind  as  IMoses  had  gained  in  his  march  towards  the 
land  of  promise. 

Having  sailed  around  the  Gulf  of  Paria  and  finding  himself  hemmed  in  on  the  western 
circle,  he  made  his  way  northward  through  the  Mouth  of  the  Dragon,  but  not  until  he  had 
first  explored  it  by  a  boat  and  detennined  the  depth  of  the  channel.  It  was  through  this 
passage,  as  the  reader  may  well  discover  from  its  position,  that  the  tremendous  and  ever- 
accumulating  floods  of  the  Gulf  of  Paria  must  find  a  vent  into  the  open  sea.  So  from  south 
to  north  through  the  Boca  del  Dragon  the  water  poured  like  the  broken  rapids  of  a  great 
river.  Indeed  it  were  not  far  from  truth  to  call  the  Gulf  of  Paria  the  bulb  of  that  wonderful 
Gulf  Stream  which  sweeps  up  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America,  spreads  broadening  across 
the  Atlantic,  and  washes  with  its  potent  volume  of  tropical  waters  not  only  the  British 
Isles  but  all  the  adjacent  coasts  of  Europe.  Threatening  as  this  outlet  appeared  to  be 
Columbus  was  nevertheless  resolved  to  attempt  its  passage.  His  provisions  were  now 
almost  wasted,  and  there  were  other  reasons  prompting  him  to  return  to  San  Domingo  as 
soon  as  possible.  Trusting  his  vessels,  therefore  to  the  current,  they  were  swept  out  in 
safety,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  wind  was  hushed  at  the  most  critical  moment, 
preventing  the  pilot  from  giving  the  ships  any  direction.  After  gaining  the  open  sea  he 
discovered  two  other  islands,  to  which  he  gave  the  names  of  Assumpcion  and  Concepcion, 
which  are  known  in  modern  geography  as  Tobago  and  Grenada. 

IN    THE    LAND    OF   PEARLS. 

Not  being  willing  to  abandon  the  country  without  informing  himself  more  fully  as  to 
its  pearl  productions,  he  turned  to  the  west  and  proceeded  as  far  as  the  islands  of  Marguerite 
and  Cubaqua.  Here,  much  to  his  gratification,  he  discovered  the  pearl  fisheries  and  saw  a 
boat-load  of  natives  engaged  in  rifling  the  pearl  oysters  of  their  treasures.  Making  a  stop 
here  he  opened  communication  \vith  the  Indians,  and  perceiving  a  woman  around  whose 
neck  was  a  chain  of  unusually  large  and  lustrous  pearls  he  induced  her  to  come  on  board 
his  ship  and  exchange  her  possessions  for  pieces  of  a  colored  porcelain  plate  which  he  broke 
up  and  distributed  in  barter  for  a  large  quantit\-  of  these  precious  products  of  the  o\-ster. 
Three  pounds  of  pearls  rewarded  him  for  this  short  stay  among  the  natives,  all  of  which  he 
treasured  for  the  benefit  of  Queen  Isabella,  and  he  was  satisfied  that  had  the 
time  been  at  his  disposal  he  might  have  gathered  here  a  rich  cargo  of  pearls.  Several  cir- 
cumstances, however,  conspired  to  compel  a  resumption  of  the  voyage.  His  ships  were 
again  in  need  of  repairs  ;  there  was  danger  that  the  remainder  of  the  stock  of  provisions 
intended  for  the  colonists  would  become  worthless  if  the  voyage  were  prolonged  ;  anxiet>'  to 
learn  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Hispaniola  ;  and  above  all,  t)ie  condition  of  his  health, 
demanded  of  Columbus  that  he  should  as  soon  as  possible  reach  the  colony  and  recruit  from 
his  exhaustion.  His  gout,  too,  was  a  constant  torture,  and  he  had  suffered  for  weeks  from 
an  inflanrmation  of  the  eyes  that  had  almost  destroyed  his  sight.  In  fact,  so  general!}-  help- 
less had  he  become  through  these  aflflictions  that  he  was  incapacitated  from  duty,  and  turned 
over  the  charts,  compass  and  sextant  to  other  observers  into  whose  hands  he  had  to  entrust 
the  command  of  the  vessels. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMIUA. 


243 


Columbus  had  intended  to  sail  direct  to  Ozema,  the  point  where  he  had  ordered  a 
colony  planted  for  the  development  of  the  o;old  mines  of  Hayna.  But  after  a  five  davs' 
sail  he  reached  the  southern  shore  of  San  Domingo  at  a  point  one  hundred  and  fiftv  miles 
west  of  his  reckoning,  which  was  due  to  the  westward  sweep  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  \\hich  he 
had  not  noticed  and  therefore  had  not  estimated  its  influence.  The  point  of  San  Domingo 
where  the  squadron  came  to  anchor  was  the  Island  of  Beata,  from  which  point  the 
Admiral  sent  a  messenger  on  shore  with  a  letter  for  Don  Bartholomew,  whom 
he  expected  to  find  on  the  west  coast  of  the  island.  It  was  believed  that  the  courier  could 
reach  the  mines  of  Hayna  before  a  squadron  could  make  its  way  to  that  part  of  the  island, 
an  opinion  w-hich  proved  to  be  correct ;  for  after  struggling  eastward  for  some  days  along 
the  shore  a  Spanish  caravel  came  in  sight  bearing  Don  Bartholomew  and  others,  who  on 
receipt  of  the  message  had  sailed  to  meet  Columbus.  The  ship  of  the  Adelantado  returned 
with  the  Admiral's  squadron  to  Ozema,  where  they  arrived  on  the  20th  of  August,  1498, 
three  months  to  a  day  from  the  time  he  set  sail  from  San  Lucar.  It  was  well  for  Columbus 
that  the  protracted  voyage  was  at  an  end  ;  for  the  combined  effects  of  old  age  (he  was  now 
about  sixty-five  years  old),  severe  maladies  and  long  exhaustion  were  upon  him,  and  his 
condition  was  well  calculated  to  excite  the  commiseration  even  of  his  enemies. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  COLONISTS  DURING  THE  ABSENCE  OF  COLUMBUS. 


]^^^URING  the  two  and  a  half  years  in  which  Columbus  had 
been  absent  from  Hispaniola  many  startling  incidents  had 
occurred  on  that  island,  in  which  the  colonists  had 
acted  both  whimsical  and  tragic  parts.  A  company 
combining  so  many  heterogeneous  characters  ;  the 
dissimilar  qualities  of  pietist  and  criminal,  the 
warring  instincts  of  the  cavalier  and  the  peon, 
the  adventuring  sensualist  and  the  avaricious  hire- 
ling of  cowardly  men,  could  hardly  give  other  ex- 
pectation than  explosive  and  adventitious  results 
in  opposition  to  the  animating  objects  for  which  as 
a  body  they  ostensibly  contended.  Some  of  these 
it  is  necessary  should  now  be  briefly  noticed  in  order 
that  the  reader  may  be  familiar  with  the  new  con- 
ditions with  which  Columbus  had  to  contend  upon 
his  return. 

From  Don  Bartholomew  the  Admiral  learned 
the  course  of  events  which  had  transpired  during  his  extended  absence.  Trouble,  as 
might  have  been  anticipated,  had  hovered  over  the  island  like  a  cloud.  Bartholomew  had 
confonned  in  all  good  will  to  the  wishes  and  directions  of  his  brother,  but  the  work  had  been 
attended  with  turmoil  and  distraction  at  every  step.  But  in  pursuance  of  his  instructions, 
the  Adelantado  had  set  out  with  a  considerable  force  in  the  spring  of  1496  to  establish  a 
fortress  and  colony  at  the  gold  mines  of  Hayna,  leaving  Don  Diego  Columbus  in  charge  of 
the  home  government  during  his  absence. 

On  reaching  the  gold  region  Bartholomew  selected  a  suitable  location  and  began  the 
building  of  a  fort,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  San  Christobel,  which  was  presently  re- 
named by  the  Spaniards  the  Fortress  of  the  Golden  Tower.  For  three  months  he  prose- 
cuted the  work  of  establishing  this  new  settlement,  though  attended  with  many  diflSculties, 
chief  of  which  was  the  scarcity  of  supplies,  which  the  Indians  no  longer  furnished  with  a 
liberal  hand  at  the  mere  bidding  of  the  Spaniards.  The  hard  lesson  had  been  forced  upon 
the  natives  that  their  visitors  were  controlled  by  avarice,  cupiditj'  and  cruelty,  and  they, 
therefore,  became  wary-  of  dealing  and  communicating  with  men  whom  they  had  come  to 
dread  as  evil  spirits.  The  result  was  that  provisions  were  only  obtainable  by  purchase  or 
through  the  exertions  of  foraging  parties,  and  neither  of  these  means  could  be  depended  upon 
to  furnish  such  supplies  as  were  urgently  needed.  The  pressure  of  want,  which  at  length 
approached  near  to  a  famine,  compelled  the  Adelantado  to  leave  ten  men  to  hold  the  fortress 
of  San  Christobel  while  he  departed  with  the  main  body  of  his  colonists  (about  four  hun- 
dred) to  Vega  Real,  where  he  reckoned  on  procuring  an  abundance  of  provisions  from  the 
well-supplied  towns  of  Guarionex. 

(244) 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUAIBIA.  245 

COLLECTING  THE  TRIBUTE. 

Don  Bartholomew  had  another  missiuu  also  in  lliis  part  of  the  conntr\^  One  clause  of 
the  orders  received  from  the  Admiral  urged  a  prompt  collection  of  the  tribute  which  had 
been  imposed  upon  the  natives.  Three  months  had  now  elapsed  since  the  last  payment  was 
made,  and  another  was  due.  Cibao and  the  \'eya  Real  were  the  best  fields  for  this  hardest, 
and  its  exaction  called  for  the  presence  of  the  Adelantado.  In  this  service  Don  Bartholo- 
mew continued  through  the  whole  month  of  June,  during  which  time  he  succeeded  in 
gathering  a  goodly  quantity  of  food  through  the  assistance  of  Guarionex  and  his  subordinate 
caciques. 

In  the  following  month  (July)  the  three  caravels  which  had  been  despatched  from  Spain 
under  the  command  of  Nino  arrived,  bringing  a  reenforcement  of  men  and  a  large  supply 
of  provisions.  But  a  considerable  part  of  the  latter  had  become  spoiled  during  the  voyage, 
a  misfortune  particularly  serious  in  a  community  where  the  least  pressure  of  scarcity  pro- 
duced munnur  and  sedition.  It  was  by  this  ship  that  the  Adelantado  had  received  letters 
from  the  Admiral,  directing  him  to  found  a  fortress  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ozema  River, 
and  further  requesting  him  to  send  to  Spain  as  slaves  such  caciques  and  their  subjects  as  had 
been  concerned  in  the  death  of  any  of  the  colonists.  On  the  return  of  the  caravels,  the 
Adelantado  despatched  three  hundred  Indian  prisoners  and  three  caciques  under  these 
instructions,  which  had  formed  the  ill-starred  cargoes  about  which  Nino  had  made  such 
absurd  vaunting  as  though  his  ships  were  laden  with  gold,  and  which  had  caused  such 
mortification,  disappointment  and  delay  to  Columbus. 

Having  obtained  a  considerable  supph-  of  provisions  Don  Bartholomew  returned  to  the 
fortress  of  San  Christobel,  and  then  to  the  Ozema  to  choose  a  site  for  the  proposed  seaport. 
The  mouth  of  the  river  afforded  secure  and  ample  harborage,  while  the  river  ran  through  a 
beautiful  and  fertile  country,  where,  it  was  said,  fniits  and  flowers  might  be  plucked  from 
overhanging  trees,  while  sailing  on  the  stream.  This  vicinity  was  also  the  dwelling  place 
of  the  female  cacique  who  had  conceived  an  affection  for  the  young  Spaniard,  Miguel  Diaz, 
who  had  enticed  his  countr}-men  to  that  part  of  the  island. 

FOUNDING  OF  SAN   DOMINGO. 

At  tlie  mouth  of  the  river  and  on  a  commanding  bank  Don  Bartholomew  erected  a  fortress 
confonnably  to  directions  sent  by  Columbus,  through  Nino,  and  called  San  Domingo,  and 
was  the  origin  of  the  cit\'  which  still  bears  that  name.  Having  made  his  fortress  secure, 
tlie  Adelantado  left  it  in  charge  of  twenty  men,  and  with  the  rest  of  his  force  set  out  on  an 
expedition  to  the  country  of  Behechio,  who  was  one  of  the  principal  caciques  of  the  island. 
His  province,  known  as  Xaragiia,  comprised  a  greater  part  of  the  coast  on  the  west  end  of 
the  island,  and  was  the  most  populous  as  well  as  most  fertile  district,  also  possessed  of  the 
most  healthful  climate  in  all  Hispaniola.  The  manners  of  the  people  were  hospitable  and 
graceful,  and  being  remote  from  all  the  fortresses  they  had  liad  no  close  comnnuiication 
with  the  Spaniards,  and  had  consequently  remained  free  from  the  incursions  of  the  white  sub- 
jugators. With  this  cacique  resided  his  sister,  Anacaona,  the  widow  of  Caonabo,  who,  it  will 
be  remembered,  .so  miserably  perished  on  the  ship  during  the  return  voyage  of  Columbus  to 
Spain.  She  had  taken  refuge  with  her  brother  after  the  capture  of  her  hnsb.ind,  and 
was  most  affectionately  regarded  by  him.  Her  name  in  the  Indian  language  signified 
"  The  Golden  Flower,"  a  title  which  well  became  her,  since  she  is  reputed  to  have  been  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  of  women  and  possessed  of  a  genius  far  in  advance  of  that  credited  to 
her  race.  She  was  also  of  a  poetic  nature  and  to  her  is  ascribed  the  composition  of  many 
legendary  ballads  which  the  natives  chanted  at  their  national  festivals.     And  tliough  she 


246  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

had  felt  the  heavy  arm  of  the  cruel  and  rapacious  Spaniards  her  nature  was  so  mild  that 
she  entertained  uo  hostilit\-  towards  the  white  men,  rather  regarding  them  with  admiration 
for  what  she  believed  was  their  superhuman  power  and  intelligence.  Perceiving  the  futility 
of  resisting  the  superiority  of  the  invaders,  she  counselled  Behechio  to  conciliate  and  foster 
the  friendship  of  the  Spaniards,  and  it  was  this  influence  which  probabh-  induced  the  Ade- 
lautado  to  undertake  his  present  expedition. 

A  WONDERFUL  RECEPTION    BY  BEAUTIFUL  WOMEN. 

Don  Bartholomew,  however,  did  not  neglect  to  employ  the  greatest  precaution  in  his 
march  to  the  dominion  of  Xaragua,  and  he  used  such  imposing  measures  as  had  been 
found  useful  on  former  occasions.  His  cavalry  he  sent  in  advance,  realizing  the  terror 
which  a  sight  of  horses  inspired  among  the  natives.  These  were  followed  by  the  foot 
soldiers,  who  advanced  in  martial  array  to  the  sound  of  drum  and  trumpet.  After  several 
da)s'  march  the  Adelantado  met  the  cacique  Behechio,  who  had  moved  out  of  his  capital 
with  a  great  army  armed  with  bows,  arrows  and  lances,  probably  intending  to  offer  opposi- 
tion to  an  invasion  of  his  domain  ;  though  if  so,  he  lost  his  resolution  before  the  formid- 
able appearance  of  the  Spaniards.  First  ordering  his  subjects  to  lay  aside  their  weapons, 
he  advanced  and  accosted  Don  Bartholomew  in  the  most  amicable  manner,  and  assigned  as 
his  excuse  for  his  appearing  in  such  force  his  purpose  to  subjugate  certain  villages  along  the 
river.  The  Adelantado  was  equally  reassuring  of  his  peaceful  intentions,  and  a  friendship 
having  been  cemented  by  mutual  protestations,  the  cacique  dismissed  his  army  and  sent 
forward  messengers  to  announce  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards  and  to  make  preparations 
for  their  suitable  reception.  In  this  wise  the  two  armies  marched  together  until  they  came 
at  length  to  a  large  town  beautifully  situated  near  the  coast,  at  a  bay  called  the  Bight  of 
Leogan.  Many  accounts  had  been  given  the  Spaniards  of  the  extraordinar\-  salubrit\-  and 
softness  of  the  climate  of  Xaragua,  in  one  part  of  which  was  placed  the  Elysian  fields  of 
Indian  tradition.  They  had  also  heard  from  natives  who  had  travelled  in  all  parts  of  the 
island  of  the  incomparable  beauty  and  urbanity  of  the  inhabitants,  which  had  inclined 
them  to  favorable  prepossessions,  that  they  were  now  to  see  confirmed  in  a  most  lavish 
hospitality.  Knowledge  of  the  approaching  army  having  been  heralded,  thirty  females, 
wives  and  daughters  of  Behechio,  sallied  forth,  singing  their  weird  ballads  and  wa\-ing  palm 
branches  in  consonance  with  the  dreamy  but  rhythmic  motions  of  their  dancing.  The 
married  and  unmarried  were  distinguishable  b}-  the  garments  which  they  wore,  the  former 
being  designated  by  aprons  of  embroidered  cotton  which  extended  from  the  shoulder  to  the 
knee,  while  the  young  women  had  no  other  covering  than  a  fillet  around  the  forehead  and 
their  thick  and  lustrous  hair  which  fell  in  waves  from  their  shoulders,  and  in  many  cases 
extended  below  the  waist.  Their  forms  might  well  be  called  Hebeic,  while  their  motions 
were  sylph-like,  their  skin  extremely  delicate  and  their  complexion    a  clear  amber  brown. 

A  FAIRY  SCENE. 

Peter  Martyr  declares  that  the  Spaniards  when  they  beheld  these  beautiful  women 
issuing  forth  from  the  green  woods,  almost  imagined  that  they  beheld  the  fabled  drsads  and 
native  nymphs  and  fairies  of  the  fields  sung  by  the  ancient  poets — a  delusion  which  might 
well  be  excused  when  we  consider  the  Edenic  surroundings,  which  were  calculated  to 
inspire  the  most  practical  and  prosaic  with  poetic  imaginations.  As  the  women  advanced 
they  knelt  before  Don  Bartholomew  and  then  gracefully  presented  to  him  the  green  palms 
which  they  carried.  They  then  divided,  half  on  either  side,  to  give  place  to  Anacaona,  who 
was  now  brought  forward  on  a  light  litter  or  palanquin  borne  by  six  Indians,  where  she  grace- 
fully reposed  until  conducted  into  the  presence  of  the  Adelantado,  when  she  advanced  and 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


'■'cM 


ANAC\ONA   AND   HER   RETINUE   OF  MAIDENS. 

gracefully    saluted  him.      She    had   on    no    other 
gannent  than   an  apron  of  various  colors,   made  of  i 
cotton,  but  around  her  head  she  wore  a  garland  of, 
red  and  white  flowers,  while   a  wreath  of  fragrant' 
and  flaming  blossoms  bedecked  her  neck  and  arms. 
Her  chann  of  manners   was    only  equalled   by    the 
grace  of  her  person,  both  of  which  were  well  calci 
lated   to  infatuate   even  a  less  impressionable  cava 
than      Don     Bartholomew.        The     gallant     governor 
accepted  her  salutation  by  kneeling  in  the  most  defer- 
ential manner  and  by  taking  her  hand  as  a  sign  of  his 
admiration  and  unalterable  friendship.     The  ceremonies 
of  reception  having  been  concluded,  the  Spaniards  were 
conducted  to  the  house  of  Behechio,  where  an  elegant 
banquet  was  ser\'ed,  consisting  of  a  variety  of  sea  and 
river  fish,  utias,   a  species  of    rodent   resem- 
bling a  rat,  and  a  variety  of  fine  fruits  and 
roots,  which  were  .ser\-ed   in    a  manner   that 
imparted    delightful     flavor    to    the     meats. 
.Vnother  dish  with  which  the  Spaniards  wen 
thus  for  the  first  time    made  acquainted  wa> 
the  flesh  of  the  Iguana,   a    reptile  most  re-  ._ 
pugnant  in  appearance,  but  which  is  regarded  ^^ 
as  a  special  delicacy  among  the  Indians,  wh' 
highly  esteem  it  to  this  day.    The  Adelantad"  ,';> 
was  the  first  of  the  Spaniards  to  taste  of  tlii 


248  COLUMBUS  AND   COLU^IBIA. 

strange  animal  food.  His  stomacli  being  well  fortified  b\-  a  fast  of  nearly  twent}'-four 
hours'  duration,  he  found  it  to  be  highly  palatable,  and  this  opinion  directly  brought  it 
into  high  repute  among  all  the  Spaniards. 

A  FATAL  SHAM  BATTLE. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  banquet  the  Spaniards  were  disposed  among  the  several 
dwelling  houses  of  the  inferior  caciques,  while  six  of  the  principal  officers  were  lodged  in 
the  palace  of  Behechio.  Here  they  were  entertained  for  two  days  in  the  most  hospitable 
manner,  and  during  this  time  games  and  festivities  were  introduced  for  their  entertainment 
Among  the  amusements  was  a  sham  battle  which,  howe\'er,  proved  serious  in  its  results, 
though  this  appears  to  have  been  the  usual  termination.  A  considerable  bod\-  of  Indians 
armed  with  bows  and  arrows  was  divided  into  two  squadrons,  and  marching  double-quick 
into  the  public  square  a  skirmish  began,  which,  though  somewhat  tame  in  the  beginning, 
directly  became  so  exciting  that  the  contestants  fought  with  such  earnestness  that  four  were 
killed  outright  while  twice  as  many  more  were  seriously  wounded.  This  fatal  consequence 
did  not  appear  to  abate  but  rather  added  to  the  interest  and  pleasure  of  the  spectators,  and 
the  battle  wotild  have  continued  longer  had  not  the  Adelantado  opposed  his  objections  to 
such  bloody  sport  and  begged  the  cacique  to  terminate  the  exhibition. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  two  days'  visit  Don  Bartholomew  thought  it  proper  to  com- 
municate to  the  cacique  and  Anacaona  the  real  object  of  his  visit.  He  began  by  acquaint- 
ing them  with  the  orders  which  he  had  received  from  his  brother,  which  were  to  collect  the 
tribute  which  had  been  imposed  upon  the  tributaiy  caciques  of  the  island,  for  which  purpose 
he  had  \isited  Behechio,  under  the  protection  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  to  arrange  a  tribute 
to  be  paid  by  him  in  the  manner  most  convenient  and  satisfactor}-. 

Behechio  was  somewhat  embarrassed  b}-  this  demand,  not  so  much  b}-  the  terms  in 
which  the  request  was  conveyed  as  the  anticipations  aroused  b}-  the  sufferings  which  had 
been  inflicted  through  the  avidity  of  the  Spaniards  for  gold  upon  the  other  caciques  of  the 
island.  He,  therefore,  replied  that  he  knew  that  gold  was  the  object  for  which  the  Spaniards 
had  visited  his  island  and  that  many  of  the  caciques  had  paid  their  tribute  in  that  precious 
metal;  but  that,  unfortunately  for  him,  the  value  of  his  territory  lay  in  its  fertility  rather 
than  its  products  of  gold,  that  his  people  had  at  no  time  followed  mining,  and  that  he 
doubted  verj-  much  whether  gold  was  discoverable  in  any  part  of  his  domain.  To  this, 
however,  Don  Bartholomew  replied  by  affecting  the  most  amiable  manners  and  assuring 
the  chief  that  he  had  no  intention  of  imposing  a  burden  beyond  his  ability  to  discharge; 
that  while  his  sovereigns  were  pleased  with  tributes  of  gold,  they  were  no  less  thankful  for 
other  products,  and  that  they  would  esteem  with  equal  favor  tributes  paid  in  cotton,  hemp, 
cassava  bread,  or  such  other  products  as  the  country  afforded.  To  this  request  the  cacique 
gave  a  cheerful  compliance  and  immediately  issued  orders  to  his  subordinates  commanding 
them  to  have  the  fields  planted  with  cotton  abundantly  and  thus  prepare  themselves  to  pay 
the  necessary  tribute  in  that  staple.  Thus  by  pacific  measures  and  assurances  Don 
Bartholomew  had  been  able  to  accomplish  that  which  others  with  a  less  generous  mind  were 
able  to  perform  only  through  violence  and  rapine.  Behechio  had  gracefully  complied  with 
the  requirements  and  at  the  same  time  his  friendship  had  been  made  secure,  a  procedure 
and  result  which  had  not  characterized  dealings  between  the  Spaniards  and  natives  in  other 
provinces  of  the  island. 

POVERTY   AND    CRIME   AT   ISABELLA. 

Don  Bartholomew  had  not  been  mau>-  weeks  absent  from  Fort  Isabella  on  his  visit  to 
Behechio,  nevertheless  when  he  returned  a  sorr>-  condition  of  affairs  confronted  him.      Many 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLU.MBIA.  ii4'J 

of  the  colonists  had  succumbed  under  clinialic  diseases,  while  a  greater  part  were  sick, 
and  the  lack  of  remedies  or  adequate  medical  treatment  was  emphasized  by  the  insuffi- 
ciency ot  food.  The  supplies  brought  out  by  Alonzo  Xino  had  been  consumed  and  no 
effort  made  to  replenish  them  by  cultivating  the  fields,  which  needed  but  the  plant- 
ing to  bring  forth  in  largest  abundance.  The  Indians,  unused  to  work  and  outraged  by 
their  oppressors,  fled  to  the  mountains,  preferring  to  brave  the  hardships  of  the  fastnesses 
than  to  remain  in  their  luxurious  valley  subject  to  the  inhumanities  of  the  Spaniards.  With 
famine  staring  them  in  the  face  and  the  miseries  of  disease  afflicting  them,  the  colonists 
turned  their  angr>- complainings  against  the  .Vdmiral,  whom  they  charged  with  luxuriating  at 
the  Spanish  palace,  courting  the  Oucen's  favors  with  stories  of  Indian  wealth,  and  aggrand- 
izing himself  with  tales  of  his  exploitations,  leaving  them  to  miserably  perish  of  hunger 
through  his  neglect.  Nor  did  Bartholomew  wholly  escape  their  censures,  for  they  reckoned 
him  as  culpable,  chiefly  because  he  was  brother  to  Christopher  and  likewise  a  foreigner. 

This  was  the  condition  in  which  the  Adelantado  upon  his  return  found  the  colony 
planted  with  so  much  hope  at  Isabella  ;  but  instead  of  reprimanding  or  stopping  to  plead 
his  defence  he  set  resolutely  to  work  to  remedy  the  situation.  First,  he  ordered  the  con- 
struction of  two  vessels  which  were  to  be  used  by  the  colony  in  sending  its  own  messengers 
to  Spain  in  case  of  necessity  ;  or,  if  urgenc)-  demanded,  they  might  ser\-e  as  a  means  of  re- 
turning to  Spain.  Second,  he  caused  all  the  sick  and  disabled  to  be  removed  to  more  salu- 
brious districts  in  the  interior,  w-hich  served  the  double  purpose  of  relieving  the  suffering, 
and  at  the  same  time  dissipated  the  discouraging  feeling  which  the  appearance  of  the  sick 
and  dying  had  upon  those  not  yet  stricken  down.  Third,  as  a  means  of  further  promoting 
the  security  and  comfort  of  the  colon}',  Don  Bartholomew  conceived  the  enterprise  of  a 
general  system  of  fortifications  across  the  island.  To  this  end  five  principal  points  were 
chosen,  which  were  to  constitute  a  chain  of  fortresses.  Ninety  miles  from  Isabella  were 
laid  the  foundations  of  Fort  La  Esperanza  ;  twenty  miles  beyond  that  was  placed  Fort  Santa 
Catalina  ;  twenty  miles  farther  inland  was  Fort  Magdalena,  where  Santiago  now  stands, 
and  fifteen  miles  from  this  latter,  in  the  valley  of  Vega  Real,  was  located  Fort  Concepcion. 
By  this  provision  safe  means  of  travel  by  easy  stages  was  provided  between  Isabella  and  the 
new  town  of  San  Domingo. 

EFFECTS    OF    CONVERSION    OF   NATIVES  TO    CATHOLICISM. 

The  wise  policy  of  Don  BarlholouR-w  was  produclixe  of  excellent  results  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  immediate  advantages  ;  but  while  thus  guarding  against  one  source  of  miscliief 
by  giving  employment  to  the  unemployed,  and  making  his  rule  more  secure  against  the 
power  of  the  confederated  caciques,  a  new  and  equally  serious  trouble  arose  which  was 
attended  with  calamitous  consequences.  The  innnediate  cause  was  due  to  tlie  zeal  of  a 
two  priests,  whose  work  was  a  reaction  against  the  prelatic  efforts  of  De  Buyl.  One  of  these 
friars  was  a  hermit  named  Roman  Pane,  and  the  other  a  Franciscan  proselyter  known  as 
Juan  Borgonon,  both  of  whom  entered  the  villages  of  the  \'cga  Real  bearing  tidings  of 
new  religious  faith  to  the  simple  natives,  who  were  little  prepared  to  understand  a  religion 
professed  by  men  who  had  outraged  every  sense  of  justice  and  repaid  hospitality  by  brutal 
license.  But  the  labors  of  these  two  priests  were  attended  with  some  success,  for  a  single 
family  of  sixteen  persons  accepted  the  new  faith,  and  being  baptized,  the  head  of  this  family 
received  the  title  of  Juan  Mateo. 

The  first  fruits  of  their  enterprise  bore  no  promi.se  of  a^j^rolific  or  even  second  crop, 
.so  the  friars  turned  their  attention  to  another  field.  They  rightly  recktjiied  that  the  most 
direct  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  natives  was  througli  their  chiefs  ;  to  gain  the  chieftain  would 


250  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

be  to  gain  the  whole  tribe  ;  conversion  might  thns  be  undertaken  after  the  manner  which 
Charlemagne  employed  with  the  Saxons  at  the  river  Weser.  Accordingly  they  directed  all 
their  efforts  towards  converting  Gnarionex,  who  being  a  man  of  flexible  mind,  was  directly 
impressed  b}'  the  mystery  of  the  new  faith,  and  according  to  the  measure  of  his  intelli- 
gence he  embraced  the  new  doctrine  and  learned  to  repeat  the  Paternoster,  the  Ave 
Maria,  and  the  Credo. 

The  news  that  Gnarionex  had  been  converted  to  the  religion  of  the  Spaniards  quickly 
spread  through  the  province  of  Vega  Real,  but  the  result  was  not  what  had  been  anticipated. 
The  natives,  who  could  not  forget  their  wrongs,  immediately  construed  the  act  as  a  renun- 
ciation of  their  cacique's  nationality,  and  the  subordinate  chiefs  were  loud  in  their  denun- 
ciations of  his  recreancy.  But  even  while  this  charge  of  infidelity  was  sweeping  through 
the  villages  of  Vega  Real  an  incident  occurred  which  in  a  moment  aroused  all  the  ferocity 
and  vengefulness  in  Guarionex's  nature,  and  transformed  him  into  the  bitterest  foe 
of  everything  that  was  Spanish.  One  of  the  officers  at  Fort  Concepcion,  which  was 
scarcely  four  miles  from  the  cacique's  residence,  contrived  to  ingratiate  himself  into  the 
affections  of  Guarionex's  favorite  wife.  The  king  was  not  long  in  discovering 
the  guilty  liaison^  and  his  anger  became  at  once  as  boundless  as  his  wrongs,  but 
helpless  to  avenge  his  disgrace  he  could  only  drive  the  priests  from  his  presence  and  await 
his  opportunity. 

HORRIBLE  PUNISHMENT  INFLICTED  FOR  THE  CRIME  OF  SACRILEGE. 

Seeing  that  their  efforts  in  Vega  Real  must  thereafter  be  attended  with  danger,  the  two 
friars  went  into  a  neighboring  province,  taking  Jean  Mateo  with  them  as  interpreter,  and 
there  renewed  their  attempts  to  proselytize  the  natives.  Here  they  erected  a  rude 
chapel  to  serve  as  a  meeting  house,  and  at  the  same  time  as  a  shelter  for  such  new  converts 
as  they  might  be  able  to  win.  But  scarcely  was  the  chapel  finished  for  service  when  some 
of  Guarionex's  subjects  pulled  it  down,  seized  the  images  and  emblems,  which  they  buried 
in  a  neighboring  field,  and  then  returned  and  burned  the  ruins.  This  crime,  in  those 
days,  called  for  a  swift  and  awful  retribution.  Report  of  it  was  speedily  made  to 
Don  Bartholomew  at  Isabella,  who  promptly  ordered  a  judicial  inquest  to  be  made  and  the 
guilty  punished  by  burning  at  the  stake.  Horrible  to  be  related,  several  natives  were  ad- 
judged guilty  of  the  charge  and  suffered  this  inhuman  punishment  for  their  act. 

Can  we  blame  the  Indians  that  this  last  shocking  injustice,  this  barbarously  cruel  deed, 
nerved  them  to  the  desperate  undertaking  of  destroying  every  hated  Spaniard  who  had  in- 
vaded and  despoiled  their  peaceful  homes  ?  Gnarionex,  who  was  at  once  king  and  a  princi- 
pal sufferer,  was  besought  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  confederacy  of  all  the  tribes  and  lead 
them  in  one  decisive  attack  on  the  foreigners.  This  proposition  he  gladly  accepted,  and  it  was 
arranged  that  the  attack  should  be  made  on  the  next  tribute  day,  when  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  natives  to  gather  in  great  numbers.  But  though  the  conspiracy  was  admirably  conceived, 
there  was  one  difficulty  which  the  natives  had  neglected  to  provide  against.  In  the  multifar- 
ious relations  which  had  now  come  to  exist  between  the  Spaniards  and  native  islanders,  it 
was  impossible  to  prevent  disclosure  of  the  plan  if  generally  known  among  the  Indians  them- 
selves, for  several  of  the  Spaniards  had  native  women  for  wives,  while  many  others  sustained 
the  most  intimate  relations  with  them.  These  matrimonial  unions  were  particularly  danger- 
ous to  a  plot  like  the  one  concocted,  and  we  are  not  surprised,  therefore,  that  before  it  could 
be  put  into  execution  the  Spaniards  were  apprised  of  their  danger.  The  information  being 
obtained,  it  was  conveyed  to  Don  Bartholomew  by  secreting  a  letter  in  a  hollow  cane  which 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


25i 


was  carried  by  an  Indian  pretending  to  be  chmib  and  foolish,  and  safely  delivered.  That 
officer,  equal  to  any  emergency,  organized  a  large  force  wliich  he  despatched  to  the  Vega 
Real  district,  and  qnietly  distributed  his  soldiers  among  the  villages  where  the  inferior 
caciques  had  their  respective  residences.  This  being  accomplished  without  exciting  any 
uneasiness,  on  a  fixed  night  and  hour  the  soldiers  invaded  these  houses  and  seizing  fourteen 


BIRNIXC.    OK    NATIVKS    I-OK    THK    CRIME    OF 
SACRILEGE. 


of  the  caciques  bore  them  away  to  Fort 
Concepcion.  As  the  Adelantado  had 
anticipated  the  Indians  were  terrified  beyond  expression  by  this  abduction  of  their  chiefs, 
and  forgetting  their  revenge  in  this  greater  calamity  they  raised  their  voices  in  lamenta- 
tions and  beseechings  pitiable  to  hear. 

EXECUTION    OF   TWO    OTHER    NATIVES. 

Don  Bartholomew  was  present  at    the  judicial    inquest  which  followed,  and  b\-  this 

examination  he  was    made  acquainted  with  all    the  causes  and  circumstances  which  led 

to  tlie  conspiracy.      Feeling    it  imperative  for  the  safety  of   the  colony  that  an  example 

should  be  made  by  a  severe  punishment  of  some  of   the  leaders  of  the  plot,  he  ordered 


252  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  execution  of  two  of  the  inost  vindictive  chiefs,  but  magnanimously  pardoned  all  the 
rest.  Nor  would  his  sense  of  justice  permit  the  wrong  that  had  been  done  to  Guarionex 
to  go  unre\'enged,  and  accordingly  the  Adelantado  proceeded  with  stem  measures  against 
the  Spaniard  who  had  violated  the  sanctity  of  the  cacique's  home,  but  historians  fail  to 
mention  the  punishment  that  was  inflicted.  The  clemency  and  justice  of  Don  Bartholo- 
mew subdued  the  anger  in  Guarionex' s  heart,  and  that  chief  now  earnestl}-  exhorted  his 
people  to  henceforth  cultivate  the  friendship  of  the  Spaniards,  advice  which  was  sincerely 
followed,  and  tranquillity  was  thus  happil)-  restored  without  further  effusion  of  blood. 

After  this  incident  the  Adelantado  repaired  to  Xaragna  with  many  of  his  soldiers,  to 
receive  the  qnarterl}'  tribute  which  Behechio  had  notified  him  was  ready  for  delivery. 
His  reception  on  this  second  visit  was  equally  as  cordial  as  it  was  on  the  first,  and  the  occa- 
sion was  made  one  of  much  rejoicing.  The  natives  gave  an  entertainment  and  great  feast 
to  their  visitors,  and  were  in  turn  amused  by  the  Spaniards,  who  had  brought  up  one  of 
their  ships  to  receive  the  tribute  of  cotton,  which  was  sufficient  to  make  a  large  cargo. 
The  guns  of  the  vessel  were  fired,  to  the  great  alarm  of  the  natives,  but  they  were 
reassured  by  acts  of  kindness  extended  by  the  Adelantado,  who  distributed  presents 
among  them  and  then  had  his  soldiers  execute  manoeuvres  to  manifest  their  skill  in  arms. 

THE  REBELLION  OF  ROLDAN. 

While  Don  Bartholomew  was  absent  in  Xaragna  a  rebellion  was  incited  by  a  Spaniard 
named  Francisco  Roldan,  whose  ambition  had  inspired  him  with  the  belief  that  he  might 
take  advantage  of  the  disaffection  of  the  colonists,  and  by  subverting  the  authority  of  the 
Adelantado  and  Don  Diego  raise  himself  to  the  gubernatorial  dignit}'.  In  pursuance  of 
this  mad  purpose  he  succeeded  in  winning  to  his  aid  a  considerable  faction,  and  then 
detaching  himself  with  forty  well-armed  followers  from  the  main  body,  he  boldly  proclain:ed 
his  intention  to  launch  the  remaining  vessel  and  depart  from  the  country  for  other  fields,  or 
take  up  his  quarters  in  another  part  of  the  island.  To  prevent  this  act  Don  Bartholomew, 
who  had  now  returned  to  Isabella,  assembled  seventy  of  the  soldiers  who  remained  lo}'al  to 
him  and  prepared  to  give  the  conspirator  battle.  His  force  being  as  yet  too  weak  to  hazard 
an  engagement,  Roldan  drew  off  and  entered  upon  a  systematic  effort  to  attach  the  caciques 
to  his  fortunes,  by  promising  to  free  them  from  the  exactions  laid  upon  them  by  their 
oppressors.  But  in  these  efforts  he  did  not  succeed;  whereupon  he  determined  to  proceed 
to  Xaragna  and  there  set  up  an  independent  government.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
Adelantado' s  absence  from  Isabella,  he  suddenly  made  a  foray  upon  the  place,  broke  open 
the  magazine  and  supplied  his  followers  with  arms  and  ammunition  therefrom.  He  then 
attempted  to  launch  one  of  the  vessels  drawn  upon  the  beach,  but  his  efforts  were  in  vain, 
and  fearing  some  surprise  if  he  remained  longer  at  Isabella,  he  returned  to  the  interior  with 
the  purpose  of  putting  into  execution  some  strategy  whereby  he  might  gain  possession 
of  the  person  of  Don  Bartholomew,  who  was  at  Fort  Concepcion,  afraid  to  oppose  the  rebel 
with  the  restless  few  who  composed  the  garrison.  In  a  day  after  leaving  Isabella  Roldan 
appeared  before  Fort  Concepcion,  and  vaunting  his  loyalty  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  used 
every  artifice  to  corrupt  the  garrison,  who  for  a  while  manifested  a  disposition  to  abandon 
their  allegiance  to  the  Adelantado.  This,  indeed,  they  would  have  no  doubt  done  had  not 
the  sagacious  governor  met  the  inducements  held  out  by  Roldan  with  similar  promises  of 
reward  for  their  fidelity. 

But  though  he  was  unable  to  corrupt  the  garrison  at  Concepcion,  Roldan  made  head- 
way by  enlisting  the  co-operation  of  several  chiefs,  who  supplied  him  generously  with 
provisions  and  made  the  payments  of  tribute  to  him   instead  of  to  the  lawful   authority. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


253 


In  tliis  contention  the  colony  was  brought  to  the  verge  of  ruin,  nor  can  we  foresee  how  they 
would  have  escaped  destruction  had  not  the  critical  situation  been  relieved  at  this  juncture 
b\  the  arrival  at  the  port  of  Isabella  of  two  vessels  despatched  under  couiniaud  of  Pedro 
Fernandez  Coronal  with  supplies,  by  order  of  the  Queen,  as  already  related.  This 
happ\-  e\-ent  occurred  on  the  3d  of  February,  1498,  and  was  the  means  not  only  of  saving 
the  colonv  from  the  disasters  of  rebellion,  but  Coronal  brought,  besides  supplies  and  men, 
a  commission  confinn- 
ing  Don  Bartholomew's 
title  as  governor,  thus 
relieving  him  of  what- 
e\-er  cloud  that  rested 
upon  the  title  conferred 
by  the  Admiral. 

Considering  that  the 
colony  had  already  suf- 
fered all  that  it  could 
well  bear,  Don  Bar- 
t  h  o  1  o  m  e  w  ,  i  n  h  i  s 
anxiety  to  reunite  his 
men,  sent  Coronal  with 
a  pacific  message  to 
Roldan,  requesting  that 
he  would  submit  to  his 
authority,  and  promis- 
ing pardon  for  all  past 
offences  ;  but  Roldan 
rejected  these  overtures, 
and    feeling    secure    in  akk.vai.  uh  thk  .si  pplv  smps. 

his  plans  he  sowed  the  seeds  of  intrigue  among  the  caciques,  and  then  departed  for 
Xaragua  to  take  up  his  residence  in  that  sensual  paradise  which  had  been  the  objective 
point  of  all  his  promises. 

A  CONSPIRACY  TO  MASSACRE  THE  SPANIARDS. 
The  machinations  of  Roldan  had  been  so  well  laid  that  Guarionex,  who  had  been 
accounted  as  faithful  to  the  authority  of  Don  Bartholomew,  organized  a  conspiracy  for  the 
capture  of  Fort  Concepcion,  being  instigated  thereto  by  Roldan's  agreements  to  extend 
protection  and  relieve  him  from  his  va.ssalage  to  the  usurping  Spaniards.  It  was  arranged 
to  assault  the  fort  on  the  night  of  a  full  moon,  but  by  some  mistake  an  impetuous  chief 
with  a  small  following  began  the  attack  on  the  night  preceding  the  appointed  time,  and 
they  were  easily  repulsed  by  soldiers  quartered  in  the  village,  wliile  tlie  garrison  were  thus 
timely  put  upon  their  guard.  The  chief  who  had  thus  unluckily  anticipated  the  plans  of 
tlie  confederated  caciques  fled  to  Guarionex  for  protection,  but  that  King  was  so  incensed  at 
his  hasty  conduct  that  he  struck  him  dead  upon  the  spot.  Don  Bartholomew  now  saw  llie 
futility  of  temporizing  any  longer  with  the  conspirators,  and  having  a  strong  force  under 
his  command,  he  .set  out  first  in  pursuit  of  Guarionex,  who  taking  warning  by  the  fate  that 
had  overtaken  other  chiefs  who  had  opposed  the  Spaniards,  fled  witli  his  family  to  tlie 
mountains  of  Ciguay,  and  there  sought  the  aid  of  a  cacique  named  Mayobanex,  who  lived  at 
Cape  Cabron,  thirty  miles  from  Isabella.     This  chief  would  not  withhold  his  friendshij)  in 


254  COLUIMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  hour  of    greatest  need,  and  therefore    not  only  gave  Guarionex  and   his  handful  of 
followers  an  asylum  but  promised  to  protect  them  to  the  last  extremitj'. 

DESTRUCTION  OF    INDIAN   VILLAGES. 

By  forming  a  junction  with  Mayobanex,  who  had  a  considerable  force  of  hardy  native 
soldiers,  Guarionex  was  able  to  vex  the  Spaniards  b)'  cutting  off  stragglino-  parties  and 
destroying  villages;  annoyances  which  Don  Bartholomew  resolved  to  prevent  bj'  sendino- 
a  company  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  into  the  mountain  fastnesses  to  punish  the 
guerillas.  His  advance  was  noted  by  Indian  spies,  and  a  big  native  army  was  gathered  that 
hung  upon  his  flank,  but  was  concealed  by  intervening  hills  and  dense  vegetation  until  the 
time  to  strike  was  at  hand.  This  opportunity  was  presented  when  the  Spaniards  began 
fording  a  stream  of  swift  running  water,  and  when  everj-thing  indicated  that  they  were 
least  expecting  an  attack.  In  a  moment  six  thousand  hideously  painted  savages  rushed  out 
from  their  ambush  and  let  fl}-  a  shower  of  arrows  and  lances,  which  wounded  se\-eral  of  the 
Spaniards  notwithstanding  their  annor.  But  the  Indians  were  too  timid  to  follow  up 
their  advantage,  and  retreated  at  the  first  fire  of  the  enemy.  The  Spaniards  pushed  on  up 
the  valley  towards  Cabron,  halting  from  time  to  time  to  repel  the  sorties  of  the  Indians,  who 
would  rush  down  within  arrow  range  and  discharging  a  voile}-  would  retire  precipitateh-  to 
their  fastnesses,  seldom  doing  any  great  mischief,  however. 

At  length  the  Adelantado  approached  within  less  than  a  mile  of  Cabron,  where  he 
halted  and  sent  forward  a  messenger  to  ]Ma}'obanex,  demanding  of  him  the  surrender  of 
Guarionex,  promising  him  pardon  and  friendship  if  the  demand  was  coinplied  with,  but 
threatening  a  direful  vengeance  if  it  was  refused.  With  Spartan-like  courage  and  a 
fidelity' which  may  even  amaze  the  civilized  world,  Mayobanex  returned  this  reply:  "Tell 
the  Spaniards  that  they  are  bad  men,  cruel  and  tyrannical;  usurpers  of  the  territories  of 
others  and  shedders  of  innocent  blood;  I  do  not  desire  the  friendship  of  such  men. 
Guarionex  is  a  good  man;  he  is  my  friend;  he  is  my  guest;  he  has  fled  to  me  for  refuge;  I 
have  promised  to  protect  him ;  I  will  keep  my  word. ' ' 

Don  Bartholomew  could  be  stem  when  occasion  appeared  to  him  to  justify  vigorous 
measures,  and  seeing  that  further  parley  meant  defeat  of  his  purposes,  he  ordered  the  village 
to  be  set  on  fire,  and  then  threatened  Mayobanex  with  a  still  more  terrible  vengeance  if  he 
remained  obstinate  in  his  refusal  to  surrender  to  him  the  rebellious  Guarionex.  His 
subjects,  alanned,  besought  him  to  comply  with  this  demand,  as  the  safety-  of  their  homes 
depended  upon  it;  but  however  strong  the  pressure,  his  friendship  for  the  unhappy  chief 
was  still  stronger,  and  he  vowed  to  defend  his  guest  to  the  last,  even  though  it  should  cost 
him  his  kingdom  and  his  life. 

CAPTURE  OF  THE  REBELLIOUS  CHIEFS. 

The  torch  of  the  Spaniards  was  now  applied  to  all  the  villages,  while  soldiers  were  sent 
to  hunt  down  the  two  fraternal  chiefs  and  their  subjects.  Abandoning  the  smoking  ruins 
of  their  homes,  the  caciques  and  their  followers  fled  to  the  mountains,  where  they  were  re- 
morselessly pursued  until  at  last  two  Cigiiayans  were  captured,  and  under  threats  of  death 
were  forced  to  pilot  the  Spaniards  to  a  cave  in  which  Mayobanex  had  taken  refuge.  The 
unhappy  chief  was  taken  by  surprise,  together  with  his  family  and  a  sister  who  had  left  her 
husband  in  a  neighboring  province  to  share  the  fortunes  of  her  miserable  brother.  Her  cap- 
tivity was  soon  reported  to  her  husband,  who,  lo\'ing  her  tenderly,  visited  the  Adelantado 
and  with  prayerful  entreaties  besought  him  to  release  her,  offering  his  allegiance  and  that  of 
his  subjects  for  her  restoration.      To  these  pleadings   Don  Bartholomew  could  not   turn  a 


l-i55l 


256 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


deaf  ear,  for  his  compassion  being  aroused  he  restored  her  to  her  now  overjoyed  husband,  an. 
act  which  brought  him  a  generous  return  in  the  fulfihnent  of  all  the   promises  of  the  cacique. 

Soon  after  this  Guarionex  was  driven  from  his  retreat  by  the  pangs  of  hunger,  and  was 
betrayed  by  some  Ciguayans,  who  regarded  him  as  the  author  of  all  their  miseries.  He  was 
by  this  means  captured  by  a  party  of  lurking  Spaniards  and  carried  to  Fort  Concepcion. 
This  being  his  third  offense,  Guarionex  expected  nothing  less  than  an  extreme  penalty;  but 
the  Adelantado  mercifully  considered  the  causes  which  had  led  him  into  rebellion  and  again 
extended  to  him  the  fullest  pardon,  though  he  regarded  it  as  prudent  to  detain  both  caciques 
for  a  time  at  Fort  Concepcion  as  hostages  to  insure  the  fidelity  of  their  subjects. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  colony,  which  had  been  restored  to  a  degree  of 
tranquillity,  with  Roldan  a  fugitive,  when  Columbus  returned,  after  an  absence  of  nearly 
thirty  months,  to  resume  command. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  CONSPIRACY  OF   ROLDAN  ASSUMES  MORE  THREATENING  PROPORTIONS 


j^^^^  ^^^^^^^^^Vllv   flourishes  where    virtue   would    perish   from    inanition. 

(         f^"' "^v .     IM^*^^^      r       Circumstances  more  frequently  favor  the  wrong  than  they 

encourage  the  right,  because  the  wicked  passions  of  men 
beget  in  them  a  cunning  to  turn  even  the  most  beneficent 
conditions  to  their  advantage,  thus  extracting  the  bane  of 
mischief  from  the  elixir  of  rectitude.  These  observations 
were  strikingly  verified  by  the  fortune  which  assisted 
the  traitorous  acts  of  Roldan,  since  one  circumstance 
after  another  occurred  as  if  by  some  maleficent  spirit's 
direction  to  promote  his  infamous  designs. 

When  Columbus  returned  to  Hispaniola  his  phvsical 
condition,  which  rendered  him  almost  helpless,  was  not 
more  deplorable  than  that  of  the  colonists.  Insurrection, 
rebellion  and  their  attendant  evils  had  left  the  Spaniards  in  a  sorry 
and  wretched  plight,  out  of  which  they  were  not  to  be  brought 
before  greater  suffering  had  been  experienced.  A  heart  less  strong 
than  Columbus'  would  have  lost  all  hope  and  abandoned  further  effort  to  establish  a 
pennanent  settlement  in  the  new  world  of  his  discovery.  In  every  fort  and  station  there 
were  famine  and  insubordination  ;  the  mines  at  Hayna  were  no  longer  productive  ;  every 
industn.-  languished  ;  the  Indian  villages  were  in  ruins,  while  the  natives,  driven  to  the  last 
extremity  by  their  oppressors,  had  abandoned  their  fields  and  escaped  to  the  mountains  ; 
they  were  at  peace  now,  but  it  was  the  peace  that  simulates  death  or  hopelessness  ;  more 
than  all  this,  the  flower  of  the  Spanish  troops  were  in  rebellion,  thus  dividing  the  strength 
of  the  colonists  and  leaving  them  a  readier   prey  to  the   miseries  that  were  at  hand. 

To  a  man  almost  blinded  by  ophthalmia  and  racked  by  the  tortures  of  gout,  as  was 
Columbus,  the  picture  was  one  of  inexpressible  sadness,  but  in  such  an  emergency  inaction 
meant  destruction,  so,  enfeebled  though  he  was  by  physical  and  mental  aflHictions,  Columbus 
aroused  all  his  energies  to  bring  order  out  of  this  chaos  of  misfortune.  His  first  duty  was  to 
ratify  the  acts  of  his  brother  Don  Bartholomew,  and  then  to  infonn  himself  fully  respecting 
the  rebellion  of  Roldan,  and  adopt  measures,  if  possible,  to  jnmish  the  traitor  ;  but  this 
alas!   he  was  not  destined  to  accomplish. 

Carrying  out  his  original  intentions  Roldan  had  taken  up  his  residence  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Xaragua,  where,  not  knowing  his  defection,  Behechio  received  him  with  the  same 
hospitality  he  had  shown  towards  the  Adelantado.  In  this  delightful  retreat  Roldan  and 
his  followers  indulged  their  idle  and  sensual  appetites,  free  from  all  restraints,  accounting 
themselves  as  the  most  fortunate  of  mortals,  since  Behechio  supplied  all  their  wants. 

THE  REBELS  UNEXPECTEDLY    RECEIVE  REINFORCEMENTS. 
Within  a  week  after  Culumbus  had  returned  to  llispaniula  some  of  Roldan's  .subjects, 
while  walking  along  the  beach,  descried  tliree  vessels  making  towards  the  shore,  which 
17  (257^ 


2o« 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


gave  them  some  alarm  at  first,  anticipating  that  it 
might  be  a  part  of  the  fleet  of  Cohimbus  laden  not 
only  with  supplies,  but  with  men  who  might  be 
sent  to  give  them  the  punishment  they  merited. 
But  Roldan  was  not  so  easily  frightened,  for  with 
his  resource  of  strategy  he  esteemed  himself  equal 
to  any  emergency. 

The  three  vessels    proved  to  be  those  which 
Columbus    had    sent  forward  with  supplies    from 
the  Canary  Islands  and   which  had  been  detained 
long  beyond  their  time  by  heavy  gales  and  contrary 
■winds.    Fortune  had  strangley  directed  them  to  the 
coast  of  Xaragua,   as  if  fate  was  in  league  with 
evil  to    oppose    the    plans  of    Columbus.     When 
they  came  to  anchor  off  shore  Roldan  put  out  in  a 
'boat    to    wel- 
come the  Span- 
iards  to  the 
New  World.    A 
fellow  of  excel- 
lent address,  he 
soon  convinced 
the  captains  of 
the  fleet  of  his 
trustworthiness 
and  that  he  was 
in  authority  in 
that  part  of  the 
island.     There- 
fore,  by   repre- 
senting    his 
needs    he  pro- 
cured from  tlu- 
officers  swords, 
cross-bows, 
lances    and     a 
variety  of  mili- 
tary   stores,    at 
the    same   time 
craftily     distri- 
buting many  of 
his  men  among 
the    vessels' 
crews    to  wean 
them  from  their 

allegiance  to  Columbus  and  to  induce  them  to  accept  the  free  and  delightful  life  which  he 
had  to  offer  them  in  Xaragua.      When  we    consider  that  nearly  all  the  men  who    had 


ROLDAN    SEEKING   RECRUITS   AMONG   THE   NEW   ARRIVAI^. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  259 

shipped  on  the  vessels  were  criminals,  and  therefore  possessed  of  the  basest  instincts, 
we  cannot  wonder  that  the  flattering  proposals  made  by  Roldaa's  men  readily  influenced 
them  to  desert  and  join  the  rebels. 

For  three  days  Roldan  entertained  the  crews  before  Alonzo  Sanchez  de  Car\ajal,  com- 
modore of  the  fleet,  discovered  his  real  designs,  at  which  time  the  mischief  was  consum- 
mated, for  the  rebel  had  received  his  supplies  and  had  planted  the  seeds  that  were  to  bring 
him  a  great  harvest.  Contrarj'  winds  had  also  ser\'ed  Roldan  beneficentU',  for  the  ships 
being  unable  to  beat  up  the  coast  Carxajal  was  persuaded  to  send  a  large  number  of  the 
people  on  board  overland  to  the  settlement  at  Isabella.  In  pursuance  of  tliis  intent  Juan 
Antonio  Colombo  landed  with  fort\-  well-anned  men,  who,  however,  no  sooner  gained  the 
shore  than  thirty-two  of  them  went  off  and  joined  the  rebels,  nor  would  they  listen  to  any 
overtures  from  Colombo  to  return  to  duty. 

Unable  to  accomplish  anything  on  shore,  Colombo  returned  to  the  ships  and  contrived, 
after  great  danger  and  delay,  to  bring  the  vessels  to  Isabella,  though  not  until  one  was  badly 
injured  by  running  on  to  a  bar,  and  a  larger  part  of  the  provisions  was  spoiled. 

TEMPORIZING  WITH  A  REBEL. 

The  next  six  months  were  spent  in  a  fruitless  effort  by  Columbus  and  his  associates  to 
conciliate  Roldan  and  induce  him  to  renew  his  allegiance  to  the  lawful  authority.  But 
having  tasted  the  sweets  of  gratified  ambition  he  was  unwilling  to  surrender  any  of  his  ad- 
vantages, unless  it  were  done  in  the  acquirement  of  greater  ones.  His  power  had  become 
superior  to  that  of  Columbus  himself,  and  in  the  success  of  his  rebellion  he  maintained  that 
the  Admiral  should  practise  that  condescension  which  he  had  himself  required. 

In  the  meantime,  while  these  negotiations  were  being  carried  on  there  were  other  things 
to  worry  and  vex  the  already  anguished  spirits  of  the  Admiral.  He  had  prepared  a  lengthy 
report  of  all  his  explorations  and  discoveries  in  the  gulf  of  Paria,  not  omitting  to  send  to  his 
so\-ereigns  a  gilded  representation  of  the  vast  wealth  which  might  be  acquired  b>-  collecting 
pearls  which  were  to  be  found  in  the  greatest  abundance  and  finest  \-ariety  on  the  coast  of 
South  America.  But  this  report  he  did  not  conclude  without  describing  the  insurrection  of 
Roldan  and  depicting  the  deplorable  condition  of  affairs  which  had  been  precipitated  through 
the  rebellion  of  that  ambitious  man  and  an  uprising  of  the  natives.  It  w-as  particularly 
unfortunate  for  Columbus  that  it  was  nece.ssary  he  should  make  such  a  report,  because  his 
attack  on  the  hireling  of  Fonseca  at  the  time  of  his  departure  had  materially  prejudiced  him 
in  the  estimation  of  the  sovereigns,  while  the  repeated  complaints  and  revolts  .serx-ed  as  a 
further  proof  to  them  of  the  charge  that  he  was  often  actuated  to  imprudent  acts  by  an  un- 
controllable temper.  In  consequence  of  this  feeling  the  reply  which  he  received  from  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella  was  couched  in  most  formal  language,  plainly  intimating  their  waning 
confidence  in  his  judgment  and  stability. 

Roldan  had  been  induced,  through  the  good  offices  of  Carvajal,  to  hold  an  inter\'iew  with 
Columbus,  at  which  such  concessions  were  made  by  the  Admiral  that  the  rebellious  officer 
had  agreed  to  take  passage  with  his  disaffected  followers  for  Spain.  To  accomplish  this 
three  caravels  were  made  ready,  after  considerable  delay,  in  which  the  rebels  embarked. 
But  they  had  scarcely  gotten  out  of  the  harbor  of  Isabella  before  a  stonn  arose  which  drove 
them  violently  on  the  shore  and  compelled  them  for  the  time  being  to  abandon  the  purpose 
and  return  home.  This  unfortunate  accident  seemed  to  prove  that  the  elements  were 
opposing  the  designs  of  Columbus,  since  his  hope  of  ridding  himself  of  the  rebellious 
element  of  the  colony  was  thus  suddenly  destroyed  ;  for  upon  regaining  Isabella  Roldan 
reconsidered   his  detennination   to  return    to  Spain   and  renewed  his  demands  for  greater 


260  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

concessions,  to  which,  notwithstanding  their  injustice,  Columbus  was  compelled  to  yield. 
As  a  price  of  peace  Roldan  received  a  title  to  a  considerable  tract  of  land  in  the  immediate 
district  of  Isabella  and  another  in  the  valley  of  the  Vega  Real,  and  was  likewise  appointed, 
under  the  pressure  of  his  insistence,  alcalde  of  el  Esperanza. 

OJEDA'S  EXPEDITION  TO  SOUTH   AMERICA. 

Upon  receipt  of  the  reports  and  letters  of  Columbus  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  influenced 
by  the  representations  of  Fonseca,  who  lost  no  opportunity  to  impair  the  authority  of  Colum- 
bus, permitted  the  fitting  out  of  four  caravels  under  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  who  had  fonnerly 
been  under  great  obligations  to  the  Admiral  but  was  now  a  creature  of  the  Spanish  secre- 
tary. In  violation  of  the  exclusive  prerogatives  which  had  been  granted  to  Columbus, 
Ojeda  sailed  under  the  sovereign  permit  to  the  Gulf  of  Pearls,  with  the  ostensible  purpose 
of  verifying  the  discoveries  reported  by  Columbus,  but  really  intending  to  profit  thereb}-  if 
he  should  find  his  statements  to  be  tnie  regarding  the  great  quantity  of  pearls  which  he 
located  there.  While  Ojeda  failed  to  procure  any  considerable  quantity  of  the  pearls,  he  did 
succeed  in  gathering  some  gold  and  a  large  number  of  sla\es,  with  which  he  returned 
to  Spain ;  after  which  successful  voyage,  emboldened  b}-  the  protection  of  Fonseca,  he  set 
sail  for  San  Domingo  with  the  purpose  of  hurraing  the  downfall  of  Columbus  by  seizing 
his  power  and  person. 

Ojeda  appeared  off"  the  coast  of  Hispaniola  at  a  time  when  the  affairs  of  the  colony  were 
in  a  most  abject  state,  and  putting  into  the  port  of  Yaquimo,  a  few  miles  from  Isabella,  he 
began  to  industriously  circulate  reports  among  such  of  the  colonists  as  he  could  find  to 
lend  a  willing  ear  to  his  pretenses  that  Columbus  was  no  longer  in  favor  at  court,  and  that 
the  Queen  was  then  in  declining  health  beyond  the  hope  of  recovery,  so  that  henceforth 
Fonseca,  his  patron,  was  practically  the  true  authority  controlling  in  the  Indies.  The  old 
companions  of  Roldan  applauded  this  proceeding  and  a  large  number  joined  him,  thus 
complicating  the  situation  more  than  it  had  ever  been  before.  In  the  face  of  all  these 
intrigues  and  evil  instigations,  having  their  origin  apparently  near  the  Spanish  court,  the 
courage  of  Columbus,  which  had  until  then  been  undaunted,  suddenl)'  failed  him.  He 
foresaw  that  the  purpose  of  his  enemies  was  to  remove  him  by  assassination  if  necessary, 
and  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  impelled  him  for  the  moment  to  escape  with  his  brothers 
in  a  caravel  from  the  rage  of  those  who  designed  his  destniction. 

But  in  this  darkest  hour  of  his  dejection  his  star  of  hope  suddenly  shone  through  a  rift 

in  the  cloud  of  his  despair,  caused  by  a  report  which  was  brought  him  that  a  rivalry-  had 

sprung  up  between  Roldan  and  Ojeda,  the  outcome  of  which  could  not  fail  to  prove  of 

advantage  to  the  cause  of  justice  ;  for  it  is  a  trite  and  ancient  saying  that,  "When  thieves 

fall  out,   honest  men  have  their  dues."     Roldan,  perceiving  that  his  power  was  rapidly 

diminishing  by  the  alienation  of  his  followers  through  the  intrigues  of  Ojeda,  determined 

to  unreservedly  sustain  in  the  future  the  authority  of  the  Admiral,  whence  his  power  of 

alcalde  or  chief-justice  was  derived.      So  employing  all  his  audacity  and  cunning  as  well  as 

physical  force,  after  a  series  of  curious  incidents  he  finally  compelled  Ojeda  to  take  to  his 

ships  and  put  to  sea. 

A  FIGHT  FOR  THE  HAND  OF  A  NATIVE    PRINCESS. 

At  this  time  another  event  occurred  which  in  the  end  proved  of  service  to  the  colonists 

and  assisted  greatly  in  the  restoration  of   the    power  which   Columbus    had  lost.        One 

of  Roldan' s  chiefs  living  in   Xaragua,  becoming  infatuated  with  the  daughter  of  Queen 

Anacaona,   desired  to  many  her    and    applied    to   the    Church  to    legitimate    the    union. 

Roldan,  however,  appears  also  to  have  been  enamored  of  the  beautiful  princess,  and  took 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


261 


steps  towards  preventing  the  marriage,  which  so  inflamed  the  young  oflicer  that  he  hatched 
a  plot  against  the  life  of  the  chief-justice.  .Vccordingly  he  fomented  a  rebellion,  and  sur- 
rounding himself  with  a  few  bold  spirits  who  had  given  a  solemn  vow  to  perfonn  his 
orders,  he  formulated  the  desperate  plan  of  seizing  Roldan  and  putting  out  his  eyes.  The 
plot  was  fortunately  discovered  in  time  to  avert  the  crime,  and  some  of  the  conspirators 
being  taken   and  adjudged    g^iilt\-  of  the  charge,  they  were  arrested  and  carried  to  San 

Domingo.  As  Roldan  was  himself  the  chief-justice, 
within  an  hour  after  the  time  they  were  brought  before 
him,  he  had  pronounced  their  condemnation  according 
to  the  degrees  of  their  culpability.  The  leader,  Adrien  de 
Mo.xica,  was  condennied  to  death,  while  his  accomplices 
were  either  banished  or  imprisoned.  The  execution  of 
Moxica  was  to  take  place  from  the  top  of  the  fortress,  but 
at  the  moment  when  the  executioner  was  prepared  to 
do  his  duty  the  condemned  man  repulsed  his  confessor, 
at  which  Roldan  ordered  the  wretch  to  be 
thrown  from  the  top  of  the  battlements  into  the 
moat.  But  others  of  the  conspirators  had 
escaped,  and  these  Columbus  on  the  one  hand 
and  Roldan  on  the  other  pursued  with  vigor, 
taking  with  them  a  priest  in  order  that  those 
made  prisoners  might  have  the  benefit  of  a 
confessor,  for  in  each  instance  they  were  destroyed 
upon  the  spot  where  they  were  cap- 
tured. These  heroic  measures  not 
only  ended  the  conspiracy  but  put 
an  end  to  the  rebellion  which  had 
been  fomented  by  Guevara,  the 
aspirant  for  the  hand  of  the  young 
princess.  At  the  same  time,  by  con- 
'  ceding  to  the  demands  made  by 
Roldan,  Columbus  had  reestablished 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  colony, 
and  was  taking  new  courage,  when 
report  reached  him  of  the  machina- 
tions of  his  enemies  at  the  court  of 
Spain,  who  had  not  yet  abandoned 
their  intent  of  depriving  him  of  his 
power  and  bringing  him  to  judg- 
ment on  the  charges  which  had 
been  preferred,  as  previously  described.  The  intent  of  these  enemies,  however,  had 
been  carefully  veiled  up  to  the  time  of  putting  their  designs  into  execution,  so  that 
Columbus,  while  learning  that  some  evil  was  hatching,  had  no  intimation  of  the  real 
measures  concerted  against  liim. 

COLUMBUS  SUPERSEDED   BY   BOBADILLA. 

The  result  of  these  niachinatiun>  was  tlial  llie  .sowreigns,  tlirough  the  advice  of  Fonseca, 
sent  a  Commi.ssar>-  to  Hispaniola  in  the  person  of  Francisco  de  Kobadilla,  a  man  high  in  the 


*^^ 


HURLING  MOXiCA  FROM  THK  BATTLEMENTS. 


262 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


esteem  of  Fonseca  and  who  likewise  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  conrt.  On  the  23d  of 
August,  1500,  while  Columbus  was  engaged  in  enlarging  the  fortress  of  Concepcion,  two 
caravels  made  their  way  through  the  mouth  of  the  Ozema  River.  Don  Diego  Columbus, 
thinking  that  the  caravels  brought  the  eldest  son  of  the  Admiral,  he  having  written  him  to 
come,  despatched  a  boat  to  inquire  if  he  was  on  board.      The  reply  brought  back  was  that 

the  vessels  had  come  bringing  a  Commissary-  of  the  sovereigns 
to  judge  the  Roldan  rebels  and  that  young  Diego  had  not  em- 
barked. Most  unfortunately  for  Columbus,  as  the  vessels  put 
into  port  Bobadilla,  who  was  a  hasty,  harsh  and  vindictive  man, 
and  withal  a  blind  tool  who  had  been  well  posted  by  the 
malignant  Fonseca,  saw  two  gibbets  on  the  beach,  from  wliich 
were  suspended  two  bodies  that  had  been  executed  the  day  pre- 
vious. This  sight  in  his  mind  justified  the  charges  of  cruelty 
brought  against  the  Admiral,  and  he  was  thus  the  better  pre- 
pared to  give  his  judgment  in  opposition  to  the  advice  or  even 
evidence  which  might  be  presented  by  Columbus. 

Bobadilla  and  his  suite  disembarked  and  on  the  following  day  attended  mass,  where  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  services  he  ordered  his  letters  patent  to  be  read,  authorizing  him  to  in- 
vestigate the  late  troubles  that  had  arisen  in  the  island.  Diego  Columbus,  who  was  present, 
replied  that  the  viceroy,  his  brother,  had  titles  superior  to  this  commission  and  should  be 
consulted  in  whatever  action  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  take.  But  in  the  most  imperious 
and  insolent  manner  Bobadilla  silenced  Diego,  and  impertinently  arrogated  to  himself  rights 
far  beyond  what  his  letters  credited  him  with,  and  his  actions  thereafter  were  those  of  a  law- 
less and  supercilious  blackguard.  He  seized  the  fortress,  took  possession  of  the  prisoners 
and  declared  his  purpose  of  sending  the  viceroy  and  his  brothers  in  chains  to  Spain.  These 
high-handed  outrages 
were  reported  to  the 
Admiral  b}-  a  messen- 
ger, upon  receipt  of 
which  information  he 
left  Concepcion  and 
proceeded  to  a  village 
called  Bonao,  from 
which  place  he  wrote 
to  Bobadilla,  felicita- 
ting him  on  his  ar- 
rival, but  requested 
him  not  to  take  any 
more  steps  before  he 
had  carefully  studied 
the  situation.  At  the 
same  time  he  assured 

the  Commissary  that  he  was  willing  to  resign  to  him  the  reins  of  government  and  would 
cheerfully  furnish  him  all  the  information  that  he  might  need  to  enable  him  to  make  a 
true  inquir\-  concerning  the  rebellion  and  unhappy  incidents  that  had  so  disturbed  the 
island  during  the  past  year.  To  this  comnninication  Bobadilla  returned  no  answer,  but 
continued  his  arrogant  pretensions  to  the  viceroyalty,  to  the  subversion  of  all  rightful 
authority  over  the  people. 


BOBADILLA    CASTS    COLI'MBIS    INTO    A  DUNGEON. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  -263 

The  impudent  audacity  of  Bobadilla,  who  had  acted  the  part  of  a  pirate  rather  tliaii  an  ac- 
credited oflRcer  of  dignity,  at  lengtli  aroused  the  enmity  not  only  of  the  friends  of  Cohimbus,  but 
of  some  of  the  caciques  who  remained  loyal  in  their  allej^iance  to  the  Admiral,  and  fearing 
that  some  concerted  movement  would  be  made  to  resent  his  rude  assumption  of  absolute- 
ism,  Bobadilla  finally  concluded  to  employ  persuasive  and  gentler  means  in  bringing  Colum- 
bus to  submit  to  his  authority.  Accordingly  he  commissioned  a  priest  to  proceed  to  Bonao 
and  there  inform  the  Admiral  of  his  having  fallen  into  disfavor  with  his  sovereigns,  and  to 
show  him  tlie  letters  of  credence  under  which  he  had  come  to  Hispaniola  to  assume  direc- 
tion of  the  affairs  on  that  island. 

COLUMBUS  IS  FETTERED  AND  WITH   HIS  BROTHERS  THROWN   INTO  A  DUNGEON. 

Having  received  these  letters  and  a  request  to  come  to  San  Domingo,  Columbus  set  out 
on  horseback  without  servants  and  clothed  in  the  costume  of  a  Franciscan.  But  when  he 
reached  the  city  he  was  immediately  arrested  and  incarcerated  in  the  fortress,  and  that  his 
humiliation  might  be  the  greater  his  feet  were  shackled  with  iron  fetters.  After  perpetrating 
this  outrage  Bobadilla  ordered  Columbus  to  address  a  letter  to  his  brother,  Don  Bartholomew, 
ordering  him  to  relinquish  his  authority  in  Xaragna  and  come  to  San  Domingo  without  his 
soldiers.  Complying  with  this  demand  the  Adelantado  had  scarcely  arrived  at  the  residence  of 
the  viceroyalty  when  he  was  likewise  seized,  with  his  brother  Don  Diego,  and  cast  into  prison 
— the  three  being  isolated  to  prevent  communication  and  all  fettered  alike.  In.sufficiently 
clothed  and  compelled  to  lie  upon  a  cold  stone  pavement,  Columbus  suffered  excruciating 
agony  from  rheumatism  and  twinges  of  gout  which  had  not  left  him  free  from  pain  for  a 
period  of  nearly  two  years.  But  he  was  uncomplaining,  in  the  hope  and  belief  that  his 
wrongs  would  be  redressed  when  he  should  return  to  Castile  and  could  present  his  case  to 
the  sovereigns. 

Bobadilla  having  now  the  three  Columbus  brothers  secure  in  a  dungeon,  began  to 
inquire  into  the  charges  which  had  been  preferred  by  summoning  to  the  inquest  all  the 
rebels,  ringleaders,  criminals  and  prisoners  who  had  been  punished  by  the  .Vdmiral,  the 
Adelantado  and  Don  Diego  for  their  crimes.  The  result  might  have  been  readih-  foreseen. 
They  were  found  guilty  upon  all  the  charges.  The  malignanc>'  of  Bobadilla  did  not,  how- 
ever, extend  to  the  execution  of  his  prisoners,  as  Columbus  had  anticipated,  but  still 
shackled  he  sent  them  on  board  the  caravel  Gorda  for  transportation  to  Spain,  with  a 
lengthv  report  justifying  their  condenniation  and  recommending  them  to  the  .severest  pun- 
ishment. The  care  of  Columbus  and  his  brothers  was  conmiitted  to  Alonzo  de  \'allejo, 
with  Andreas  Martin  as  master  of  the  vessel,  which  departed  earh-  in  October  for  the  sliores 
of  Spain. 

The  spectacle  of  the  discoverer  of  a  New  World,  who  had  passed  through  ordeals 
which  few  men  in  this  life  are  called  upon  to  bear,  whose  acts  had  conferred  upon  the  world 
the  largest  possible  measure  of  benefits,  was  one  so  grievous  to  behold  that  the  .sympathies 
of  Vallejo  and  Martin  were  aroused,  and  they  volunteered  to  remove  the  chains  which 
shackled  the  feet  of  the  aged  Admiral.  But  this  alleviation  of  his  injuries  Columbus 
refused,  as  he  did  not  wish  to  appear  to  contravene  the  orders  given  by  the  representative  of 
his  .sovereigns,  preferring  to  bear  the  pain  and  anguish  of  mind  and  body  which  his  galling 
fetters  produced  rather  than  find  relief  through  an  infringement  of  the  orders  under  which 
he  was  being  transported. 

In  these  afflictions  Columbus  wa-s  no  doubt  sustained  by  a  feeling  that  he  had  been  called 
upon  to  bear  the  revilings  and  the  persecutions  of  those  in  authority,  that  his  great  mi.ssiou 
might  thus  become  prominent  in  the  worid's  estimation,  a  feeling  which  he  Ijetrayed  in  a 


264 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


letter  which  he  wrote  to  a  friend  of  the  Queen,  in  which  he  appears  to  liken  himself  unto 
John  and  those  of  the  Prophets  who  had  passed  through  the  dark  valley  of  persecution 
and  thence  upwards  with  the  world's  applause  to  the  sublime  heights  of  heavenly  reward. 

RECEPTION  OF  COLUMBUS  BY  ISABELLA. 

The  voyage  to  Spain  was  blessed  with  such  favorable  winds  that    the  passage  was 
accomplished  in   five  weeks,  a  much  quicker  trip  than  had  ever  before  been  made;  nor 

was  it  attended  by  any  unpleas- 
antness of  rough  sea  or  foul 
weather.  So  careful  in  his  atten- 
tion to  the  wants  of  Columbus 
had  been  the  master  of  the 
Gorda  that,  excepting  the  incon- 
venience of  his  fetters,  the  Admiral 
had  fared  exceedingly  well,  and 
when  the  ship  came  to  anchor 
in  the  Bay  of  Cadiz,  on  the 
20th  of  November,  Captain  Mar- 
tin despatched  a  confidential 
messenger  to  Granada,  where 
the  sovereigns  were  then  resid- 
ing, with  a  letter  from  Columbus 
to  the  nurse  or  preceptress  of 
the  infant  Don  Juan,  who  was 
his  particular  friend  and  in  tlie 
highest  confidence  of  the  Oueen. 
This  letter,  which  rehearsed  all 
bis  difficulties  and  wrongs  in  San 
Domingo,  was  borne  with  such 
celerity  that  it  reached  its  des- 
tination considerably  in  ad\-ance 
of  the  condemnation  proceed- 
ings and  reports  of  Bobadilla ; 
and  as  Columbus  had  anticipated, 
after  reading  the  letter  the  nurse 
placed  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
Queen.  The  indignation  and 
grief  of  Isabella  was  so  great  over 
the  insufferable  wrongs  that  had 
been  put  upon  the  vicero)-  that 
she  sent  a  courier  with  all  haste 
to  her  officer  of  marine  in  Cadiz, 
commanding  him  to  forthwith  release  Columbus  and  his  brothers.  The  sovereigns  also 
joined  in  a  letter  to  the  Admiral,  deploring  the  indignities  that  had  been  put  upon  him, 
and  gave  assurances  that  what  he  had  suffered  was  through  the  unwarranted  acts  of  a 
representative  unfortunately  chosen.  But  their  reparation  for  the  offences  of  Bobadilla 
was  not  confined  to  mere  expressions  of  regard  and  mortification,  for  desiring  to  demon- 
strate their  feeling  by  substantial  tokens,  they  sent  Columbus  a  purse  of  two  thousand 


COI.UMEUS   SENT  TO   SPAIN    IN    CHAINS 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


2<35 


ducats  (equivalent  to  more  than  eight  thousand  dollars  at  the  jjresent  day)  to  remed>-  the 
destitution  in  which  he  had  been  placed,  and  accompanied  the  gift  with  an  invitation  to 
attend  at  court  when  his  convenience  would  allow. 

As  soon  as  he  was  thus  freed  and  restored  to  honor  the  Admiral  prepared  to  accept 
the  invitation  of  his  sovereigns  and  visit  them  at  Granada,  By  one  of  those  remarkable 
reactions  to  which  his  mind  was  subject  he  chose  to  prepare  himself  in  state  for  the 
journe)-.  He  purchased  an  elegant  court  dress  and  cloak  in  the  style  of  the  Spanish 
nobility,  and  set  out  with  attendants  suitable  for  a  man  of  noble  rank.  He  arrived  at 
Granada  on  the  17th  of  December,  1500,  and  was  received  by  the  King  and  Queen  in  the 

hall  of  the  Alhambra. 

A  TOUCHING  MEETING  WITH  THE  QUEEN. 

The  scene  was  worthy-  of  the  poet's  song  and  the  painter's  brush.      The  hair  of  the 

Admiral  was  now  white  as  the  almond  blossom.      His  aspect  was  venerable  in  the  highest 


COLUMBUS   RECEIVKD    BY    ISABEI.I,A. 

degree  ;  but  the  furrows  of  grief  and  care  were  deeply  ploughed  in  his  aged  face.  The 
manner  of  the  sovereigns,  especially  of  the  Queen,  was  as  gracious,  in  fact  more  condescend- 
ing than  it  had  ever  been  before,  for  it  is  narrated  that  when  Isabella  .saw  him  approach 
the  tears  coursed  down  lier  face  and  the  woman  could  scarcely  be  restrained  by  the  Queen. 
As  for  Columbus,  his  feelings  quite  overcame  him  and  he  sank  down  weeping,  sobbing  at 
the  feet  of  her  whose  friendship  for  more  than  a  decade  of  years  had  been  his  chief  defence 
and  hope  in  the  dav  of  extremity  and  despair. 

.\  long  and  interesting  inten'iew  was  now  held  between  the  discoverer  and  their 
Majesties.  Their  bearing  towards  him  and  their  words  of  cheer  soon  revived  him  from 
despondency,  and  he  entered  with  spirit  and  animation  upon  an  account  of  the  incidents 
and  results  of  his  third  voyage,  and  upon  a  justification  of  his  purposes  and  policy  in  the 
government  of  Hispaniola. 


266  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  reaction  in  his  favor,  which  occurred  all  over  Spain  immediately  the  news  of  his 
arrival  in  chains  had  been  spread,  as  well  as  his  appearance  and  the  wrongs  he  had  suf- 
fered, predisposed  the  King  and  Queen  so  greatly  in  his  favor  that  they  refused  to  receive 
and  read  the  report  or  protocol  of  Bobadilla.  For  a  while  they  showered  every  possible 
attention  upon  him,  and  gave  him  a  room  in  the  palace,  where  he  was  permitted  to  exercise 
■  all  the  freedom  and  dignity  of  the  most  noble  officers  of  the  realm.  Though  Isabella  was 
particularly  anxious  to  make  amends  for  the  evil  conduct  of  which  he  had  been  the  chief 
sufferer  through  the  unadvised  appointment  of  Bobadilla,  after  the  first  few  weeks  of  special 
favor  Columbus  found  that  opportunities  were  not  }-et  open  for  him  to  prosecute  to  the  end 
the  enterprises  which  he  still  had  in  his  mind. 

REPROVED  BY  THE  QUEEN. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  Ferdinand  prejudiced  the  Queen  more  or  less  against  her 
natural  inclination  to  reconfinn  him  in  the  governorship  of  Hispaniola,  of  which  he  had 
been  deprived  by  the  usurpation  of  Bobadilla,  for,  when  Columbus  approached  her  with  a 
request  for  the  renewal  of  her  patronage  for  a  fourth  expedition,  she  reminded  him  of  some 
of  the  cruelties  which  he  had  inaugurated  in  direct  opposition  to  her  wishes,  if  not  com- 
mands. She  accused  him  of  having  subjected  many  of  the  natives  to  slavery,  and  of  his 
insistence  in  continuing  the  slave  traffic,  which  she  had  hoped  to  end  by  explicit  commands  ; 
that  in  his  treatment  of  the  Indians  of  San  Domingo  he  should  at  all  times  be  actuated  by 
a  merciful  disposition  and  regard  for  their  temporal  as  well  as  their  spiritual  welfare.  She 
took  occasion  also  to  remind  him  that  many  acts  of  apparent  cruelty  had  been  committed 
of  which,  it  appeared  to  her,  rebellious  feelings  and  overt  acts  had  been  the  immediate  out- 
come. For  these  several  reasons  she  deemed  it  unadvisable  to  reinstate  him  at  once  in  the 
governorship  of  Hispaniola,  and  begged  that  he  would  wait  at  least  two  years,  until  affairs 
had  quieted  down  in  that  island  under  the  administration  of  a  new  governor  whom  she  had 
in  her  mind  to  temporarily  appoint.  But  as  an  alleviation  of  this  apparently  harsh  act  the 
Queen  assured  him  that  she  had  no  disposition  to  deprive  him  of  any  of  the  honors  which 
he  had  won,  or  of  the  dignities  which  had  already  been  conferred.  He  should,  therefore, 
continue  to  hold  the  position  of  nominal  governor  of  the  island  and  vicero\-  of  the 
high  seas. 

As  for  Bobadilla,  there  was  no  other  thought  on  the  part  of  the  sovereigns  than  to 
depose  him,  if  not  to  dismiss  him  in  disgrace.  Even  if  Ferdinand  was  willing  to  reap  the 
benefit  of  the  things  that  had  been  done,  he  was  by  no  means  willing  to  incur  the  odium 
of  defending  and  upholding  his  agent.  Bobadilla  was,  therefore,  consigned  to  that 
ignominious  place  in  the  page  of  histon,"  where  he  presents  a  striking  example  of  the 
impetuous,  vain-glorious  and  cruel  autocrat  of  an  hour. 

The  sovereigns  decided  to  send  out  at  once  a  royal  viceroy  with  orders  to 
supersede  Bobadilla,  and  not  only  to  restore  order  in  the  island,  but  to  give  attention  and 
direction  to  the  nascent  industries  of  the  colony,  to  the  end  that  all  might  as  soon  as 
possible  become  regular  and  organized. 

APPOINTMENT   OF   OVANDO   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   HISPANIOLA. 

After  due  consideration,  their  Alajesties  chose  for  the  important  place  of  Governor  of 
Hispaniola  a  Spanish  nobleman  and  militarj-  commander  of  the  Order  of  Alcantara,  named 
Nicholas  de  Ovando,  a  man  of  excellent  traits,  but  lacking  in  some  essential  qualities  for  a 
successful  administration  of  affairs  in  the  condition  which  Bobadilla  had  left  them  in  the 
island.  But  when  we  consider  that  he  was  a  close  friend  of  Fonseca,  the  appointment  was 
not  SO  bad  as  Columbus  had  reason  to  expect 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


2(17 


The  fleet  appointed  to  accompany  Ovando  was  the  largest  which  had  yet  sailed  to  tlie 
New  World,  consisting  of  thirty  vessels,  five  of  ^yhich  were  from  ninety  to  one  hnndrtd 
and  fifty  tons  burden,  twenty-four  caravels  of  from  thirty  to  ninety,  and  one  bark  of  twenty- 
five  tons.  The  number  of  souls  who  embarked  in  this  fleet  was  about  twenty-five  hundred, 
many  of  whom  were  persons  of  rank  and  distinguished  families.  There  were  also  live- 
stock, artillery',  arms,  munitions  of  all  kinds,  everything,  in  short,  which  was  required  for 
the  supply  of  the  island.  The  fleet  put  to  sea  on  the  13th  of  February,  1502.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  voyage  it  encountered  a  terrible  stonn,  in  which  one  of  the  ships  foundered  with 
one  hundred  and  twcntA"  passengers,  while  the  otliers  were  compelled  to  i1u>'A  >- >  rhoaril 
eventhiug  that  was  on  deck,  and  the  whole  fleet  was  completely 
scattered.  The  shores  of  Spain  were  strewn  with  articles  from  the 
fleet,  and  a  rumor  quickly  spread  that  all  the  ships  had  perished. 
When  this  news  reached  the  sovereigns  they  were  so  overcome 
with  grief  that  they  refused  to  see  any  one  for  a  period  of  eight 
days.  Fortunately  the  rumor  proved  to  be  incorrect,  for  but  one 
ship  was  lost.  The  others  assembled  again  at  the  island  of 
Gomera  in  the  Canaries  and  pursued  their  voyage,  arriving  at  San 
Domingo  on  the  15th  of  April. 

Being  deprived  of  his  command,  and  arrested  in  the  excit- 
ing pursuit  which  he  had  begun  ten  years  before,  Columbus 
became  depressed  with  melancholj'  reflections  on  the  unjust  treat- 
ment to  which  he  had  been  subjected,  not  only  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  sovereigns,  but  by  a  two  years'  relegation  to  inac- 
tion, a  time  which  was  inexpressibly  drear>'  to  one  who  had  been 
so  long  and  actively  engaged  in  adventurous  enterprises. 

DREAMS  OF  CONQUEST  AND   RESTORATION  OF  THE  HOLY  CITV. 

But  though  disappointed  in  his  hopes  of  innnediate  restoration 
to  his  goveniment,  he  still  had  the  visions  and  speculations  in  whicli 
his  mind  had  been  .so  richly  productive  since  boyhood.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  among  the  Admiral's  dreams  had  been  one  relative 
to  the  recovery  of  Jerusalem  from  the  Turks.  This,  indeed,  had 
been  a  project  of  co-ordinate  importance  in  his  mind  with  the  dis- 
covers- of  a  westward  route  to  the  Indies.  The  vow  which  he  had 
recorded  to  undertake  the  recover)'  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the 
Infidels  within  a  period  of  seven  years    he  had  not   been  able   to 

fulfil,  and  the  hope  of  raising  fifty  thousand  infantr>'  and  five  thou.sand  horse  from  his  own 
means  seemed  further  removed  now  than  ever.  Indeed,  instead  of  being  in  a  situation  of 
power,  wealth  and  influence  sufficient  for  that  great  undertaking,  he  now  found  himself 
lodged  at  the  Spanish  court,  not  wholly  unembarrassed  in  resources,  cordially  disliked  by 
the  Spanish  nobility,  and  dependent  almost  entirely  upon  the  pledge  of  the  Queen  for 
his  hopes  of  future  aggrandizement.  But  while  his  condition  was  calculated  to  affect  his 
ambitions,  had  there  been  any  extraneous  influences,  his  spirit  was  aroused  to  the  gnuid 
results  which  might  be  obtained  if  he  could  induce  the  King  and  Queen  to  undertake  a 
recover)'  of  Jenisalem. 

The  Spanish  court  was,  as  we  have  seen,  sitting  in  Granada,  that  ancient  and  glori- 
ous stronghold  of  the  Moors  around  and  in  wliich  tlie  arts  and  learning  and  religion  of  tlie 
Arabs  had  flourished  for  eight  centuries.      There  was  the  old   palace  of  the   Moorish  kings, 


268 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  Alhambra  of  great  fame,  -ndtli  its  richly  adorned  halls  and  court  of  lions,  from  which  the 
last  of  the  Islamite  kings  had  been  driven  only  nine  years  before.  The  Admiral  himself 
had  witnessed  that  famous  surrender  in  which  the  Crescent,  after  many  centuries  of  splendid 
ele\-ation,  bowed  to  the  Cross  and  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  were  driven  back  into  Africa 
and  the  East.  What  more  natural  than  that  the  mind  of  Columbus  should  follow  in  the 
course  of  the  retreating  IVIoors  ;  that  he  should  pursue  them  along  the  African  coast  to 
Eg>'pt)  to  Acre,  to  the  Holy  City  ?  He  gave  himself  up  to  his  old-time  speculation  and  de- 
voted a  large  part  of  the  nine  months  of  his  residence  at  Granada  to  the  promotion  of  his 
scheme  for  the  re-taking  of  Jerusalem.  But  after  this  long  fruitless  effort  with 
both  the  King  and  Queen  to  undertake  a  crusade,  he  found  the  uselessness  of  pressing  fur- 
ther a  scheme  in  which  Ferdinand  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  take  auj-  interest. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 


mmy 


PREPARATIONS   FOR  A  FOURTH  VOYAGE. 

LL  his  efforts  to  arouse  the  fiery  religious  zeal  of  the  Spanish 
sovereijjfus  availing  hiui  nothing  towards  the  realization 
of  his  pious  dreams,  Columbus  turned  his  ambition  once 
more  to  further  e.xploration  in  the  waters  of  the  Occident. 
He  now  conceived  the  idea  that  he  had  reached  a  north- 
ern and  southern  continent  between  which  there  must 
be  a  strait  or  passage,  which  if  once  gained  would  bring 
him  to  the  land  of  Cathay,  where  he  might  secure  the  in- 
estimable riches  and  reward  which  had  been  the  prime 
motive  of  his  first  voyage.  So  well  did  he  set  forth  his 
plans  and  schemes  before  the  Queen  that  she  approved 
of  his  design  and  signified  her  willingness  to  become 
his  patron  on  a  fourth  expedition.  With  these  assur- 
ances, notwithstanding  his  age,  Columbus  set  about  in 
the  most  vigorous  spirit  preparations  for  a  fourth  \ovage.  Before 
taking  his  leave  of  the  Queen,  however,  he  asked  permission  to  take 
with  him  his  second  son,  Don  Fernando,  now  in  his  fourteenth 
year,  who  with  his  brother  had  been  acting  as  page  to  the  Oueen 
for  nearly  two  years.  Having  gained  her  con.sent  to  this  request  Fernando  was  connni.s- 
sioned  as  a  naval  officer,  and  the  Admiral  then  proceeded  to  Seville  to  give  the  necessan- 
orders  for  the  fitting  out  of  his  proposed  expedition.  Columbus  desired  also  the  company 
of  his  two  brothers,  neither  of  whom,  however,  was  di.sposed  in  the  beginnino-  to  continue 
longer  in  a  sendee  which  had  brought  them  nothing  but  re\-ilings  and  suffering.  Don 
Bartholomew,  however,  was  finally  persuaded  to  .sacrifice  his  inclinations  to  fraternal  love 
and  consented  to  embark  with  the  Admiral.  But  Don  Diego  could  not  forget  the  cning 
injustice  committed  towards  the  viceroy  and  himself,  and  he  accordingly  resolved  to  quit 
the  world  and  in  future  ser\-e  only  the  church,  acting  upon  which  detennination  he 
embraced  the  ecclesiastical  state,  in  which  he  continued  to  the  end. 

The  fleet  equipped  for  the  fourth  voyage  consisted  of  four  small  vessels,  ranging  from 
fifty  to  seventy  tons  burden  each,  and  the  crews  comprised  one  hundred  and  fifty  men.  All 
the  preparations,  while  they  were  possibly  adequate  for  the  intended  expedition,  were 
modest  to  a  degree  and  could  but  be  in  strongest  contrast  with  the  extraordinary-  ma'niifi- 
cence  and  splendor  of  the  fleet  which  had  been  prepared  for  Nicholas  de  Ovando.  When 
Columbus  asked  that  on  the  outward  voyage  he  might  be  pennittcd  to  touch  at  Hispaniola, 
his  request  was  refused  on  the  pretence  that  the  priests  and  the  officials  of  the  island  were 
incensed  against  him  and  that  his  presence  would  only  tend  to  intensify  the  difficulties 
against  which  Ovando  had  to  contend. 

DEPARTURE  OF  THE  FLEET. 
The  little  fleet  departed  from  Cadiz  on   tlie  i  ith  of  May,  1502,  pas.sed  over  to  the  coast 
of  Morocco  and  anchored  before  Ercillaon  the  13th,  intending  to  offer  some  assistance  to  the 


270 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


Portuguese  garrisou,  which  it  was  learned  was  closeh'  besieged  b}-  the  IMoors.  But  on  his 
arri\al  there  the  Admiral  learned  that  the  siege  had  been  raised,  so  after  a  short  deten- 
tion he  continued  on  his  way  and  arrived  at  the  Canar}'  Islands  on  the  20th,  leaving  there 
five  days  later  for  the  New  World.  The  trade  winds  were  so  favorable  that  the  little 
squadron  sped  swiftly  on  its  course  without  shifting  a  sail,  arri\-ing  on  the  13th  of  June  at 
Mantinano  (probably  the  modem  Martinique),  one  of  the  Caribbee  Islands.  Here  the  ships' 
supplies  were  renewed  and  the  men  permitted  to  revive  their  energies  by  a  three  days' 
sojourn  on  land.  Then  the  vo}'age  was  continued  to  Dominico  and  from  that  island  to 
Santa  Cruz,  thence  to  Porto  Rico  and  finally  to  San  Domingo. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Columbus  had  solicited  the  privilege  of  visiting  the  capital 
of  his  own  island,  but  had  been  refused.  A  misfortune,  however,  had  come  upon  the  fleet 
\\-hich  might  well  give  the  Admiral  an  excuse  for  departing  from  the  letter  of  his  instruc- 
tions. The  largest  of  his  ships  had  proved  to.be  so  defective  that  she  could  no  longer  keep 
her  place  in  the  fleet  without  severe  detention  to  the  other  vessels.  Columbus  deemed  it 
expedient,  therefore,  to  put  in  at  San  Domingo  to  exchange  the  bad  ship  for  one  of  the 
vessels  of  Ovando's  fleet,  which  he  could  so  well  spare.  It  thus  happened  that  at  the  time 
when  Ovando  had  completed  the  preliminaries  of  administration,  when  Bobadilla  and  many 
others  had  been  put  on  board  for  the  home-bound  voj^age,  the  fleet  of  Columbus  on  the  29th 
of  June  arrived  at  the  harbor  of  San  Domingo.  At  first  the  Admiral  la}'  oflf  and  sent  one 
of  his  captains  to  Ovando  with  polite  messages  and  a  request  that  an  exchange  of  vessels 
might  be  made.  But  the  go\'enior  would  not  accept  the  proposal,  and  e\-en  refused  to  grant 
Columbus  the  privilege  of  bringing  his  ships  to  shelter  in  the  harbor.  The  Admiral  had 
noted  -just  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  the  unmistakable  signs  of  an  approaching  tempest, 
and  he  requested  an  opportunity  to  shelter  his  squadron  until  the  coming  hurricane 
should  pass.  To  the  less  weather-wise,  however,  there  were  no  such  indications,  and 
Ovando  no  doubt  imagined  that  the  request  of  Columbus  was  a  pretext  for  opening  com- 
munication with  friends  on  shore.  At  all  events  the  act  of  courtesy  was  withheld,  and  the 
discoverer  of  the  New  World  was  excluded  from  anchoring  in  the  harbor  of  his  own  capital. 
DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  SHIPS  AND   LOSS  OF  BOBADILLA  AND  ROLDAN. 

But  this  was  b>-  no  means  the  end  of  the  incident.  The  messengers  whom  Columbus 
had  sent     learned   while  on    shore    of   the  intended  departure  of   Ovando's  squadron  for 


M^ 


Spain, 
became 


bv 


great 


a   lofty  spirit    of   humanity  which  well 
a  man,   the  Admiral,  though  refused  per- 
to  a  place  of  safety,  sent  back  his  officers 


:\Ioved 
so 
mission  to  come 

to  solemnly  warn  Ovando  of  the  approaching  storm 
>L  and  to  counsel  him  by  all  means  to  forbid  the  de- 

parture of  the  fleet  until  the  danger  had  passed. 
This  warning,  however,  was  put  aside  as  of  no 
value,  being  disregarded  by  the  pilots  and  mariners 
as  it  was  b)'  Ovando.  In  this  false  securit}-  the  fleet 
'of  Ovando  sailed  away  and  reached  the  eastern  extremity  of 
,  the  island ;  but,  as  Columbus  had  predicted,  the  fleet  wao 
.g  now  suddenly  arrested  b}'  a  fearful  tempest  which  struck 
J  the  vessels  with  such  impetuosity  that  they  were  driven  upon 
the  rocks,  and  the  shore  was  soon  strewn  with  the  wreck- 
age. The  ship  on  which  Bobadilla,  Roldan  and  many  other  of  the  insurgents  had  been 
placed  for  transportation  to   Spain,    including  the    cacique  Guarionex    and  other  Indian 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  271 

prisoners,  and  in  which  gold  and  other  treasnres  gathered  during  Bobadilla's  administra- 
tion were  stored,  was  caught  in  the  dreadful  fur)-  of  the  storm  and  torn  to  pieces  as 
though  it  had  been  a  toy.  The  vessel  broke  and  rolled  helplessly  on  the  surge  for  a 
moment,  then  plunged  head  foremost  with  all  on  board  into  the  great  vortex  of  the  sea 
and  disappeared  forever  !  A  judgment  ver>-  difll-rent  from  that  which  might  have  been 
rendered  by  Bishop  Fonseca  in  the  packed  courts  of  Seville  was  thus  suddenly  passed 
upon  the  reckless  and  despotic  adventurers  whose  misdeeds  had  affected  so  disastrously 
the  fortunes  of  Columbus;  and  both  the  men  and  their  crimes  were  swiftly  buried  in  the 
endless  oblivion  of  the  augrj-  sea. 

The  ruin  of  Ovando's  squadron  was  complete.  A  single  vessel,  one  of  the  smallest 
of  all,  which  strangely  enough  had  as  a  part  of  its  cargo  the  revenues  of  Columbus,  col- 
lected for  him  in  Hispaniola  by  Alonzo  de  Cavajal,  his  agent,  escaped  from  the  tornado  and 
reached  Spain  in  safety.  It  might  well  seem  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns  that  all  discourage- 
ment and  fate  itself  were  against  them  in  their  attempt  to  take  the  West  Indies  for  their 
own.  To  Columbus  and  his  band  the  late  events  appeared  as  a  signal  interposition  of 
Providence.  His  own  ships  escaped  without  extreme  damage  and  were  able  to  come 
together  after  the  tempest  and  make  their  way  in  safety  to  Port  Hcrmoso,  on  the  south 
coast  of  the  island,  about  twenty-five  miles  from  San  Domingo.  Here  Columbus  refitted 
his  vessels,  and  having  taken  on  some  additional  stores,  notwithstanding  that  the  weather 
continued  stonny,  he  renewed  his  voyage;  but  before  proceeding  many  leagues  the  storm 
increased  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  driven  back  to  Port  Jacquemel,  where  he  remained 
until  the  14th  of  July.  Departing  from  this  place,  he  skirted  the  coast  of  Jamaica  and 
paid  a  brief  visit  to  the  Queen's  Gardens,  the  small  group  of  islands  which  he  had  discovered 
eight  years  before.  Thence  continuing  his  voyage  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  he 
discovered  an  island  so  covered  with  lofty  pines  that  he  gave  to  it  the  name  of  Isla  de 
Piuos,  the  Indian  name  of  which  was  Guanaja,  which  it  has  since  retained  though  some- 
times called  Bonacca.  A  short  stay  was  made  at  this  island,  during  which  time  Don 
Bartholomew  went  on  shore  and  made  some  interesting  discoveries  among  the  people,  whom 
he  found  hospitable  though  differing  greatly  in  their  ethnic  peculiarities  from  other  natives 
with  whom  he  had  come  in  contact.  Among  the  interesting  curiosities  which  he  was  per- 
mitted to  see  while  visiting  this  island  was  a  state-barge  formed  from  the  trunk  of  a  single 
tree,  and  yet  fully  eight  feet  in  width  and  as  much  as  sevent)'  feet  long.  On  this  great 
canoe  the  cacique  had  a  sort  of  cabin  constructed  and  fitted  up  in  the  most  luxurious 
manner,  in  which  he  spent  a  great  part  of  his  time.  Columbus  was  pleased  to  find  that 
these  people  made  a  free  use  of  the  metals,  though  bone  and  wood  were  still  largely 
employed  in  the  manufacture  of  implements.  Instead  of  the  rude  cclts^  or  stone  hatchets  of 
the  Bahamas  and  Antilles,  these  natives  used  copper  for  nearly  all  their  weapons,  and  in 
fashioning  these  they  displayed  no  little  skill. 

The  potter}-  of  the  Guanajans  had  a  fair  claim  to  elegance,  as  did  their  textile 
fabrics,  which  were  chiefly  of  cotton  dyed  with  considerable  skill.  The  products  of  the 
island  were  cocoa,  the  chocolate  tree,  Indian  gum  and  the  usual  fruits  found  in  tropical 
countries.  But  nowhere  was  Columbus  able  to  find  either  gold  or  silver,  so  that  he  was 
pennitted  rather  to  gratify  his  curiosity  than  his  avarice.  These  people  tried  to  tell 
him  of  a  countr>-,  great  and  powerful,  lying  somewhere  west  of  their  own  ;  but  communi- 
cation with  them  was  so  difficult  and  their  meaning  so  doubtful  that  the  Admiral  did  not 
choose  to  make  any  effort  to  verify  what  they  sought  to  reveal.  Had  he  done  so  lie  nuist 
in  less  than  a  two  days'  sail  have  reached  Yucatan,  with  its  quaint  and  varied  civilization, 


272  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

and  afterwards,  by  necessary  sequence,  the  gorgeous  .Mexico,  where  his  dreams  of  orieutal 
splendor  might  well  seem  to  be  realized  in  the  silver-bright  halls  of  the  Montezumas. 

MEETING  WITH   NATIVES  OF  CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

Strangely  enough,  however,  Columbus'  whole  attention  was  fixed  on  the  finding  of 
that  strait  which  he  confidently  believed  would  lead  him  directly  to  the  country  where 
Genghis  Khan  was  supposed  to  live  in  unexampled  splendor  and  magnificence.  It  thus 
happened  that  the  Admiral,  confident  of  his  ability  to  make  his  way  through  into  the 
Indian  Ocean,  reall)'  cared  little  for  the  reports  which  the  natives  gave  him  respecting  the 
wealth  and  opulence  of  the  populous  countries  immediately  to  the  west,  but  rather  cared 
everj'thing  for  the  ocean  currents  to  which  he  yielded  himself  in  the  confidence  that  they 
would  bear  him  directly  to  his  goal.  He  accordingly  passed  by  one  of  the  grandest 
opportunities  of  his  life.  Yucatan  and  IMexico  were  not  discovered.  Those  lands,  rich  in 
the  wonders  of  an  ancient  civilization,  inhabited  by  millions  of  people  belonging  to  a 
strange  and  unknown  race,  were  left  to  others,  while  the  Admiral's  destiny  carried  him  as 
if  by  a  deluding  vision  into  the  most  trA'ing  episodes  of  his  whole  career. 

Leaving  Guanaja,  after  a  short  voyage  Columbus  reached  the  coast  of  Honduras,  where 
a  landing  was  eflfected  and  the  sailors  were  pennitted  to  rest  for  three  days.  The  country 
was  claimed  with  the  usual  fonnalities,  and  on  the  17th  of  August  the  squadron  proceeded 
eastward  along  the  northern  coast  of  Honduras,  but  was  arrested  b}'  ocean  tides  and  such 
fierce  stonns  that  several  times  shelter  had  to  be  sought  in  the  harbors  along  the  coast. 
Rains  poured  down  in  such  torrents  as  the  Spaniards  had  never  before  witnessed,  while 
occasionally,  for  a  space  of  twent}-four  hours,  thunder  reverberated  with  a  continuous  crash 
that  seemed  to  shake  both  ocean  and  sky;  lightnings  pierced  the  darkened  horizon,  and 
the  general  confusion  and  terror  were  so  great  that  the  hardy  sailors,  though  long  weather- 
beaten  and  well  experienced  in  the  hardships  and  perils  of  the  deep,  frequently  gave  up  in 
despair,  confessed  themselves  and  made  read\-  for  what  they  momentarily  expected  would 
be  the  final  siunmons.  Columbus  was  himself  at  inter\-als  apprehensive  that  the  end  was 
at  hand,  and  his  sorrows  were  aggravated  by  the  thought  that  he  had  brought  to  this 
stonny  world  his  most  devoted  brother  and  his  second  son  probably  to  perish  with  him. 

VOYAGE  ON   THE  COAST   OF    HONDURAS. 

The  storm  having  at  length  partially  abated,  Columbus  was  pennitted  to  land  from 
time  to  time  at  inviting  harbors,  where  he  came  in  contact  with  the  natives  and  made  many 
efforts  to  gain  their  confidence  and  a  knowledge  of  their  country.  But  in  manj^  cases  they 
employed  a  language  not  understood  by  the  interpreters,  and  communication  with  them  was, 
therefore,  uncertain.  The  first  natives  that  Columbus  observed  on  the  coast  of  Honduras 
were  generally  naked  and  tattooed  on  different  parts  of  the  body  with  figures  of  the  deer  and 
jaguar.  But  he  found  others  who  were  clothed  with  cotton  waistcoats  and  a  few  had 
cuirasses  made  of  the  untanned  skins  of  animals.  In  other  places  along  the  coast  the 
natives  bedaubed  their  faces  with  ochre,  so  as  to  give  them  a  horrible  appearance,  greatly 
intensified  by  painting  white  circles  around  the  eyes.  Many  of  these  people  lived  on 
uncooked  fish  and  preferred  all  their  meats  raw,  on  which  account  rather  than  from 
ocular  evidence  they  were  believed  to  be  cannibals.  Farther  eastward  another  tribe  of 
natives  was  found  whose  peculiarity  was  in  their  practice  of  boring  the  ears  and  distending 
the  orifice  thus  made  by  the  insertion  of  pieces  of  bones,  so  that  Columbus  named  the 
district  Costa  de  la  Oreja,  Coast  of  the  Ear. 

After  departing  from  this  latter  region  the  vessels  stood  out  to  sea,  but  only  to  phnige 
into  another  storm  of  exceeding  severit}-.     To  add  to    the  distress  of  the  crews  continuous 


COLUMBUS   AXl)   COLUMBIA.  273 

raius  had  rotted  the  sails  until  they  were  unable  to  withstand  the  wind,  and  were  blown  into 
tatters,  while  the  caravels  were  so  perforated  b>-  the  teredo-worm  that  it  required  constant 
work  at  the  pumps  to  keep  them  afloat.  Exposure  and  want  of  sleep  told  severely  on  the 
strongest,  and  a  majority  of  the  men  became  incapacitated  by  sickness,  while  all  were  fairly 
helpless  from  terror.  "I  have  seen  many  tempests,"  says  Columbus,  "but  none  so  violent 
and  of  such  long  duration."  Indeed  from  the  time  of  leaving  San  Domingo  his  voyage 
had  been  a  succession  of  storms,  culminating  in  one  of  extraordinary  fury.  But  after  forty 
days  of  trials  and  dark  forebodings  they  came  in  sight  of  a  cape  on  the  14th  of  September, 
and  doubling  this  point  they  reached  a  protecting  body  of  water  and  were  able  to  make  a 
landing  near  the  mouth  of  a  river  and  attend  to  the  necessary  repairs  of  the  ships.  In 
commemoration  of  this  relief  Columbus  gave  to  the  cape  the  name  of  Gracias  a  Dios, 
or  Thanks  to  (^od.  Their  stay  at  this  place  was  cut  short  b\-  a  sudden  swelling  of  the 
ri\er,  which  poured  down  so  great  a  flood  that  the  vessels  were  swept  out  to  sea,  but 
happily  when  the  repairs  were  so  far  made  that  they  were  able  to  withstand  this  new 
danger. 

MAGICrANS   OF   THE  DARIEN    COAST. 

Following  the  Mosquito  shore  along  Darieu,  ou  the  25tli  they  came  to  anchor  opposite 
an  Indian  \illage  called  Cariari,  where  the  prospect  was  delightful  and  the  nati\es  disposed 
to  hospitality.  But  Columbus  mistnisted  the  mysterious  conduct  of  the  Indians  and  became 
in  turn  the  object  of  their  distrust.  A  venerable  old  cacique  brought  two  of  his  girls  to 
Columbus  as  hostages  for  his  pacific  conduct,  but  even  this  offering  did  not  fully  restore 
confidence,  for  the  young  girls  carried  a  magic  powder  with  them  which  the  Spaniards 
dreaded  as  much  as  the  Indians  held  in  terror  the  writing  materials  of  their  visitors.  Being 
unable  to  establish  mutual  confidence,  Columbus  took  his  departure  from  Cariari  and  sailed 
along  Cosla  Rica,  the  Rich  Coast,  landing  at  several  places  to  communicate  with  the 
natives.  He  here  found  many  evidences  of  abounding  gold,  but  the  signs  of  a  strait  being 
likewise  conspicuous  he  did  not  stop  long  enough  to  fully  explore  the  countn-  for  tlint 
precious  metal. 

A  voyage  of  several  days  towards  the  south  failed  to  reveal  the  passage  of  which  he  was 
in  search,  and  the  weather  becoming  stonny  again  Columbus  was  induced  b\-  the  expostula- 
tions and  urgings  of  his  crews  to  turn  back  and  visit  the  gold  mines  of  \'era.gua,  of  which 
he  had  heard  many  wonderful  reports.  His  next  point  was,  therefore,  Puerto  Bello,  where 
he  tarried  two  days.  But  upon  putting  to  sea  another  fierce  storm  arose  which  prevented 
him  from  regaining  the  harbor  and  left  him  again  at  the  mercy  of  dashing  wave  and  light- 
ning stroke.  Instead  of  abating  after  the  first  day  the  storm  increased  in  violence,  and  the 
vessels  were  so  severely  buffeted  by  the  wild  waves  of  a  raging  sea  that  their  seams  were 
opened  and  the  horror  of  a  desperate  situation  fell  upon  all  on  board.  Columbus  had  been 
snff"ering  such  great  agony  from  gout  that  the.se  hardships,  so  long  protracted,  with  only 
brief  intervals  of  relief,  rendered  him  unfit  for  duty.  Hut  he  had  a  small  cabin  built  for 
him  on  the  forecastle  deck,  through  the  windows  of  which  he  could  see  from  his  bed  all  that 
was  transpiring  about  him.  Here  for  eight  days  he  watched  with  deepest  anxiety  the  fall- 
ing torrents  of  rain,  the  booming  billows  that  pounded  like  battering  rams  against  the  little 
ves-sels.  and  the  lightnings  that  shot  like  fiery  .serpents  out  of  the  sky  and  hurst  with  tli\ui- 
dering  detonations  around  the  ships. 

DEATH   THREATENINGS  OF  A  WATERSPOUT. 

Before  these  awful  jiorU-nls  of  frigiutui  (iis.ister  tin-  cti-ws  lost  all  liope  ui  rescue,  .iiid  ^i-t 
their  thoughts  on  heaven  as  the  harbor  towards  which  their  souls  must  now  be  directed.    Ti> 
18 


274 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


add  to  the  general  terror,  Father  Alexandre,  the  Franciscan  chaplain,  succumbed  to  suffer- 
ings to  which  the  storm  had  subjected  him,  and  in  his  death  the  superstitious  sailors  saw  a 
fresh  proof  of  God's  afflicting  hand  in  determining  their  destruction.  But  the  worst  inci- 
dent of  this  tragical  and  horrific  tempest  was  yet  to  come,  that  well  might  frighten  fear 
itself.  On  the  15th  of  December  the  Admiral  was  startled  by  shrieks  rising  above  the  storm 
din  and  beating  surges  as  if  all  the  agonies  of  hell  had  burst  through  some  rent  in  the  sea  to 
convey  to  earth  an  idea  of  the  pangs  visited  upon  lost  souls.  In  this  most  appalling  omen 
— this  despairing  crj-  that  broke  as  it  were  from  hearts  stung  b\'  the  darts  of  death — 
Columbus  forgot  his  own  sufferings  in  the  excitements  of  a  new  danger.  He  tottered  to  the 
door,  and  sweeping  the  horizon  with  his  feverish  ej'es  discovered  the  cause  of  the  sailors' 
consternation  and  affrightment.  The  four  vessels  had  contrived  to  retain  their  positions,  de- 
spite the  fierce  winds  that  assailed  them,  and  in  this  relative  proximit}'  was  now  a  danger  of 
their  engulfment  together.  Towards  the  north,  less  than  a  league  away,  the  distressed 
watchers  perceived  the  breaking  waves  gathering  into  one  mountainous  billow,  growing 
higher  and  higher  until  its  peak  was  whitened  by  a  foaming  cap  of  violent  agitation.  Imme- 
diately above  this  high-reaching  water\'  summit  black  clouds  that  hung  before  the  heavens 
like  curtains  of  midnight  began  to  boil  and  spread  out    their  horrid   hands   to  grapple   and 

.  amass  the  inky  vapor  that 
i)roke  only  before  the  light- 
ning's bolt.  Gaining  a 
circular  motion  the  clouds 
whirled  faster  and  faster  un- 
til directly  the  centre  began 
to  fall  lower  and  lower  to 
meet  the  upswirling  moun- 
tain of  water,  when  quickly 
an  embracement  occurred, 
frightful  to  behold,  and  in  a 
death  waltz  the  whirling 
waterspout  came  rushing  towards  the  ships.  It  was  as  if  the  clouds  were  sweeping  up 
the  sea  with  inexorable  ravenings — a.  summoning  of  the  waters  of  the  earth  before  that  great 
power  who  had  once  before  imprisoned  the  deep  in  the  heavens  to  tuni  it  back  in  a  deluge 
and  drown  the  world. 

No  human  skill  could  avert  the  calamit)-  that  was  threatening.  Nothing  but  God's  provi- 
dence could  restrain  this  Satanic  manoeuvre.  In  an  age  so  superstitious  we  are  not  surprised 
that  in  his  extremity  Columbus  had  recourse  to  exorcism  to  compel  the  demons  of  anger  and 
calamity  to  yield  their  power,  while  he  conjured  the  aid  of  blessed  spirits  to  give  him  protec- 
tion from  the  fiiries  of  the  air.  Taking  six  candles  which  had  been  consecrated  by  the  church, 
and  wrapping  about  him  the  cord  of  St.  Francis,  he  unsheathed  his  sword  and,  holding 
this  aloft  in  his  right  hand  he  held  the  book  of  the  Gospels  in  his  left,  and  facing  the 
water-spout  read  the  opening  chapter  of  St.  John.  Having  performed  this  holy  service  he 
spoke  to  the  winds  as  if  by  the  authority  of  Jesus  Himself,  commanding  them  to  abate  and 
the  water-spout  to  dissolve  itself  into  the  sea.  To  make  this  adjuration  the  more  effecti\e 
he  described  a  magic  circle  with  his  sword  and  drew  the  sign  of  the  cross  therein,  at  which, 
strange  to  relate,  the  water-spout  seemed  to  swerve  somewhat  from  its  track  and  pass  off 
obliquely  with  a  bellowing  noise  to  lose  itself  in  the  immensity  of  the  ocean.    And  following 


COLUMUUS    KXORCISIXG   THE   WATER-SPOUT. 


RECEPTION    BY   COLUMBUS  OF  CHIUH   (jlIBlAN. 


(275) 


276  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  disappearance  of  the  water-spout    curiosity     iu    the     result  is  increased  by  the  fact  that 
the  raging  of  the  sea  measurably  abated,  and  in  a  brief  time  there  was  a  great  calm. 

On  the  6th  of  Januar)^,  1503,  the  squadron  had  regained  the  coast  and  entered  the 
mouth  of  a  river,  which  in  honor  of  the  feast  day  Columbus  called  the  Bcleii,  or 
Bethlehem,  which  was  scarcely  more  than  a  league  from  \'eragua.  The  extraordinary- 
difficulties  which  had  attended  the  voyage  from  Puerto  Bello  to  \'eragua  may  be  understood 
when  we  consider  the  fact  that  the  distance  was  less  than  a  hundred  miles,  and  yet  to 
traverse  it  required  the  labors  and  sufferings  of  nearly  a  month,  during  which  inter\-al 
Columbus  had  passed  through  more  privations  and  anxieties  than  perhaps  he  had  ever  before 
experienced. 

A  VISIT  FROM   A  TREACHEROUS  CHIEF. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Helen  was  a  considerable  Indian  village,  the  inhabitants  of  w'hich 
made  a  show  of  hostile  intent  at  the  effort  of  the  Spaniards  to  land.  But  Columbus  con- 
trived through  the  interpreter  to  make  them  understand  that  his  object  in  visiting  them 
was  to  open  a  trade  to  their  advantage.  At  these  assurances  they  laid  down  their  arms  and 
accorded  a  welcome  to  their  visitors,  and  after  the  iirst  greetings  were  exchanged  they 
became  quite  civil  and  traded  several  large  pieces  of  gold  to  the  Spaniards  for  hawk-bells 
and  other  European  trinkets.  A  few  da}s  later  Don  Bartholomew,  taking  with  him  some 
of  the  more  courageous  spirits  of  the  expedition,  ascended  the  river  to  the  residence  of  the 
cacique  of  the  country,  who  was  known  among  the  natives  b\-  the  name  of  Quibian.  This 
chief  welcomed  him  with  a  hearty  spirit  of  cordiality  and  accompanied  his  peaceful  o\"er- 
tures  with  presents  of  gold  ornaments,  and  was  more  than  content  with  such  gewgaws  as  were 
given  him  in  return.  The  chief  also  accompanied  his  visitors  back  to  the  vessels  and  was 
induced  to  come  on  board,  when  the  Admiral  gave  him  a  reception,  had  his  musicians  per- 
form several  pieces,  and  after  showing  him  through  the  caravel  made  him  man\-  presents  of 
such  trinkets  as  mirrors  and  hawk -bells.  But  suddenly  some  suspicion  arose  in  the  mind 
of  the  cacique,  and  without  stopping  to  give  any  explanation  of  his  conduct  he  left  the  vessel 
abruptl}-,  nor  could  he  be  persuaded  to  return.  On  the  following  day  Don  Bartholomew,  at 
the  head  of  sevent\-  men,  made  a  second  trip  of  several  miles  into  the  interior  to  explore  the 
country  and  ascertain  its  products.  He  found  some  indications  of  gold  and  was  assured 
that  at  the  distance  of  twenty  days'  journey  beyond  there  existed  gold  mines  of  large  extent 
and  exceeding  richness,  a  report  which  the  Spaniards  were  anxious  to  confirm  by 
•  investigation. 

Since  his  physical  condition  as  well  as  need  of  supplies  prevented  Columbus  from  con- 
tinuing his  search  for  the  conjectured  strait,  he  decided  to  establish  a  military  post  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  while  he  himself  would  return  to  Castile  to  procure  reinforcements  and 
supplies,  with  the  intent  of  accomplishing  a  permanent  occupation  of  the  gold-bearing 
country.  He  therefore  conciliated  some  of  the  inferior  chiefs  by  liberal  presents,  and 
gained  their  consent  thereby  to  the  building  of  a  fortress  on  their  lands.  After  completing 
the  post  he  left  a  garrison  of  eighty  men  under  the  command  of  Don  Bartholomew  in 
charge  of  the  fortress,  and  also  a  caravel  for  their  use  iu  cas3  it  became  necessary  for  them 
to  abandon  the  countrv.  Having  settled  everything  satisfactorilv,  Columbus  raised  his 
anchors  preparatory  to  departing  with  the  other  two  vessels.  But  iu  the  meantime  the 
water  in  the  river  had  become  so  shallow  that  he  was  compelled  to  wait  until  rains  came  to 
swell  it  to  the  necessary  depth  to  enable  him  to  pass  over  the  bar  at  the  river  mouth. 

Meanwhile  Quibian,  learning  that  a  settlement  had  been  formed  on  his  territory, 
resoh'ed  to  attack  the  Spaniards  unawares  and  burn  their  ships,  a  vague  report  of  which  plot 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


277 


reached  Columbus,  but  the  particulars  were  wantiug,  uor  could  Columbus  detenniue  iu  his 
own  mind  the  cause  of  this  hostile  purpose. 

PERILOUS  UNDERTAKING  OF  TWO  SPANISH  SPIES. 
Diego  Meudez  and  Rodrigo  Jl'  liscubar,  wliosc  bra\er)  and  sagacity  had  already  ser\'ed 
Columbus  in  the  most  perilous  extremities,  and  were  to  g^ve  services  no  less  valuable  there- 
after, volunteered  to  enter  the  Indian  camp  as  spies  and  ascertain  the  plans  and  intents  of 
the  enemy,  a  puqwse  which,  hazardous  as  it  was,  Columbus  gladly  accepted,  for  upon  their 

success  depended  the  fate  of 
the  expedition.  The  two 
proceeded  up  the  river  a 
short  way  until  the>-  came 
upon  two  Indians  whom 
they  engaged,  by  signs  and 
such  speech  as  they  had 
mastered,  to  convey  them  in 
a  canoe  to  the  residence  of 
Quibian,  which  was  upon 
the  river  bank.  Though  the 
\oyage  was  hazardous  to  a 
degree,  the  two  resolute 
spies  succeeded  in  reaching 
the  cacique's  capital  without 
accident,  but  they  found  the 
village  in  a  great  state  of 
agitation  through  warlike 
preparations,  and  danger 
signs  were  obser\able  on 
every  side.  The  audacity 
of  the  adventurers  seems  to 
have  fairl\-  appalled  the 
natives  for  a  time,  but  re- 
covering from  their  suq^rise 
they  manifested  a  murderous 
disposition  which,  however, 
Mendez  restrained  b\  rep- 
resenting himself  as  a  surgeon  come  to  cure  an  arrow 
wound  in  the  leg  of  Quibian,  who  had  been  shot  in  an 
engagement  three  days  before.  By  this  subterfuge  the  two 
^'^^^^  pas.sed  on  up  the  crest  of  a  hill  to  the  cacique's  mansion, 
which  occupied  a  levef  space  of  .some  dimensions,  around  which  were  arranged  the  skulls 
and  decaying  heads  of  three  hundred  enemies  killed  in  battle.  Even  this  horrible  sight 
failed  to  e.xcite  great  fear  in  the  mind  of  the  intrepid  Mendez;  but  scarcely  had  he 
cros.sed  the  court  when  a  powerful  son  of  Quibian  rushed  out  and  dealt  the  coiirageons 
Spaniard  a  blow  in  the  face  that  knocked  him  backward,  though  not  prostrate. 
This  assault  Mendez  thought  it  nnadvisable  to  resent,  but  rather  to  emplo>  pacific 
mea-sures  to  accomplish  his  ends.  With  this  purpose  he  sought  to  conciliate  the  young 
nnn's   an<nr  1,v  gentle  words  and  by  .showing  him  a   box  of  ointment  which  would   cure 


MENDEZ  ASSAULTED  BY  THE  CHTEF  S 
SON. 


278  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

his  father's  wound.  These  overtures  serving  to  make  him  amenable  to  other  advances, 
Mendez  presented  the  belligerent  youth  with  a  looking-glass,  comb  and  pair  of  scissors, 
and  showed  him  how  to  use  the  articles  to  improve  his  looks.  Under  the  influence  of 
these  gifts  the  young  man  became  not  only  tractable  but  even  friendly,  though  no 
amount  of  persuasion  availed  to  gain  admittance  to  the  chief  But  being  permitted 
to  freely  mingle  with  the  Indians,  ^lendez  and  Kscobar  succeeded  in  discovering 
particulars  of  the  designs  of  Ouibian  to  assault  and  burn  the  ships,  after  which  the\-  re- 
turned in  safety  and  apprised  the  Admiral  fully  of  the  plot,  who  took  action  at  once  to 
circumvent  and  punish  the  treacherous  natives.  The  chief  and  several  of  his  principal 
men  were  arrested  by  Don  Bartholomew,  who  descended  suddenh-  upon  them  with  a  force 
of  eighty  men.  But  through  the  negligence  of  the  officer  charged  with  his  care  Ouibian 
contrived  to  make  his  escape,  a  result  which  the  Spaniards  did  not  serioush-  deplore,  for 
they  felt  that  their  ends  had  been  as  effectually  accomplished  by  a  dispersion  of  the  natives 
and  the  arrest  of  the  chief  as  though  he  had  been  severely  punished  for  his  perfidv. 

On  the  6th  of  April  the  river  Belen  had  risen  to  a  stage  of  water  permitting  the  passage 
of  the  ships,  and  the  Admiral  accordingly  prepared  to  take  his  departure.  Sixty  of  the  men 
who  had  been  left  for  garrison  duty  came  out  in  a  long  boat  to  bid  their  comrades  in  the  ship 
adieu,  leaving  only  twenty  men  with  Don  Bartholomew  to  guard  the  fortress,  and  these  were 
scattered,  some  on  the  banks  of  the  river  and  others  through  the  country  in  aimless  wander- 
ings. The  lesson  which  the  Spaniards  had  supposed  Ouibian  had  learned  by  his  arrest  did 
not  prove  so  salutary  as  they  had  fancied,  for  seeing  his  advantage  in  the  temporary  diminu- 
tion of  the  garrison  he  gathered  his  force  of  about  four  hundred  natives  and  surrounded  the 
camp.  Fortunately  before  making  the  attack  the  Indians  filled  the  air  with  their  cries, 
which  gave  the  Spaniards  timely  warning  and  opportunity  to  arm  themselves  to  meet  their 
assailants.  The  result  of  the  battle  which  followed  was  the  killing  of  nineteen  Indians  and 
the  taking  captive  of  fifty  others,  who  were  con\'e}-ed  to  one  of  the  caravels  and  imprisoned 
in  the  hold  as  hostages,  but  in  the  encounter  seven  of  the  Spaniards  wei'e  wounded,  two  of 
whom  died  on  the  following  day.  Don  Bartholomew  also  received  an  arrow  wound  in  the 
breast  but  not  sufficiently  serious  to  render  confinement  to  his  quarters  necessary. 

MASSACRE  OF  ELEVEN   SPANIARDS. 

But  this  tragic  incident  was  only  the  prelude  to  one  which  proved  very  much  more 
serious;  for  on  the  following  day  Diego  Tristan  was  sent  up  the  river  in  one  of  the  ship's 
boats  with  eleven  men  to  procure  a  supply  of  fresh  water,  though  he  proceeded  against  the 
remonstrances  of  Diego  Mendez,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  Indians 
and  had  made  him.self  fairly  fluent  in  their  tongue.  Tristan  felt  secure,  however,  with  the 
force  at  his  command,  falsely  reckoning  that  the  natives  had  met  with  such  disaster  in  their 
conflict  with  the  Spaniards  that  tlic}-  would  hardly  hazard  another  engagement 
at  any  odds.  The  consequence  was  that  when  he  reached  the  place  that  afforded  fresh 
water  his  boat  was  surrounded  bv  Indians,  some  of  whom  were  on  shore  and  others  in  canoes, 
who  fell  upon  the  Spaniards  with  such  surprise  and  impetuosit}-  that  all  but  one  were  massa- 
cred, and  this  sole  survivor  onlv  escaped  bv  the  strategy  of  swimming  under  water  to  the 
opposite  shore. 

This  tragic  event  distressed  Columbus  so  much  that  he  could  not  pre^■ail  upon  himself 
to  leave  under  circumstances  which  would  appear  as  an  abandonment  of  the  feeble  garrison 
to  the  implacable  hostility  of  an  innumerable  number  of  infuriated  savages. 

On  account  of  the  boisterousness  of  the  sea  communication  with  the  shore  was  impos- 
sible, hence  Columbus  was  left  without  information  as  to  what  was  being  done  at  the  for- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


•J7i> 


tress.  But  he  felt  the  insecurity  of  tlie  men,  thouj^h  lie  had  hopes  that  the  Indians  would 
not  make  an  attack  on  account  of  the  fifty  prisoners  who  were  detained  as  hosta},a's  on  board 
his  caravel.  Ever>-  evening  these  captives  were  shut  up  in  the  forecastle  of  the  vessel,  the 
hatchway  of  which  wiis  secured  by  a  strong  chain  and  padlock.      Hut  one  night  the  Spaniards 

neglected  to  fasten  the  chains,  which  fact  came  nnstcriously 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  Indians,  who  collected  a  number  of 
stones  from  the  ballast  of  the  vessel,  witli  which  they  made  a 
heap  sufficiently  high  to  allow  the  men  to  exert  their  strength 
against  the  un.securcd  hatcliway.  Several  of  the  most  jKnverful 
warriors    mounted    on    the    top    and  bending   their  backs,   by 


MASSACRE   OF    DIEGO   TRISTAN    AND    PARTY. 

simultaneous    effort    forced     up    the         __  '*'^^_^  S.  '-xf*^ 

hatch,  flinging  the  .sailors  who  slept --*'  "         - 

on  it  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  vessel.  Having  thus  gained  their  liberty,  several  of  them 
plunged  into  the  sea  and  swam  ashore.  Others,  howe\er,  were  less  fortunate,  and  being 
seized  on  the  deck  were  forced  back  into  their  jirison  quarters  and  the  precaution  of  lock- 
ing them  in  was  then  attended  to.  Wliat  was  the  surjjrise  of  the  officers,  however,  when 
distributing  the  rations  early  in  the  morning  to  find  that  during  the  night  the  imprisoned 
Indians  had  strangled    themselves    in    their  despair.      Thus  the    situation  was  dreadfully 


280 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


complicated,  for  those  who  escaped  would  coniinunicate  to  their  friends  on  shore  the  situa- 
tion on  shipboard,  while  the  suicide  of  the  prisoners  would  be  calculated  to  ner\-e  the 
natives  to  a  greater  determination  to  avenge  them. 

MARVELLOUS  EXPLOIT  OF  A  BISCAYAN. 
In  the  fear  that  the  Indians  would  now  attack  the  garrison,  Columbus  was  determined 
in  some  way  to  apprise  his  brother  of  the  circumstances  and  put  him  on  his  guard.  The 
rough  sea,  however,  still  precluded  the  possibility  of  a  boat  living  to  reach  the  shore,  so 
Columbus  was  deeply  distressed  in  mind  how  he  should  communicate  the  necessary  intel- 
ligence, imtil  a  sailor  named  Pedro  de  Ledesma,  a  Biscajan,  volunteered  to  swim  through 
the  breakers  if  the  boat  would  take  him  sufficiently  near.  This  proposal  was  eagerly 
seized  upon,  and  the  brave  sailor  successfully  accomplished  his  hazardous  undertaking. 
Reaching  the  camp  unexpectedly  he  was  received  with  the  greatest  joy  as  a  liberator  of 
the  garrison. 

The  intrepid  and  herculean  Ledesma  found  his  countn,'men  in  a  deplorable  situation, 
shut  up  in  their  fortress,  for  the  time  safe  from  their  savage  foes,  but  contemplating  with 

horror  the  hour  when  pro- 
visions should  fail  them  and 
their  ammunition  be  expended. 
Their  alann  was  also  intensi- 
fied b}'  the  depressing  news 
of  the  tras:ic  death  of  DiegfO 
Tristan  and  his  companions, 
whose  swollen  bodies  were 
now  beginning  to  drift  by 
on  the  stream,  objects  of 
contention  among  a  thou- 
sand carrion  birds.  The  men 
therefore  surrounded  Ledesma  and  in  frantic  terms  pleaded  with  him  to  urge  the 
Admiral  to  save  them  from  the  certain  destruction  which  awaited  them  if  they  continued 
in  that  deadly  place.  Already  they  had  been  preparing  to  debark  in  canoes  and  gain  the 
ships,  a  desperate  undertaking  only  delayed  by  the  high  rolling  surf  and  tempestuous 
weather.  Further  they  declared  that  if  the  Admiral  abandoned  them  they  would  embark 
in  the  caravel  that  was  left  as  soon  as  it  could  be  floated  over  the  bar. 

Having  received  these  gloomy  and  desperate  reports  from  the  beleaguered  garrison, 
Ledesma  set  out  on  his  return  and  succeeded  again  in  passing  the  mad  breakers  in  which  it 
appeared  that  no  human  being  could  sustain  himself  a  moment,  and  gained  the  ships,  where 
he  communicated  the  ominous  tidings  to  Columbiis.  In  such  a  situation  some  action  was 
imperative,  for  to  leave  the  men  on  shore  would  expose  Don  Bartholomew  to  the  fur}'  of  a 
mutiny  and  end  in  a  destruction  of  the  settlement.  There  was  no  other  alternative  presented, 
therefore,  than  to  embark  the  people,  a  thing  which  was  impossible  in  the  present  turbulent 
state  of  the  sea.  The  position  of  the  ships  was  also  perilous,  subjected  as  they  were  to 
the  hard-beating  waves  which  threatened  their  annihilation,  crazy,  worm-eaten,  rotten,  as 
they  were. 

Anguished  in  mind,  debilitated  by  age  and  wrecked  with  physical  suffering,  Columbus 
became  affected  by  a  diseased  imagination,  and  in  this  disturbed  condition  he  beheld  a 
vision,  which  he  described  in  a  letter  to  his  sovereigns  as  an  angelic  admonition  and 
encouragement   conveyed    in    the    similittide   of  a  dream.      This    he  regarded  as  a  direct 


A    PERILOUS   UNDERTAKING. 


COLUxMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


L\S1 


revelation  and  it  gave  liiiii  slrcnytli  to  bear  the  misfortune  which  had  wasted  his  energies 
and  hopes  ahnost  to  the  limit  of  despair.  Under  this  inspiration,  as  soon  as  the  gale  sulj- 
sided  he  set  about  the  extrication  of  his  people.  The  caravel  within  the  river's  mouth  w;is 
abandoned  through  inability  to  bring  her  over  the  bar,  but  by  lashing  canoes  together  a 
raft  was  made  on  which  was  conveyed  the  munitions,  stores  and  men  of  the  fortress  to  the 
two  ships  in  waiting,  after  which  the  imprisoned  caravel  was  dismantled  and  such  of  her 
equipment  as  was  useful  was  towed  out  and  put  on  board  the  vessels.  When  the  men  found 
themselves  freed  from  their  perilous  position  and  safe  on  the  ships  with  their  comrades  they 
manifested  the  wildest  joy,  giving  themselves  up  to  the  most  exuberant  transports, 
embracing  each  other  in  a  ver>-  deliriinn  of  ecstasy  and  offering  up  praters  of  gratitude  and 
thanksgiving.  Diego  Mendez  had  superintended  the  embarkation  and  had  otherwise 
rendered  such  efficient  ser\-ice  that  Columbus  appointed  him  to  the  command  of  one  of  the 
caravels  in  place  of  Diego  Tristan,  who  had  perished  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  as  described. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

DEPARTURE  OF   THE   ILL-FATED    EXPEDITION    FROM    VERAGUA. 


FTER  incredible  sufferings  and  unexampled  perils,  costing  the 
lives  of  a  dozen  brave  Spaniards,  it  was  with  unspeakable 
joy  that  towards  the  end  of  September,  Columbus  took  his 
departure  from  the  accursed  coast  of  Veragua  and  proceeded 
on  his  course  for  Hispaniola,  which  it  was  necessar}'  to  reach 
as  quickly  as  possible  to  repair  the  ships  and  procure  pro- 
visions.     Bad  weather  continued,  however,  and  the  extra- 
ordinary' number  of  tempests  that  they  had  encountered 
terrified  the  imaginations  of  the  crews,  who  became  per- 
suaded in   their  minds  that  the  Indians  possessed  some  wondrous 
power  of  magic,  and  by  a  practice  of  their  black  arts  had   raised 
the  stonns  and   in    the  end  would  accomplish  their  destruction. 
Finally,  after  thirty  leagues  had  been  accomplished,   one   of  the 
caravels  was  found  to  be  leaking  so  badly  that  it  was  necessary-  to 
abandon  her,  some  time  being  lost   in  transferring  her  equipment 
to  the  two  remaining  ships. 

ACCUMULATING  MISFORTUNES. 
But  even  in  this  sorry  condition  the  Admiral  still  had  a  yearning  to  prosecute  his 
search  for  the  strait  which  he  believed  would  surely  lead  him  to  the  opulent  country-  of 
Cathay.  To  pursue  this  desire,  however,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  practice  some  decep- 
tion, as  his  crews  would  have  objected  and  possibly  mutinied  had  they  known  of  his  per- 
sistence in  seeking  for  that  which  they  were  now  confident  did  not  exist.  But  Columbus 
himself,  overmastered  by  the  situation  which  confronted  him,  presently  abandoned  his  purpose, 
appreciative  of  the  dejected  state  of  his  sailors,  enfeebled  as  they  were  by  their  privations 
and  fatigue.  Thus  steering  north  they  proceeded  until  near  the  vicinity  of  the  Queen's 
Gardens,  when  they  were  assailed  by  another  tempest  and  in  a  few  hours  had  lost  suc- 
cessively three  anchors  and  sustained  a  collision  between  the  two  vessels,  in  which  both 
were  greatly  injured,  and  it  was  almost  a  miracle  that  they  were  not  destro3-ed.  At  length 
they  contrived  to  reach  the  coast  of  Cubu,  at  Macaco,  where  the)-  rested  a  while  and  suc- 
ceeded in  procviring  a  few  provisions,  when  they  set  sail  again,  endeavoring  to  beat  up 
to  Hispaniola  against  the  force  of  contrary'  winds.  The  S^.  /ames,  one  of  the  caravels, 
was  compelled  to  run  into  a  port,  while  the  Capifana,  the  other  vessel,  unable  to  gain  the 
shore,  was  so  buffeted  that  she  was  upon  the  point  of  foundering.  Notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  pumps  were  worked  with  all  the  energy  that  the  crew  could  command,  the 
water  had  risen  to  the  deck  and  in  another  twenty-four  hours  the  vessel  would  have 
undoubtedly  sunk  had  she  not,  by  what  Columbus  always  declared  was  a  miracle,  reached 
the  land  in  a  sheltered  coac. 

At    this  point  necessar)'  repairs  were  made  and  on  the  23d  of  June  the  two  vessels 
pushed  on  to  the  northern  coast  of  Jamaica,   along  which  they  sailed  a  considerable  dis- 

(2S2) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  283 

tance  until  they  reached  a  beautiful  harbor  which  he  had  discovered  on  a  pre\'ioTis  \-ov- 
age,  and  to  which  he  had  given  the  ai:)propriate  name  of  ^anla  Gloria,  Holy  Glory. 
Here  the  two  caravels,  which  had  been  reduced  almost  to  wrecks  and  were  upon  the  point 
of  sinking,  were  fastened  together  and  run  aground. 

As  the  indications  now  pointed  to  a  considerable  stay  at  this  place,  some  thatched 
cabins  were  erected  on  the  forecastles  and  stems  of  the  two  vessels  in  which  the  crews 
managed  to  make  themselves  comfortable,  while  Diego  Mendez  went  on  shore  to  obtain  a 
supply  of  provisions  from  the  caciques.  But  Columbus  knew  the  fickle  and  untrust- 
worthy character  of  the  natives  with  whom  he  had  now  to  deal.  While  they 
apparently  cheerfully  furnished  a  supply  of  provisions  their  sinister  conduct  was  such  as 
to  give  him  much  uneasiness  ;  for  he  appreciated  the  defenceless  position  in  which  he  had 
thus  been  unhappily  placed.  The  nati\es  were  exceedingly  numerous  and  were  provided 
with  many  large  war  canoes,  which  plainly  indicated  that  they  were  a  people  little  disposed 
to  peace  and  were  most  probably  in  open  hostility  the  greater  part  of  the  time  with  their 
neighbors. 

A  LETTER  REFLECTING  THE  ADMIRAL'S  DESPAIR. 

Tlie  caravels  could  not  be  put  to  sea  again,  and  as  all  the  ma.ster  carpenters  had 
perisliL-d  in  the  disaster  of  the  6th  of  .\pril  hope  of  building  another  ship  could  not  be  en- 
tertained. Xot  only  was  the  Admiral  thus  greatl}'  concerned  for  liis  safety,  but  he  knew  not 
how  to  procure  aid  or  any  means  of  making  known  to  the  Queen  his  discover}-  of  the  gold 
mines  of  \'eragua,  or  of  the  countries  which  he  had  taken  possession  of  in  the  name  of  their 
Catholic  Majesties.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  there  seemed  no  possible  means  of  trans- 
mitting a  message,  should  he  take  the  pains  to  prepare  one,  Columbus  nevertheless  con- 
cerned himself  with  the  making  of  an  elaborate  report,  probably  trusting  to  some  miracle 
for  the  means  of  its  deliverance.  In  this  letter  he  detailed  at  great  lengtli  not  only  the 
discoveries  he  had  made,  but  all  the  incidents  which  had  befallen  him  from  the  time  of 
his  departure  from  Spain  until  his  arrival  in  his  wrecked  vessels  at  the  harbor  of  Santa 
Gloria.  The  utter  despair  which  lie  felt  at  this  time  is  indicated  by  the  closing  words  of 
his  letter,  which  are  as  follows  :  "I  have  hitherto  wept  for  others,  but  now  have  pity  on 
me,  and  O  earth,  weep  for  me  !     Weep  for  me  whoever  has  charity,  truth  and  justice." 

Ten  days  passed  after  the  penning  of  this  communication,  and  nothing  occurring  to 
relieve  the  an.xiety  of  his  situation,  Columbus  called  to  a  private  conference  Diego  Mendez, 
ill  whom  his  chief  confidence  was  now  reposed.  At  this  inter\iew  (as  reported  by  de 
Lorgues)  he  affectionately  addressed  that  daring  sailor  as  follows  :  "  My  son,  none  of  those 
who  are  here  but  you  and  I  know  the  danger  in  which  we  are  placed.  We  are  few  in 
number  while  these  savage  Indians  are  many  and  of  irritable  and  fickle  natures.  On  the 
slightest  provocation  they  could  easily  from  the  land  set  fire  to  our  stmw-thatchcd  cabins  and 
bum  us  all.  The  arrangement  we  have  made  with  lliein  for  supplying  us  with  provisions, 
and  which  the>-  now  fulfil  with  so  much  cheerfulness,  may  not  continue  acceptable  to  them, 
and  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  to-morrow  the\'  brought  us  nothing  ;  nor  have  we  the 
means  of  compelling  them  by  force  to  supply  us,  but  are  left  entirely  at  their  pleasure.  I 
have  thought  of  a  means  of  rescuing  us  if  it  meets  with  your  views  ;  in  the  canoe  you  pur- 
chased some  one  may  venture  to  pass  over  to  Hispaniola  and  tlicre  procure  a  ship  by  which 
we  all  mav  be  delivered  from  the  perilous  situation  in  which  we  are  placed.  Tell  me  your 
opinion  of  the  matter." 

Mendez  replied  :  "  Sen  or,  the  danger  that  threatens  us  is,  I  well  know,  far  greater  than 
is  imagined.     As  to  the  project  of  passing  from  this  island  to  Hispaniola  in  so  small  a  vessel 


284  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

as  a  canoe  I  hold  it  not  only  extremely  difficult,  but  even  impossible  ;  and  I  know  not  who 
there  is  would  venture  to  run  the  extreme  risk  of  traversing  a  gulf  of  forty  leagues  between 
islands  where  the  sea  is  so  extreme!}-  impetuous. ' ' 

Notwithstanding  the  declaration  of  Mendez  as  to  the  impossibility  of  performing  such 
a  hazardous  passage,  the  silence  which  now  ensued  and  the  dejected  and  hopeless  appearance 
of  Columbus  on  receiving  this  opinion  prompted  the  brave  sailor  to  offer  himself  as  a  sacri- 
fice if  need  be  to  any  of  the  designs  which  the  Admiral  might  entertain.  He  thereupon 
advised  Columbus  to  assemble  all  his  men  on  deck  the  following  day  and  call  for  some 
volunteers  who  would  undertake  the  perilous  enterprise.  Adopting  this  advice  Columbus 
did  as  Mendez  had  recommended,  but  the  men  regarded  his  proposal  with  astonishment,  de- 
claring it  the  height  of  rashness,  whereupon  the  intrepid  Mendez  stepped  forward  and  said  : 
"  Sefior,  I  have  but  one  life,  yet  I  am  willing  to  hazard  it  for  the  ser\ace  of  )'our  Excellency 
and  the  good  of  all  here  present,  because  I  hope  that  God,  seeing  the  intention  that  governs 
me,  will  preserve  me,  as  he  has  already  done  so  many  times." 

A  JOURNEY  OF  EXTRAORDINARY  PERIL. 

No  man  could  appreciate  a  sacrifice  like  this  more  keenly  than  Columbus,  and  taking 
the  noble  IVIendez  to  his  bosom  he  embraced  him  fervently,  and  then  looking  upward,  he 
said,  "  I  have  a  firm  confidence  that  our  Lord  God  will  enable  you  to  overcome  all  the  dan- 
gers that  threaten. ' '  The  courage  of  Mendez  excited  others  of  the  Spaniards  with  a  noble 
emulation,  and  several  now  came  forward  and  signified  their  desire  to  accompany  him. 
Through  this  means  thirteen  other  Spaniards  \-olunteered  their  services,  and  in  two  canoes 
and  with  six  Indians  in  each  as  oarsmen  they  set  out  on  their  perilous  voyage. 

Fortunately  the  sky  was  clear  and  the  surface  of  the  sea  was  unruffled,  giving  propitious 
commencement  to  a  vo}-age  more  hazardous  than  perhaps  was  ever  before  or  since  under- 
taken by  any  man.  Their  progress,  however,  was  very  slow  and  the  Indians  presently  be- 
gan to  suffer  exceedingly  from  thirst  as  well  as  from  exhaustion.  They  had  hoped  to  reach 
a  small  island  called  Navassa,  which  lay  in  their  route,  where  they  might  obtain  water  and 
find  refreshment  and  a  short  repose.  But  the  third  night  passed  without  anj-  sight  of  the 
expected  land,  while  their  privations  had  so  increased  that  one  of  the  Indians  died  and  the 
other'-  were  so  completeh-  prostrated  that  the  Spaniards  had  themselves  to  take  the  oars. 
The-\-  had  almost  abandoned  hope  in  their  extremity  of  suffering  when  Mendez  discovered 
at  break  of  day  a  dark  line  on  the  horizon,  which  through  God's  providence,  proved  to  be 
the  island  of  Navassa.  Here  an  abundance  of  water  was  obtained,  but  some  of  the  Indians, 
who  could  not  be  restrained,  drank  so  immoderately  that  they  died  on  the  spot,  while  half 
the  Spaniards  gorged  themselves  to  the  point  of  serious  illness. 

SUCCESSFUL  ACCOMPLISHMENT  OF  MErjDEZ'S   MISSION. 

Having  reposed  for  several  hours  on  the  shores  of  Nava.ssa  the  voyagers  re-entered  their 
canoes  and  by  rowing  hard  during  the  night  they  reached  a  point  called  Cape  St.  Michael, 
on  the  shore  of  Hispaniola,  where  they  were  hospitably  received  by  the  natives,  who  sup- 
plied them  abundantly  with  provisions  and  administered  to  all  their  comforts.  The  ex- 
haustion of  the  Spaniards,  hov^^ever,  was  so  great  when  they  had  reached  this  point  that 
Mendez  rested  for  two  days  before  beginning  his  journey  to  San  Domingo.  During  this 
stay  he  fortunateh'  learned  that  Ovando,  who  was  now  governor-general  of  Hispaniola,  was 
in  Xaragna,  and  accordingly  he  proceeded  to  that  place  to  make  his  reports  and  to  request 
the  assistance  of  which  Columbus  stood  distressingly  in  need. 

Though  it  had  required  only  three  days  for  these  intrepid  voyagers  to  make  the  pas- 
sage to  Hispaniola,  so  imminent  had  been  the  peril  that  Captain  Fiesco,  who  had  accom- 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


285 


piuiied  Mendez  as  commander  of  one  of  tlie  crews,  could  not  induce  any  of  his  comrades  to 
return  with  him  to  Santa  Gloria  and  report  to  Colnmbiis  the  success  of  their  undertakinj^, 
considering  that  they  had  accomplished  it  through  the  interposition  of  Providence  and  that 
to  attempt  a  return  would  be  like  challenging  fate.  Accordingly  they  accompanied  Mendez 
to  Xaragua  and  thence  to  San  Domingo. 

A  secret  presentiment  .seemed  to  assure  Columbus  that  Diego  Mendez  had  arrived 
safely  in  Hispaniola,  and  though  his  return  was  not  so  soon  as  had  been  expected  he 
made  his  submission  to  the 
Divine  will  and  used  all  his  arts 
to  soothe  the  secret  irritations 
that  agitated  the  minds  of  his 
sailors.  But  privations  and  sick- 
ness, as  well  as  unheard  of 
fatigues,  created  dissensions 
among  the  crews,  who  were  con- 
fined to  limited  quarters  and 
compelled  to  support  life  on  a 
meagre  subsistence.  They  ac- 
cordingly began  to  ascribe  all 
their  sufferings  to  faults  com- 
mitted by  Columbus,  and  to  these 
disafifections  serious  accusations 
were  soon  added  by  those  who 
constituted  themselves  the  ring- 
leaders of  the  dislo\alt}'  which 
was  now  to  flagranti)-  manifest 
itself 

Columbus,  while  apprised  of 
these  mutterings  and  nnitinous 
spirit,  nevertheless  diligently  em- 
ployed himself  looking  after  the 
welfare  of  the  men  and  adminis- 
tering to  the  sufferings  of  those 
who  were  prostrated.  But  the 
mildness  of  his  manner,  the 
assurance  of  his  speech,  and  the 
kindly  disposition  with  which  he 
treated  those  who  were  shar- 
ing with  him  the  unfortunate 
situation  did  not  serve  to  restrain 
the  guilty  disposition  of  those 
who  had  conceived  a  violent 
enmity  for  the  connnander. 
Finally,  on  the  2d  of  Januar>-,  1504,  a  seaman  named  De  Porras  placed  liimsclf  at  the  liead 
of  fort>'-eight  adherents  and  arose  in  open  revolt.  Their  first  purpose  was  to  kill 
Columbus,  and  they  were  only  restrained  from  this  wicked  act  by  the  fear  that  the 
crime  would   be  severely  punished  by  the  sovereigns  and    by  the    courageous  front  which 


nON    HAKTHOI.OMKW    I)i:rKNI>INt".    HIS    llKiiTHl.k   Ai.MNM'    Till. 
Ml'TINKKRS. 


286 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Don  Bartholomew  opposed  to  the  mutineers  ;  but  taking  six  canoes  which  the  Admiral 
had  purchased  from  the  Indians,  and  storing  these  with  arms  and  provisions,  they  abandoned 
the  Admiral  and  the  few  sick  and  infinn  who  were  unable  to  accompany  them. 

HORRIBLE  CRUELTY  OF  THE  MUTINEERS. 
The  departure  of  these  mutineers  was  not  made  with  signs  of  regret  or  the  bidding  of 
farewells,  but  with  shouts  of  defiance  and  revilings,  and  not  before  they  had  incensed  the 
Indians  by  violent  appropriation  of  much  of  their  property.  Thus  Columbus  became 
exposed  to  the  anger  of  the  natives  who  he  believed  would  hold  him  accountable  for  the 
outrae-es  of  the 


disloyal  m  e  n 
who  had  aban- 
d  o  n  e  d  him. 
But  he  bravely 
bore  up  against 
these  added 
wrongs  and 
thouoh  scarcely 
able  to  support 


his  own  ph}'sical  infinnities  he  exerted 
himself  to  relieve  the  jDains  and  ill- 
ness of  those   more  helpless  than  he  for  whom  he  felt  the  tenderest  s^-mpathies. 

De  Porras  at  the  head  of  his  followers  set  out  in  ten  canoes  and  proceeded  along  the 
coast  until  they  gained  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  island,  when,  unwilling  to  trust  their 
own  skill  in  the  management  of  the  canoes,  the  rebels  prevailed  upon  several  Indians,  by  liberal 
gifts  and  many  promises,  to  accompany  them,  and  when  at  length  the  weather  was  favorable 
they  set  out  for  Hispaniola. 

Scarcely  had  the  canoe  squadron  gained  a  league  seaward  when  a  contrar\-  wind  arose, 
followed  by  rapid  swelling  of  the  sea,  which  became  so  threatening  that  they  turned  towards 
the  shore.  But  now  a  fresh  trouble  confronted  them.  The  canoes  being  without  keels  and 
heavily  loaded  it  was  impossible  to  so  manage  them  as  to  prevent  the  waves  from  dashing 
Over,  nor  could  vigorous  baling  long  keep  them  afloat  unless  some  remedy  were  applied. 


COLUMBUS  AND  COLUMBIA.  287 

The  cause  for  alann  growing  with  the  increasing  wind,  the  mutineers  threw overboaid  ever>- 
thing  that  could  be  spared.  But  this  siicrifice  of  stores  being  insufficient  to  prevent  the  con- 
tinued shipping  of  water  they  compelled  all  the  Indians  to  fling  themselves  into  the  sea, 
except  a  few  who  were  needed  to  paddle  the  canoes.  If  any  refused  to  obe\-  this  order  they 
were  thrust  out  b\-  the  sword  or  lance,  and  being  too  far  from  shore  to  risk  an  attempt  to 
gain  it  by  swimming  the  poor  Indians  kept  by  the  canoes,  grasping  at  the  sides  when  their 
strength  was  spent.  The  Spaniards,  fearing  that  these  efforts  at  self-preservation  would 
result  in  overtuniing  the  canoes,  savagely  cut  off  the  hands  of  the  swimmers,  or  more 
humanely  stabbed  them  to  death  with  their  swoids  ;  so  that  in  this  way  eighteen  of  the 
Indians  miserably  perished,  none  surviving  save  those  who  had  been  retained  to  do  the  work 
of  paddling. 

By  sacrificing  their  stores  and  murdering  nearly  all  the  natives  who  served  them  in  the 
desperate  undertaking  to  reach  Hispaniola,  the  wretched  band  regained  the  coast  of 
Jamaica,  enraged  at  the  miscarriage  of  their  own  crimes.  Dissatisfaction  now  began  to 
show  itself,  and  some  of  the  mutineers  were  in  favor  of  returning  to  Columljus  and, 
confessing  the  evil  of  their  conduct,  implore  his  forgiveness;  but  a  majority  resented  this 
proposal,  preferring  to  lead  a  life  of  lawlessness  and  the  indulgence  of  a  riotbus  license 
which  opportunit)-  now  offered,  since  they  could  force  subsistence  from  the  Indians  and 
compel  them  to  minister  to  their  licentious  passions.  Thus  the\'  went  from  village  to 
village  despoiling  the  natives  and  committing  all  manner  of  excesses,  e.xcitiug  in  their 
victims  not  only  a  hatred  of  themseh-es  but  of  all  Spaniards. 

It  was  not  long  before  Columbus  began  to  experience  the  effects  of  the  marauding 
incursions  of  the  mutineers.  The  Indians,  considering  him  as  in  sympath)'  with  the  free- 
booters, through  being  of  the  same  race,  exhibited  a  waning'confidence  and  gradually  reduced 
the  offerings  of  provisions  until  presently  they  broke  off  all  intercourse,  leaving  Columbus 
and  his  feeble  followers  to  face  a  threatened  famine.  To  add  to  the  dangers  of  his  situation 
there  was  the  fear  of  an  uprising  of  the  natives,  who  were  beginning  to  manifest  a  disposition 
to  hostility.  In  this  emergency,  calculated  to  quicken  the  wits  of  a  resourceful  man, 
Columbus  conceived  a  happy  expedient  for  restraining  not  only  any  evil  desigfus  which  the 
Indians  might  have,  but  also  for  regaining  their  confidence  and  assistance.  By  some 
means  unreported,  Columbus  had  knowledge  of  a  total  eclipse  of  the  moon  about  to  occur, 
and  he  concluded  to  utilize  this  event  to  impress  the  natives  with  the  belief  that  it  was  a 
mysterious  portent  of  the  sky  sent  as  a  forewarning  of  the  Great  Spirit's  intent  to  punish 
them  for  having  withdrawn  their  hospitality  from  the  white  or  celestial  strangers  who  had 
visited  their  shores. 

THE    NATIVES   AWED   BY   AN    ECLIPSE   OF   THE  MOON. 

To  carrv  his  scheme  into  effect  he  sent  his  interpreters  to  the  neighboring  caciques  to 
reveal  to  them  the  calamity  of  famine  and  pestilence  which  would  be  swiftly  sent  upon 
them  as  a  visitation  of  Divine  anger.  As  an  evidence  of  the  tnith  of  this  prophecy  he 
declared  that  at  a  certain  hour  on  the  second  night  following  the  moon  would  gradually 
pale  and  then  fade  entirely  away  in  the  hea\ens. 

The  natives  at  first  treated  this  direful  prediction  with  disregard.  But  at  the  time 
appointed  the  most  dreadful  fear  fell  upon  them,  a.s  looking  towards  the  star-spangletl  vault 
of  a  clear  sky  they  perceived  a  shadow  deep  and  awful  spreading  across  the  moon,  and 
before  the  obscuration  was  complete  the  villages  and  forests  were  resonant  with  waitings 
and  cries  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  mercy.  In  response  to  their  appeals  Columb)is  offered  to 
lift  his  voice  in  prayerful  petition  to  the  world's  Master  to  grant  deliverance  to  the  natives 


288 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


on  condition  that  they  would  supply  him  and  his  people  generously  with  food  and  continue 
faithful  in  their  friendship  as  long  as  he  remained  among  them.  To  this  condition  there 
was  a  imiversal  assent  and  with  a  thankfulness  which  showed  the  depth  of  their  sincerity. 
Thereupon  Columbus  retired  to  his  cabin  and  remained  until  the  moon  emerged  brightly 
from  the  earth's  penumbra,  and  when  he  ventured  forth  it  was  to  be  liailed  by  the  grateful 
Indians  as  one  who  possessed  the  special  favor  of  the  Deity,  and  their  promises  they  accord- 
ing faithfully  fulfilled. 

ANOTHER    MUTINY  DISPELLED   BY   THE    SIGHT    OF  A    SHIP. 
But  though  their  immediate  wants  were  supplied,   the  followers  of  Columbus  still  had 
much  to  complain  of,  for  their  quarters  were  both  small  and  insecure,  while  sickness  became 


Tin;   .\  \Ti\-i:s   AWicii  i;\'    ^x    i.ci.irbi. 


a      1I!1'.    MOON. 


SO  general  among  them  that  they  grew  first  despondent  and  then  irritable.  So  long  a  time 
had  elapsed  since  Mendez  and  Fiesco  had  departed  on  their  hazardous  journey  to  obtain  relief 
that  the  impression  prevailed  the}-  had  perished,  nor  could  the  kindness  and  assurances  of 
Columbus  dispel  the  gloomy,  despairing  thoughts  of  his  restless  men.  Out  of  this  irritation 
soon  sprang  another  mutinous  spirit,  inider  the  incitements  of  two  leaders  named  respec- 
tively De  Zamora  and  De  Villatoro,  who  decided  to  seize  the  remaining  canoes  and  in 
them  endeavor  to  make  a  passage  to  Hispaniola.  But  almost  at  the  moment  when  their 
plan  was  to  be  executed  the  white  sails  of  a  vessel  were  seen  in  the  offin-g,  and  a  few 
moments  later  it  was  discovered  to  be  bearing  towards  the  harbor  of  Santa  Gloria.  At 
this  gracious  sight  the  voice  of  murmuring  became  hushed  and  joyful  anticipations, 
replaced  the  despondency  which  had  harassed  the  stranded  explorers  so  many  weeks. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  289 

Nearer  came  the  vessel;  but  when  it  rcach'-d  the  harbor  entrance  anchor  was  cast  and 
a  boat  lowered  in  which  an  officer  with  half  a  dozen  seamen  came  ashore.  The  ship 
proved  to  be  one  sent  by  Ovaudo  in  command  of  Diego  de  Escobar,  a  renegade  who  had 
been  a  follower  of  Roldan  and  once  condemned  to  death  by  Columbus.  The  boat  came 
close  to  the  stranded  ship  but  without  debarking  Escobar  deli\ered  his  message  from 
Ovando  and  waited  until  Columbus  could  write  a  reph-.  He  then  deposited  in  a  boat  a 
cask  of  wine  and  a  side  of  bacon  as  presents  from  Ovando,  after  which  he  took  his  depart- 
ure without  even  so  much  as  giving  a  promise  to  relieve  the  sulTering  men  at  any  future 
time. 

The  circumstance  of  a  ship  being  sent  by  Ovando  to  the  stranded  explorers  was  proof 
that  Mendez  had  successfully  performed  his  mission,  but  in  Escobar's  refusal  to  extend 
relief  or  transport  them  to  San  Domingo  the  men  affected  to  discover  more  evil  designs. 
Columbus,  while  sharing  the  despondency  of  his  followers,  sought  to  revive  them  by  assur- 
ances that  his  letter  from  Ovando  contained  a  promise  that  a  large  ship  would  be  sent  to 
their  aid  as  soon  as  it  could  be  made  ready,  and  excused  his  neglect  to  rescue  them  immedi- 
ateh-  by  the  statement  that  he  had  no  suitable  vessel  at  hand  for  the  purpose. 

Feeling  the  need  of  increasing  his  force,  and  appreciating  the  importance  of  con- 
ciliating the  friendship  of  the  natives,  harassed  as  they  were  by  the  outrages  of  the 
mutineers,  Columbus  sent  to  the  rebels,  as  an  offering  of  good  will,  a  piece  of  bacon  left 
by  Escobar,  exhorting  them  to  return  under  promise  to  remit  their  crimes  with  a  full  par- 
don and  an  agreement  to  give  them  a  place  on  the  ship  which  he  said  would  soon  be  sent  for 
his  deliverance.  But  De  Porras  was  so  distrustful  that  when  he  learnt  of  the  approach  of  the 
agents  of  Columbus  he  took  care  that  they  should  not  have  communication  with  anj-  but  him- 
self. He  told  the  men  that  he  had  no  desire  to  return  to  the  Admiral;  that  his  party  were 
fully  satisfied  with  their  condition  and  desired  only  to  be  left  alone  in  peace.  But  he  added 
that  in  case  two  ships  of  rescue  should  arrive  Columbus  should  give  him  and  his  followers 
one  of  them  with  half  the  stores  and  provisions,  and  he  followed  this  suggestion  with  a 
threat  that  if  this  were  not  done  they  would  come  and  take  it  for  themselves.  Such  was 
the  communication  which  De  Porras  returned  to  the  peaceful  overtures  that  were  made 
by  Columbus.  But  to  satisfy  his  followers,  whose  fidelity  he  did  not  fully  trust,  he  declared 
to  them  that  the  purpose  of  the  Admiral  was  simply  to  get  them  into  his  power  and  tlien 
punish  them  for  their  laudable  endeavor  to  save  themselves  from  the  certain  death  which 
awaited  them  had  they  remained  on  the  stranded  vessels.  He  further  treated  the  story  of 
the  visit  of  a  ship  from  Ovando  as  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  He  said  that  Columbus  was 
in  league  with  the  powers  of  darkness  and  a  practicer  of  the  black  art.  The  ship  that  had 
seemed  to  approach  the  harbor  was  nothing  therefore  but  a  phanton;  conjured  to  deceive 
the  men  who  had  remained  faithful  to  him.  He  counselled  his  followers  further,  that  the 
only  way  remaining  to  them  was  to  fall  upon  Columbus  and  his  minions,  take  them 
prisoners,  and  then  conduct  their  afifairs  with  respect  to  the  one  great  question  of  escaping 
from  tHe  island. 

A  BATTLE  WITH  THE  MUTINEERS. 

The  effect  of  these  misrepresentations  was  all  that  De  Porras  could  desire.  The  rebels 
rallied  to  his  call  and  made  a  descent  upon  the  stranded  vessels  with  the  intention  of  eitlier 
taking  Columbus  prisoner  or  killing  him  outright.  But  their  murderous  scheme  was  discov- 
ered by  some  friendly  Indians  who  brought  information  of  the  plot  to  the  .Vdmiral,  who 
assembled  fifty  of  his  trusted  soldiers  under  the  command  of  Don  Bartholomew,  and  sent 
them  out  to  repel  the  attack.      When   the  two  forces  approached  each  other  on   the  19th  of 

19 


290  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

May  (1504),  Bartholomew,  acting  under  the  Admiral's  direction,  sent  messengers  to  confer 
with  the  insurgents  aud  offer  terms  of  settlement.  But  these  De  Porras  refused  to  hear, 
confident  in  his  ability  to  execute  his  purpose.  The  first  aim  of  the  rebels  was  to  kill  Bar- 
tholomew, and  for  this  purpose  six  of  the  most  intrepid  followers  were  stationed  about  De 
Porras  with  instructions  to  follow  him  into  the  fight.  The  attack  was  accordingly  made 
directly  upon  Don  Bartholomew  himself  But  this  courageous  man,  who  was  an  intrepid 
fighter  as  well  as  a  great  commander,  received  his  assailants  with  such  vigor  that  several 
of  the  rebels  fell  dead  under  the  blows  of  his  sword.  Having  disposed  of  the  first  antago- 
nists- he  came  face  to  face  with  De  Porras  himself,  and  a  personal  duel  was  fought  in  which, 
at  the  first  pass,  Don  Bartholomew  was  wounded  through  the  buckler.  But  the  sword  for- 
tunately hung  in  a  cleft  and  seizing  his  enemy  in  his  powerful  grasp  Don  Bartholomew  over- 
mastered him,  but  sparing  the  wretch's  life  was  satisfied  to  take  him  prisoner.  No  sooner 
had  their  leader  fallen  thus  early  in  the  fray  than  the  insurgents  withdrew,  leaving  Don 
Bartholomew  to  return  in  triumph  to  the  Admiral,  bringing  De  Porras  and  a  half-dozen 
other  prisoners.  When  De  Porras  was  brought  before  Columbus  he  no  doubt  expected  a 
punishment  commensurate  with  his  crimes.  But  humane  and  generous  impulses  were 
always  predominant  in  the  heart  of  the  Admiral,  and  instead  of  executing  him  on  the  spot, 
as  he  might  justly  have  done,  he  was  satisfied  to  hold  him  a  prisoner  and  even  extend  a 
proposition  of  surrender  to  the  other  mutineers,  promising  freely  to  pardon  and  receive  them 
into  his  service  as  before,  which  magnanimous  proposal  they  were  glad  to  accept.  But  as  a 
measure  of  pnidence  Columbus  deemed  it  advisable  to  hold  De  Porras  a  prisoner  until  such 
time  as  he  could  be  tried  and  convicted  according  to  law. 

RELIEF  AT  LAST. 

About  the  time  that  affairs  were  thus  reduced  to  quiet  in  Jamaica,  the  long-expected 
succor  came  in  the  form  of  two  ships  well  supplied  for  the  deliverance  of  the  stranded 
Spaniards.  A  year  had  now  elapsed  since  the  departure  of  Mendez  in  the  almost  forlorn 
hope  of  reaching  Hispaniola  by  canoe.  During  this  time  he  had  assiduously  agitated 
the  rescue  of  the  Admiral  and  his  companions.  It  is  the  opinion  of  Las  Casas  that  public 
sentiment  in  Hispaniola  gradually  bore  more  and  more  heavily  upon  Ovando  for  his  seem- 
ing neglect  of  his  great  countryman  in  his  distress,  and  the  time  came  when  the  governor 
was  constrained  to  make  a  virtue  of  necessity  by  sending  out  a  relief  expedition  from  San 
Domingo  to  Jamaica. 

One  of  the  ships  ordered  for  this  purpose  had  been  equipped  by  Diego  Mendez  himself 
out  of  the  revenues  due  Columbus,  and  to  him  was  therefore  entrusted  the  command,  while 
the  other  was  committed  to  Diego  de  Salcedo,  who  had  been  one  of  the  Admiral's  officers  at 
San  Domingo.  On  the  28th  of  June  (1504)  the  two  vessels  arrived  at  the  harbor  of  Santa 
Gloria  and  the  long  stranded  mariners  were  taken  on  board  with  their  few  remaining  effects, 
and  the  sails  were  at  once  set  for  San  Domingo.  But  the  weather  was  so  inclement  and  the 
winds  so  constantly  violent  and  contrary,  that  it  was  not  until  the  13th  of  August  following 
that  the  voyage  was  accomplished  and  the  aged  discoverer  of  the  New  World  was  permitted 
once  more  to  land  in  the  town  which  he  had  founded  as  the  capital  of  his  New  Indian 
Empire. 

We  are  gratified  to  learn  that  upon  his  arrival  the  reaction  in  favor  of  Columbus  was  so 
great  that  he  was  hailed  with  enthusiasm  by  the  very  men  who  had  sent  him  forth  with 
g>'ves  on  his  wrists  to  be  carried  as  a  common  criminal  to  Spain.  It  is  not  possible 
to -suppose  that  these  acts  of  public  applause,  temporary  and  fictitious  as  they  were,  could 
be  grateful    to  Ovando  even  though  his  rival  were  an  aged  man  stricken  with  many  mala- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


2in 


dies  aud  worn  down  under  the  acciiniiilation  of  many  jjricfs.      Nevertheless   the  governor 

made  a  show  of  nniting  in  the  kindly  reception,  taking  the  Admiral  even  to  his  own  lionse 

and  extending  to  him   the  fullest  courtesy  and  respect.      In  a  short 

time,    however,   causes  of   difference  began   to  work  between    the 

two    men    and    their    relations     henceforth,     though     superficially 

amicable,  were    never    sincere.       The    first   dispute    between    them 

arose  over  their  respective  authority  to  punish  the  prisoners  that 

Columbus  had  brought  to  the  island  for  trial.     The  governor  claimed 

that  Jamaica  as  well   as   Hispaniola  was  a  part  of  his  government, 

while  Columbus  contended  that  under  the  last  letters  issued  to  him 

by  Isabella  he  had  full  rights  to  tr}-  and  punish  any  offenders  against 

his  authority.     Another  ground  of  complaint  which  Columbus  urged 

against  Ovando  was  neglect  to  collect  the  revenues  which  were  due 

him    from  the    island   according   to  the  original  compact  with    the 

sovereigns.      Under  these  stipulations   Columbus  was  entitled  to  an 

eighth  of  all   the   tributes  collected   from  the  natives,  as  well  as  the 

products  of  the  mines,  and  he  had,  therefore,  reason  to  expect  a  large 

sum  to  his  credit  upon  his  return,  unless   the  re\cnucs  had  been     commuls  ki.riR.Ns. 

wasted  and  his  rights  neglected.       But  he   found  himself  practically  penniless,    and  thus 

again  dependent  upon  the  generosity  of  the  crown. 


}*»=»- 


CHAPTER  XX. 


ABUSES  AND  HORRORS  UNDER  OVANOO'S  RULE. 

NDER  the  governorship  of  Ovando  aflfeirs  in  Hispaniola 
had  become  more  deplorable  than  they  had  appeared 
at  any  time  since  the  Spanish  discover^'.  We  may 
therefore  pause  here  in  the  narrative  of  incidents  in 
the  life  of  Columbus  in  order  to  hastily  sketch  the 
progress  of  events  in  that  island  from  the  time  of  the 
arrival  of  Ovando  down  to  the  return  of  Columbus. 
We  have  seen  how  great  a  company  of  colonists  and 
adventurers,  2500  in  all,  he  brought  with  him,  and 
with  how  much  eclat  he  came  to  San  Domingo  and 
undertook  the  duties  of  viceroy  after  the  tempo- 
rary suspension  of  Columbus  from  that  office. 
The  men  whom  Ovando  had  thus  brought  to  the  New 
World  were,  with  the  exception  of  seventy  colonial  fami- 
lies, of  the  same  general  character  as  those  who  had  preceded 
them.  Fully  a  thousand  of  the  number  had  gone  out  with 
the  expectation  that  gold  would  be  found  in  such  great  abun- 
dance throughout  the  island  of  Hispaniola  that  it  would  be  gathered  in  unlimited  quanti- 
ties at  the  expense  of  no  other  exertion  than  the  shovelling  of  it  into  bags  which  were 
brought  along  for  that  purpose.  They  had  no  sooner  arri\'ed,  therefore,  than  a  great  rush 
for  the  gold  fields  of  Hayna  was  made,  each  man  taking  with  him  his  mining  implements 
and  a  limited  supply  of  provisions. 

There  is  no  disappointment  so  bitter  as  that  which  follows  a  miner  who  sets  out 
under  the  glowing  prospects  excited  by  stories  of  inexhaustible  wealth,  and  coming  to  the 
mine  so  flatteringly  described  finds  that  the  precious  ore  exists  in  the  sparsest  quantities 
and  is.  obtainable  only  by  the  most  onerous  and  persistent  exertions.  This  experience  has 
been  common  to  many  men  in  many  ages. 

The  Spaniards  made  a  rush  across  the  intervening  country,  and  reaching  the  gold  fields 
undid  their  packs  and  began  to  dig.  It  required  only  a  day  or  two  to  dispel  the  illusion. 
Here  and  there  small  quantities  of  fine  gold  dust  might  be  found  in  the  sand,  and  occa- 
sionally particles  of  the  precious  metal  would  glitter  in  a  spadeful  of  earth  thrown  iip  by 
hands  unused  to  working  with  delving  implements.  But  fatigue  and  exhaustion  came  after  a 
few  hours  of  this  unrequited  labor,  and  then  the  miners,  disgusted  and  hungr}',  sat  down  by 
running  streams  and  springs  of  water  to  devour  their  provisions.  But  ever  devouring 
and  never  producing  soon  exhausted  the  supply  which  they  had  brought  with  them,  and 
the  Indians  refusing  to  supply  them  with  either  fruit  or  products  of  the  fields,  the  hungry 
miners  were  brought  face  to  face  with  famine,  and  they  gave  over  their  golden  dreams  for 
the  harsh  necessity  of  seeking  food  to  avoid  starvation.  Worn  out,  homesick,  despondent, 
starxang,  many  of  them  perished  in  the  forests,  but  a  majority  returned  to  San  Domiuga 
and  inaugurated  a  mild  reign  of  terror. 

(292) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


293 


i^imm 


THE  INDIANS  REDUCED  TO  SLAVERY  UNDER  THE  LASH. 

The  situation  was  so  serious  that  the  governor  undertook  to  deal  with  the  mining 
question  by  creating  a  regular  system  under  which  the  business  of  gathering  gold  might  be 
profitably  conducted.  He  saw  that  the  disappointment  of  those  who  had  come  out  under 
his  promise  of  great  gain  was  such  that  it  might  end  in  compromising  him  not  only  with 
his  followers  but  with  the  sovereigns;  for  not  a  few  had  influential  relatives  residing  at 
court  who  would  voice  and  urge  their  complaints.  To  afford  them  some  relief  and  encour- 
agement, Ovando  issued  an  edict  reducing  the  percentage  of  the  gold  due  to  the  crown  to 
one-fifth,  and  then  inaugurated  a  system  of  slaver)-  by  which  each  Spaniard  was  allowed 
according  to  his  rank  the  use  of  the  free  labor  of  a  certain  number  of  Indians.  The  very 
evils  which  had  been  the  source  of  so  much  complaint  against  the  former  administration, 
namely,  that  the  Spaniards  were  abusive  to  the  Indians,  treating  them  with  initold  cruel- 
ties by  compulsor>-  labor  in  the  mines  and  fields,  were  thus  revived  by  Ovando,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  the  severity  _  .„_  .  —  __ — — .-.».,-,^-- -^..  •-5^«»  ^'.i^^-^^*^•;5y/_£;^ 
of  his  system  surpassed  all 
that  had  been  witnessed  or 
heard  of  before. 

As  a  justification  of  his 
course  the  governor  set  fortl 
to  the  sovereigns  that  a  re 
duction  of  the  natives  I' 
regular  labor  inider  the  au- 
thority of  a  master  class  was 
a  necessity  of  the  conditions 
present  in  the  colony;  that 
otherr^-ise  the  tributes  could 
not  be  collected;  that  the 
natives  were  by  nature  in-  -"^ 
dolent,  and  in  short  that  the  ':- 
only  method  of  bringing  ' , 
them  to  the  blessings  of  a 
civilized  and  Christian  life 
was  to  subject  them  to  servitude  under  which  a  Catholic  training  could  be  the  more 
effectuallv  given  them.  The  Queen  herself  was  deceived  .somewhat  by  that  part  of  the 
argument  which  related  to  the  allotment  of  the  Indians  as  slaves  to  the  Spaniards, 
who  were  expected  to  exert  a  Christianizing  influence  over  them.  Little  did  Her  Majesty 
understand  the  profoimd  hypocrisy  of  tliis  excu.se.  Likewise  .she  failed  to  comprehend 
the  utter  indifference  of  the  Spanish  masters  in  Hispaniola  to  all  considerations  of  the 
welfare  of  the  wretched  natives. 

The  Spaniards  proceeded  under  their  license  to  demand  of  the  caciques  the  required 
assignment  of  laborers,  and  the  chieftains  were  compelled  b>-  the  government  to  comply. 
At  first  there  was  some  show  of  respect  for  native  rights,  but  this  presently  ceased.  In  the 
beginning  it  was  agreed  that  the  Indians  should  have  a  small  wage  as  recompcn.se  for  their 
labor  and  that  they  should  also  be  instnicted  in  the  catechism  of  the  church  and  be  bap- 
tized by  the  priests.  But  the  whole  thing  was  a  mocker>'.  Even  the  limit  of  the  period 
of  senice  to  six  months  of  the  year  was  presently  extended  to  eight  months,  and  might 
have  been  extended  to  twelve,  since  the  feeble  constitution  of  the  natives  generally  gave 
way  under  the  intolerable  tasks  imposed  up<3n  them  during  their  first  term  of  ser\itude. 


NATIVES  SI-AVIM;    Al    THH    PI.ACIK 


294 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


No  sooner  was  the  system  regularly  organized  than  it  became  apparent  that  the  native 
foods,  mostly  of  fruits,  would  not  suffice  for  the  men  engaged  in  severe  toil.  But  the  Span- 
iards had  no  other  food  to  waste  upon  their  Indian  slaves,  being  concerned  in  getting  the 
most  out  of  them  that  was  possible,  regardless  of  what  the  result  might  be.  Sometimes  a 
ver^'  small  distribution  of  meats  was  made  to  them,  but  such  was  the  hunger  of  the  pool 
wretches  that  they  struggled  and  fought  like  ravening  animals  for  the  scraps  and  bones  that 

fell  from  the  tables  of  their 
masters.  As  they  sank  and  fainted 
under  their  tasks  the  lash  of 
exacting  masters  began  to  de- 
scend upon  their  backs.  Their 
flagging  industry,-  was  quickened 
by  the  horrid  thong  of  the  driver, 
so  mercilessly  applied  that  to 
this  added  miser)-  they  succumbed 
in  such  numbers  that  only  a  small 
proportion  survived  to  the  end  of 
their  term  of  service,  and  many 
of  these  perished  before  they 
could  reach  their  homes,  which 
in  not  a  few  cases  were  as  much 
as  a  hundred  miles  distant  from 
the  place  of  their  labors.  Thus 
the  roadsides  and  forests  were 
strewn  with  the  victims  of  this 
horror  and  despair,  and  the  air 
was  polluted  with  the  decay  of 
human  bodies. 
ATROCITIES  IN  THE  FAIR  LAND  OF 
XARAGUA. 

While  these  indescribable 
abuses  prevailed  in  the  vicinity 
of  San  Domingo,  in  the  mines 
of  Hayna,  another  fonn  of 
calamity  came  iipon  the  hapless 
Indians  in  the  fairest  western 
province  of  Hispaniola.  It  has 
been  recounted  how  the  followers 
of  Roldan  had  been  granted  a 
partition  of  land  in  Xaragua, 
whither  they  had  betaken  them- 
selves after  the  collapse  of  their  rebellion.  It  is  needless  to  affirm  that  such  men,  with- 
out family  ties  and  under  no  restraint  of  civil  authority,  were  incapable  of  developing  into 
anything  better  than  licentious  vagabonds.  The  Spaniards  thus  distributed  throughout  a 
once  happy  district  were  a  standing  menace  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  natives. 
They  were  no  better  than  robbers  and  tyrants  following  no  other  law  than  the  im- 
pulse of  passion  and  degenerate  will. 


UNHAPPY   NATIVES    PERISHING   OF  STARVATION. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COIA'MHIA.  21J5 

A  short  time  after  tlie  foundcrinj^  of  the  squadron  wliieli  Ovando  had  despatched  to 
Spaiu  witli  Bobadilla,  Roldan  and  others,  IJehechio,  who  held  tlie  sceptre  of  native  authority 
in  Xaragaia,  died  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sister,  the  amiable,  beautiful  and  devoted 
Anacaona.  Her  acquaintance  with  Don  Bartholomew  has  been  mentioned  in  a  former 
chapter,  wherein  was  described  the  royal  welcome  which  she  accorded  him  and  the  devoted 
friendship  which  she  ever  manifested  for  the  Spaniards.  Nevertheless  she  seems  to  have 
discriminated  between  the  good  and  bad  and  to  have  gained  by  superior  intelligence  a 
knowledge  of  the  degraded  character  of  the  Roldan  followers  who  were  in  her  territory. 
Against  these  she  probably  cherished  a  just  enmit\-,  as  they  were  and  hatl  been  a  constant 
source  of  menace  and  trouble  to  her  government.  With  respect  to  Ovando  and  his  govern- 
ment, however,  she  had  so  far  as  the  record  shows  a  fa\-orabIe  opinion. 

The  reader  will  readily  perceive  how  easily,  under  such  circumstances,  the  Roldan 
rebels  living  in  Xaragua  might  become  the  agents  of  mischief  between  the  Spanish 
authority  and  the  native  government.  We  are,  therefore,  not  surprised  to  learn  that  local 
difficulties  and  disagreements  between  the  late  Roldan  rebels  and  the  Xaraguans  might  be 
reported  with  the  wildest  exaggerations  to  the  authorities  at  San  Domingo,  with  appeals  for 
interference.  The  minds  of  the  governor  and  his  counsel  would  thus  be  poisoned  against 
the  natives,  and  in  the  disturbed  if  not  chaotic  condition  of  the  government  there  would 
be  little  disposition  to  accord  justice  to  a  people  who  had  been  outraged  in  every  possible 
manner  almost  from  the  time  that  the  Spaniards  set  foot  upon  Hispaniola.  This  ad\-antage 
was  accordingly  taken.  The  Spanish  Xaraguans  began  to  complain  against  Anacaona  and 
excited  the  governor  against  her  on  the  charge  that  she  was  secretly  concerting  a  rebellion 
and  had  already  made  arrangements  to  that  end.  They  sought  to  substantiate  this  by 
pointing  to  the  fact  that  the  Indians  had  delayed  the  payment  of  the  last  tribute  with  a  view 
to  collecting  provisions  and  preparing  themselves  to  make  a  descent  ujion  the  settlers. 
HOSPITABLE  RECEPTION  ACCORDED  BV  THE  UNSUSPECTING  QUEEN. 

Alarmed  at  these  reports,  which  he  seems  to  have  been  disposed  to  believe  without 
investigation,  Ovando  detennined  to  visit  Xaragua  and  settle  all  difficulties  in  his  own 
arbitrary'  way.  Accordingly  he  collected  an  army  of  three  hundred  infantry  and  seventy 
cavalr}'  which  he  equipped  in  the  most  thorough  manner  for  an  expedition  of  conquest, 
though  he  was  careful  to  give  it  out  that  his  purpose  was  merely  to  pay  a  state  visit  of  friend- 
ship to  Queen  Anacaona.  The  latter  having  no  distrust  of  her  enemy,  gathered  all  her 
chieftains,  headmen  and  nobility,  including  men  and  women,  into  her  town  and  prepared 
to  receive  the  governor  in  a  manner  which  had  been  so  captivating  to  Don  Bartholomew 
and  his  cavaliers.  .\  description  of  their  reception  may  be  repeated  with  added  circum- 
stances of  picturesqueness  and  enthusiasm.  Again  the  beautiful  maidens  of  noble  birth 
came  forth  dancing,  waving  palm  branches  and  singing  their  native  songs,  many  of  which 
had  been  composed  by  the  Queen  herself,  for  as  already  stated  she  was  an  Indian  Sappho. 
The  finest  house  was  set  in  order  for  the  governor,  and  the  anny  was  well  quartered  and 
provisioned  ;  nor  was  anything  omitted  by  the  Queen  to  manifest  her  regard  for  the 
Spaniards.  To  provide  an  entertainment  for  her  visitors,  many  games  were  introduced  and 
for  three  days  such  sports  as  the  Indians  had  been  able  to  devise  for  the  white  men  were 
indulged  in  to  the  great  delight  of  all  present.  But  even  while  this  pleasant  entertain- 
ment was  in  progress  and  the  friendly  regard  of  the  Queen  was  lieing  manifested,  the  purpose 
grew  and  matured  in  the  mind  of  Ovando  to  destroy  with  horrid  perfidy  the  unsusix-cting 
people  whose  friendly  hospitality  appeared  to  be  unbounded.  He  conceived  the  project  of 
accomplishing  his  purpose  in  so  dramatic  and  spectacular  a  manner  as  to  make  the  event 


296 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


one  of  the  most  tragic  incidents  in  the  annals  of  the  times.  He  informed  the  Indians 
at  the  conclusion  of  their  sports  that  he  and  his  men  would  in  their  turn  perform  a  game 
for  the  entertainment  of  the  Queen  and  all  present.  The  spectacle  should  be  given  in  the 
public  square,  and  the  games  would  be  a  jousting  match,  performed  after  a  manner  the 
Spanish  chivalry  had  borrowed  from  the  Moors.  Meanwhile  Ovando  ordered  his  soldiers 
to  appear  in  the  public  square  not  only  with  reeds  for  lances  and  sticks  for  swords,  but  also 
with  their  real  weapons  whetted  and  charged  for  slaughter. 

A  FRIGHTFUL    MASSACRE  OF  THE   DEFENCELESS  NATIVES. 
The  situation  was  such  as  to  favor  the  atrocity.      Nearly  all  the  caciques  and  Xaraguans 
were  gathered  in  a  large  house  which  had  been  assigned  to  Ovando,  while  the  public  square 
was  filled  with  the  common  people.     The  governor  had  just  risen  from  a  dinner  given  in 


RECEPTION  DANCE   OF  THE   XARAGUAN   MAIDENS. 

his  honor  by  the  Queen,  and  had  gone  out  into  the  open  air  to  pitch  quoits  with  some  of  his 
officers.  As  soon  as  the  cavalry  arrived  it  was  marshalled  in  array.  Ovando,  while  lifting 
a  quoit  in  one  hand,  raised  the  other  and  grasped  a  gold  ornament  suspended  from  his  neck 
as  a  signal  for  the  massacre  to  begin  !  Instantly  a  trumpet  sounded,  the  cavalry  put  their 
lances  at  rest,  the  infantry  drew  their  swords,  and  simultaneously  the  murderous  army 
rushed  to  the  assault.  The  house  where  the  caciques  were  assembled  was  surrounded  and 
all  of  them  taken  prisoner  to  the  number  of  forty.  Some  authorities  declare  there  were 
eighty.  These  were  bound  and  then  put  to  torture  in  order  to  extort  a  confession  of  a  plot 
conceived  by  the  Indians  to  slaughter  the  Spaniards.  Some  of  the  Indians,  in  their  terror 
and  suffering,  shrieked  out  impossible  things  respecting  their  Queen,  and  these  false  ejacula- 


COLUMBUS   AXl)    COIA'MHIA. 


297 


tions  were  considered  by  the  defamers  as  le)j;al  proof  of  j^iiilt.  Tlien  the  ca\'alr\-  began  in 
earnest.  The  horsemen  rode  down  and  tlinist  throu<j;h  the  natives  witliont  discrimination 
or  mercy.  The  aged,  the  children,  the  women  were  all  given  tip  together  to  the  horror 
of  a  bloody  and  mutilated  deatli.  The  caciques  were  confined  within  the  liouse,  and  being 
bound  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  their  escape,  the  building  was  fired  and  tUey  all  perished 
in  the  most  miserable  and  horrible  manner.  Anacaona  was  rudely  seized  by  vulgar  soldiers, 
and  being  bound  with  chains  was  carried  to  San  Domingo,  where  .she  was  subjected  to  the 
mocker}.-  of  a  trial,  and  without  the  shadow  of  legal  evidence  and  against  all  indications  of 
guilt  was  hung  in  the  streets. 

Horror  and  frightful  criminality,  however,  did  not  terminate  the  riot  with  .\nacaona's 
execution,  for  the  mas.sacre  extended  until  all  the  better  families  in  Xaragua  were  deci- 
mated. The  terrible  story  runs  to  the  effect  that  for  six  months  together  the  Spaniards, 
breaking  into  bands  and  making  their  way  from  village  to  village,  and  even  to  the  fastnesses 
of  the  woods  and  hills,  cut  down  the  unoffending  and  defenceless  natives  with  all  manner 
of  added  atrocity,  mitil  Xaragua  was  a  'desolation.  When  the  work  was  finall\-  completed 
and  the  niin  needed  no  further  touch  of  infamy,  0\'ando  wrote  to 
the  sovereigns  a  gilded  report  of  how  he  had  succeeded  in  restor- 
ing good  order  and  how  he  had  founded  a  town  in  commemoration 
of  the  happy  deliverance  of  the  Spaniards,  to  which  he  had 
given  the  significant  name  of  San/a  Maria  dc  la  vcrdadcra  Paz, 
that  is,  SL  Mar%-  of  the  True  Peace. 


THE  PERSECUTION  AND  DEATH  OF  COTABANAMA. 

The  destruction  of  Xaragua  marked  the  conquest  and  con- 
sequent ruin  of  the  fourth  of  the  native  kingdoms  of  Hispaniola. 
There  now  remained  only  the  fifth  and  last,  namely,  the  mountain- 
ous district  of  Higuey.  The  reader  will  remember  that  it  was  upon 
the  shores  of  this  pro\'ince  that  the  first  blood  had  been  shed  by 
Spanish  soldiers  in  the  West  Indies.  The  people  were  Caribbeans  by  descent,  and  were, 
in  the  year  1504,  ruled  by  a  cacique  named  Cotabanania,  an  original  Goliath  of  Gath. 
His  stature  is  represented  as  being  of  herculean  proportions,  and  he  was  no  less  famous 
for  his  strength,  while  his  reputation  as  a  great  warrior  was  coextensive  with  the  island. 
For  the  past  twelve  years  the  relations  between  the  Indians  of  this  district  and  the 
Spaniards  had  been  strained.  On  one  occasion  a  Spaniard  on  the  coast,  accompanied 
by  his  blood-hound,  had  hissed  the  brute  upon  one  of  Cotabanama's  under  caciques,  who 
was  torn  to  pieces  for  the  sport  of  the  foreigner.  This  gross  outrage  rankled  in  the 
breasts  of  the  Indians,  and  they  determined  to  .seize  the  first  opportunit%-  to  have  their 
revenge.  In  course  of  time  a  boat  bearing  eight  Spaniards  came  to  the  little  island 
of  Saona,  in  sight  of  the  coast  of  Higuey.  The  natives,  fired  with  a  remembrance  of 
the  horrible  outrage  perpetrated  upon  one  of  their  innocent  people,  surrounded  the 
crew  and  massacred  them  to  a  man.  This  was  regarded  by  Governor  Ovando  as  an 
insurrection,  and  he  immediately  fitted  out  a  force  of  four  hundred  men,  under  com- 
mand of  Juan  de  Esquibel,  to  march  into  the  Indian  conntrv,  put  ilown  opposition  and 
administer  exemplary  punishment  for  the  crime. 

The  story  of  this  expedition  is  but  a  repetition  of  others  which  have  already  been 
described.  The  Spaniards  being  in  irresi.stiblc  force  marched  through  the  Indian  villages 
slaughtering  without  regard  to  age  or  sex  and  perpetrating  cruelties  which  fairly  shame  the 


298 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUIvIBIA. 


race.  In  many  instances  not  only  men  but  women  were  hung  and  quartered,  and  other 
inconceivable  cruelties,  such  as  the  lopping  off  of  hands  and  feet  of  natives  who  had  fallen 
into  the  power  of  the  remorseless  Spaniards,  were  practised  under  the  name  of  exemplary 
punishments.      This  riot  of  murder  continued  until  it  is  estimated  by  Columbus  himself,  as 

well  as  by  Las  Casas,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  many 
of  these  atrocities,  that  six-sevenths  of  the  entire  native 
population  were  destroyed.  Human  depravity  could  go 
no  further,  and  we  recoil  with  hoiTor  at  the  mention  of 
such  crimes,   especially  under  banners  which  bore  the 


SLAUGHTER  OF  THE  XARAGOANS  AND   CAPTURE  OF 
THEIR   QUEEN. 

sign  of  the  Cross  and  in  a  country-  which  had 

been  consecrated    to  the  propagation  of  the  " 

Holy  Faith.      Cotabanama  was  hunted  like  a  lion  and  refusing  all  overtures  for  peace  with 

such  human  blood-hounds,  he  fought  to  the  last  extremity,  but  was  finally  seized  in  a  cave 

in  which  he  had  taken  refuge  with   his  wife  and   children.      Being  first  overpowered  by  a 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


2'J'J 


gjcat  force  he  was  bound  in  chains  and  carried  back  to  San  Duniin.ijo,  wliere  he  was  j)ublicly 
executed  on  the  gibbet  as  another  example  of  the  uinnercifuhiess  and  rapacious  cruelty  of 

the  Spaniards. 

COLUMBUS  SAILS  FOR  SPAIN. 

We  have  seen  in  a  fonner  chapter   in  what  niauner  Columbus  was  received  in  San 

Domingo  after  his  escape  from  the  perils  which  for  nearly  a  year  beset  him  in  Jamaica. 

We  have  also  mentioned  the  beginning  of  the  difficulty  and  misunderstanding  between  him 

and  the  governor  in  the  matter  of  De  Porras  and  his  fellow-prisoners.     As  to  his  local  affairs 

the  Admiral  found  them,  as  already  stated,  in  an  extremely  unsatisfactory  condition.     Alonzo 


de  Cavajal  informed  him  on  his  arrival  tiiat  the  revenue  had  Ijeen  held  back  in  many 
instances  and  that  his  attempts  to  collect  the  same  had  been  impeded  by  the  covert  or  open 
opposition  of  the  governor.  Other  causes  for  couii)laint  existed,  and  the  Admiral  may  well 
be  excused  for  finding  fault  with  Ovando's  policy  towards  the  Indians,  which  had  almost 
totallv  obliterated  the  native  population.  But  Columbus  was  also  dissatisfied  with  the  whole 
condition  of  his  environment.  The  two  years  which  had  been  named  by  the  King  and 
Queen  as  the  limit  of  his  suspension  from  office  had  about  expired.  The  sen.sation  and 
reaction  in  his  favor  produced  by  his  late  arrival  in  the  colony  began  to  wane,  and  he  decided 
to  return  to  tlie  mother  country  at  the  earliest  possible  date.  There  before  the  King  and 
Queen  he  would  renew  his  plea,  and  he  hoped  to  be  heard  by  their  considerate  Majesties  in 


300 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


his  own  cause,  to  the  end  that  they  might  bestow  upon  him  justice  with  honor  as  a  reward 
for  his  great  toils  and  sacrifices.  The  Admiral  knew  not  that  at  this  very  date  Isabella 
had  taken  to  her  couch  with  that  lingering  malady  strangely  mingled  of  mental  and  bodily 
griefs  from  which  she  was  never  to  recover. 

It  was  not  long  after  his  arrival  at  San  Domingo,  therefore,  that  Columbus  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  governor  began  to  prepare  for  his  departure  for  Spain.  Two  ships  were  fitted  out 
for  this  purpose,  the  command  of  one  being  given  to  Don  Bartholomew  while  the  Admiral 
had  charge  of  the  other  in  person.  On  the  1 2th  of  September  the  vessels  left  the  harbor  of  San 
Domino-o,  but  were  not  far  at  sea  when  the  weather  became  stormy  and  the  masts  of  Colum- 
bus' ship  were  broken  and  carried  away,  rendering  her  unfit  for  the  voyage.  Being  in  haste 
to  reach  the  mother  country,'  the  Admiral  sent  back  the  disabled  ship  and  transferred  him- 
self and  companions  to  the  vessel  commanded  by  Don  Bartholomew.  Still  the  weather  con- 
tinued severe  and  the  masts  of  the  remaining  vessel  were  likewise  seriously  injured,  so  that 
progress  was  extremely  slow.  Nor  was  this  condition  of  affairs  improved  at  au}-  time 
during  the  voyage  ;  for  the  weather  continued  at  all  times  so  extremely  rough  that  it  was 
not  until  the  end  of  the  fifty-eighth  day  after  lea\ing  San  Domingo  that  the  caravel  carr>'ing 
Columbus  and  his  brother  reached  the  port  of  San  Lucar.  Thus  concluded  the  ill-starred 
fourth  expedition  of  discover}-  on  the  7th  of  November,  1504. 

The  afflicted  Admiral  was  so  exhausted  by  his  physical  sufferings  that  he  was  unable  to 
support  his  own  weight,  and  had,  therefore,  to  be  bonie  on  shore  in  a  litter  constructed  for 
the  purpose.  He  was  then  taken  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  to  the  city  of  Seville, 
where  among  his  friends,  attended  by  faithful  kinsmen  and  loyal  companions,  he  hoped  in  a 
short  time  to  revive  from  the  fatigues  of  his  long  voyage.  Realizing,  as  he  must,  his  failure 
to  accomplish  the  glorious  things  which  he  had  promised  for  the  crowns  of  Castile  and 
Aragon,  harassed  by  enemies  who  had  the  ears  of  the  court,  it  is  and  will  ever  be  a  matter 
of  surprise  and  admiration  to  note  the  enthusiastic  faith  by  which  the  veteran  explorer, 
tottering  under  the  accumulated  griefs  of  years,  was  still  borne  on  buoyant  wings  in  the 
direction  of  those  dreams  and  visions  that  had  haunted  him  since  the  days  of  his  }-outh. 


'-ctW^4M^. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


LAST  DAYS  OF  COLUMBUS. 

REAT  men  as  a  rule  are  the  victims  of  great  embarrass- 
ments, and  usually  through  the  world's  inapprecia- 
tion.  Those  wholiave  accomplished  the  most  benefi- 
cent things,  who  have  placed  the  greenest  laurels  on 
the  brow  of  civilization,  who  have  won  the  eternal 
applause  of  mankind  and  gained  a  place  in  the  affec- 
tions of  humanity  because  of  what  they  did  in  life, 
have  most  frequently  been  targets  for  the  world's 
abuse.  It  is  a  proverb  as  lamentable  as  it  is  true 
that  no  man  is  fully  appreciated  until  after  he  is 
dead.  Wealth  receives  its  honors  in  the  flesh,  while 
genius  finds  its  reward  only  beyond  the  grave  :  be- 
cause prejudice  and  envy  cannot  cast  their  poisonous 
darts  across  the  valley  of  death.  When  a  nation 
discovers  a  redeemer  it  is  to  persecute  him  first  and 
worship  him  afterwards ;  hence,  were  it  not  for 
monuments  and  the  slower  justice  of  biography,  liumanit>-  would  be  without  emulous  exam- 
ples, and  philosophic  ambition  would  not  attain  to  even  the  shadow  of  a  dream. 

The  life  and  career  of  Columbus  have  few  parallels  in  the  annals  of  histor\-.  Great 
men  there  have  been  who  have  met  with  disappointments  and  injustice,  but  there  is  perhaps 
no  other  instance-  of  a  prominent  man  whom  disappointments  and  injustice  did  not  dis- 
hearten and  disgust ;  who  had  his  greatness  recognized  in  his  lifetime,  and  yet  was 
robbed  of  the  emoluments  it  entitled  him  to  ;  and  who,  after  death,  was  -.so  unfortunate 
as  to  have  his  honors  conferred  upon  another,  even  to  the  obscuring  of  his  name  by  the 
substitution  of  that  of  an  insignificant  vovageur. 

With  the  great  measure  of  his  deserving,  who  had  practically  enlarged  the  world  by 
half  and  set  in  the  crown  of  Spain  a  jewel  so  lustrous  that  all  the  gems  of  earth  grow  pale 
in  its  light,  Columbus  v^as  suffered  not  only  to  remain  unrequited,  but  his  distinguished 
ser\-ice,  instead  of  aggrandizing,  rendered  him  the  victim  of  every  wrong  that  mad  env\-  and 
avarice  could  inflict.  And  these  marplots  under  the  wings  of  royalty  pursued  him  even  to 
the  grave,  while  anger  and  hate  would  fain  have  disturbed  him  there,  so  implacable  were 
these  foes  of  justice. 

Though  robbed  most  shamefully  J:)y  Bobadilla  and  Ovando  and  brought,  througii  their 
conniving,  to  the  verge  of  penur\',  yet  so  buoyant  was  the  nature  of  Columbus  that  he  hoped 
for  a  correction  of  his  \vrongs  when  he  should  lay  his  complaints  before  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.  Poor  and  deeply  afflicted  though  he  wxs,  and  confined  to  his  bed  in  Seville,  he 
trusted  to  the  influence  of  those  few  friends  who  still  remained  faithful  to  him.  .^mong 
these  was  Diego  his  son,  who  was  now  of  age  but  still  in  the  service  of  the  Queen  as  page  ; 
al£o  his  brother  Don  Bartholomew,  Diego  Mendez,  Alonzo  dc  Cavajal,  a  nobleman  named 

(3"i) 


302  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Geronimo,  and  Diego  de  Deza,  the  latter  an  old  friend  who  had  been  elevated  to  the  bishopric 
of  Palencia.  Through  the  aid  of  these  and  his  own  efforts,  and  by  letters  and  proofs  which 
he  would  lay  before  his  sovereigns,  Columbus  did  not  doubt  that  he  would  recover  the 
dignities  and  property  to  which  he  was  so  clearly  entitled. 

EFFORTS  OF  COLUMBUS  TO  RECOVER  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WHICH   HE  HAD   BEEN   DEFRAUDED. 

The  complaints  which  Columbus  had  to  make  were  set  forth  in  a  lengthy  communica- 
tion which  he  addressed  to  their  Majesties  very  soon  after  his  return  to  Seville,  and  contained 
two  specifications  :  ist.  That  he  had  been  deprived  of  his  revenues,  and  that  the  rentals  due 
from  his  estates  in  San  Domingo  and  his  percentage  from  the  mines  were  withheld  by 
officers  of  the  crown,  thus  virtually  reducing  him  to  poverty  ;  2d,  That  his  honors,  titles  and 
rank  which  had  been  conferred  and  confirmed  by  royal  guarantees  in  the  form  of  patents 
and  charters  were  jeopardized,  if  not  nullified,  by  his  suspension  from  office. 

The  enormity  of  withholding  from  Columbus  his  percentage  of  one-eighth,  but  after- 
wards one-tenth,  of  the  gold  gathered  in  Hispaniola,  and  his  consequent  reduction  almost  to 
mendicancy  in  his  old  age,  may  be  estimated  when  we  reflect  upon  the  aggregate  jield  of 
the  Indian  mines  during  the  administration  of  Ovando.  The  question  has  been  carefully 
considered  by  Robertson  for  the  year  1506.  According  to  his  estimates  the  yield  of  the 
mines  for  that  and  several  preceding  }-ears  amounted  annually  to  a  sum  equal  to  about 
$500,000.  Considering  the  greater  purchasing  power  of  gold  and  silver  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  it  would  hardh-  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  his  annual  revenues  from  this  source, 
had  they  been  justly  paid  him,  would  have  been  equivalent  in  value  to  more  than  a  million 
of  dollars  of  our  present  currency.  This  would  have  given  to  Columbus  a  revenue  which, 
apart  from  all  other  resources,  would  have  lifted  him  from  beggary  to  wealth  and  enabled 
him  to  prosecute  his  one  supreme  ambition  of  recovering  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the 
possession  of  the  Mohammedans. 

In  the  letters  which  he  transmitted  to  his  sovereigns  he  justly  complained  of  the 
withholding  of  his  dues,  saying  that  he  was  compelled  to  live  by  borrowing  ;  that  he  was 
unable  to  own  in  Spain  a  roof  to  shield  him  from  the  elements,  and  that  he  had  no  place 
of  resort  but  the  common  inn,  and  that  even  the  small  charges  for  attention  there  he  was 
unable  to  pay.  But  besides  these  he  had  other  complaints  to  make.  He  reminded  the 
sovereigns  that  the  men  who  had  accompanied  him  on  his  last  perilous  voyage  had  received 
no  pay  since  the  time  of  their  departure,  in  consequence  of  which  their  families  had 
suffered  greatly  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  Not  only  did  he  urge  the  King  to  an  immediate 
payment  of  the  rewards  to  which  the  sailors  were  entitled,  but  he  wrote  a  special  letter  to 
his  son  Diego  urging  him  to  remind  the  King  of  the  infinite  toils  and  perils  which  the 
sailors  had  endured,  and  that  they  had  brought  home  to  Spain  and  to  all  the  world  invalu- 
able tidings  for  which  their  Majesties  ought  to  thank  God  and  rejoice. 

Before  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  for  a  reply  to  his  communication  Columbus  trans- 
mitted another  letter  to  the  King,  urging  upon  him  the  justice  as  well  as  the  necessity  of  a 
restoration  of  the  honors  and  titles  of  which  he  was  virtually  deprived.  At  the  conclusion 
of  this  second  letter  he  appended  a  note  animadverting  upon  the  government  of  Ovando, 
citing  many  facts  in  the  provisional  governor's  administration  about  which  the  sovereigns 
ought  to  be  greatly  solicitous. 

THE  MENDACITY  OF   FERDINAND. 

To  these  communications,  however,  the  answers  of  the  court  were  complimentary'  but 
noncommittal,  since  Ferdinand,  anxious  to  annul  the  charters  under  which  grants  had  been 
bestowed  upon  Columbus,  adopted  the  policy  of  temporizing  with  the   situation  until   the 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  303 

benefician-  slionld  die,  an  event  wliicli  he  had  every  reason  to  expect  would  not  be  long 
deferred.  Heartened  within  himself,  "If  we  can  but  placate  this  aged  and  importunate 
Admiral  for  a  little  longer  his  voice  and  pen  will  both  be  still  in  the  incurable  paralysis  of 
death  ;  alter  that  we  shall  deal  as  we  may  with  his  son  and  kinsmen,  taking  pains  always  to 
interpose  between  them  and  their  rights  such  excuses  and  obstacles  as  shall  nuke  their  let- 
ters patent  and  the  charters  granted  to  the  father  of  no  effect." 

His  inability  to  obtain  any  decisive  answer  from  the  King  gave  Columbus  great  worri- 
nient  of  mind,  intensified  by  the  physical  sufferings  which  confined  him  for  weeks  to  a  bed  in 
the  little  iuu  where  he  had  found  refuge  after  his  arrival  in  Spain.  Preparations  were  being 
made  to  bring  De  Porras  to  trial  under  the  charges  which  had  been  preferred  by  Cohnnbus, 
and  it  was  very  necessary  that  he  should  attend  at  the  court  to  give  his  testimony.  His 
anxiety,  therefore,  was  so  great  that  he  twice  ordered  a  litter  to  be  prepared  on  which  he 
might  be  carried  to  Granada.  But  on  both  occasions  the  project  had  to  be  abandoned 
through  the  intensity  of  his  sufferings  and  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  His  friends  in 
the  meantime  were  e.xerting  themselves  in  his  behalf.  But  his  enemies  at  court  were  more 
numerous  and  influential,  and  succeeded  in  overcoming  whatever  small  inclination  the  King 
might  have  had  to  accord  him  justice.  And  thus,  week  after  week  and  month  after  month  was 
spent  by  Columbus  in  the  deepest  anxiety  of  mind,  without  the  least  indication  of  obtaining 
that  which  had  been  solemnly  guaranteed  by  royal  compact,  and  which  he  had  earned 
through  eight  years  of  toilsome  and  unremitting  service  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns. 

THE  LAST  SAD  HOURS  OF  ISABELLA. 

It  at  last  became  clear  to  the  apprehension  of  the  suffering  and  despairing  veteran  that 
the  King  was  against  him  and  his  cause.  As  for  the  Queen,  who  had  so  long  been  his  friend 
and  benefactress,  her  last  days  had  come.  Clouds  and  shadows  darkened  around  her  halls 
and  chamber.  Her  son,  the  Prince  Juan,  was  dead,  while  Juana,  married  to  the  Archduke 
Philip,  had  contracted  an  unfortunate  alliance  with  a  man  whose  s>-mpathies  and  devotion 
■were  all  abroad.  The  Princess  herself  was  already,  in  the  first  years  of  her  married  life, 
"beclouded  by  a  mental  malady  through  wliich  her  faculties  were  jangled  out  of  tune  and  hei 
mind  finalh-  brought  to  chaos.  These  troubles  fell  so  heavily  upon  the  Queen  that  she  became 
the  victim  of  melancholv.  Disease  preyed  upon  her  and  she  sank  under  the  accumulated 
griefs  of  broken  womanhood.  She  had  been  the  best  sovereign  of  her  age.  Her  abilities 
were  great  and  her  beauty  was  praised  bj-  all  her  contemporaries.  Her  application  to  the 
duties  of  the  crown  was  assiduous  and  successful,  and  according  to  the  measure  of  het 
powers  and  the  limitations  of  her  education  she  exerted  herself  to  benefit  her  subjects  and 
diffuse  a  generous  friendship  among  the  nations.  Her  tnie  greatness  and  sympathy  for  the 
oppressed  are  evidenced  by  her  interposition  between  the  humble  natives  of  the  West  Indies 
and  the  cruelty  of  her  Spanish  subjects.  There  can  be  nodoul)t  that  she  faithfully  sought 
to  protect  them  from  the  wrongs  and  rapacity  of  her  people  and  bring  them  to  the  standard 
of  such  poor  civilization  and  religion  as  the  fifteenth  century  could  supply.  How  great  must 
have  been  her  grief  when  in  her  last  days  reports  reached  her  ears  of  the  horrible  abuses 
p'-acticed  upon  the  Indians  by  Ovando  and  his  colleagues.  One  of  her  last  rational  acts 
was  to  order  his  recall,  and  she  exacted  of  the  king  a  pledge  that  this  deed  of  justice  should 
be  at  once  fulfilled,  a  request,  however,  which  was  wholly  disregarded  until  circumstances 
five  years  afterwards  rendered  his  dismissal  a  necessity. 

Isabella  fully  appreciated  that  the  day  of  her  departure  was  near  at  hand.  She  had  not 
yet  reached  the  end  of  lier  fifty-fourth  year,  but  her  Ijmlily  powers  were  completely  shattered 
and  her  deeply  religious  mind  now  turned  almost  with  aversion  from  the  noise  anil  splendor 


304 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


of  the  world  to  a  contemplation  of  the  future      She  accordingly  prepared  her  will,  giving- 
particular  directions  not  only  respecting  the  disposition  of  her  worldly  estates,  but  also  how 


STATUE   OF   ISABELLA    AT    MALiKIU. 


she  should  be  buried,  asking  that  her  body  might  be  committed  to  a  low  sepulchre  in  the 
Alhambra  of  Granada  and  that  no  other  monument  than  a  plain  stone  properly  inscribed  be 
set  to  mark  her  last  resting-place.      But  in  her  dying  naoments  she  did  not  forget  her  loyalty 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


30: 


and  devotion  to  the  King,  and  among  her  last  requests  was  one  that  she  might  at  last  be 
laid  beside  him  when  all  the  things  of  this  earth  liad  faded  from  his  Majesty's  view.  Thus 
prepared  for  the  great  event,  she  sank  away  and  on  the  26th  of  Xovembcr,  1504,  expired  at 
the  town  of  Medina  del  Campo.  Her  body  was  conveyed  with  great  pomp  and  interred 
according  to  her  directions,  but  was  afterwards  transferred  to  a  tomb  in  the  royal  chapel  of 
the   Cathedral    at    Granada 


where  the  King,  at  his  death 

on  Januar}-   23d,  1516,  was 

buried  beside  her. 

COLUMBUS    PRESENTS    HIS 
PETITION   IN   PERSON. 

The  news  of  the  death  of 

his  friend  and  patroness  was 

all     that     Columbus    could 

bear.      To  that    tnie    friend 


r^rzrririrTj'rxLxricxrriaxirsTTrii  jcgucx[iii.ixxj,nnEgrargrEnt '  rf,. 


SEPDI,CHRE   OP   FERDIUAXD   AND   ISABELLA. 


^  to  petition 
a  restitution    of   his   honors   and 


of  discovery  for  many  years 
he  had  turned,  like  the 
crusader  gazing  on  his  cruci- 
fix, and  now  in  his  old  age 
was  he  indeed  left  naked  to  his  enemies.  But  deep  as  was  his  dejection  over  the  death  of 
his  greatest  friend,  and  supreme  as  were  the  sufferings  which  confined  him  constantly  for  a 
long  while  to  his  bed,  his  mind  was  to  revive  to  a  contemplation  of  glorious  accomplish- 
ments of  ambitions  conceived  even  in   the  depth  of  his  extremity.      Continuin 

the   King    for 

emoluments,  and  receiving  in  reply  letters  that 
constanLly  flattered  but  gave  no  substantial  pro- 
mises, Columbus  at  length  finding  himself  some- 
what improved  decided  to  proceed  to  Segovia,  to 
which,  place  Ferdinand  had  now  transferred  his 
court,  and  renew  in  person  the  importunities 
which  had  thus  far  proved  wholly  unavailing. 
At  this  time  there  was  a  govenunent  edict  for- 
bidding people  to  ride  on  mules,  as  it  was  reckoned 
that  the  introduction  of  these  cheap  and  easy- 
going animals  as  a  means  of  conveyance  had 
distracted  attention  from  the  production  ui  horses, 
in  consequence  of  which  the  breeds  of  the  latter 
had  become  deteriorated.  Columbus,  therefore, 
desiring  to  make  his  journey  on  this  safer  con- 
veyance, asked  permission  of  the  proper  authori- 
ties at  Seville  to  make  the  trip  on  mule-back. 
This  being  granted,  in  May,  1505,  he  set  out, 
accompanied  by  a  few  faithful  attendants,  for 
the  Spanish  court. 

The  arrival  of  the  Admiral  at  Segovia  was  attended  with  no  excitement.      Tlic  jx^ople 
gazed  on  him  merely  as  an  old,  broken-down,  sorrowful  and  di.sappoiuted  man,  whose  dt-eds 
were  already  forgotten  in  the  public  mind  and  who  from  an  object  of  great  pomp  and  cir- 
20 


COLUMBUS,    AFTER    CAI'KIULA,    IN    ROME,    I596. 


306 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Tr-^; 


cumstance  had  fallen  to  a  condition  so  lowly  as  no  longer  to  attract  the  attention  of  any  of 
the  populace.  The  King,  however,  granted  him  an  audience  and  even  made  a  pretense  of 
receiving  him  with  accustomed  cordiality.  He  condescended  also  to  hear  from  the  discoverer 
an  account  of  the  fourth  expedition  and  its  results.  Columbus  accordingly  narrated  the 
whole,  emphasizing  in  particular  the  value  of  the  gold  mines  of  Veragua  and  indicating 
the  benefits  which  might  accrue  from  the  establishment  of  colonies  on  that  coast.  While 
the  Kino-  affected  interest  in  the  narrative,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  interview  he  dismissed 
the  Admiral  with  no  substantial  evidence  of  a  purpose  to  restore  him  to  the  honors  of  which 
he  had  been  so  imjustly  deprived.  But  Columbus  continued  to  persist  in  his  demands  until 
the  King,  as  a  means  of  freeing  himself  from  the  annoyance  of  importunity,  proposed  to 
refer  his  claims  to  arbitration.     To    this  Columbus  consented,   until   he  discovered   in  the 

papers,  an  agreement   to  likewise  refer  his   rights  to 
the    viceroyalt}-    and     governor-generalship    of     the 
Indies.      As  an  agreement  to  such   arbitration  would 
have  put  in  debate  his  titles  for  which  he  held  the 
royal  patents,  Columbus  could  not,  while  in  the  posses- 
sion of  his  senses,  consent  to  the  opening  of  a  question 
so  fatal  to  all   his  rights.      He  accordingly  declined 
to  submit  his  major  claim  to  arbitration,  since  about 
that  there  was  under  his  charter  no  possible  doubt. 
The  whole  matter  was  accordingly  put  aside 
and     the     conference     of    arbitration     was 
never  held. 

A  PATHETIC  APPEAL  TO  THE  HONOR  OF  A 
PERFIDIOUS  KING. 
After  this  miscarriage  of  his  claims  Colum- 
bus renewed  his  persistence  with  the  Sover- 
eign for  a  restitution  of  his  honors  and   for 
such  a  decree  as  would  compel  the  officers 
of  Hispaniola  to  pay  him  his  dues.     He  ap- 
pealed to   the  conscience  and  justice  of  the 
King  to  save  him  in  his  old  age  from  the 
hardships  of  poverty  and  the  shame  of  dis- 
honor.     But  month  after  month  continued  to 
roll  by,  and   though  Ferdinand  treated   him 
with  marks  of  suitable  regard,  and  continued 
to  be  effusive  with  his  deceptive  assurances,  all  favorable  action  was  postponed  or  evaded. 

The  last  formal  effort  made  by  Columbus  with  King  Ferdinand  related  to  the  \-oung 
man  Dieeo.  To  him  the  fond  father  looked  as  his  successor  and  defender  of  his  fame. 
The  jeopardy  in  which  his  titles  stood  admonished  the  Admiral  that  the  time  had  arrived 
when  it  was  advisable  for  him  to  abdicate  all  his  claims  in  favor  of  his  son.  In  pursuance 
of  this  design  he  sent  a  last  petition  to  his  Sovereign,  in  which  he  solemnly  proposed  to  waive 
his  own  rights  and  honors  in  favor  of  Diego.  He  besought  the  King  to  confirm  the  youth 
under  the  charters  granted  to  himself  in  the  government  of  the  Indies  and  in  the  preroga- 
tives and  benefits  of  which  he  had  been  unwarrantably  deprived  so  long.  But  this  peti- 
tion, as  had  been  the  former,  was  evaded  by  Ferdinand,  and  it  became  evident,  even  to 
the  persistent  spirit  of   the  discoverer  of  the  New  World,  that  he  had   nothing  further 


COI.UMBUS,    AFTER   PAOLI   C.\PRIOI,A,    IN   MADRTD 
GALLERY. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


307 


to  expect  from  his  Calliulic  Majesty  of  Spain.  Sorrowfully  he  says  in  a  letter  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Seville:  "It  appears  that  his  -Majesty  does  not  see  fit  to  fulfil  that  which  he 
and  the  Queen  (who  is  now  in  glor>)  promised  me  by  word  and  seal.  For  me  to  contend 
with  the  contrary  would  be  to  contend  with  the  wind." 

The  end  of  1505  was  now  near  at  hand,  havin'<j  been  spent  in  a  fruitless  effort  to  vindi- 
cate his  rights  and  to  persuade  the  King  to  do  a  simple  act  of  justice  as  some  recompense  for 
the  imperishable  glory  which  Columbus  had  reflected  upon  his  crown.  Confined  to  his  bed 
at  a  tavern  in  Segovia,  Columbus  was  now  as  hopeless  in  mind  as  he  was  infirm  in  bod\-. 
Yet  out  of  this  sufifering  condition  he  was  aroused  in  the  following  vear  bv  a  rumor,  soon 
confirmed,  that  the  Princess  Juana  and  the  Archduke  Philip,  her  husband,  were  on  their 
wa\-  from  Seville  to  Valladolid,  to  which  place  the  King  had  removed  his  court  from 
Segovia.  A  brief  hope  seems  to  have  been  inspired  in  him  by  this  incident,  and  though  in 
the  tortures  of  old  age  and  infirmity,  he  determined  to  seek  an  audience  with  their  High- 
nesses. After  proceeding  a  short  way,  however,  his 
extreme  sufierings  admonished  him  of  the  impos- 
sibility of  carr>'ing.  out  his  intentions,  and  he  was 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  preparing  a  communica- 
tion to  their  Highnesses  which  he  transmitted 
through  his  brother  Don  Bartholomew.  In  this 
letter  he  made  profession  of  his  profound  loyalty 
and  devotion  to  the  Spanish  crown  and  described 
the  severe  afflictions  and  numberless  misfortunes 
by  which  he  was  detained  from  going  to  them  in 
person.  In  the  most  touching  language  he  reminded 
them  of  the  great  things  which  he  had  accomplished 
for  the  glor)-  of  Castile  first  and  the  honor  of  man- 
kind afterwards,  and  followed  this  with  a  toxiching 
tribute  to  the  virtues  of  her  mother,  the  Queen. 
THE  UST  GOLDEN   DREAM   OF  COLUMBUS. 

In  penning  his  letter,  which  evidently  arons1.1l 
in  him  ambitions  as  intense  as  those  which  promj)ted 
him  to  his  first  voyage,  he  described  with  glowing 
enthusiasm  the  vision  which  now  arose  in  dazzling 
splendor  before  him.  Long  cherished  hopes  and 
aspirations  revived  like  a  d\ing  flame,  and  the  aged  breast,  storm-beaten  and  exhausted, 
throbbed  and  heaved  with  the  fires  of  an  expiring  enthusiasm.  Old,  infirm,  tottering  on 
the  very  brink  of  the  grave  as  he  was,  he  \et  told  the  Princess  that  still  greater  things 
remained  for  him  to  accomplish.  It  was  of  course  the  rescue  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from 
the  infidel  Islamites.  That  great  enterprise,  most  famous  of  all  his  ambitions,  he  declared 
he  could  yet  undertake  and  accomplish  if  her  Highness,  after  the  manner  of  her  noble 
mother,  would  hear  him  for  his  cause.  Nothing  in  human  history  has  a  touch  of  greater 
sublimity  than  this  dying  passion  of  a  decrepit  and  worn-out  man,  rising  as  it  were  from 
the  couch  of  his  penur>'  and  despair  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  Spanish 
crusaders  to  wrest  the  City  of  David  from  the  hated  Moslcmitcs. 

It  is  on  record  that  the  appeal  of  Columbus  had  its  due  effect  upon  the  princess  and 
her  husband.  They  gave  assurances  that  the  cau.sc  of  the  .Xdmiral  should  receive  their 
earliest  attention,  the  sincerity  of  which   declaration  was  shown   in   the  cordial   reception 


COLUMBUS,    AI-TUR   A    PAINTING    MADE   BY 
ORDER   OF    ISABELLA. 


308 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


of  Don  Bartholomew  and  the  great  interest  which  the  communication  evidently  excited, 
But  however  encouraging  the  reply  of  their  Highnesses,  he  for  whom  the  tidings  were 
intended  was  never  to  know  the  results  of  the  message  which  his  brother  was  prepared  to 
bring  from  the  daughter  of  Isabella.  It  may  well  be  believed  that  the  expiring  force  of  his 
great  spirit  was  exhausted  in  the  composition  of  the  letter  to  Juana  and  her  husband.  At 
all  events,  after  the  departure  of  Bartholomew  he  sank  back  upon  his  couch  and  never 
again  rallied  to  his  accustomed  animation.  He  was  able  between  the  first  and  middle  of 
May  to  prepare  one  or  possiblv  two  codicils  to  his  will,  in  which  he  made  a  more  particular 
disposition  of  his  property.  He  divided  his  possessions  as  though  all  the  revenues  to  which 
he  was  entitled  would  be  paid  to  his  legitimate  heirs,  and  he  consequently  made  provision 
not  onlv  for  his  immediate  but  even  remote  relatives,  and  besides  setting  aside  an  annuity 
for  his  brothers  and  Dona  Beatrix  Enriquez,  mother  of  Fernando,  he  ordered  that  certain 
sums  might  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  others  to  whom  he  had  become  indebted,  and  also  for 
the  establishing  of  a  charitable  institution  in  Genoa.  Besides  these  bequests  the  Admiral 
gave  small  sums  to  certain  companions  and  servants  whose  fidelity  had  won  his  trust, 
among  these  being  Bartholomew  Fiesco,  the  companion  of  Diego  Mendez  in  the  perilous 

canoe  voyage  from 
Jamaica  to  Hispaniola ; 
nor  did  he  forget  Diego 
Mendez,  whom  he  re- 
commended to  the 
sovereigns  for  appoint- 
ment as  governor  of 
some  of  the  West 
Indian  possessions. 

THE     DEATH     OF 
COLUMBUS. 

Thus  was  a  c  c  o  m  - 
plished  the  last  act  in 
the  life  of  Christopher  Columbus.  Death  was  now  at  his  door.  But  the  Admiral  had 
become  so  weak  tlirough   liis  sufferings   that   he  hailed  him  as  a  welcome  guest. 

The  glories,  the  pride,  and  the  lofty  ambitions  which  bound  him  to  earth  were  now 
dissolving  into  clouds,  behind  which  were  for  the  moment  concealed  those  greater  and 
more  substantial  rewards  for  which  his  benignant  .soul  thirsted.  Cruel  destiny,  unfathom- 
able wrongs,  had  denied  him  a  death-bed  in  a  courtly  chamber  invested  with  the  luxury 
which  kings  enjoy  infinitely  less  worthily,  but  had  consigned  him  to  a  room  that  bespoke  the 
poor  comforts  of  a  miserable  little  hotel.  No  mementos  of  art,  no  rich  fabrics  of  the  weaver's 
loom,  but  with  bare  floors  and  walls  Inmg  Avith  no  other  decorations  than  the  chains  which 
had  bound  him  as  the  seal  of  a  king's  ingratitude  !  There  on  a  bed  of  pain,  forgotten  by  those 
whom  he  had  enriched  with  a  measureless  opulence,  he  lay  watching  the  advancing  shadows 
that  were  obscuring  the  world,  and  noted  the  roseate  hues  that  reveal  the  approach  of 
eternal  day  breaking  beyond.  Beside  him  were  sorrowful  watchers  in  the  perso;  s  of  his 
two  sons,  the  devoted  Fiesco  and  some  Franciscan  fathers,  who  in  fulfilment  of  his  last 
wishes  had  clothed  him  in  the  habit  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Francis  and  prepared  him 
for  the  last  struggle.  His  mind  continued  clear  even  to  the  moment  of  dissolution.  After 
exhorting  with  pious  admonitions  his  sons,  he  received  the  sacrament  of  Penance,  then 
requested  that  the  chains  which  he  had  worn  as  the  badge  of  a  nation's  shame  might  be 


dp:atu  of  coi.rMnrs. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


3()9 


buried  with  him.  The  renieinbrance  of  tlie  \vron<^s  he  had  sufTered,  which  hi.s  shackles 
recalled,  appeared  to  somewhat  revive  him,  and  he  talked  for  a  while  in  great  seriousness 
of  mind  on  spiritual  matters,  indicating  that  in  these  was  his  sole  concern  in  the  last  hours 
of  his  life.  When  again  he  felt  the  chilling  paralysis  of  death  stealing  over  liim  he  asked 
for  the  Sacrament  of  Extreme  Unction,  and  was  able  to  give  all  the  responses  himself ;  but 
his  pulse  was  feeble  and  his  breath  came  fitfully.  Turning  his  head  slightly  in  a  la.st 
movement  towards  the  Franciscan  father,  who  stood  sorrowfully  awaiting  the  final  summons, 
he  asked  in  broken  speech  if  it  were  not  Ascension  day.  Recei%ing  an  affirmative  replv, 
his  face  appeared  to  be  illumined  with  intense  satisfaction  as  he  repeated  the  words  of  our 
expiring  Saviour  on  the  cross  :  In  ntauKS  ittas,  Doniine,  commctido  spiritutu  meutu.  "Into 
thy  hands,  O  Lord,  I  commend  my  spirit."  In  this  wise,  on  May  20,  1506,  he  fell  into 
that  sleep  which  is  eternal  waking,  and  his  great  soul  that  had  been  so  violently  tempest- 
tossed  in  the  turbulencies  of  a  stonny  life  sailed  now  across  peaceful  waters  and  entered  a 
harbor  where  the  anchorage  is  secure  and  where  faithful  ser\'ice  meets  a  just  reward.  His 
age  was  about  seventy  years. 

Ferdinand  had  succeeded  in  his  infamous  policy  of  evading  the  claims  of  one  of  the 
most  importunate  men  who  had  ever  haunted 
his  court  in  quest  of  justice  and  restitution. 
The  silent  form  lying  in  Valladolid  could 
never  trouble  him  further.  The  great 
Admiral  was  gone  from  earth  to  that  higher 
King  who  would  restore  to  him  not  only  tlie 
rights  for  which  he  had  vainly  contended, 
but  grant  unto  him  a  crown  as  a  reward  for 
the  incomparably  great  services  he  had 
rendered  to  the  world.  The  Sovereign 
might  well  assume  the  virtue  of  sorrow, 
particularly  when  he  saw  that  the  death  of 
Columbus  produced  a  great  sensation  in  the 
kingdom,  the  people  at  this  late  hour 
beginning  to  appreciate  the  lustre  which 
he  had  reflected  upon  their  country.  Preparations  were  therefore  made  for  an  elaborate 
funeral,  which  was  celebrated  with  much  pomp  in  the  city  where  the  Admiral  died,  and 
his  body  was  interred  with  great  civic  honors  in  the  parochial  church  of  Santa  Maria 
de  la  Antigua. 

After  seven  years,  or  in  1513,  the  remains  of  the  discoverer  were  transferred  to  the 
Carthusian  monaster}-  of  Las  Cuevas,  in  Seville,  where  in  the  chapel  of  Santo  Christo  the 
body  was  for  a  second  time  committed  to  the  sepulchre.  There  it  reposed  for  twenty- 
three  years.  In  Febniar}-,  1526,  Don  Diego,  the  son  and  successor  of  the  Admiral,  died  and 
was  entombed  by  the  side  of  his  father  in  the  monaster)-.  But  ten  years  afterwards  the  bodies 
of  both  father  and  son  were  exhumed  and  transferred  to  Hispaniola,  where  they  were  re- 
interred  in  the  chapel  of  the  Cathedral  at  San  Domingo.  Here  it  might  well  be  supposed 
they  would  remain  forever  in  tlie  soil  of  the  beautiful  land  which  he  had  discovered  and 
settled,  but  which  had  been  despoiled  by  the  ruthless  hand  of  the  avaricious  Spaniards. 
In  1795-96  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  however,  was  ceded  by  Spain  to  France,  when  it  was 
reckoned  as  a  fitting  thing  that  the  remains  of  the  discoverer  of  a  new  world  should  be  again 
disturbed  and  committed  to  a  soil  above  which  the  flag  of  Spain  still  floated.     A  commis- 


wiiicii   Lui.iMiu.s  i)Ji;i). 


310 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


sioner  was,  therefore,  appointed  to  transfer  the  sacred  relics  to  the  Cathedral  of  Havana  in 
the  island  of  Cuba,  where  it  was  supposed,  until  within  the  last  few  years,  they  reposed. 

Investigation  recently  made  by  a  learned  German  historian  has  led  to  the  belief  that 
the  relics  found  reposing  in  a  square  casket  in  a  recess  of  the  Cathedral  sanctuar\-  of  San 
Domingo  and  conveyed  with  such  military  pomp  and  religious  ceremony  to  the  Cathedral 
of  Havana  were  not  the  bones  of  Columbus,  but  were  those  of  some  ecclesiastical  dignitar}- 
whose  remains  had  been  committed  to  the  sacred  crypt  in  a  casket  without  inscription.    The 

chief  grounds  upon  which  this  opinion  rests  is  the 
statement  that  Columbus'  bones,  after  the  third  ex- 
humation, were  placed  in  a  reliquary  on  which  was 
stamped  his  coat  of  arms,  list  of  his  titles,  name, 
date  of  birth,  death  and  time  of  last  removal  ; 
whereas,  the  chest  which  contained  the  mortuary- 
relics  that  were  transferred  to  Cuba  was  without  in- 
scription or  lettering  of  any  kind.  But  this  question 
will  in  all  probability  remain  as  long  in  contention  as 
the  island  which  he  first  sighted,  the  place  of  his 
nativity,  and  the  date  of  his  birth,  disputes  which 
hardly  admit  of  conclusive  settlement. 

But  though   we  may  not   positively  know 
where  the  remains  of  the  great  Admiral  repose, 
his    memory  is    no  less   eSectually    preserved 
in  history-  as  well  as  by  monumental  tributes 
that  proclaim  in  granite  and  marble  the  im- 
perishable glory  and  honor  in  which  the  world 
holds  his  name    and    deeds.     Already  before 
the    death  of  King  Ferdinand  that  monarch 
had    honored  himself  rather    than    the   dis- 
coverer of  America  b\'  order- 
ing    a     monument     to      his 
memor\-.    This  was  done  Avhile 
the  remains  of  Columbus  were 
still   sleeping   in   the    monas- 
tery   of    Las    Cuevas.      The 
tomb  was  said  to  be  worthy 
of    the   great    man  to   whom 
it  was  erected.      The  inscrip- 
tion   already    granted    as     a 


COLUMBUS    MONUMENT    IN    MEXICO. 


motto  to  Columbus  b}-  his  sovereigns  was  repeated  in  his  epitaph  : 

"  A.   CASTILLA    Y   A    I.EON 
'NUEVA    MUNDO   DIO   COLON." 

"To  Castile  and  Leon  Columbus  gave  a  New  World." 


<^ 


CHAPTER  XXTI. 

CAREERS  OF  THE  COLUMBIAN   DESCENDANTS. 

HE  life  of  Columbus  may  be  fittinp^ly  concluded  with 
some  account  of  his  descendants,  of  their  success 
in  maintaininjj  their  rights  and  their  vicissitudes  of 
fortune  down  to  the  time  when  the  male  line  of  the 
Admiral  became  extinct.    No  sooner  was  his  father's 
body  put  into  the  tomb  than  the  \oung  Don  Diego 
came  forward  and  claimed  under  the  will  all  the 
rights,   prerogatives,    titles  and  emoluments  which 
Columbus  had  enjoyed  and  of  which   in  recent  years    lie 
had  been  so  unjustly  deprived.     It  was  hardly  to  be  ex- 
pected, however,  that  Ferdinand,  who  had  dealt  so  unjustly 
with  the  father,  would  be  more  liberal  and  just  with  the 
son,  and  we  are  not  surprised,  therefore,  to  learn  that  he 
began  at  once  to  employ  the  same  temporizing  and  crafty 
policy  which  he  had  so  successfully  used  with  the  father. 
It  was  not  long  until   the   King  was    drawn    b>-   the 
emergencies  of  his  reign  into  Italy,  but  not  until  he  had 
first  at  Villa  Franca  in  June    of  1506,  and  afterwards  at  Almazan 


conceded  to  Don  Diego 
in  August  of  1507,  what  may  be  called  his  commercial  and  property  rights  under  the  testa- 
ment of  his  father.  This  was,  in  a  word,  a  grant  that  the  one-tenth  of  the  revenues derixed 
and  derivable  from  the  Indies  and  terra  firma  discovered  by  Cohnnbus  in  the  West  should 
go  to  his  son.  But  Don  Diego,  like  his  father,  was  more  concerned  about  his  titles,  his 
rank,  his  honors  as  viceroy  and  governor-general,  than  he  was  about  his  dues  and  percent- 
ages of  gold.  The  young  Admiral  accordingly  lost  no  opportunity  of  representing  liis 
claims  to  the  King,  and  finally  made  bold  to  ask  the  Sovereign  in  so  many  words  whether  he 
would  or  would  not  invest  him  with  the  titles  which  had  been  granted  to  his  father.  The 
question  being  thus  explicitly  put  the  King  could  no  longer  temporize  and  was  thus  made 
to  express  his  will.  He  therefore  refu.sed,  and  as  an  excuse  for  so  doing  brought  forth  a 
principle  of  the  Spanish  con.stitution,  reaffirmed  by  an  edict  of  1480,  that  henceforth  no 
grant  in  perpetuit>'  should  be  made  of  any  office  by  the  crown  which  involved  the  exercise 
of  judicial  functions.  He  claimed  that  the  viceroyalty  of  the  Indies  was  of  this  interdicted 
kind  and  that,  therefore,  though  he  himself  by  the  stipulations  and  agreements  of  1492  had 
gfiven  such  a  title  to  Columbus,  the  same  was  unconstitutional  and  invalid. 

After  the  return  of  the  King  from  Naples,  in  150S,  Don  Diego  again  renewed  his  claim, 
but  this  time  in  another  fonn.  He  respectfully  petitioned  tlie  Sovereign  for  the  privilege 
of  instituting  a  suit  against  the  crown  before  the  Council  of  the  Indies  in  which  his  cause, 
and  involving  therewith,  the  cause  of  his  father,  .should  be  legally  heard  and  decided.  The 
request  was  granted  and  the  suit  was  accordingly  instituted,  continuing  for  more  than  a 
year  and  resulting  in  the  triumphant  establishing  of  Don  Diego's  claims.     The  crown  was 

(3>0 


312 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


fairly  beaten,  and  it  only  remained  for  the  young  Admiral,  under  judgment  of  the  court,  to 
assume  the  titles  and  honors  of  which  his  father  had  been  so  long  deprived. 

This  trial  occupied  a  great  part  of  the  years  1508-9  and  the  record,  which  has  been 
investigated  by  the  historian  Muiioz,  is  of  great  value  as  throwing  light  upon  all  the  Colum- 
bian contro\-ersy.  The  defence  of  the  crown  was  first  of  all  that  above  stated,  namely, 
that  an  entailed  viceroyalty  granted  to  Columbus  was  only  for  his  natural  life  ;  that  even 
this  power  had  been  limited  by  the  suspension  of  the  Admiral  from  office;  that  moreover, 
Columbus  had  not  been,  as  was  claimed,  the  first  discoverer  of  terra  firma  but  only  of  the 
Indian  islands;  and  that  finally  the  crown  of  Spain  must  defend  itself  and  its  prerogatives 
against  the  tendency  of  unconstitutional  and  dangerous  acts  as  a  measure    of  self-protection 

and  perpetuity. 

ADVANTAGEOUS  MARRIAGE  OF  DON  DIEGO. 

All  of  these  questions  were  abh'  and  impartially  considered  before  the  tribunal,  and 
though  decided  in  favor  of  Don  Diego,  the  nature  of  the  Spanish  administration  and   the 

power  of  the  crown  were  such  that  the  application 

of  the   decision    to    Diego's   rights  was    for   a  while 

impeded.      The  young  man,   however,    had  by  this 

time  secured  by  marriage  an  alliance  of  the  greatest 

possible   advantage   to     himself  and    his     posterity. 

He    had    won  the  heart  of   Dona  Maria  de  Toledo, 

daughter  of  Fernando    de  Toledo,   who   was    grand 

commander  of  Leon  and  a  man  of  great  influence  and 

rank  in  the  kingdom.     Greater  even  than  he  was  his 

brother   Fadrique  de  Toledo,  better    known  as    the 

Duke  of  Alva,  who  was  not  onl}-  powerful  by  his  . 

rank  and  wealth  and   talents,  but  was  personally  a 

favorite    at  court   and  with    the      King  himself. 

Such  was    the   reputation  which    the    Columbian 

family,  in  spite  of  its  foreign  origin  and  the  intrigues 

and  enmities  of  hostile  factions,  had  attained  not 

only  in  Spain,  but  in  all  the  world,  that  the  two 

princes  of  Toledo,  one  the  father  and 

the  other  the  uncle  of  Dona  Maria, 

assented     to  the    marriage     of    that 

noble  lady  to  Don  Diego.   Thus  was 

secured    an     alliance     whereby    the 

Columbian  line  was  to  be  blent  with 

that  of  the  ancient  Spanish  nobility. 

In  view  of  this  condition  and  rela- 
tionship Ferdinand  gave  a  reluctant 
and  cold  assent  to  the  validity  of  the 
judicial  decision  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  would  go  no  further  than  to  concede  to  Don  Diego  the  same  dignity  and  rights 
which  had  been  for  some  years  and  were  now  enjoyed  by  Ovando,  governor  of  His- 
paniola.  This  construction  cunningly  excluded  the  title  of  viceroy,  and  possibly  excluded 
the  extension  of  the  young  Admiral's  rights  to  other  islands  and  to  terra  firma.  Never- 
theless,  in   a  general  way,  it  was    agreed    that    Don  Diego     should   assume    the    titular 


CWSTUFOmj    COMMBO 
lA.  lATnlA. 


MONUMENT   TO   COLUMBUS   IN    GENOA 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  313 

dignity      of    viceroy    and    that   his    noble   spouse   should    be    recognized    as   Vice-Queen 
of  the  Indies. 

Such  was  the  tennination  of  the  famous  controversy.  Up  to  this  date  Ferdinand  had 
failed  to  comply  with  the  promise  which  he  had  made  to  the  dying  Isabella,  to  recall 
Ovando.  Circumstances  now  rendered  this  long-deferred  duty  imperative,  and  in  1509  it 
was  accordingly  performed.  The  young  Admiral  prepared  for  his  voyage  to  the  Indies, 
gathering  around  him  many  noble  and  courtly  people  who  were  to  accompany  him  to  San 
Domingo  and  compose  his  court.  His  uncles,  Don  Bartholomew,  and  Don  Diego,  senior, 
were  of  his  retinue.  By  the  beginning  of  summer,  1509,  everything  was  in  readiness,  and 
the  fleet  prepared  for  the  occasion  sailed  on  the  9th  of  June  from  the  harbor  of  San  Lncar. 
Diego  arrived  at  his  destination  and  assumed  the  govennnent  of  Hispaniola,  which  he 
began  to  administer  with  great  ceremony  and  splendor.  Ovando  was  relieved  of  his  duties 
and  sent  home  with  the  returning  fleet  ;  but  he  went  away  in  wealth  and  honor,  and  the 
purpose  of  Isabella  to  prosecute  him  for  his  crime  in  murdering  the  innocent  people  of 
Xaragua,  and  in  particular  for  the  execution  of  Anacaona,  perished  with  her  merciful 
Majesty. 

It  was  not  long  after  Don  Diego  had  assumed  the  govenament  of  his  island  before  the 
purpose  of  Ferdinand  with  respect  to  the  Indies  was  clearly  manifested.  A  royal  decree 
was  framed  by  which  the  coast  of  Darien  was  detached  from  all  connection  with  the  insular 
parts  and  was  divided  into  two  provinces,  the  governorship  of  one  of  which  was  assigned  to 
Alonzo  de  Ojeda  and  the  other  to  Diego  de  Nicuesa.  This  act  was  resented  and  resisted  by 
the  Governor  of  the  Indies,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  The  slow  and  toilsome  processes  of 
history  went  on  and  the  wishes  of  Diego  Columbus  were  disregarded,  for  his  vice-royalty 
was  in  name  rather  than  in  fact. 

It  was  evidently  the  purpose  of  the  King  that  the  authority  of  Diego  should  be 
restricted  to  Hispaniola,  or  at  most  to  the  Indian  islands.  It  was  clearly  not  intended  that 
his  jurisdiction  should  e.xtend  to  that  terra  firma  which  was  a  part,  indeed  the  principal 
part,  as  the  event  was  soon  to  show,  of  the  new  lands  discovered  by  the  first  Admiral.  This 
conflict  of  purpose  was  from  the  beginning  a  source  of  embarrassment  and  distrust  between 
the  crown  and  the  young  Governor  of  the  Indies. 

ASSUMPTION  OF  THE  GOVERNORSHIP  OF  THE  INDIES. 

Diego  however  entered  upon  his  government  with  nuicli  spirit  and  with  many  mag- 
nanimous purposes.  Like  his  fatlier  he  was  an  optimist,  and  like  his  father  he  was  destined 
to  inherit  perplexity  and  disappointment  from  the  age  and  the  people  with  whom  he  had  to 
deal.  He  soon  found  that  the  malcontent,  jealous  and  insubordinate  disjxjsitions  with 
which  the  Admiral  had  had  to  contend  had  been  transmitted  to  himself.  First  of  all  a 
certain  Miguel  Pasamonte,  who  was  the  royal  treasurer  of  the  i.sland,  became  the  head  of  an 
anti-administration  party,  the  motive  of  which  was  an  ostentations  devotion  to  the  interests 
of  the  Spanish  crown. 

With  this  movement  Fonseca,  head  of  the  Indian  Bureau  and  now  a  privy  councillor 
of  the  King,  was  in  hearty  accord.  Not  satisfied  with  having  pursued  the  elder  Admiral 
to  his  last  dav  he  now  took  up  and  renewed  the  warfare  on  the  \ounger.  Nevertheless 
Don  Diego  for  a  season  held  his  own  and  presently  added  laurels  and  ])a!ms  to  his  adminis- 
tration by  the  peaceable  occupation  or  conquest — if  conquest  it  might  be  called  which 
brought  no  shedding  of  blood — of  Cuba.  This  event  took  place  in  1510  and  was  ut  once 
reported  to  the  King. 


314 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUMBIA. 


Meanwhile  the  opposition  to  the  government  of  Don  Diego  acquired  much  strength 
and  many  complaints  were  sent  home  to  Spain  against  him.  At  length,  in  1512,  the  King 
gave  attention  to  these  murmurings  to  the  extent  of  sending  Don  Bartholomew  to  assist 
the  young  Admiral  in  the  duties  of  his  administration.  Another  circumstance  also  induced 
Ferdinand  to  show  this  mark  of  confidence  in  Bartliolomew,  and  that  was  the  recent  failure 
of  both  the  royal  governors  in  Panama.  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa,  with  their  governments,  went 
b}-  the  board  ;  and  the  King  was  constrained,  under  the  circumstances,  to  recognize  the 
rights  of  Don  Diego  on  the  mainland  of  the  isthmus. 

DEATH   OF  BARTHOLOMEW. 
Ferdinand  accordingly  directed  that  Don  Bartholomew  should  repair  to  Veragua  and 
assume  the  duties  of  governor  under  the  more  general  authority'  of  his  nephew.      But  this 

large  and  promising  scheme  was  destined  to  come  to 
naught.  Don  Bartholomew  had  already  received  as  his 
special  patrimony  the  island  of  j\Iona,  off  the  Cuban 
coast.  But  he  was  now  an  old  man  ;  the  arduous  en- 
terprises in  which  he  had  been  so  long  engaged  had 
shattered  his  constitution.  Sickness  came  on  and  in 
the  year  1514  Don  Bartholomew  died,  upon  which 
event  the  island  government  of  ]Mona  was  recovered 
b}^  the  King,  who  thus  again  showed  his  disposition  to 
limit  the  Columbian  grants  to  the  life  or  lives  of  the 
present  holders. 

The  death  of  Don  Bartholomew  was  a  serious  loss 
to  Diego,  for  thereafter  his  enemies  became  bold  in 
preferring  such  complaints  that  in  151 5  he  was  called  to 
Spain  to  make  a  report  of  his  administration  and  to 
\-indicate  his  rule  from  the  charges  brought  against  him. 
He  there  conducted  his  defence  with  the  greatest  ability 
and  came  forth  from  the  inquest  with  a  flying  banner. 
It  is  probable  that  had  Ferdinand 
lived  he  would  henceforth  have 
resoluteh'  supported  the  gover- 
nor and  repressed  his  enemies, 
but  the  King  himself  now  came 
swiftly  to  the  closing  scene.  On 
the  23d  of  January,  15 16,  he 
died,  transmitting  his  crown  as 
the  world  knows  well,  to  his 
grandson,  that  Charles  \'.  who 
was  destined  to  be  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  centur\'  the  most  conspicuous  figure  of 
the  age.  Henceforth  Don  Diego  was  thrown  into  relations  with  the  new  sovereign,  the 
vastness  of  whose  inheritance,  the  complications  of  whose  reign  were  so  pressing  and 
multifarious  as  to  make  it  almost  impracticable  for  him  to  give  adequate  attention  to  the 
affairs  of  the  Indies. 

In  the  meantime  a  new  historical  force  had  become  operative  in  Hispaniola,  which  was 
destined  to  enter  largely  into  the  general  movements  of  civilization  in  the  New  World  and 
to  cast  its  shadow,  portentous  and  vast,  across  the   annals  of  several  centuries.      This  was 


COI.UMBI.\N    MONUMENT   IN    MADRID. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  :Uo 

the  introduction,  first  into  Hispaniola  and  afterwards  into  all  the  West  Indies  and  Spanish 
America,  of  ne<^o  slavery.  By  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  namely  about  1515,  the  Indian 
inhabitants  of  Hispaniola  had  been  virtually  exterminated.  A  disconsolate  and  despairing 
renmant  sur\i\ed  from  the  horrors  of  the  war  and  the  repartimiento.  But  the  survivors 
were  weak  and  inefficient  even  under  tlie  lash  of  the  master. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  SLAVES  FROM  AFRICA. 

The  necessity,  or  at  least  the  advantage,  of  slave  labor  had  increased  as  the  native 
slaves  were  decimated  and  swept  away,  and  to  supply  such  labor  the  suggestion  of  kid- 
napping and  transporting  slaves  from  Africa  was  heartily  received  and  adopted.  Some 
shiploads  of  Guinea  negroes  were  brought  over,  and  it  was  soon  found  that  they  were  able 
to  endure  the  severest  trials  and  cnielties  of  ser\-itude.  The  trade  became  at  once  popular, 
and  the  great  infamy  of  modern  times  was  established  under  the  auspices  of  the  Spanish 
crown  in  the  new  countries  which  Spanish  enterprise  had  revealed  and  opened  for  occupation. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  until  the  system  of  ser\-ile  labor  brought  a  measure  of  retri- 
bution to  those  by  whom  it  was  instituted.  In  1522  a  negro  revolt  broke  out  in  Hispaniola, 
and  it  was  accompanied  with  much  violence  and  destruction  of  life  and  property  before  it 
could  be  suppressed. 

Don  Diego  had  now  established  his  family  on  what  appeared  to  be  an  excellent  founda- 
tion. Five  children  had  already  been  born  of  his  union  with  Dona  Maria  de  Toledo. 
These  were  two  sons,  Luis  and  Christopher,  and  three  daughters,  Maria,  Juana  and 
Isabella.  The  Columbian  line  seemed  in  fairest  prospect  of  perpetuity  and  honor,  but  Don 
Diego  himself  was  involved  in  ever-recurring  difficulties  with  the  crown.  This  is  to  say 
that  his  enemies  in  Hispaniola  and  the  enemies  of  his  family  in  Spain  were  constantly 
active  and  embroiled  him  once  and  again  in  serious  complications  with  the  young  Emperor. 
To  counteract  the  evil  influence  of  his  enemies  Diego  was  obliged  to  spend  the  last  years 
of  his  life  in  Spain,  following  the  court  from  place  to  place  and  seeking  to  obtain  redress, 
or  a  vindication  of  his  conduct  and  the  re-establishment  of  his  rights  and  honors. 

Dona  Maria,  acting  as  \'ice-Queen  of  the  Indies,  remained  with  her  sons  and  daugh- 
ters in  San  Domingo.  Don  Diego's  death  occurred  at  the  town  of  Montalvan  on  the  21st  of 
Februar}-,  1526.  His  rights  and  titles  and  honors  were  transmitted  by  will,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  of  primogeniture,  to  his  oldest  son,  Don  Luis,  who  became  his 
successor  under  the  authority  of  the  mother.  At  the  time  of  his  father's  death  Don  Luis 
was  but  six  years  of  age,  and  Dona  Maria  deemed  it  expedient  to  go  to  Spain  and  have  him 
confirmed  in  the  government  which  had  been  derived  from  his  grandfather.  An  audience 
was  obtained  from  the  young  Empress,  and  the  rights  and  titles  of  the  third  Admiral  were 
confinned,  with  the  exception  that  the  title  of  viceroy  was  refused  to  Don  Luis  by  the 
Emperor. 

A  period  of  comparative  quiet  now  ensued,  covering  the  minority  of  the  third  Admiral. 
In  1538  Don  Luis  brought  suit  before  the  Council  of  the  Indies  for  the  recovery  of  his  title 
as  viceroy.  Institution  of  these  proceedings  resulted  in  the  question  being  submitted  to 
arbitration,  by  which  it  was  declared  that  henceforth  the  political  honors  of  Don  I.uis 
should  be  embraced  under  the  two  titles  of  "  .\dmiral  of  the  Indies  "  and  "  Captain-General 
of  Hispaniola."  In  course  of  time  a  second  compromise  was  made,  in  which  the  young 
governor  accepted  as  a  finality  the  titles  of  "  Duke  of  \'eragua  "  and  "  Marquis  of  Jamaica," 
instead  of  the  more  comprehensive  and  honorable  and  significant  title  of  viceroy  of  the 
Indies. 


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(316) 


CULIMBUS    AND    COLUMBIA. 


317 


DEATH  OF  DON   LUIS. 

Nor  was  Don  Luis  pennitted  to  cnjo\  fur  an\  j;reat  time  the  smaller  honors  which  had 
been  substituted  for  the  greater.  He  died  about  1542  leaving  two  legitimate  daughters  by 
his  wife,  Dona  >Liria  de  Mosquera,  and  one  illegitimate  son  named  Christopher.  The 
younger  of  the  two  daughters  entered  a  convent  and  became  a  nun,  and  the  claim  of  Don 
Luis  seemed  to  rest  upon  his  remaining  daughter  Philippa.  The  fact  of  the  death  of  Don 
Luis  without  a  legitimate  son  terminated  the  right  male  line  of  Christopher  Columbus,  and 
brought  in  shortly  afterwards  one  of  the  most  complicated  and,  indeed,  important  lawsuits  of 
the  century.  There  were  many  parties  to  the  cause,  each  having  his  own  interests  to  con- 
ser\-e,  and  the  issue  involved  the 
consideration  of  the  whole  Colum- 
bian generation  from  the  period 
before  the  birth  of  the  great 
Admiral  down  to  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  ceutur}-. 

The  three  daughters  of  the 
late  Don  Diego  had  all  been 
married  to  important  personages. 
Maria,  the  eldest,  was  wedded  to 
Don  Sancho  de  Cardono;  Juana, 
the  second,  was  married  to  Don 
Luis  de  Cueva,  and  Isabella,  the 
third,  to  Don  George  of  Portugal, 
Count  of  Gelves.  There  stood 
also  in  the  field  of  view  as  a 
claimant  the  illegitimate  Christo- 
pher, son  of  Don  Luis,  and  in 
particular  his  legitimate  daughter 
Philippa.  Moreover,  Don  Diego 
Columbus,  the  second  Admiral, 
had  two  sisters,  Francisca  and 
Maria,  who  came  forsvard  and 
entered  their  claims  in  virtue  of 
collateral  descent. 

Meanwhile  a  distant  and 
rather  factitious  figure  arose  in 
the  person  of  Bernardo  Columbo, 
of  Cogoleto,  who    declared     him- 

,ri  .  i  r     T-k  COULiUlI-V-N    MONLMKNT    UESlGNfcD    UV  JOSE    UE    MA.NJARRES. 

self  to  be  a  natural    son  of  Don  ■' 

Bartholomew.  Still  more  remotely  and  strangely  appeared  the  figure  of  Haltha/.ar  Colombo, 
of  the  ancient  house  of  Cuccaro,  the  e.\istence  of  which  tlie  readei  will  recall  from  one 
of  the  earlier  chapters  of  the  present  work.  Balthazar  came  forward  with  a  family  scheme, 
showinfT  that  a  certain  Domenico  Colombo,  who  was  lord  of  Cuccaro,  was  the  father  of 
Christopher  Colombo  of  great  fame.  The  Cuccaro  Colombos  were  descended  from  Dome- 
nico; therefore  thev  were  the  collateral  kinsmen  of  tlie  late  .\dmirals,  and  they  having 
become  extinct  in  their  male  line  their  rights  had  p.i.ssed  to  llie  Italian  branch. 

Such  was  the  vast  and  peculiar  complication  which  hail  now  to  be  settled  in  a  j\idicial 


318 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBL\. 


inquiry  before  the  Council  of  the  Indies.  In  the  first  place  the  decision,  which  was  rendered 
on  the  2d  of  December,  1608,  declared  the  legal  extinction  of  the  male  line  of  Christopher 
Columbus.  In  the  next  place  the  claims  of  Balthazar  Colombo  were  under  indubitable 
proofs  put  aside  as  spurious.  In  the  third  place  the  family  of  Dona  Isabella,  married  as 
abo\^e  to  Don  George  of  Portugal — she  being  the  sister  of  Don  Luis,  the  third  Admiral — was 
selected  as  the  true  line  of  Columbian  descent.  At  the  time  of  the  decision  this  famih-  was 
represented  b}-  Don  Nuiio  Gelves  de  Portugallo,  grandson  of  Dona  Isabella  above  referred 
to,  who  according  to  the  decision  of  the  court  became  Duke  of  Veragua.  The  Don  George 
of  Portugal,  grandfather  of  Don  Nufio,  was  himself  one  of  the  collateral  princes  of  the 
House  of  Bragan^a,  and  here  the  political  and  civil  honors,  the  titles,  ranks  and  privileges 
granted  aforetime  to  Christopher  Columbus  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  made  finally  to 
rest.  The  issue  was  sufficiently  strange  in  the  denouement  and  sufficiently  instructive  to 
the  student  of  biograph)-. 


PARI"  III. 


COLUMBIA. 

BY  John  Clark  Ridfatm. 


BOOK   FIRST. 


Epoch  of  Discovery  and  Planting. 


CHAPTER    I. 
REVELATION  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


the  men  of  the  ancient  world  tlie 
character  of  the  globe — its  form,  its 
fashion — was  a  myster\'.  They  knew 
not.  The  greatest  minds  of  antiquity 
()()d  pn7zledand  dumb  before  the  enigma, 
is  impossible  for  the  man  of  the  present 
day,  by  force  of  imagination,  to  put  him- 
self in  the  place  of  the  man  of  antiquity 
and  consider  the  earth,  the  sun  and  the  stars  as  he  considered  them.  With  the  lapse  of 
time,  the  increase  of  knowledge  and  the  diffusion  of  light,  the  mystery  has  cleared  away, 
the  imknown  has  become  the  known.  The  sky  is  no  longer  a  curtain  and  the  ocean  no 
longer  a  boundless  deep.  The  earth  is  no  longer  an  imixj.ssible  plain  held  up  from  below 
by  mythical  monsters  and  carried  forward  through  an  impossible  panorama  of  seasons  and 
21  U»') 


322  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

vicissitudes.  All  things  have  been  resolved  from  doubt  into  certainty.  The  fogs  of  fear 
and  superstition  have  been  tossed  afar  by  the  salubrious  wind,  and  though  man  does  not 
know  all,  he  does  know  much  of  the  sphere  which  he  inhabits,  the  nature  of  things  and 
the  system  of  universal  nature. 

The  revelation  of  the  form  and  bigness  of  the  earth  was  long  retarded.  It  seemed  that 
the  darkness  of  the  ancient  and  medise\'al  night  would  never  give  place  to  day.  Every 
form  of  ignorance  and  ever}-  spirit  of  superstition,  all  the  misconceptions  of  the  past  and 
all  the  folh-  and  fears  of  the  present  stood  in  the  way  and  brandished  weapons  and  torches 
like  goblins  of  the  night.  Nothing  less  than  the  sublime  law  of  progress,  under  the  reign 
of  which  the  old  and  hurtful  darkness  gives  place  at  length  to  the  new  and  beautiful  dawn, 
could  have  availed  to  bring  in  a  newer  and  truer  concept  of  the  world  and  to  fi.x  it  as  an 
unchangeable  scientific  belief  in  the  minds  of  men. 

It  were  an  impossible  task  to  discover  the  origin  of  the  new  opinions  respecting  the 
form  and  figure  of  the  earth.  It  appears  that  the  old  belief  was  never  satisfying  to  the 
great  minds  of  antiquity.  In  the  writings  of  Aristotle  we  alread}-  catch  glimpses  of  a  con- 
jecture that  the  earth  is  a  sphere  and  not  a  plain.  The  popular  mythology  did  not  suffice 
with  men  like  Socrates  and  his  companions  and  followers,  and  they  reached  out  vaguely 
to  frame  each  for  himself  a  concept  of  the  world  on  whicli  he  enacted  the  brief  drama 
of  his  life. 

But  scientific  views  of  nature  were  soon  lost  in  the  decadence  and  darkness  that 
followed  the  Classical  ages.  The  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire  was  coincident  with  a 
decline  in  the  human  mind.  The  triumph  of  the  Goths  was  not  only  the  triumph  of 
physical  violence  over  the  remains  of  order  and  civilization,  but  it  was  also  the  victory 
of  ancient  barbaric  thought  over  the  science,  the  philosophy  and  learning  which  had 
flourished  for  a  season  inider  the  auspices  of  Greek  and  Roman  scholars.  The  Christian 
church  at  length  fell  into  league  with  the  barbarians,  and  though  ever  struggling  with 
their  brutalities  and  looking  backward  with  yearning  and  regret  to  the  vast  and  orderly 
society  which  iiad  flourished  under  the  Empire,  she  herself  became  in  a  measure  as  barbar- 
ous as  the  world  around  her. 

STRANGE  THEORIES  OF  ANCIENT  GEOGRAPHERS. 

Then  it  was  that  the  Ptolemaic  system  of  the  univer.se  was  accepted,  believed  aixd 
taught  not  only  as  a  part  of  science,  but  as  one  of  the  fundamentals  of  religious  truth. 
The  earth  was  the  centre  of  all  things.  Around  it  circled  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars. 
On  all  sides  the  oceans  washed  the  unknown  shores.  Goblins  hovered  over  the  deep. 
Nature  was  a  mystery  which  it  was  sacrilege  to  investigate,  and  the  world  was  a  problem 
which  none  might  solve. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  human  mind  with  regard  to  our  planet  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  Meanwhile  nature  herself  began  to  be  revealed  without  the  purpose  and 
conceit  of  man.  The  Western  Hemisphere  is  no  doubt  as  old  and  perhaps  older  than  the 
Eastern.  It  is  probable  that  the  two  Americas  came  out  of  the  primeval  waters  at  an 
earlier  period  in  geological  history  than  did  the  western  parts  of  Europe.  It  is  also  possible 
that  the  aboriginal  races  of  our  world  are  ethnically  considered  a  more  ancient  people  than 
those  of  the  Eiiropean  continent.  There  are  evidences  that  a  great  land  bridge  fonnerh' 
joined  Greenland  with  Labrador,  making  easy  the  pas.sage  for  human  beings  from  the  one 
country  to  the  other.  In  this  way  it  is  possible  that  there  may  have  been  at  a  very  early 
period  a  conununity  of  inhabitants  between  the  northern  parts  of  Europe  and  the  sub-polar 
regions  of  North  America. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  ;j23 

Meanwhile  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Pol>nesiaii.s  of  Southeastern  Asia  be^ran 
to  make  their  way  islandwise  across  the  Pacific,  and  at  len-th  reached  the  western  sliores 
ot  South  America.  A^rain.  we  may  trace  with  tolerable  certaintv  the  incoming  of  Asiatic 
Mongoloid  tribes  by  wa>-  of  Bering  Strait  into  the  northwestermnost  parts  of  our  continent. 
I-runi  these  sources  it  is  easy  to  conceive  of  an  aboriginal  distribution  of  peoples  in  the 
so-called  New  World  at  a  period  as  earh-  as  those  events  which  constitute  the  subject-matter 
ot  ancient  history  for  Europe  and  Western  Asia. 

It  we  confine  our  attention  to  those  westward  iiio\cmeiits  of  mankind  b\-  which  our 
hemisphere  became  known  to  civilization  we  should  fi.x  our  attention  upon  the  Norse  peoples 
of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.  Here  we  touch  the  remotest  border  of  the  c\x>d\  of 
discovery.  It  is  not  likel>-  that  an>-  record  made  by  man  will  ever  be  discovered  in  which 
the  evidences  of  earlier  visitation  to  our  shores  are  recorded  than  in  the  Sagas  of  the  Scan- 
dinavians.     Nor  are  wc  at  libert.v  to  dismiss  as   mythical    the   now  WL-ll-dftenniued   move- 


NORSKMK.N   ON   THR   COAST   OF   AMKRICA. 

ments  of  the  Norsemen  by  which  the  northeastern  parts  of  the  present  United  States  were 
seen  and  visited  and  colonized  as  much  as  five  hundred  years  before  the  eixjcli  of  Colnnibus. 
Since  1838,  when  through  the  efforts  of  Rafn  and  the  Royal  Society  of  Copenhagen  the 
Scandinavian  Sagas  have  been  submitted  to  the  critical  judgment  of  P^nrope,  all  ground  of 
doubt  has  been  removed  relative  to  the  Norse  discoveries  in  the  west  at  the  close  of  the 
tenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century. 

It  is  now  conceded  that  Labrador,  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia  and  the  northeastern 
parts  of  the  United  States  were  visited  and  to  a  limited  e.vtent  colonized  before  the  Norman 
conquest  of  England.  While  old  Sweyn  was  flaunting  the  Danish  raven  in  the  face  of 
Ethelred  the  Unready  ;  while  Robert  I.,  son  of  Hugh  CajxH,  was  on  the  throne  of  !•' ranee  ; 
while  the  Saxon  Otho  III.  swayed  the  destinies  of  (^rermaiu'  ;  antl  while  the  Caliphate  of 
Bagdad  was  still    flourishing    under  the  .\bba.ssides,  men  of  the   .\ryau   race  were  estahlisli- 


324 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


ing  a  feeble  commmiication  between  the  New  World  and  Iceland.  It  is  appropriate,  first 
of  all,  to  give  a  brief  acconnt  of  the  voyages  and  explorations  made  by  the  Norse  adven- 
turers along  the  coast  of  America. 

THE  NORSE  DISCOVERERS  OF  AMERICA. 

From  the  Sagas  above  referred  to  we  learn  that  the  Western  continent  was  first  reached 

by  Europeans  in  the  year  A.  D.  986.      In   that  year  a   Norse  sea-captain  by  the  name  of 

Heijulfson,  sailing  from   Iceland  to  Greenland,  was  caught  by  a  storm,  turned  somewhat 

from  his  course  and  carried  to  Labrador  or  Newfoundland.      Several   times  the  unknown 


KILI^ING   OF  THORWAI,D. 

shore  was  .seen,  but  no  landing  was  made  or  attempted.  The  coast  was  low  and  bleak. 
Tall  forests  abounded.  The  outline  was  so  different  from  the  well-known  cliffs  of  Greenland 
as  to  make  it  certain  that  another  shore  hitherto  unknown  had  been  seen  in  the  West. 

On  returning  to  Greenland,  Herjulfson  and  his  companions  spread  abroad  the  story  of  the 
new  country  which  they  had  found,  but  whether  it  were  continent  or  island  none  might 
know.  Fourteen  years  later  what  may  be  called  the  actual  discovery  of  America  was  made 
by  Prince  Leif,  son  of  Eric  the  Red,  usually  called  Leif  Erickson.  This  noted  Icelandic 
captain,  resolving  to  know  the  truth  about  the  country  which  Herjulfson  had  seen,  sailed 
westward  from  Greenland,  and  in  the  spring  of  the  year  looi  reached  Labrador.      Impelled 


COLUMBUS    AND    COLUMHUV. 


325 


by  a  spirit  of  adventure,  lie  went  iisliore  with  his  coinpaiiioiis  aiul  explored  the  coast  for 
considerable  dist:ir.ces.  The  country  was  found  at  that  season  to  be  milder  and  more 
attractive  than  Greenland,  and  Leif  was  in  no  haste  to  return.  He  coasted  far  southward, 
as  far  as  Massachusetts,  where  his  daring  company  remained  for  more  than  a  year.  Rhode 
Island  was  also  visited,  and  it  is  alleged  that  the  hard>-  adventurers  found  their  wa\-  into  New 
York  harbor. 

What  has  once  been  done,  whetlier  by  accident  or  design,  may  easily  be  repeated. 
After  the  discovery  of  the  new  country  it  was  a  commonplace  task  for  other  na\igators  to 
follow  the  course  tiiken  b)-  Heijulfsou  and  Prince  Leif.  In  the  years  that  followed  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  latter  several  companies  of  Norsemen  visited  the  shores  of  America.  Thor- 
wald,  brother  of  Prince  Leif,  made  a  voyage  to  Maine  and  Massachusetts  in  the  year  1002, 
and  the  captain  is  said  to  have  been  killed  in  a  conflict  with  the  natives  at  Fall  River  in  the 
latter  State.  Then  another  brother,  named  Thorstein, 
came  with  his  band  in  the  year  1005,  and  two  years 
afterwards  Thorfinn  Karlsefne,  the  most  distingui.shed 
mariner  of  his  day,  arri\ed  with  a  crew  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  men  and  made  explorations  along  the  coast 
of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island  and  perhaps  as  far 
south  as  the  capes  of  Virginia.  Other  companies 
of  Icelanders  and  Norwegians  visited  the  countries 
farther  north  and  planted  colonies  in  Newfoundland 
and  Nova  Scotia. 

Little,  however,  was  known  or  imagined  b>'  these 
rude  adventurers  of  the  character  and  extenc  of  tlie 
country  which  they  had  discovered.  They  supposed, 
indeed,  that  it  was  only  a  portion  of  Western  Green- 
land which  bending  to  the  north  around  an  ann  of 
the  ocean  had  reappeared  in  the  west.  The  Norse 
American  settlements  were  feeble  and  soon  broken 
up.  Commerce  was  an  impo.ssibility  in  a  cotintn*' 
where  there  were  only  a  few  wretched  savages  with 
no  disposition  to  buy  and  nothing  at  all  to  sell.      The  ^  n"k-i 

spirit  of  adventure  soon  appeased  itself  and  the  Norse  sea  rovers  returned  to  their  owa 
country.  To  this  undefined  line  of  coast  now  vaguely  known  to  them  they  gave  the  name 
of  ViNLAND  ;  for  the  wild  grape-bearing  vine  grew  abundautl\'  in  many  parts.  The  old 
Icelandic  chroniclers  insist  that  the  countr)'  was  pleasant  and  beautiful.  As  compared  with 
their  own  mountainous  and  frozen  island  of  the  north  the  coasts  of  New  England  may  well 
have  seemed  delightful. 

RECKLESS  CHARACTER  OF    THE  NORSE  SEA-ROVERS. 

The  men  who  thus  first  visited  the  northeastern  parts  of  the  United  States  were  a  race 
of  hardv  adventurers  as  lawless  and  restless  as  -my  that  ever  sailed  the  deep.  Their  mariners 
and  ca])tains  penetrated  every  clime,  .\lready  before  their  discovery  of  .\merica  they  had 
taken  the  better  parts  of  France  and  England.  .Vll  the  monarchs  of  the  latter  country  after 
William  the  Conqueror — himself  the  grandson  of  a  sea-king — are  descendants  of  the  Norse 
men.  They  were  rovers  of  the  sea  ;  freebooters  and  pirates  ;  warriors  audacious  and  head- 
strong, wearing  hoods  surmounted  with  eagles'  wings  and  walruses'  tusks,  mailed  armor, 
and  for  robes  the  skins  of  polar  bears.      Woe  to  the  people  on   whose  defenceless  coasts  the 


326  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Vikings  landed  with  sword  and  torch  !     Their   wa\\vard  life  and  ferocious  disposition  are 
well  portrayed  in  one  of  their  own  old  ballads  : 

He  scorns  to  rest  'neath  the  smoky  rafter. 

He  plows  with  his  boat  the  roaring  deep ; 
The  billows  boil  and  the  storm  howls  after — 
But  the  tempest  is  only  a  thnig  of  laughter- 

The  sea-king  loves  it  better   than  sleep ! 

The  Norse  discoveries  in  America  are  clouded  with  uncertainties  of  time  and  circum- 
stance. That  settlements  were  made  in  Massachustts  and  Rhode  Island  cannot  be  doubted. 
New  bands  of  rovers  came  and  others  returned  to  Greenland  and  Iceland.  For  about  three 
centuries  voyages  continued  to  be  made  by  the  Norsemen,  and  it  is  believed  that  as  late  as 
1347  a  Norwegian  ship  visited  Labrador  and  the  northeastern  parts  of  the  United  States. 
The  Norse  remains  which  have  been  found  at  Newport,  at  Garnet  Point,  on  Fall  River  and 
several  other  places  seem  to  point  clearly  to  some  such  events  as  are  here  described.  The 
Icelandic  poets  and  historians  give  a  uniform  and  tolerably  consistent  account  of  the  early 
exploits  of  their  countrymen  in  Vinland.  When  the  word  America  is  mentioned  in  the 
hearing  of  the  Icelandic  schoolboys  they  will  at  once  answer  with  enthusiasm,  "  Oh,  yes  ; 
Leif  Erickson  discovered  that  coitntry  in  the  year  looi." 

These  events,  however,  like  all  others,  are  to  be  weighed  b\'  their  consequences.  From 
the  discovery  of  America  by  the  Norsemen  no  historical  results  followed.  Mankind  were 
neither  wiser  nor  better.  The  nature  and  significance  of  the  disco\'ery  were  in  no  wise 
understood  by  the  men  who  made  it.  Among  the  Icelanders  themselves  the  place  and  the 
very  name  of  Vinland  were  forgotten..  Europe  never  heard  of  such  a  countr}-  or  such  a 
discovery.  Historians  have  until  the  last  half  century  been  incredulous  on  the  subject  and 
the  fact  is  as  though  it  had  never  been.  The  curtain  which  had  been  lifted  for  a  moment 
was  stretched  again  from  sky  to  sea  and  the  New  World  still  lay  hidden  in  the  shadows. 

OTHER  TRADITIONS  OF   EARLY  DISCOVERY. 

Other  traditions  of  discovery  now  come  into  view.  It  is  said  that  before  tlie  final 
relinquishment  of  America  by  the  Norse  adventurers  a  sea-wanderer  from  rugged  Wales  had 
touched  upon  our  eastern  shores.  The  tradition  runs  that  the  Welsh  prince  ]\Iadoc  was  not 
less  fortunate  than  Leif  Erickson  in  finding  the  western  shore  of  the  Atlantic  ;  but  the 
evidence  of  this  exploit  is  far  less  satisfactory  than  that  by  which  the  Icelandic  discoveries 
have  been  authenticated.  According  to  the  legend  which  the  Cambrian  chroniclers  with 
patriotic  pride  have  preser\'ed  and  the  poet  Southey  has  transmitted,  Madoc  was  the  son  of 
the  Welsh  king  Owen  Gwynnedd,  who  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century. 
At  this  time  a  civil  disturbance  occitrred  in  W'ales  and  Prince  Madoc  was  obliged  to  save 
himself  bv  flight.  With  a  small  fleet  he  left  the  country  in  the  year  11 70  and  after  sailing 
westward  for  several  weeks  came  to  an  unknown  shore,  beautiful  and  wild,  inhabited  by  a 
strange  race  of  men  unlike  the  people  of  Europe. 

For  some  time  the  Prince  and  his  sailors  tarried  in  the  new  land,  delighted  with  its 
exuberance  and  with  the  salubrioits  climate.  Then  all  but  twenty  of  the  daring  company 
set  sail  and  returned  to  Wales.  It  was  the  intention  of  Madoc  to  make  preparations  and 
return  again.  Ten  ships  were  fitted  out  and  the  leader  with  his  adventurous  crew  a  second 
time  set  his  prows  to  the  west.  The  vessels  dropped  out  of  sight  one  by  one  and  were  never 
heard  of  more.      The  thing  may  have  happened. 

Meanwhile  human  intelligence  and  reason  had  had  their  growth.  In  the  latter  Middle 
Ages  there  were  many  symptoms   of  a  revival,  a  resurrection  from  the  intellectual  death 


COLUMBUS    AND    COLUMBIA. 


which  had  so  lonjj  prevailed  in  the  world.  Leadiiij.;;  thinkers  in  nian\  couiitrie.s  hej^an  to 
donbt  the  correctne.ss  of  the  accepted  view.s  respecting;  the  character  and  fignrc  of  the  earth. 
Intellectnal  curiosity  was  excited,  as  it  nnist  ever  be  in  the  presence  of  an  unsolved  problem. 
Was  the  world  round  or  flat?  Had  the  ocean  another  shore?  What  kind  of  a  verge  or 
precipice  was  drawn  around  the  cloud\  rim  of  nature?  Wliat  vision  <>f  wonder  and  n<ril 
might  arise  upon  the  mariner's  sight — 

"  Beyond  the  extreme  sea-wall  ami  between  the  remote  sea  gates?" 

If  a  man  go  could  he  return  again  ? 

DIM  CONCEPTIONS  OF  THE  EARTH'S  SPHERICITY. 

As  the  shadows  of  the  mediaeval  darkness  be.!.;an  to  roll  away  these  queries  were  quick 
in  the  adventurous  brain  of  New  Europe.  The  vigorous  sailors  of  the  maritime  republic  of 
Italy  and  the  daring  travellers  who  had  gone  up 
(as  they  thought)  to  Jerusalem  and  thence  doivit 
to  India  imagined  that  they  could  perceive  the 
sphericity  of  the  earth.  They  believed  that  the 
Holy  City  was  set  on  the  crest  or  ridge  of  the 
world  I  More  particularly  did  those  who  journeyed 
northward  and  southward  behold  the  stars  rising 
overhead  or  sinking  to  the  horizon  in  a  wa\'  un- 
accountable except  on  the  notion  that  the  earth 
is  round. 

From  the  shores  of  Portugal  and  Spain,  from 
Brest  and  Land's  End,  from  the  Skaggerack,  the 
Otkneys  and  Iceland,  the  man  of  the  fourteenth 
century  looked  wistfully,  thoughtfully  to  the 
ocean  of  Atlas.  He  would  fain  try  his  power 
in  that  world  of  waters. 

Rumor,  tradition  said  that  others  had  gone 
and  come  again  in  safety.  The  old  knight  of 
St  Albans,  Sir  John  de  Mandeville,  coming  from 
the  far  East  in  the  >ear  1356  thus  discourses 
on  the  problem  which  after  a  hiuidred  and  forty  years  was  to  receive  a  final  solution  at 
the  hands  of  Columbus  and  Cabot  : 

"Wherefore  men  may  easily  perceive  that  the  land  and  the  sea  are  of  round  shape  and 
figure,  for  that  part  of  the  firmament  which  is  seen  in  one  countr\-  is  not  seen  in  atiother. 
And  men  may  prove  both  by  experience  and  sound  reasoning  that  if  a  man,  having  pa.s.sage 
by  ship,  .should  go  to  search  the  world,  he  might  with  his  vessel  sail  around  the  world  both 
above  and  under  it.  This  proposition  I  prove  as  follows  :  I  have  myself  in  Prussia  seen  the 
North  Star  by  the  astrolabe  fifty-three  degree  above  the  liorizon.  Further  on  in  Bohemia 
it  rises  to  the  height  of  fift\-eight  degrees.  And  still  further  northward  it  is  sixty-two 
degrees  and  some  minutes  high.  I  nnself  have  so  measured  it.  Now  the  South  Pole  Star 
is,  a-s  I  have  said,  opposite  the  North  Pole  Star.  And  about  these  poles  tlie  whole  celestial 
sphere  revolves  like  a  wheel  about  the  axle  ;  and  the  firmament  is  thus  divided  into  two 
equal  parts.  From  the  north  I  have  turned  southward,  passed  the  equator,  and  fonml  that 
in  Libya  the  .-\ntnrctic  Star  first  appears  above  the  h<iri/.on.  Further  on  in  those  lands  that 
st.nr  rises   higher  until  in   Southern    Libya   it  reaches    the    height  of  eighteen    degrees  and 


328  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

certain  minutes,  sixty  minutes  making  a  degree.  After  going  by  sea  and  by  land  towards 
that  country  [Australia,  perhaps]  of  which  I  have  spoken,  I  have  found  the  Antarctic  Star 
more  than  thirty-three  degrees  above  the  horizon.  And  if  I  had  had  company  and  shipping 
to  ffo  still  further  I  know  of  a  certainty  that  I  should  have  seen  the  whole  circumference 
of  the  heavens,  .  .  .  and  I  repeat  that  men  may  environ  the  whole  world,  as  well 
under  as  above,  and  return  to  their  own  country  if  they  had  company  and  ships  and 
conduct.  And  always,  as  well  as  in  their  own  land,  shall  they  find  inhabited  continents 
and  islands.  For  know  you  well  that  they  who  dwell  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere  are  feet 
against  feet  of  them  who  dwell  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere,  just  as  we  and  they  that  dwell 
under  us  are  feet  to  feet.      For  every  part  of  the  sea  and  the  land  hath  its  antipode. 

Moreover,  when  men  go  on  a  journey  toward  India  and  the  foreign  islands,  they  do 
on  the  whole  route  circle  the  circumference  of  the  earth  even  to  those  countries  which  are 
under  us.  And  therefore  hath  that  same  thing  which  I  heard  recited  when  I  was  young 
happened  many  times.  Howbeit,  upon  a  time  a  worthy  man  departed  from  our  countr)-  to 
explore  the  world.  And  so  he  passed  India  and  the  islands  beyond  India — more  than  five 
thousand  in  number — and  so  long  he  went  by  sea  and  land,  environing  the  world  for  many 
seasons,  that  he  found  an  island  where  he  heard  them  speaking  his  own  language,  halloo- 
ing at  the  oxen  in  the  plow  with  the  identical  words  spoken  to  beasts  in  his  own  country. 
Forsooth  he  was  astonished,  for  he  knew  not  how  the  thing  might  happen.  But  I  assure 
you  that  he  had  gone  so  far  by  land  and  sea  that  he  had  actually  gone  around  the  world  and 
was  come  again  through  the  long  circuit  to  his  own  district.  It  only  remained  for  him  to 
go  forth  and  find  his  particular  neighborhood.  Unfortunately  he  turned  from  the  coast 
which  he  had  reached  and  thereby  lost  all  his  painful  labor,  as  he  himself  afterwards 
acknowledged  when  he  returned  home.  For  it  happened  by  and  by  that  he  went  into 
Norway,  being  driven  thither  by  a  storm,  and  there  he  recognized  an  island  as  being  the 
same  in  which  he  had  heard  men  calling  the  o.xen  in  his  own  tongue  ;  and  that  was  a 
possible  thing.  And  yet  it  seemeth  to  simple  unlearned  rustics  that  men  may  not  go 
around  the  world,  and  if  they  did  they  would  fall  off!  But  that  absurd  thing  never  could 
happen  unless  we  ourselves,  from  where  we  are,  should  fall  toward  heaven  !  For  upon 
what  part  soever  of  the  earth  men  dwell,  whether  above  or  under,  it  always  seemeth  to 
them  that  they  walk  more  perpendicularly  than  other  folks  !  And  just  as  it  seemeth  to  us 
that  our  antipodes  are  under  us  head  downwards,  just  so  it  seemeth  to  them  that  we  are 
under  them  head  downwards.  If  a  man  might  fall  from  the  earth  towards  lieaven,  by 
much  more  reason  the  earth  itself,  being  so  heavy,  should  fall  to  heaven — an  impossible 
thing." 

TYRANNY  OF  CHURCH  AND   FEUDALISM. 

Such  were  the  rea.sonings  of  the  old  Knight  of  St.  Albans  at  the  middle  of  the  four- 
teenth centur\-.  He  was  himself  a  traveller  of  great  renown,  and  came  home  from  the 
far  east  to  record,  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  Edward  III. ,  the  things  which  he  had  gathered 
by  observ^atioh  and  tradition.  To  what  extent  such  opinions  were  abroad  among  the  best 
thinkers  of  the  age  we  may  never  know.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  epoch  was  one 
of  fear,  superstition,  dread — that  it  was  an  age  in  which  the  State  taught  men  what  things 
to  do  and  the  Church  what  things  to  believe.  The  correctness  of  the  reasonings  and  deduc- 
tions of  Sir  John  Mandeville  may  well  astonish  us.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  them 
any  error  except  the  mistaken  reckoning  of  the  length  of  a  degree  of  longitude,  and  for 
that  he  was  in  no  measure  responsible.  His  suggestions  and  inferences,  however,  passed 
for  little.      They  were  regarded  as  the  speculations  of  an  imaginative  mind,  and  the  so-called 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  ;{2!) 

"practical  men"  of  the  fourteenth  century  made  no  effort   to  apply  them  to  the  circum- 
navijjation  of  the  globe. 

Xearh-  a  century  and  a  half  now  elapsed  before  the  problems  of  the  sea  were  again 
taken  up  by  navigators  and  adventurers.  The  sun  of  chivalry  set  and  the  expiring  energies 
of  feudalism  ebbed  away  in  Europe.  The  elder  Capets  gave  place  to  the  Houses  of  Valois 
and  Orleans  in  France.  The  bloody  wars  of  York  and  Lancaster  made  England  de.solatf> 
and  barren  ;  but  the  myster>-  of  the  Atlantic  still  lay  unsolved  under  the  shadows  of  the 
west.  At  last  Ivouis  XI.  rase  above  the  ruins  of  feudal  P" ranee,  and  Hcnrv  \'II.  over  the 
fragments  of  broken  England.  In  Spain  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  expelling  both  the  Jew 
and  the  Mohammedan,  consolidated  their  kingdoms,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  Spanish 
ascendancy  in  the  times  of  their  grandson.  Destiny  had  decreed  that  this  kingdom  .sliould 
become  the  patron  and  bear  the  honor  of  that  great  enterpri.se  by  which  a  New  World  was 
given  first  to  Castile  and  Leon  and  afterwards  to  mankind.  As  to  him  who  was  destined  to 
make  the  glorious  discovery,  his  birtli  had  been  reserved  for  Italy. 

The  stor\-  of  Christopher  Columbus  belongs  in  its  completeness  to  another  part  of  the 
present  work.  There  the  reader  shall  see  displayed  in  full  the  .sad  disadvantages  and  endle.ss 
disappointments  to  which  the  discoverer  was  doomed.  For  a  moment  the  career  of  Columbus 
blazes  out  in  meteoric  splendor,  shedding  a  lustre  over  half  the  world  ;  then  he  falls  into 
unmerited  decline  and  ignominy  and  the  tragedy  ends  with  national  ingratitude  and  inju.s- 
tice.  There  is  in  the  drama  ever>'  quality  calculated  to  e.xcite  sympathy  for  the  greatness 
of  the  man  and  applause  for  his  immortal  work. 

For  the  present  we  pause  only  to  note  with  keen  regret  the  misadventures,  ill  luck  and 
jealousy  by  which  the  name  of  Columbus  was  withheld  from  the  islands  and  continents 
which  he  discovered.  It  is  known  to  all  the  world  how  Amerigo  Vespucci  visiting  the 
shores  of  South  America  in  1499,  and  returning  to  inform  Europe  that  the  new  countrj-  was 
another  continent  and  not  a  part  of  India,  secured  for  himself  the  name  of  the  New  World. 
History-  at  length,  however,  corrects  the  mistakes  of  men.  There  is  a  gradual  elimination 
of  contrivance  and  fraud  from  her  immaculate  pages.  Though  the  name  of  America  may 
never  give  place  to  Columbia  the  latter  has  fixed  itself  in  the  poetry  and  art  of  all  lands  as 
the  tnie  designation  of  our  Western  World. 

CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  PERUVIANS  AND   MEXICANS. 

When  Europeans  first  lauded 'on  the  eastern  sliores  of  tiie.se  continents  the  country 
was  found  inhabited  by  various  races.  In  some  parts,  especially  towards  the  north,  there 
was  savagery  and  barbarism.  In  other  portions  higher  forms  of  civilization  were  discovered. 
In  Central  America  and  in  the  adjacent  parts  of  the  two  greater  continents  evidences  of  the 
civilized  life  were  found  scarcely  inferior  to  the  existing  conditions  in  the  best  parts  of  the 
world.  In  comparing  the  cities  and  peoples  of  Peru,  Central  America  and  Mexico  with 
European  communities  of  the  same  century,  or  with  the  civilized  races  of  the  ancient  world, 
much  allowance  must  be  made  for  ethnic  prejudice  and  for  the  fact  that  the  materials  of  the 
inquiry-  have  all  been  gathered  by  men  of  the  conquering  races. 

The  primitise  civilized  peoples  of  the  three  Americas  have  had  no  voice.  Their 
poets  and  philo.sophers  and  advocates  have  not  been  heard  in  the  great  assizes  where  the 
relative  merits  of  the  peoples  of  the  Old  World  and  the  New  were  to  be  decided.  It  is 
known,  however,  that  nearly  all  the  arts  and  .sciences  which  were  cultivated  by  the  .Ara- 
bians and  Europeans  in  the  later  Mitldle  Ages  were  known  to  the  Central  .Vinericans,  the 
Peruvians  and  the  Mexicans.  Pizarro,  conqueror  of  Peni,  wa.s  constrained  in  15  y  to 
acknowledge  that  the  only  superiority  which  the  Spaniards  whom  he  led  could  claim  wxs  ia 


330 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


militaty  discipline  and  weaponry.  In  other  respects  the  Pernvians  were  fnlly  the  equals  of 
the  invaders  of  their  country-.  The  physical  evidences  of  civilization  were  on  ever}-  hand. 
Post-roads,  aqueducts  and  temples  stood  as  the  tangible  evidence  of  what  the  Peruvian 
builders  were  able  to  accomplish.  Mining  and  manufacturing  flourished.  Agriculture  was 
carried  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  The  fine  arts  were  patronized,  and  sculpture  rose  to 
a  degree  of  excellence  but  little  below  that  of  Eg}"pt  and  Greece. 

A  similar  condition  of  affairs  was  found  b)-  Cortez  in  Mexico  in  15 19.  The  Mexicans 
also  were  adepts  in  the  arts  and  sciences.  The  Spaniards  chose  to  affect  great  horror  at  the 
religious  rites  which  were  practised  by  the  Aztecs,  and  particularly  at  human  sacrifice.  But 
the  world  has  failed  to  balance  the  account  ;  for  even  in  this  particular  the  cruelties  of  the 
Mexican  priests  were  not  equal   to  those  of  the  Spanish   Inquisition.      It  is  forgotten  that 


AZTKCS     SACklKICINX;    to    THiv   SI  N. 


many  races  have  thought  it  pleasing  to  the  gods  to  offer  human  beings  on  sacrificial  altars. 
Such  practices  were  common  in  the  Orient.  At  the  time  of  the  Carthaginian  ascendancy 
the  offering  of  human  beings  was  a  common  circumstance  of  the  national  religion.  While 
the  Romans  did  not  sacrifice  men  on  altars  they  exposed  them  to  wild  beasts  in  the  arena, 
or  compelled  them  to  meet  their  trained  gladiators  in  the  bloody  circus. 

It  is  now  conceded  that  many  of  the  most  elevating  discoveries  of  science  were  made 
by  the  Mexicans  before  they  were  made  in  Europe.  The  astronomy  of  the  Aztecs  was  by  no 
means  despicable.  They  were  familiar  with  the  planets  and  stars  and  with  the  orderly  pro- 
cesses of  the  heavens.  They  had  perhaps  the  most  complete  calendar  which  men  had 
invented  prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  Gregorian  system.  The  great  calendar  stone 
■which  has  been  preserved  from  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century-  shows  conclusively 


COLUMBI'S   AND   COLUMHIA. 


:;;U 


the  advanced  astronomical  knowledge  of  the  people  \\  lio  productd  it.  The  Mexican  archi- 
tectnre  was  of  so  high  an  order  as  to  rival  that  of  the  Moors,  and  their  wealth,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  tlieir  contHKrors,  was  quite  incalciilablo. 

WHENCE  CAME  THE  FIRST  SETTLERS  OF  AMERICA? 

For  four  centimes  specnlation  has  been  rife  respecting  the  origin  of  the  races  of  the 
New  World.  One  hypothesis  after  another  has  been  started  and  passed  like  a  wave  over 
the  intelligence  of  the  age,  only  to  give  place  to  the  next.  People  withont  a  knowledge  of 
geography  or  the  historical  movements  of  mankind  have  attempted  to  show  that  the  native 
races  of  America  were  the  descendants  of  the  Semitic  peoples  fonnerh  living  in  llu-  \  alley 


4  fc-:^"-Ta> 


^ 


-  —  miimliUIHHilll"^<"»y 


AZTEC   CALKXDAR  STO.Vi;. 


of  the  Enphrates;  bnt  snch  a  snpposition  is  preposterons  and  ntcd  not  occnpy  tin.-  atttniiun 
of  any  rational  being.  Others  again  have  believed  that  the  races  of  the  New  World  wtic 
indigenons,  like  the  animals  and  plants,  which  differ  nnich  from  those  of  KnrojK-  and  .\sia. 
Some  have  thonght  that  aforetime — as  we  have  said  above — a  great  land  bridge  extended 
from  Greenland  to  Labrador,  thns  fnrnishing  a  means  of  transit  from  the  Eastern  to  the 
Western  world.  The  easiness  of  passage  across  Bering's  strait  has  fnmislied  goinl  ground 
for  the  supposition  of  ethnic  kinship  between  a  part  of  the  .\merican  aborigines  and  the 
peoples  of  Northeastern  .\sia.  Some  of  the  ablest  ethnologists  have  traced  lines  of  progress 
from  island   to  island  across  the  Pacific  from  tlu  Mala\  ])eninsnla   to   the  western   coast  of 


332  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

South  America.  As  for  absolute  knowledge  of  the  origin  of  the  American  aborigines  there 
is  none.  There  are,  however,  good  grounds  for  holding  the  belief  in  the  common  origin 
of  all  mankind,  and  it  is  easy  to  perceive  several  methods  by  which  in  the  almost  limitless 
ages  of  the  past  comnjunication  between  the  pastern  and  the  Western  hemispheres  might 
have  been  found  and  maintained  until  both  were  peopled.  It  is  possible  that  the 
expressions  Old  World  and  New  World  have  little  foundation  in  fact.  Indeed  there  are  not 
wanting  geological  evidences  that — as  has  already  been  said — the  American  continents 
emerged  from  the  primaeval  waters  at  an  earlier  epoch  than  did  Europe  or  Africa. 

The  difference  in  the  physical,  mental  and  moral  states  of  the  peoples  of  the  East  and 
West  four  centuries  ago  has  been  greatly  exaggerated.  Difference  there  certainly  was  in 
manners,  customs  and  laws.  Difference  we  may  properly  allow  in  the  average  grade  of 
civilization.  But  the  most  striking  particular  in  which  the  peoples  east  and  west  of  the 
Atlantic  differed  the  one  from  the  other  was  as  it  respects  aggressiveness,  progress  and 
ambition.  These  qualities  belonged  to  the  men  of  Europe.  In  the  men  of  the  New  World 
thev  were  largely  wanting.  The  civilized  communities  of  Central  America,  of  Peru  and 
Mexico,  like  some  of  the  Oriental  peoples  of  to-day,  were  contented  with  the  stage  of  devel- 
opment which  they  had  reached.  The)-  sought  nothing  beyond,  either  by  discovery  or 
conquest.  The  peculiar  trait  which  caught  the  attention  of  the  first  Spanish  and  English 
marauders  in  the  New  World  was  the  general  content  of  the  natives  with  their  condition. 
Doubtless  there  was  among  the  native  communities  an  imperceptible  growth  by  which  the 
people  were  slowly  carried  forward  into  newer  and  improved  conditions,  but  the  movement 
was  so  slow  as  to  escape  attention  in  any  given  age  and  to  produce  results  only  after  long 

lapses  of  time. 

EFFECTS  OF  COMMERCE  ON  CIVILIZATION. 

One  of  the  concomitants — perhaps  we  might  say  one  of  the  causes — of  this  condition 
was  the  absence  of  the  commercial  spirit  and  of  maritime  adventure.  Commerce  and  sea- 
faring came  from  east  to  west.  Neither  spirit  prevailed  in  any  part  of  the  New  World. 
Commerce,  even  in  the  most  civilized  communities,  hardly  rose  above  the  level  of  barter, 
and  sea-going  extended  no  further  than  the  na\-igat:on  of  rivers  and  the  safe  waters  along 
the  shores  of  placid  seas. 

The  Mediterranean  countries,  on  the  other  hand,  were  special!)'  favorable  for  the 
development  of  commerce  and  maritime  adventure.  Voyages  from  island  to  island  and 
from  coast  to  coast  were  easily  undertaken,  and  the  maritime  spirit  rose  at  a  very  early  age. 
It  became  an  enthusiasm,  a  passion.  The  Phoenicians  and  Carthaginians  and  Greeks  were 
men  of  the  sea.  The  same  spirit  at  length  prevailed  in  the  westernmost  parts  of  Europe. 
Navigation  was  improved  and  new  means  discovered  for  reaching  distant  regions  of  the 
globe.  But  in  the  New  World  none  of  these  conditions  and  motives  existed.  The  native 
peoples  of  America  were  land-peoples,  and  little  ambitious  of  the  sea.  Content  and 
possibly  the  spirit  of  ease  prevailed  with  the  Central  American  races,  and  commerce  and 
navigation  were  therefore  little  cultivated. 

It  should  not  be  understood,  however,  that  aboriginal  America  such  as  it  was  four 
centuries  ago  was  poor  in  those  treasures  which  excite  the  ambitions  and  lusts  of  men.  In 
many  parts  of  these  continents  rich  mines  of  gold  and  silver  existed.  Many  of  the  giilf 
waters  abounded  in  pearls.  It  were  long  to  enumerate  the  native  treasures  which  might  be 
gathered  by  brave  and  adventurous  marauders  among  the  peaceable  and  well-contented 
peoples  who  inhabited  the  central  parts  of  our  hemisphere  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 


COLl'MBUS    AND   COLUMBIA. 


8:s:s 


We  should  renicinbcr,  however,  that  tlic  actual  treasures  of  the  New  World  were  uot 
comparable  with  the  fabulous.  Stor>-  aud  iuiajjinatiou  wrought  a.stoui.shiu<j  fictions  of  the 
gorgeous  wealth  which  abounded  in  the  new  lauds.  Kver>-  adventurer  carried  the  torch 
of  fancy  ;  and  though  each  nightfall 
found  him  unrewarded  he  slept  and 
dreamed  of  the  riches  that  should 
come  with  the  morrow. 

From  this  distance  we  are  easily 
able  to  summarize  the  motives  which 
carried  the  European  adventurers  to 
our  shores.  The  men  who  cros-sei^ 
the  Atlantic  at  the  close  of  tin 
fifteenth  and  the  beginning  of  tli' 
sixteenth  century  were  inflamed,  first 
of  all,  with  the  passion  of  gold-hunt- 
ing. A  second  motive  was  the  ac- 
quisition of  territory,  and  the  third 
— though  less  sincere — was  the  purpose  of  bringing  new  races  of  men  to  the  Christian 
religion  as  taught  and  formulated  b\-  the  Church  of  Rome,  (^n  the  whole  it  was  a  maiter 
of  gain  and  conquest.  Men,  for  many  generations  gi\en  over  to  the  struggles  of  war,  of 
barbarism,  of  wild  adventure  in  eastern  lands,  found  at  length  to  the  west  of  the  Atlantic 
vast  new  regions  in  which  their  energies  and  passions  might  have  free  plav  aud  reach 
satiety. 

We  are  here  to  take  up  and  consider  in  their  order  the  various  movements  by  wliicli 
the  new  continents  were  made  known  to  the  peoples  of  Europe.  The  exploits  of  Columbus, 
however — first  and  greatest  of  them  all — are  omitted  in  this  connection,  as  they  consti- 
tute on  a  larger  scale  the  subject-matter  of  another  part  of  the  present  vohune.  It  is 
sufficient  to  note  in  this  connection  that  the  man  of  Genoa,  though  the  first  of  Europeans 
to  reach  the  West  Indian  islands  and  the  mainland  of  South  America,  was  not  the  first  to 
touch  the  shores  of  the  North  American  continent.  That  great  adventure  and  discovery- 
were  reser\'ed  for  another  man  of  Italian  birth,  but  .sailing  under  the  flag  of  England.  It 
is  to  him  and  the  exploits  of  his  son  and  succe.s.sors  that  we  are  now  to  gi\e  attention. 


A     1-IUI-..MI.  IAN     Mill- 


CHAPTER   n. 


THE  CABOTS  AND  THEIR  FOLLOWERS. 


ANY  writers  have  dwelt  upon  the  state  of  enthusiasm  and 
fervor  which  prevailed  at  the  European  courts  when 
the  news  was  borne  abroad  that  Columbus  had  returned 
from  the  western  shores  of  the  Atlantic.  True,  there 
was  great  confusion  in  the  reports.  The  navigator  him- 
self supposed  that  he  had  found  the  Indies — the  land 
of  Cathay  which  Marco  Polo  and  other  story-telling 
travellers  had  described  as  lying  on  the  easternmost 
parts  of  Asia.  One  thing  was  certain  ;  he  had  found 
land.  Many  islands  had  been  circumnavigated.  Others 
were  so  extensive  as  to  seem  to  be  continents.  Clearly 
it  was  but  the  beginning  of  discoveiy.  All  imagina- 
tions were  inflamed  with  the  intelligence.  Incredulity 
was  brushed  aside,  and  a  vast  trans-Atlantic  world  rose 
upon  the  imagination  like  a  mirage  beyond  the  desert. 

All  the  maritime  nations  immediately  prepared  to 
discover  and  to  occupy  the  new  lands  in  the  West.  The 
seafaring  connnunities  were  quickest  in  sending  forth  their  captains  on  the  lines  of  discovery 
and  adventure.  England  held — as  she  has  ever  done — a  peculiarly  favorable  situation  for 
the  work  of  navigation  and  conquest  over  sea.  Her  mariners  were  bold  and  skilful.  They 
had  in  them  the  courage  of  the  Vikings,  the  hardihood  of  the  Saxons  and  the  imaginations 
of  the  Normans.  When  the  news  of  Columbus'  discoveries  were  spread  abroad  in  the 
harbors  of  Merry  England  her  captains,  not  a  few,  were  ready  to  take  up  the  work  and  go 
forth  in  search  of  the  New  World. 

Among  the  many  who  were  excited  to  ambition  and  activity  by  the  great  event  of  1492 
was  Giovanni  Gabotto  or  Kaboto,  or  as  his  name  appears  in  English  John  Cabot.  His 
birthplace  was  probably  Venice,  but  his  home  was  in  Bristol,  in  West  England.  He  was  a 
seaman  from  his  childhood.  His  voyages  had  reached  to  the  easternmost  parts  of  the 
Mediterranean.  While  in  that  far  realm  he  had  visited  Mecca  and  had  seen  the  incoming 
caravans  from  India  laden  with  spices  and  gems.  He  believed  as  Columbus  did  that  the 
far  East  might  be  reached  by  sailing  to  the  westward,  and  this  notion  he  succeeded  in 
impressing  upon  three  English  merchants  of  Bristol  who  agreed  to  bear  the  expense  of  an 
expedition  to  be  commanded  by  Cabot. 

The  consent  of  the  Crown,  however,  was  necessar}'.  Henry  VII.,  first  king  of  the 
House  of  Tudor,  recently  victorious  over  his  enemies  at  the  battle  of  Bosworth  Field,  cold 
and  calculating,  hesitated  long  before  assenting  to  the  request  of  Cabot.  The  latter  hov- 
ered about  the  court  for  many  weeks;  but  at  length  the  envy  of  the  King,  jealous  of  the 
great  things  which  had  been  accomplished  under  the  banners  of  Castile  and  Leon,  pre- 
vailed over  his  narrow  and  parsimonious  spirit;  and  on  the  5th  of  May,  1496,  he  issued  a 

(334) 


COL  I' M  HIS    AND    COIA'MHIA. 


33o 


charter  tojoliii  Cabot  "mariner,  of  Venice,"  grantinj,'  liini  privilege  and  antliority  to  make 
iliscoveries  and  explorations  in  the  Atlantic  and  Indian  oceans,  to  carry  the  English  flag 
and  to  take  possession  of  all  islands  and  continents  which  he  might  discover.  The 
expenses  of  the  expedition  were  to  be  borne  by  the  three  merchants  of  Bristol;  but  onc- 
lifth  of  all  the  profits  gained  by  the  expedition  should  be  given  to  the  Crown. 

DISCOVERV  OF  NORTH  AMERICA  BY  CABOT. 

The  months  of  the  following  autumn  and  winter  were  spent  in  ])reparations  for  the 
voyage.  A  fleet  of  five  vessels  was  prepared  and  provisioned;  but  only  one  ship,  a  small 
caravel  called  the  Mafl/icic,  carrying  a  crew  of  eighteen  men  under  the  immediate  com- 
mand of  Cabot  sailed  on  the  expedition.  Among  the  crew  were  John  Cabot's  three  sons, 
Lewis,  Sebastian  and  Santius.  The  Malllu-w  left  Bristol  in  the  latter  part  of  April  and 
after  a  tempestuous  voyage  reached  the  coast  of  Labrador  in  the  latitude  of  56  degrees 
north,  on  St.  John's  Day,  the  24th  of  June,  1497.  This  was  the  real  discovery  0/  North 
America.  Indeed,  it  was  the  tnie  discovery  of  the  American  continents,  for  nearly  four- 
teen months  elapsed  before  Columbus  him.self  touched  the  mainland  on  the  Ciulf  of  Paria. 
More  than  two  years  passed 
before  Ojeda  and  Vespucci 
traced  the  shore  of  South 
America. 

Although  it  was  the 
sea.son  of  midsummer,  Cabot 
found  the  countr\'  which  he 
had  discovered  to  be  ice- 
bound and  wrapped  in  the 
solitude  of  an  apparently  per- 
petual winter.  The  coast  was 
forbidding.  A  few  wretched 
natives  ran  down  to  see  the  L. 
ship  which  appeared  to  them  j"i 
a  prodig)-  of  the  sea.  The 
commander  attempted  to  open  communications  with  the  natives,  but  it  is  believed  that  no 
landing  was  made.  The  shore  line  was  explored,  however,  for  .several  hundred  miles. 
Cabot  supposed  that  he  had  found  the  kingdom  of  the  Grand  Khan  of  Tartary;  but 
neither  the  character  of  the  countr)-  nor  the  ajjpearance  of  the  natives  warranted  the 
conclusion. 

Before  setting  sail  for  England  the  navigator  went  on  shore,  and  according  to  the  terms  of 
his  commission  planted  the  flag  of  England  and  took  po.ssessiou  in  the  name  of  the  English 
King.  The  tradition  runs  that  by  the  side  of  the  flag  of  his  adopted  connlr*-,  Cabot  also 
>et  up  the  banner  of  his  native  land,  the  Republic  of  Venice;  nor  will  fancy  fail  to 
discover  in  the  event  the  auspicious  omen  of  a  far-off  day  of  greatness  when  the  flag  of 
another  and  greater  Republic  should  wave  from  .sea  to  sea. 

The  good  ship  Mallhe'iv  returned  to  Bristol  on  the  6th  of  August,  1497.  From  the 
dates  we  may  easily  discover  the  brevity  of  the  voyage.  Twice  on  the  right  hand  the  coast 
of  Newfoundland  was  seen.  After  a  little  more  than  three  months  of  absence  the  captain, 
and  his  crew  came  safely  to  shore.  Bristol  had  her  holiday.  The  .\dmirai  Cabot  was  received 
with  rejoicing.  .\n  entry  in  the  private  accounts  of  Henry  \'II.  for  the  iDth  of  .\ugu.st, 
1497,  is  as  follows  :    "For  him  that  found  the  new  isle,   ten  |x)unds."      But   the   refwrts  of 


\    .    \!;   .1     1    \XDINC.   ON  THE 
SIIDRKS  or   I,ABR.\D:IR. 


336  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  event  are  meagre,  and  we  are  left  to  conjecture  with  respect  to  miich  that  followed.  At 
the  present  time  an  ancient  manuscript  is  preserved  in  a  book  shop  in  Bristol  in  which  a 
brief  announcement  is  made  of  the  safe  return  of  the  Matthetv  and  of  the  discover)-  by 
Cabot  of  a  new  country-  beyond  the  Atlantic. 

The  cautious  King  at  length  issued  a  new  commission  more  liberal  than  the  first  and 
the  same  was  signed  in  Februar;,-  of  1498.  New  ships  were  fitted  and  new  crews  enlisted 
for  a  second  voyage.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  after  the  date  of  this  second  paten:  the  ver}- 
name  of  John  Cabot  disappears  from  the  annals  of  the  times.  Where  the  remainder  of  his 
life  was  passed  and  the  circumstances  of  his  death  are  involved  in  complete  myster)-. 

DISCOVERIES  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

But  Sebastian  Cabot,  second  of  his  father's  sons,  had  inherited  not  only  the  plans  and 
reputation  of  the  latter,  but  also  his  genius.  Indeed  the  younger  Cabot  appears  through 
the  shadows  of  four  centuries  as  a  man  of  greater  capacity  and  enterprise  than  his  father. 
As  we  have  said  the  younger  Cabots  accompanied  the  elder  on  his  famous  first  voyage. 
Sebastian  now  took  up  the  cause  with  all  the  fer\'or  of  jouth.  It  is  probable  that  the  same 
fleet,  the  equipment  of  which  had  been  begun  for  the  father,  was  intnisted  to  the  son. 
However  this  may  be,  Sebastian  in  the  spring  of  1498  found  himself  in  command  of  a 
squadron  of  well-manned  vessels  and  on  his  way  to  the  new  continent.  But  th:  new  conti- 
nent was  still  supposed  to  be  that  India  which  had  been  the  dream  of  navigators  and 
cosmographers  for  many  generations.  The  particular  object  of  Sebastian  was  the  commou 
folly  of  the  times,  namely,  the  discovery  of  a  northwest  passage  across  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Indies. 

At  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  nothing  was  known  about  the  general  character  of 
the  great  ocean  currents  which  so  largely  modify  the  temperature  of  the  seas  and  lands. 
Navigators  had  no  notion  of  the  great  difference  in  climate  of  the  parts  of  Europe  and 
America  situated  on  the  same  parallels  of  latitude.  The  humidit}'  and  comparative  warmth 
of  Great  Britain  were  naturally  supposed  to  exist  in  the  new  lands  at  a  corresponding  dis- 
tance from  the  equator.  It  remained  for  the  Cabots  to  discover  the  much  greater  rigor  of 
the  climate  on  the  western  shores  of  the  north  Atlantic.  The  voyage  of  Sebastian  proceeded 
prosperously  until  he  reached  the  seas  west  of  Greenland.  Here  he  was  obliged  by  the  ice- 
bergs to  change  his  course. 

It  was  now  July  and  the  sun  scarceh-  set  at  midnight.  Seals  were  seen  in  abundance 
and  the  ships  ploughed  through  such  shoals  of  codfish  as  had  never  before  been  heard  of. 
The  shore  of  Labrador  was  reached  not  far  from  the  scene  of  the  elder  Cabot's  discoveries. 
Then  the  fleet  turned  southward,  but  whether  across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  or  to  the 
east  of  Newfoundland  is  uncertain.  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  coast  of  Maine 
were  successively  explored.  The  whole  shore  line  of  New  England  and  of  the  Middle 
States  was  now  for  the  first  time  since  the  dajs  of  the  Norsemen  seen  and  traced  by  Euro- 
peans. Nor  did  Cabot  desist  from  this  work  which  was  bestowing  the  title  of  discovery  on 
the  Crown  of  England  until  he  had  passed  beyond  the  Chesapeake.  After  all  the  disputes 
about  the  matter  it  is  most  probable  that  Cape  Hatteras  is  the  point  from  which  Sebastian 
began  his  homeward  voj'age. 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  the  right  of  England  to  the  better  parts  of  North  America 
was  first  declared.  The  "right"  in  question  may  be  strongly  criticised  by  posterity,  as  it 
rested  wholh'  upon  the  fact  o'i first  vieiv  hy  a  company  of  English  sailors  looking  shoreward 
from  their  vessels  in  the  summer  of  1498.      But  this  first  view  was  called  discovery,  and  the 


COLUMBUS    AND   COLUMHIA.  :«7 

Christian  kings  of  Europe  had  agreed  among  themselves  that  discoven-  should  hold — that 
it  should  constitute  a  right  which  they  would  mutually  respect  and  defend.  In  this  com- 
pact not  the  slightest  attention  was  paid  to  the  rights  of  possession  and  occupancy  enjoyed 
for  unknown  generations  by  the  nacive  peoples  of  the  new  lands.  All  the  claims  of  the 
aboriginal  races  were  brushed  aside  as  not  of  the  slightest  consequence  or  validity.  The 
flag  of  Tudor  had  been  carried  iu  a  ship  along  the  coast  from  Labrador  to  Cape  Hatteras, 
and  English  sailors  had  seen  the  New  World  before  any  of  their  European  rivals;  there- 
fore England  had  a  right  to  the  possession  of  the  continent  thus  "discovered  !" 

As  for  Sebastian  Cabot  himself,  his  future  career  was  as  strange  as  the  voyages  of  his 
boyhood  had  been  wonderful.  The  dark-minded,  illiberal  Henry  VII.,  although  quick 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  Cabot's  discoveries,  was  slow  to  reward  the  discoverer.  He,  as 
well  as  all  the  Tudor  kings  who  succeeded  him,  was  a  scheming  and  selfish  prince.  When 
Henry  \TII.  died,  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  enticed  Sebastian  Cabot  away  from  England  and 
made  him  Pilot-major  of  Spain.  While  holding  this  high  office  he  had  for  a  season  almost 
supreme  control  of  the  maritime  affairs  of  the  kingdom  and  sent  out  many  successful 
voyages.  He  lived  to  be  very  old,  but  the  circumstances  of  his  death  have  not  been  ascer- 
tained, and  the  place  of  his  burial  is  unknown  to  this  day. 

DA  GAMA  DISCOVERS  A  ROUTE   TO    INDIA. 

We  may  here  pause  to  note  tlie  rapid  unfoldings  of  discover.'  in  the  last  years  of  the 
fifteenth  centun-.  The  true  concept  of  the  world  came  with  1498.  That  year  may  be  fixed 
upon  as  the  most  marked  in  the  history  of  modem  times.  In  the  month  of  May,  Vasco  da 
Gama,  of  Portugal,  succeeded  in  doubling  the  Cape  of  Storms,  afterwards  known  as  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  after  a  long  and  successful  voyage  reached  Hindustan.  We  have 
just  seen  how  in  the  same  summer  Sebastian  Cabot  traced  the  eastern  coast  of  North 
America  through  more  than  twent)'  degrees  of  latitude,  thus  establishing  for  all  future  time 
the  claims  of  England  to  what  proved  to  be  the  better  parts  of  the  new  continent.  In 
August  of  the  same  year  Columbus  himself,  now  sailing  on  his  third  voyage,  reached  the 
mainland  of  South  America  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco.  Destiny  had  decreed 
that  of  these  three  great  discoveries  that  of  Cabot  should  prove  to  be  most  important  in 
practical  results. 

.\  strange  obstacle,  however,  interposed  itself  for  a  while  in  the  way  of  English  dis- 
covery. In  the  first  place  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  Tudor  kings,  from  Henr>-  \'II.  to 
Elizabeth,  were  much  concerned  about  the  character  and  possibilities  of  the  New  World. 
Henrv  VIII.  during  his  reign  of  nearly  forty  years  was  occupied  with  the  domestic  affairs 
of  his  kingdom  and  with  those  threatening  foreign  intrigues  which  resisted,  as  their  ulterior 
object,  the  growth  and  greatness  of  England.  Meanwhile,  as  soon  as  America  was  discov- 
ered the  kings  of  Spain  and  Portugal  began  to  contend  for  what  the  first  had  found  and  the 
second  had  neglected  to  find.  Pope  Alexander  \'I.  was  called  in  to  settle  the  dispute,  and 
in  1493  did  so  by  issuing  the  famous  bull  whereby  an  imaginary  line  was  drawn  north  and 
south  in  the  Atlantic  three  hundred  miles  west  of  the  Azores,  and  all  the  islands  and  coun- 
tries west  of  that  meridian  given  to  Spain.  Thus  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  about  three- 
fourths  of  the  human  race,  including  their  countries  and  citie.s,  were  handed  over  to 
I'erdinand  the  Catholic  as  if  they  had  been  a  basket  of  figs  presented  to  a  friend  ! 

The  Pope,  taking  advantage  of  the  turmoils,  wars  and  cross-purposes  of  Europe,  had 

risen  to  such  power  that  crowned  heads  bowed  before  him.    Henry  \'III.,  always  contending 

that  he  himself  was  the  truest  of  Catholics,  was  little  disposed  to  dispute  the  decision  which 

the  Pope  had  rendered  during  the  reign  of  his  father.      For  the  time  it  appeared  that  Spain 

22 


338 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


and  Portugal  had  succeeded,  under  the  Papal  sanction,  in  dividing  the  new  islands  and  con- 
tinents between  them.  For  this  reason  the  claims  which  had  originated  with  the  discoveries 
of  the  Cabots  were  allowed  to  lie  donnant.  The  right  of  the  English  king  to  hold  and 
possess  the  long  continental  line  between  Newfoundland  and  Caiolina  was  not  pressed  by 
the  first  Tudor  kings  lest  they  should  quarrel  with  the  Pope.  It  was  not  until  after  the 
Reformation  had  been  accomplished  in  England  that  the  Papal  decision  came  to  be  disre- 
garded and  finally  despised  and  laughed  at. 

With  the  event  of  the  Reformation,  Avhich  ma>-  be  dated  in  the  reign  of  Edward  Yl., 
came  a  revival  of  English  maritime  adventure.  When  the  break  with  Rome  was  once  final, 
or  seemed  to  be  final,  the  decisions  of  the  Pope  relative  to  the  rights  of  the  various  Euro- 
pean crowns  were  not  likely  to  be  much  regarded  by  the  ministers  and  advisers  of  young 
Edward.  In  the  year  1548  that  King's  council  voted  a  hundred  pounds  sterling  to  induce 
the  now  aged  Sebastian  Cabot  to  quit  Spain  and  become  Grand  Pilot  of  England.      The  old 

Admiral  yielded    to    the    temptation,  left    Seville,    and  once 


more 
'cious 


sailed 
for   the 


under  the  English   flag.      The  omens  were 


aus- 
had 
and 


THE    FLEET    OF   FROBISHER. 


speedy  recovery  of  whatever  England 
lost  to  her  rival  by  the  apathy 
indecision  of  half  a  centur\-. 

ENGLAND'S  DIVORCE  FROM  ROME. 
But  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  came 
suddenly  to  an  end.  To  him  succeeded 
his  half-sister  Mary,  to  whom  history 
has  given  the  unpleasing  name  of  the 
Bloody  Mar}-.  The  Catholic  reaction 
set  in  with  full  force.  England  was 
bound  to  Spain  as  if  she  were  an  ap- 
panage by  the  marriage  of  her  Queen  to 
Philip  II.  Under  such  conditions  it  was 
out  of  the  question  that  the  power  of 
England  on  the  sea  should  be  materially  extended.  With  the  accession  of  the  princess 
Elizabeth,  however,  in  the  year  1558,  a  wonderful  impulse  was  given  to  all  enterprises 
which  promised   the  aggrandizement  of  her  kingdom. 

Elizabeth  Tudor  was  a  Protestant  by  necessity.  Destiny  had  contrived  it  so  before  her 
birth.  She  had  in  her  the  nature  and  dispositions  of  a  Catholic  Princess  ;  but  she  had  also 
the  accumulated  ambitions  of  the  House  of  Tudor.  The  alternative  was  sharp  before  her. 
She  must  choose  the  one  thing  and  reject  the  other.  She  must  plant  herself  like  adamant 
forever  against  Rome  and  become  the  impersonation  of  English  Protestantism.  For  her  to 
be  a  Catholic  was  not  only  to  admit  the  invalidity  of  her  mother's  marriage  to  her  father, 
the  illegitimacy  of  her  own  birth,  but  also  to  cast  to  the  winds  all  legal  and  rightful  claims 
to  the  English  Crown.  By  being  a  Protestant  she  could  maintain  the  rightfulness  of  her 
father's  first  divorce,  the  lawfulness  of  her  mother's  marriage,  and  her  own  consequent 
claims  to  be  a  legitimate  Princess  of  the  line  established  by  her  grandfather.  Thus  by  the 
contrivance  of  historj'  England  was  broken  away  from  the  continental  system,  including 
allegiance  to  Rome,  and  was  thus  freed  to  pursue  her  course  of  insular  consolidation  and 
her  career  of  foreign  adventure. 

No  sooner  had  the  aflTairs  of  the  kingdom  been  well  established  after  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth  than  maritime  enterprises  began  again  to  be  prompted.      The  spirit  of  discovery 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  :«y 

found  impersonation  in  that  bold  and  skilful  sailor,  Martin  F'robisher,  of  Doncaster. 
Without  means  himself  to  undertake  an  expedition  into  foreign  seas,  he  rccei\cd  aid 
from  Dudley,  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  fitted  out  three  small  vessels  and  placed  them 
under  Frobisher's  command,  to  go  in  search  of  the  mythical  northwest  passage  to  India. 
Three-quarters  of  a  centur>'  had  not  sufficed  to  destroy  the  fanatical  notion  of  reaching  the 
rich  countries  of  the  East  by  sailing  around  .Vmerica  to  the  north. 

Frobisher  departed  from  Deptford  on  the  8th  of  June,  1576.  One  of  his  ships  was  lost 
on  the  voyage.  Another  was  terrified  at  the  prospect  and  returned  to  England  ;  but  the 
dauntless  captain  proceeded  in  the  third  far  to  the  north  and  west,  attaining  a  higher  lati- 
tude than  had  ever  before  been  reached  by  Europeans  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Atlantic. 
About  the  si.xtieth  parallel  he  discovered  the  group  of  islands  which  lie  in  the  mouth  of 
Hudson's  Strait.  Still  farther  to  the  north  he  came  to  a  large  island  which  he — under  the 
common  delusion  of  the  age — supposed  to  be  the  mainland  of  Asia.  To  this  he  gave  the 
name  of  Mela  Incognita.  North  of  this  island,  in  latitude  sixty-three  degrees  and  eight 
minutes,  he  entered  the  strait  which  has  ever  since  borne  his  name,  and  then  believing  that 
he  had  found  the  open  way  to  Asia,  set  sail  for  England.  He  carried  home  with  him  one 
of  the  natives  called  Esquimaux  and  a  stone  which  was  thought  by  the  English  refiners  to 
contain  particles  of  gold. 

ADVENTURES  OF  THE  ENGLISH  GOLD-HUNTERS. 

Great  was  the  excitement  in  England.  London  was  stirred  to  action.  Queen  Eliza- 
beth herself  contributed  one  ship  to  the  new  fleet  which  in  the  month  of  Mav,  1577,  de- 
parted for  Meta  Incognita.  All  these  vessels  were  to  come  home  laden  with  gold  !  Strange 
and  vicious  delusion  which  for  thousands  of  years  has  held  dominion  over  the  imaginations 
of  men  !  Frobisher's  ships  soon  came  among  the  icebergs  of  the  far  North,  and  there  for 
weeks  together  they  were  in  imminent  danger  of  being  crushed  between  the  floating  moun- 
tains. The  summer  was  cold  and  unfavorable  for  discoven,-.  The  fleet  did  not  succeed  in 
reaching  the  same  high  point  which  Frobisher  had  gained  in  his  single  vessel  in  the  previous 
summer.  The  sailors  were  alarmed  at  the  gloomy  perils  of  sea  and  shore  and  availed  them- 
selves of  the  first  opportunity  to  escape  from  these  dangerous  waters  and  return  to  England. 

But  this  unfruitful  experience  did  not  suffice.  The  English  gold-hunters  were  bv  no 
means  satisfied.  They  regarded  the  return  of  the  expedition  as  a  cowardly  failure  to 
accomplish  an  enterprise  which  was  already  in  sight.  A  third  fleet  of  fifteen  vessels  strong 
and  new  was  fitted  out  and  Queen  Elizabeth  again  contributed  personally  to  the  expense 
of  the  voyage.  In  the  early  spring  of  1578  the  squadron  departed  for  the  land  of  gold. 
It  was  the  intention  to  plant  there  a  colony  of  diggers.  Some  were  to  remain,  others  to 
return  with  the  fleet.  Twelve  ships  were  expected  to  come  back  freighted  with  gold-ore 
to  London. 

But  the  third  summer  was  as  severe  as  the  others.  At  the  entrance  to  Hudson  Strait 
the  floating  icebergs  were  .so  thick  that  the  ships  could  not  be  steered  among  them.  For 
a  long  time  the  vessels  were  buflieted  about  in  constant  peril  of  destruction.  At  la.st  the\ 
succeeded  in  reaching  Meta  Incognita  and  soon  gathered  their  cargoes  of  —  dirt  !  The 
provision  ship  slipped  away  from  the  fleet  and  returned  to  England.  The  affairs  of  the 
expedition  grew  desperate.  The  northwest  pas.sage  was  forgotten.  The  colony  which  was 
to  be  jilanted  was  no  longer  thought  of.  F^aith  in  the  shiploads  of  mica  and  dirt  which 
thev  had  gathered  in  the  holds  gave  away;  and  so  with  disapjxiinted  crews  and  several 
tons  of  the  spurious  ore  under  the  hatches  the  ships  set  sail  for  home.  The  Eldorado  of 
the  Esquimaux  had  proved  to  be  an  utter  delu.sion. 


340 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUIMBIA. 


THE  PIRACIES  OF    DRAKE. 

After  the  death  of  Queen  Mary  the  break  between  England  and  Spain  became  ever 
more  ominous.  The  hostility  between  the  two  powers  amounted  almost  to  constant  war. 
Even  when  the  Spanish  and  English  crowns  were  nominally  at  peace  and  when  Philip  and 
Elizabeth  were  exchanging  the  hj-pocritical  compliments  of  princes  a  state  of  secret 
enmitv  existed,  which  on  the  sea  at  least  showed  itself  in  many  acts  of  violence  and  rob- 
ber}-. It  was  at  this  time  that  the  great  English  Admiral,  Sir  Francis  Drake,  sought  for- 
tune by  privateering.  Without  much  regard  for  the  law  of  nations  he  began,  about  1572, 
to  prev  upon  the  merchant  ships  of  Spain  and  gained  thereb}-  enonnous  wealth.  Five 
years  later,  following  the  route  of  Magellan,  he  sailed  around  to  the  Pacific  coast  and 
became  a  terror  to  the  Spanish  vessels  in  those  waters.      He  greatly  enriched  himself  and 


CROWNING  OF   DRAKE   AS   THE   KING   OF    CALIFORNIA. 

his  crews  by  a  process  not  very  different  from  piracy.  But  satisfied  at  length  with  this 
form  of  marauding,  he  formed  the  project  of  tracing  iip  the  western  coast  of  North  America 
until  he  should  find  perchance  the  northwest  passage  at  its  Pacific  mouth,  hoping  to  sail 
thence  eastward  around  our  continent. 

With  this  object  in  view,  Drake  followed  the  Pacific  coast  as  far  north  as  Oregon,  dis- 
covering San  Francisco  harbor  on  the  way,  where  he  built  a  fort,  spent  the  winter  and  was 
crowned  King  by  native  Indians.  But  his  sailors  who  had  now  been  for  several  years 
within  the  tropics  began  to  shiver  with  the  cold,  and  the  enterprise  which  in  any  event  must 
have  ended  in  failure  was  given  up.  Sailing  southward  the  navigator  passed  the  winter  of 
1579-80  in  a  harbor  on  the  coast  of  Mexico.  To  all  that  portion  of  the  western  shores  of 
America  which  he  had  thus  explored  he  gave  the  name  of  New  .\lbion;  but  the  earlier 


COLUMHL'S    AM)    COLl'MHIA. 


341 


discover)'  of  the  same  coast  by  the  Spaniards  liad  rendered  tlie  Eng;lisli  claim  of  but  little 
value.  Thus  far  no  pennanent  colony  of  Englishmen  had  been  established  in  the  New  World. 
Among  the  first  to  conceive  a  rational  plan  of  colonizing  America  was  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert.  This  remarkable  personage  had  already  produced  a  treati.se  on  the  possibility  of 
finding  a  northwest  passage  to  India,  which  work  is  said  to  have  been  the  inspiring  cau.se 
of  the  voyages  of  Frobisher. 
The  results  had  not  equalled 
expectation,  and  Gilbert  began 
to  brood  over  the  notion  ot 
establishing  somewhere  on  tlu 
shores  of  the  new  continent 
an  agricultural  and  commercial 
State.  If  the  hopes  of  finding- 
gold  had  been  thus  far  de- 
lusive, certainly  the  hope  of 
agriculture  and  commerce 
would  not  so  prove.  Sir 
Humphrey  brought  his  views 
to  the  attention  of  the  Queen 
and  sought  her  aid.  Elizabeth 
received  his  propositions  favor- 
abl\-  and  issued  to  him  a  liberal 
patent  authorizing  him  to  take 
possession  of  any  si.x  hundred 
square  miles  of  unoccupied 
territory  in  America,  and  to 
plant  thereon  a  colony  of  whicli 
he  himself  should  be  pro- 
prietor and  governor. 

With  this  commission  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert,  assisted  by 
his  illustrious  step-brother, 
Walter  Raleigh,  prepared  a 
fleet  of  five  vessels  and  in 
June  of  1583  sailed  for  the 
west.  Only  two  days  aftei 
their  departure  the  best  vessel 
in  the  fleet  treacherously  aban- 
doned the   rest    and   returned  2''-':>>-  la.t/AniTu 

to  Plymouth.  Gilbert,  however,  continued  his  voyage  and  early  in  .Vugust  reached 
Newfoundland.  There  he  went  on  shore  and  took  formal  possession  of  the  country 
in  the  name  of  his  sovereign.  Unfortunately  some  of  the  sailors  discovered  in  the  side 
of  the  hill  scales  of  mica  and  the  judge  of  metals  whom  Gilbert  had  been  unwise 
eiuiugh  to  bring  with  him  declared  that  the  glittering  mineral  was  silver  ore.  The  crews 
became  at  once  insuliordinate.  Some  went  to  digging  the  supposed  silver  and  carrving  it 
on  board  the  vessels  while  otliers  gratified  their  piratical  propensities  by  attacking  the 
Spanish  and  Portugfuese  ships  that  were  engaged  in  codfishing  in  the  neighboring  waters. 


342  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

DEATH  OF  SIR  HUMPHREY  GILBERT. 

In  a  short  time  it  was  found  that  one  of  Gilbert's  vessels  was  unfit  for  sea.  This  ship 
was  abandoned,  but  with  the  other  three  Sir  Humphrey  left  Newfoundland  and  steered  for 
the  south.  Off  the  coast  of  ]\Iassachusetts  the  largest  of  the  remaining  ships  was  wrecked 
and  the  whole  crew  and  cargo,  consisting  of  a  hundred  men  and  a  great  amount  of  spurious 
silver  ore,  went  to  the  bottom.  The  disaster  was  so  great  that  Gilbert  gave  up  the  expedition 
and  set  sail  for  England. 

The  weather  had  now  become  stormy  and  the  two  ships  that  remained  were  unfit  for 
navigation  in  such  rough  waters.  Sir  Humphrey's  ship,  which  was  the  weaker  of  the  two, 
was  a  little  frigate  called  the  Squirrel.  This  he  had  chosen  in  order  that  the  other  crew 
might  have  the  advantage  in  the  attempt  to  return  to  England.  Both  \-essels  were  shattered 
and  leaking.  The  storm  howled  around  them.  At  midnight  when  the  ships  were  within 
hailing  distance  of  each  other,  but  out  of  sight,  the  raging  sea  rose  between  them  and  the 
Squirrel  was  suddenly  engulfed.  Not  a  man  of  the  courageous  crew  was  saved.*  The 
other  ship  finally  reached  Falmouth  in  safety. 

It  would  appear  that  these  reverses  and  disasters  rather  quickened  the  ambitions  than 
aroused  the  fears  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  In  the  following  spring  that  remarkable  man 
obtained  from  the  Queen  a  new  patent  fully  as  liberal  as  the  one  granted  to  Gilbert.  The 
scheme  now  embraced  a  fomi  of  government  for  an  American  colony.  Sir  Walter  was  to 
be  the  Lord  Proprietar}'  of  an  extensive  tract  of  country  extending  from  the  thirty-third  to 
the  fortieth  parallel  of  north  latitude.  The  territory  was  to  be  held  in  the  name  of  the 
Queen.      A  State  was  to  be  organized  and  peopled  by  emigrants  from  England. 

The  character  of  the  northern  seas  and  coasts  had  now  been  sufficienth-  revealed  to  turn 
the  attention  of  explorers  to  a  more  hospitable  region.  The  frozen  North  was  henceforth 
avoided.  The  sunny  country  extending  from  Cape  Fear  to  the  Delaware  was  to  be  chosen 
as  the  seat  of  the  rising  empire.  A  squadron  of  two  ships  was  fitted  out  to  forerun  the 
enterprise,  the  command  being  given  to  Philip  Amidas  and  Arthur  Barlow.  The  first  of 
these  was  a  sea  captain  from  Hull  and  the  second  of  unknown  origin,  but  distinguished  as 
a  navigator. 

The  expedition  left  England  on  the  27th  of  April,  1784.  The  ships  touched  first  at 
the  Canaries  and  then  the  West  Indies,  from  which  point  they  made  the  coast  of  Carolina. 
It  was  on  the  13th  of  July  that  they  entered  Ocracoke  inlet.  The  coast  was  found  to  be 
long  and  low,  the  sea  smooth  and  glassy.  The  woods  were  full  of  beauty  and  song.  The 
journal  of  Barlow  is  filled  with  exclamations  of  delight.  The  sailors  seemed  "as  if  they 
had  been  in  the  midst  of  some  delicate  garden."     The  natives  were  found  to  be  generoiis 

■*  The  fate  of  Sir  Humphrey  Ciilbert  has  been  embalmed  in  song  by  Longfellow: 

"  In  the  first  watch  of  the  night 
Without  a  signal's  sound, 
Out  of  the  sea  mysteriously 
The  fleet  of  Death  rose  all  around. 

"Southward  through  day  and  dark 
They  drift  in  close  embrace, 
With  mist  and  rain  o'er  the  open  main ; 
Yet  tliere  seems  no  change  of  place. 

"  Southward,  forever  southward 

Thev  drift  through  dark  and  day ; 
And  like  a  dream  in  the  Gulf-stream 
Sinking,  vanish  all  away." 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


343 


and  liospitable.  Explorations  were  made  alonj^  tlie  shores  of  Albemarle  and  Pamlico 
sonnds  and  a  landing  finally  effected  on  Roanoke  Island,  wheie  the  English  were  entertained 
by  the  Indian  queen.  Neither  Aniidas  nor  Barlow,  however,  had  the  genius  necessary  for 
the  prosecution  of  so  great  an  enterprise.  .•\.fter  a  stay  of  less  than  two  months  they  returned 
to  England  to  exhaust  the  rhetoric  of  description  in  praising  the  beauties  of  the  new  land. 
In  allusion  to  her  own  life  and  reign  Elizabeth  gave  to  her  delightful  country  in  the  New 
World  the  name  of  Virgi.ma. 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  now  carried  his  enterprise  to  Parliament.  In  December  of  15S4  he 
secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  by  which  his  former  patent  was  confirmed  and  enlarged.  By 
this  means  he  secured  public  attention.  The  mind  of  the  people  was  turned  more  than 
hitherto  to  the  project 
of  emigration.  It  wa.s 
perceived  by  many  that 
Sir  Walter's  proposed 
province  in  the  New 
World  offered  the 
greatest  inducements 
to  emigrants  and 
adventurers.  The  plan 
of  colonization  was  ac- 
cordingly taken  up 
anew  with  zeal  and 
earnestness.  The  Lord 
Proprietarj'  soon  fitted 
out  a  second  expedi- 
tion. He  appointed  the 
soldierly  Sir  Ralph 
Lane  to  be  governor  of 
the  colony  and  gave 
the  command  of  his 
fleet    to    Sir    Richard 

Grenville.  Sir  Ralph  was  connected  with  the  roval 
family  and  had  been  in  the  service  of  Mary  and 
Elizabeth  for  more  than  twenty  years.  Sir  Richard 
was  a  navigator  from  Cornwall,  had  been  a  soldier,  a 
civil  officer,  a  member  of  Parliament  and  finally  a  knight  under  patent  from  Queen  Elizabeth. 
He  was  a  cousin  to  Raleigh,  and  embarked  eagerly  in  the  project  of  colonization. 

FOUNDING  OF  THE  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA. 

As  for  emigrants,  they  were  made  up  to  a  considerable  extent  of  the  adventurous  and 
gallant  young  nobility  of  the  kingdom.  The  fleet  consisted  of  seven  vessels.  The  vo\age 
extended  from  the  gtli  of  April  to  the  20th  of  June,  when  the  shore  of  Carolina  was  reached 
in  safety.  Soon  afterwards  a  storm  arose  and  the  whole  squadron  was  in  innninent  danger 
&.'■  destruction — a  peril  which  suggested  to  Grenville  the  naming  of  Cape  Fear ^  which  the 
outjutting  coast  has  borne  to  the  present  day. 

Escaping  from  the  .storm,  the  \essels  six  days  afterwards  came  to  Roanoke.  Here  it 
was  determined  to  plant  the  colony.     A  hundred  and  eight  men  were  landed  and  organized 


RUI.N'S  OF  THR   ENGLISH   SETTI-EMENT 
AT   ROANOKE. 


344 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


under  Governor  Lane.  For  several  days  explorations  were  made  in  the  neighborhood. 
One  of  the  Indians  ignoranth-  took  away  a  silver  cup,  whereupon  Sir  Richard  laid  waste 
the  fields  of  maize  and  burned  an  Indian  town.  He  then  set  sail  for  England,  taking  with 
him  a  Spanish  treasure-ship  which  he  had  captured  in  the  West  Indies.  Privateering  and 
colonization  went  hand  in  hand. 

The  Indians  were  enraged  at  the  cruelties  of  the  white  men.  The  spirit  of  gentleness 
which  the\-  had  hitherto  displa}-ed  towards  the  Europeans  gave  place  to  jealous}-,  suspicion 
and  hatred.  Lane  and  some  of  his  companions  were  enticed  with  false  stories  to  go  on  a 
gold-hunting  expedition  into  the  interior.  Their  destruction  was  planned,  and  only  avoided 
by  a  hast\-  retreat  to  Roanoke,  Virginia.  The  Indian  King  and  several  of  his  chiefs  were  now 
in  turn  allured  into  the  power  of  the  English  and  inhumanly  murdered.  Ferocit}'  and 
gloom  followed  this  crime  ;  then  despondency  and  a  sense  of  danger,  until  the  discourage- 


MASSACRE   OF   SETTLERS   AT   ROANOKE. 

ment  became  so  great  that  when  Sir  Francis  Drake,  returning  with  a  fleet  from  his  exploits 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  came  in  sight  the  colonists  prevailed  on  him  to  carr}-  them  back  to 
England. 

It  was  thus  by  the  cupidity,  injustice  and  crime  of  the  Whites  done  on  the  unoffending 
natives  that  the  chasm  of  hostility  was  opened  between  the  English-speaking  race  and  the 
aborigines  of  North  America.  Nor  have  three  hundred  years  sufficed  to  bridge  over  the 
abyss  !  The  event  soon  showed  that  the  abandonment  of  the  colon}'  had  been  needless  and 
hasty.  Within  a  few  days  a  shipload  of  stores  arrived  from  the  pnident  Raleigh,  but  the 
captain  found  no  colony.  The  vessel,  therefore,  could  do  nothing  but  return.  Two  weeks 
later  Sir  Richard  Grenville  came  in  person  to  Roanoke  with  three  well  laden  ships  and 
made  a  fruitless  search  for  his  colonists.  All  were  gone.  Not  to  lose  possession  of  the 
country  altogether,  the  governor  left  fifteen  men  on  the  island  and  set  sail  for  home. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COU'MBIA.  345 

MASSACRE  OF    THE    ENGLISH   AT    ROANOKE. 

The  general  result  in  England  was  discouraging.  Tiie  ardor  of  tlic  people  cooled  when 
it  was  known  that  the  enterprise  had  ended  in  faihire.  Nevertheless  tnithful  descriptions 
of  the  magnificent  coast  of  \'irginia  and  Carolina  had  now  been  published  and  it  was  only 
a  question  of  time  when  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and  adventure  would  revive.  Sir  Walter 
himself  did  much  to  promote  and  encourage  emigration.  .\  new  company  of  colonists  con- 
sisting largely  of  families  was  made  up,  and  a  new  charter  of  municipal  government  was 
granted  b}-  the  Proprietar\-.  John  White  was  chosen  governor,  and  ever>-  precaution  was 
taken  to  secure  the  success  of  the  Cit>-  of  Raleigh  soon  to  be  founded  in  the  West. 

In  April  of  1587  the  new  fleet  departed  from  England  and  in  the  following  Julv  ar- 
lived  in  Carolina.  The  dangerous  Capes  of  Hatteras  and  Fear  were  avoided  and  the  ships 
came  safely  to  Roanoke.  A  search  was  made  for  the  fifteen  men  who  had  been  left  there 
the  jear  before  ;  but  the  sequel  showed  that  they  had  been  murdered  by  the  now  hostile 
Indians.  Nevertheless  Captain  White  selected  the  northern  extremity  of  the  ill-omened 
island  as  the  cite  for  his  "city  "  and  on  the  23d  of  July  the  foundations  were  laid. 

But  fortune  was  still  adverse  to  the  enterprise.  The  new  settlers  and  the  Indians 
renewed  their  hostilities  and  went  to  war.  After  some  destruction  of  life  peace  was  con- 
cluded, and  Sir  Walter  conceived  the  plan  of  uniting  the  fortunes  of  the  two  races  hv  a 
common  interest.  He  accordingly  ga\e  his  sanction  to  a  project  which,  as  the  events 
showed,  was  sufficiently  absurd.  The  Indian  king  of  Roanoke  was  Manteo.  Him  Sir 
"Walter  selected  as  the  link  of  union  between  the  English  and  the  natives.  Manteo  was 
recognized  as  one  of  the  rulers  of  the  land,  and  was  made  a  peer  of  England  with  the  title 
of  Lord  of  Roanoke  !  Of  course  no  salutary-  results  could  follow-  such  a  piece  of  silliness 
and  misapprehension. 

Notwithstanding  the  presence  of  their  copper-colored  nobleman,  the  colonists  continued 
to  be  gloomy  and  apprehensive.  They  pretended  to  fear  starvation.  In  the  latter  part  of 
August  they  became  half-nuitinous  and  almost  compelled  the  governor  to  return  to  England 
for  additional  supplies  and  new  immigrants.  The  governor,  in  a  mistaken  spirit,  yielded  to 
tlie  pressure  and  sailed  away.  Had  the  colonists  been  content  to  employ  the  suunner  in 
useful  labor — in  planting  and  gathering  and  preparation — they  might  have  easil\-  provided 
themselves  against  the  exigency  of  winter.  But  they  imagined  that  their  stores  nuist  be 
constantly  replenished  from  abroad,  and  the  spirit  of  independence  was  thus  destroyed. 

An  incident  of  these  days  was  the  birth  of  the  first-born  of  English  children  in  the 
New  World.  They  gave  to  the  babe  the  name  of  \'irginia  Dare,  and  her  birthday,  the  iSth 
of  August,  was  recorded  as  a  date  to  be  remembered.  The  colony  had  fair  prosjiects  for  the 
future,  and  when  White  set  sail  for  England  he  left  the  immigrauLs,  a  hundred  and  eight  in 
number,  in  full  expectation  of  ultimate  success.  What  their  fiite  was,  however,  has  never 
been  ascertained.  The  stor^-  of  their  going  ashore  and  joining  the  Indians  is  unlikely  in 
itself  and  has  no  historical  evidence  to  support  it. 

Great  was  the  disturbance  which  now  prevailed  in  England.  From  a  Euiupt  in  jxijut 
of  view  it  might  well  seem  doubtful  whetlier  the  House  of  Tudor  could  longer  hold  the 
throne,  or  indeed  whether  the  English  monarchy  could  survive  the  coming  ordeal.  For  the 
Invincible  Armada  of  Spain  was  now  bearing  down  upon  the  English  coasts.  .Ml  the 
resources  and  energies  of  the  realm  were  demanded  f(jr  defence.  .Vlthough  Sir  Walter 
managed  to  send  out  two  supply-ships  to  succor  his  staning  colony,  his  efforts  to  reach 
them  were  unavailing.  The  vessels  which  he  despatched  for  that  jMirpose  went  cniising 
after  Spanish  merchantmen,  and  were  themsclvis  nui  down  and  captured  by  a  in.m-of-war. 


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COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


847 


Not  until  tlie  spring  of  1590  did  Governor  White  finally  rctnrn  to  search  for  the  inifortunate 
colonists.  The  island  was  a  desert,  tenautless  and  silent  No  soul  remained  to  tell  the 
stor\-  of  the  lost 

By  this  time  Sir  Walter  had  e.vpended  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  his  own  means 
in  the  attempt  to  found  and  foster  a  colony  in  America.  Not  able  to  prosecute  the  enter- 
prise further,  he  gave  it  up  and  assigned  his  proprietary  rights  to  an  association  of  London 
merchants.     It  was  under  the  auspices  of  these  that  Governor  White  had  made  his  final  search 


for  the  settlers  of  Roanoke.  The  result  bore  so  much  of  discouragement  that  daring  the 
last  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century  tlie  effort  at  American  colonization  w;b;  not  renewed. 
It  was  not  until  the  vear  1602  that  maritime  enterprise  in  the  direction  of  America  was 
again  promoted  under  the  flag  of  England.  Bartholomew  Gosnold  was  the  man  to  whom 
belongs  the  honor  of  renewing  the  work  and  of  carrying  a  successful  expedition  to  our 
shores. 


348  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

GOSNOLD-S   EFFORTS  TO  SETTLE   NEW  ENGLAND. 

More  than  a  centun'  had  now  elapsed  since  the  discovery  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  by 
Columbus  and  the  Cabots.  During  all  this  time  the  old  route  first  taken  from  Europe  to 
America  had  continued  to  be  followed  by  the  navigators  of  England,  Spain  and  France. 
This  route  was  very  circuitous.  Ships  from  the  western  parts  of  Europe  sailing  for  Amer- 
ica voyaged  first  southward  to  the  Canary-  Islands,  thence  to  the  West  Indies,  and  thence 
northward  to  the  coast  line  of  our  continent.  Abandoning  this  path  as  unnecessarily  long 
and  out  of  the  way,  Gosnold  in  a  single  small  vessel  called  the  Concord  sailed  directly 
across  the  Atlantic  and  in  seven  weeks  reached  the  coast  of  Maine.  The  distance  thus 
gained  was  fully  two  thousand  miles  and  the  demonstration  was  another  evidence  that  the 
Atlantic  was  no  longer  to  constitute  an  impassable  barrier  between  the  Old  World  and 
the  New. 

Like  his  predecessors,  Gosnold  contemplated  the  founding  of  a  colony,  and  with  this 
end  in  view  he  brought  with  him  to  America  a  company  of  emigrants;  but  the  selection 
of  a  site  for  his  proposed  settlement  was  difficult  and  for  several  weeks  he  continued  to 
explore  from  the  coast  of  Maine  southward.  Capes  Elizabeth  and  Cod  were  reached  and 
at  the  latter  place  the  captain  with  four  of  his  men  went  ashore.  It  was  the  first  landing 
of  Englishmen  within  the  limits  of  New  England.  Cajje  Malabar  was  also  passed,  and 
the  vessel  was  at  length  steered  into  Buzzard's  Bay.  Selecting  the  most  westernly  island 
of  the  Elizabeth  group,  the  colonists  debarked  and  there  began  the  first  New  England 
settlement. 

But  the  work  had  been  badly  planned.  The  true  instinct  of  colonization  was  want- 
ing. A  traffic  was  opened  with  the  natives  and  the  Concord  was  laden  with  sassafras 
root,  already  known  in  Europe  and  greatly  prized  for  its  fragrance  and  its  supposed  virtues 
in  healing.  For  a  season  the  affairs  of  the  immigrants  went  well;  but  when  the  ship  was 
about  to  depart  for  England  the  settlers  became  alarmed  at  the  prospect  before  them  and 
prevailed  on  Gosnold  to  take  them  back  to  their  friends  at  home.  Thus  the  island  was 
abandoned  and  the  Concord  returned  to  England. 

Although  failure  followed  failure,  the  accounts  which  the  sailors  and  colonists  invari- 
ablv  gave  of  the  American  shores  were  filled  with  praises  and  notes  of  astonishment. 
Interest  was  thus  kept  alive  in  the  mother  country  and  one  expedition  quickly  succeeded 
to  another.  The  next  squadron  of  discovery  and  settlement  was  fitted  out  for  Martin  Pring. 
Two  vessels  called  the  SpeedivcU  and  the  Discoverer  were  loaded  with  merchandise  suite(i 
to  the  tastes  of  the  Indians,  and  in  April  of  1603,  a  few  days  after  tlie  death  of  QueeiS 
Elizabeth  the  little  fleet  sailed  for  America.  They  came  safely  to  Penobscot  Bay  and  after- 
wards explored  the  harbors  and  shores  of  Maine.  The  coast  of  Massachusetts  was 
traced  southward  to  the  sassafras  region,  where  Pring  loaded  his  ships  at  Martha's  Vineyard 
and  thence  returned  to  England.  The  two  vessels  reached  Bristol  in  safety  after  an  absence 
of  about  six  months. 

It  seems  that  at  this  time  the  idea  of  trade  almost  superseded  the  notion  of  coloniza- 
tion. The  English  voyagers  came  one  after  another,  loaded  their  ships  and  either  lefl 
certain  of  their  companions  to  perish  or  took  the  intended  immigrants  back  to  England. 
The  purpose  of  planting  was  for  a  while  feeble  and  uncertain.  In  1605  George  Waymouth, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  made  a  voyage  to  America  and  came  to 
anchorage  among  the  Islands  of  St.  George  on  the  coast  of  Maine.  He  explored  the  har- 
bor and  sailed  up  the  outflowing  river  for  a  considerable  distance,  noting  the  fine  forests 
of  fir  and  the  beaut}-  of  the  scenerj'.      He  also  opened  a  trade  with  the  Indians,  some  of 


COLUMBUS    AXl)    COLUMHLV. 


349 


whom  learned  to  speak  a  broken  Enjj^lish,  and  were  persuaded  by  liini  to  visit  En<;land. 
The  home-bound  voyage  was  safely  made,  the  vessels  reaching  I'lyniouth  about  the  middle 
of  June.  This  was  the  last  of  the  trial  voyages  made  by  English  navigators  preparatorv  to 
the  actual  establishment  of  an  American  colony. 

In  these  movements,  extending  from  the  middle  of  the  sixtcentli  to  the  first  decade  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  reader  may  easily  discover  the  pre\ailing  and  ever-recurring 
features  of  English  progress.  It  is  the  peculiarit\-  of  the  race  thai  it  docs  cvcrvtliing  bv 
tentative  stages.  The  epoch  of  which  we  speak  was  exi)erimcntal.  The  English  race 
.seemed  to  touch  and  handle  the  coast  of  America  as  if  to  test  its  qualities  and  possibilities. 
The  expeditions  seemed  to  be  characterized  by  timidity  and  caution.  It  were  hard  to  dis- 
cover any  other  reason  than  the  fundamental  character  of  English  enterprise  and  method 
for  the  fact  that  the  navigators  of  Britain  wore  so  long  in  getting  a  foothold  in  the  New 
World.  Spanish  enterprise  was  marked  with  dash  and  boldness.  True  there  was  in  it 
much  of  the  impractical,  much  of  the  Quixotical  spirit.  But  the  English  mariners  and  first 
emigrants  seemed  afraid  of  the  New  World,  though  they  longed  to  po.s.sess  it.  We  shall 
see  hereafter  that  when  once  the  men  who  spoke  English  had  obtained  a  footing  in  \'irginia 
and  New  England  they  held  it  with  a  persistency  equal  to  the  caution  which  they  had  dis- 
played in  making  their  first  .settlements. 


t^^ 


CHAPTER   III. 
VOYAGES  OF  THE  FRENCH  AND  DUTCH. 

[FFICULT  is  it  to  say  precisely  at  what  date  the  French 
sea  captains  first  attempted  to  follow  the  pathway 
of  Columbns  and  Cabot  across  the  Atlantic.  It  is 
certain  that  the  Government  of  France  was  in  a  con- 
dition at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  centnr}'  to  patron- 
ize and  encourage  such  adventures  as  had  gi\-en  a 
New  World  to  Castile  and  Leon.  Certain  it  is  also 
that  not  many  years  elapsed  after  the  West  Indies 
and  mainland  of  the  new  continents  were  revealed 
to  Europe  before  the  French  were  abroad  at  sea, 
seeking  to  share  in  the  treasures  of  discover)'. 
France  was  verj-  willing  to  profit  by  what  the  man 
of  Genoa  and  the  man  of  Venice  had  done  for  the 
world. 
As  early  as  1504  the  fishennen  of  Nonnand}-  and  Brittan}-  began 
to  ply  their  craft  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland.  A  map  of  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence  was  drawn  by  a  Frenchman  in  the  year  1506.  Two  years  afterwards  a 
French  ship  carried  home  for  the  astonishment  of  the. court  of  Louis  XII.  some  of  the  Ameri- 
can Indians,  and  in  1518  the  project  of  colonizing  the  New  World  was  fonnally  taken  up 
by  Francis  I.  In  1523  the  first  voyage  of  discovery  and  exploration  was  planned  and 
Giovanni  Verrazzano,  a  native  of  Florence,  was  appointed  to  conduct  the  expedition.  The 
particular  thing  to  be  accomijlished  was  the  discovery  of  the  supposed  northwest  passage  to 
Asia. 

It  was  near  the  end  of  1523  that  Verrazzano  left  Dieppe,  on  the  frigate  Dolphin,  to 
begin  his  voyage.  He  reached  the  Madeira  islands,  but  did  not  depart  thence  until  January 
of  the  following  year.  The  weather  was  unfavorable,  the  sailing  difficult,  and  it  required 
fifty-five  days  of  hard  struggle  against  wind  and  wave  to  bring  him  to  the  American  coast. 
This  he  reached  in  the  latitude  of  Wilmington.  Coasting  t'.ience  northward,  he  disco\ered 
New  York  and  Narragansett  bays.  At  intervals  he  made  landings  and  opened  traSic  with 
the  natives.  The  Indians  were  found  to  be  gentle  and  confiding.  A  Frenchman  who  was 
washed  ashore  by  the  surf  was  treated  by  them  with  great  kindness  and  was  permitted  to 
return  to  the  ship. 

On  the  coast  of  Rhode  Island,  perhaps  in  the  vicinity  of  Newport,  Verrazzano  anchored 
for  fifteen  days  and  there  continued  his  trade  with  the  natives.  Before  leaving  the  place, 
however,  the  French  sailors  repaid  the  confidence  of  the  Indians  by  kidnapping  a  child  and 
attempting  to  steal  away  one  of  the  "maidens  of  the  tribe.  After  this  the  expedition  was 
continued  along  the  broken  line  of  New  England  for  a  great  distance.  The  Indians  in  this 
part  of  the  country  were  war)-  and  suspicious.  They  would  buy  neither  ornaments  nor 
to\s,  but  were  eager  to  purchase  knives  and  weapons  of  iron.      Passing  to  the  east  of  Nora 

(350) 


C\)LUMBUS   AND   COLl'MlilA. 


3ol 


•3 


Scotia,  tlie  bold  navi,y;ator  reached  Xewfoundlaiid  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  taking  posses- 
sion in  the  name  of  his  king.  On  his  retnrn  to  Dieppe,  in  July  of  1524,  he  wrote  for 
Francis  I.  a  rather  rambling  cccount  of  his  discoveries.  His  work,  however,  was  recog- 
nized by  the  sovereign,  and  the  name  of  Xkw  Franck  was  given  to  that  part  of  our  con- 
tinent the  coast  line  of  which  had  been  traced  by  the  adventurous  crew  of  the  Doiphin. 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  Europe  at  the  close  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  sixteenth 
centnry  was  unfaxorable  in  the  last  degree  for  carrying  forward  the  work  of  discovery  and 
colonization  abroad.  The  Reformation  had  broken  out  in  Oennany.  Three  great  mon- 
archs,  Francis  I.  of  France,  Henry  \'III.  of  England  and  Charles  \'.  of  Spain  and  (iennany, 
loomed  up  to  a  kingly  stature  that  had  not  been  hitherto  attained  since  the  days  of  Charle- 
magne. Mutual  jealousy  super\-ened  among  them.  Each  watched  the  other  two  with 
ill-concealed  animosity  and  dread.  On  the  whole,  Francis  I.  atid  his  government  suffered 
most  in  the  contest  of  cross-purposes  which  held  all  things  in  its  meshes.  Ten  years 
elapsed  after  the  discoveries  and  explorations  of  Verrazzano' before  .;. ,^ 

another  expedition  could   be  sent   ont  from   France.       In   1534, 
however,  Phillippe  de  Chabot,  of  Poitou,  Admiral  of  the  kingdom, 
selected  Jacques,   or  James,  Cartier,  a  sea-captain  of  St.  Malo,  in   t-^^'-.^ 
Brittany,  to  make  a    new  voyage    to  America.      Two    ships  were  ^' 

equipped  for  the  enterprise,  and  after  no  more  than  twenty  days 
of  sailing*  under  cloudless  skies  came 
to  anchor  on  the  i  oth  of  Maj'  off  the 
coast  of  Newfoundland.  By  the 
middle  of  July  Cartier  had  circum- 
navigated the  island,  crossed  the  gnlf 
of  St.  Lawrence  and  found  the  bay 
of  Chaleurs. 

VOYAGES  OF  JAMES  CARTIER. 

Like  liis  predecessors,  Cartier 
had  expected  to  discover  somewhere 
in  those  waters  a  passage  westward 
to  Asia  Disappointed  in  this  hope, 
he  changed  his  course  to  the  north 
and  followed  the  coast  as  far  as  Gaspe 
Bay.  Here  upon  the  point  of  land 
he  set  up  the  cress,  bearing  a  shield 
with  the  lily  of  France,  and  proclaimed  the  French  king  monarch  of  the  countn*-.  Follow- 
ing his  explorations,  he  next  entered  the  estuar>-  and  river  St.  Lawrence.  Thijiking  it 
impracticable,  however,  to  pass  the  winter  in  the  New  World,  Cartier  turned  his  prows 
toward  France  and  in  thirty  days  reached  St.  Malo  in  safety. 

The  news  of  this  voyage  and  its  results  produced  great  excitement.  As  had  been  the 
case  in  England,  the  young  nobility  of  France  became  ambitious  to  seek  fortune  in  the  New 
World.  Another  squadron  of  three  vessels  was  fitted  out  and  many  men  of  high  rank  joined 
the  expedition.  The  sails  were  spread  by  zealous  hands  and  on  the  19th  of  May,  1535,  the 
new  vovage  was  begun.      In    this  instance,   however,    stormv    weather  prevailed  on    the 

♦  So  say  all  the  authorities,  but  it  is  iiicrediUK-  that  a  ruilc  ship  of  the  early  part  of  the  sixteetitli  century  should 
cross  the  Atlantic  in  twenty  days.  The  .\iithor  sujinesls  that  the  error  iu  the  calendar,  then  amounting  to  nine  or 
ten  days,  should  Ix;  addeil  to  the  twenty  of  the  hooks. 


CARTIER  ON   THK  SUMMIT  OF  MONT   RKAI..    NOW  MONTREAI 


352 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Atlantic  and  Newfoundland  was  not  reached  until  the  loth  of  August.  It  was  the  day  of 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  name'  of  that  martyr  was  accordingly  given  to  the  gulf  and  riven 
The  expedition  proceeded  up  the  noble  stream  to  the  island  of  Orleans  where  the  ships 
were  moored  in  a  place  of  safety. 

Two  Indians  whom  Cartier  had  taken  with  him  to  France  now  gave  information  that 
higher  up  the  river  there  was  an  important  town  on  an  island  called  in  the  native  tongue 
Hochelaga.  Cartier  proceeding  in  his  boats  found  it  as  the  natives  had  said.  A  beautiful 
village  lav  at  the  foot  of  a  high  hill  in  the  middle  of  the  island.  Climbing  to  the  top  of 
the  hill  and  viewing  the  scene,  Cartier  named  the  island  and  town  Mont  Real — a  name 
which  has  been  transmitted  to  history  b\-  the  city  of  ^Montreal.  The  countr\-  Avas  declared 
to  belong  "bv  the  right  of  discovery"  to  the  King  of  France,  and  then  the  boats  dropped 
down  the  river  to  the  ships.  During  the  winter  that  ensued  twenty-five  of  Cartier' s  men 
were  swept  off  by  the  scurfy,  a  malady  hitherto  unknown  in  Europe. 

Other  hardships  came  with  the  season 
Snows  and  excessive  cold  prevailed  foi 
months  together.  Unaccustomed  to  the 
rigors  of  such  terrible  weather,  the 
French  sailors  and  colonists  shrank  from 
it,  and  their  enthusiasm  died  out,  so 
that  with  the  coming  of  spring  prepara- 
tions were  made  to  return  to  France. 
The  cross  and  shield  and  lily  were 
again  planted  in  the  soil  of  the  Xew 
World  and  the  homeward  voyage  began. 
But  before  the  ships  left  their  anchorage 


the 


;^ 


good  king  of  the 

o  o 


CARTIER    ENTICING  THE   KING 
OF   THE   HURONS. 


Hurons  who  had 
treated  Cartier  and  his  men  with 
great  generosity,  was  enticed  on 
shipboard  and  carried  off  to  die  a 
captive  in  the  hands  of  the  French. 
On  the  6th  of  July  the  fleet  reached 
to  give  of  the  new  country  and  his 
discouragement.  Neither  silver  nor 
AMiat  was  a  New  V.'orld  orood 


St.  Male,  but    the  accounts  which    Cartier  was   able 
experiences  therein  were  such    as   to  produce  great 
gold  had  been  found  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
for  that  had  not  silver  and  gold  ? 

After  the  return  of  Cartier  there  was  another  lull  of  five  >ears.  .\t  length  Francis  de 
la  Roque,  Lord  of  Rober\-al,  in  Picardy,  revived  the  project  of  planting  a  colony  beyond  the 
Atlantic.  Following  this  purpose,  he  received  from  the  court  of  France  a  commission  to 
carry  an  expedition  with  emigrants  to  the  countrv-  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  was  given  the 
titles  of  Vicerov  and  Lieutenant-General  of  New  France,  and  much  other  vain-glorious 
ceremonv  attended  his  preparations.  Rober\-al  was  wise  enough  to  avail  himself  of  the 
experience  and  abilities  of  his  predecessor.  Cartier  was  retained  in  the  ser\'ice  and  was 
induced  to  conduct  the  new  expedition  with  the  titles  of  Chief  Pilot  and  Captain-General. 

A  COLONY  OF  DESPERATE  CRIMINALS. 

We  here  reach  one  of  the  astonishing  circumstances  which  have  recurred  time  and  again 
in  the  founding  of  distant  States.  The  promoters  of  such  enterprises  find  difficulty  in 
securing  a  sufficient  number  of  emigrantL^.      Hereupon  the  government  comes  to  the  rescue 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


3.53 


with  the  offer  to  discharge  its  criminal  classes  through  the  vent  of  the  colonial  enterprise, 
Rober\-al  made  but  little  headway  in  collecting  his  colon)-,  and  appealed  to  the  court  for  aid. 
The  goveniment  responded  by  opening  the  prisons  of  the  kingdom  and  giving  freedom  to 
whoe\er  would  join  the  expedition.  There  was  a  rush  of  robbers,  swindlers  and  murderers, 
and  the  lists  were  immediately  filled.  Only  counterfeiters  and  traitors  were  denied  the 
privilege  of  gaining  their  liberty  in  the  New  World. 

The  equipment  of  the  squadron  was  completed,  and  the  emigrant  colony  made  up — for 
the  most  part  of  criminals  and  the  refuse  of  French  society.     Five  ships  under  the  com- 


,1  r,.,,.i„.,i  the  St.  T 


'ice  in  safetv.     The 


maud  of  Cartier  left  France  in  May  of  i  - 
e.xpedition  proceeded  to  the  present  sit<. 
of  Quebec,  where  a  fort  was  erected  am! 
named  Charlesbourg.  Here  the  colonist.-^ 
passed  the  winter.  There  was,  however, 
neither  peace  nor  promise  of  good. 
Cartier,  offended  at  his  subordinate 
position,  was  evidently  willing  that  the 
enterprise  should  come  to  naught.  He 
and  Roberval  were  never  of  one  opinion, 
and  when  the  latter,  in  June  of  1542, 
arrived  at  Quebec,  bringing  immigrants 
and  'supplies,  Cartier  secretly  got 
together  his  own  part  of  the  squadron 
and  returned  to  Europe.  Rober\-al  found 
himself  alone  in  New  France  with  three 
shiploads  of  criminals,  some  of  whom 
had  to  be  whipped  and  others  hanged. 

During  the  autumn  the  viceroy, 
instead  of  laboring  to  establish  hi- 
colony,  spent  his  time  in  trjing  to  dis- 
cover the  northwest  passage.  The  winter  t. 
was  passed  in  gloom,  despondency  and 
suffering,  and  the  following  spring  was 
welcomed  by  the  colonists,  for  the  op- 
portunity which  it  gave  them  of  return- 
ing to  France.  Thus  the  enterpri.'t. 
which  had  been  undertaken  with  si> 
much  pomp  came  to  naught.  In  1549 
Sir  Francis  de  la  Roque  again  gathered 
a  large  company  of  emigrants  and  re- 
newed the  project  of  colonization.  The  expedition  departed  under  favorable  omens,  but 
the  squadron  was  never  heard  of  afterwards. 

Such  was  the  effect  of  these  failures  and  such  the  weakness  of  French  adventures  that 
a  half-century  now  elapsed  before  the  effort  to  colonize  .\mcrica  was  renewed  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. Private  enterprise,  however,  and  religi(jus  persecution  in  the  meantime  worked 
together  to  accomplish  in  Florida  and  Carolina  what  the  Government  of  France  had  failed 
"CO  accomplish  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  For  Protestantism  had  appeared  in  France,  and  had 
begun  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of  the  King  and  the  Catholic  Churcli.      It  was  about  the  miil- 

23 


KUBEKVAL  S  SKAKCH    FuK   \    .\OKfH-Wh6i    fAasAoiv 


354  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

die  of  the  sixteenth  century  when  the  celebrated  Gaspard  de  Coligni,  leader  of  the  French 
Huguenots,  and  now  ser\ing  as  Admiral  of  France,  fonned  the  design  of  establishing  in 
America  a  refuge  for  his  persecuted  fellow-countr>'men.  It  would  appear  that  the  King  was 
at  this  period  not  unwilling  that  the  Huguenots  should  escape  from  the  country  to  foreign 
lands.  In  1562  Coligni  obtained  from  Charles  IX.  the  privilege  of  planting  a  French  Pro- 
testant colony  in  the  New  World.  John  Ribault,  of  Dieppe,  a  brave  and  experienced  cap- 
tain, was  selected  to  lead  the  Huguenots  to  the  land  of  promise. 

AN  ASYLUM   FOR  THE  PERSECUTED  HUGUENOTS. 

A  company  of  the  exiles  was  soon  collected.  The  squadron  sailed  away  and  reached 
the  coast  of  Florida  in  safety.  The  river  St.  Johns  was  entered  bj-  the  French,  and  named 
the  River  of  Ma\-.  The  fleet  then  sailed  northward  to  the  entrance  of  Port  Royal.  The 
colonists  were  landed  on  an  island,  where  a  stone  engraA-ed  with  the  arms  of  their  native 
land  was  set  up  to  mark  the  place.  A  fort  was  built  and  in  honor  of  Charles  IX.  was 
named  Carolina.  Here  Ribault  left  a  garrison  of  twenty-six  men  and  returned  to  France 
for  additional  emigrants  and  supplies.  Civil  war,  however,  was  now  raging  in  the  king- 
dom, and  it  was  found  impossible  to  procure  the  needed  stores  or  other  emigrants.  Mean- 
while the  men  left  in  America  became  mutinous  with  long  waiting,  killed  their  leader,  con- 
structed a  rude  brig  and  put  to  sea.  For  a  long  time  they  were  driven  at  the  mercy  of  the 
•winds  and  w-aves,  but  w^ere  at  last  picked  up,  half  star\-ed,  by  an  English  ship  and  were 
carried  back  to  France. 

Admiral  Coligni,  however,  resolved  to  prosecute  his  enterprise.  He  planned  a  second 
colonv  and  appointed  as  its  leader  Rene  de  Laudonniere.  But  the  character  of  the  second 
company  of  emigrants  was  bad.  The  e\-ent  showed  that  they  were  for  the  most  part  aban- 
doned men,  idle  and  improvident.  The  leader  on  reaching  the  American  coast  avoided  the 
harbor  of  Port  Royal,  and  chose  the  river  St.  Johns  for  the  proposed  colony.  Here  he  built 
a  fort,  but  the  immigrants — the  larger  part — as  soon  as  opportunit}'  offered  and  acting  under 
the  pretence  of  an  escape  from  famine,  contrived  to  get  possession  of  two  of  the  ships  and 
sailed  away.  Instead  of  returning  to  France,  however,  they  took  to  piracy  until  the>-  were 
caught,  brought  back  and  hanged.  The  rest  of  the  settlers  were  on  the  eve  of  breaking  up 
the  colony  when  Ribault,  who  had  commanded  the  first  expedition,  arrived  from  France 
with  a  cargo  of  supplies.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  Spaniard,  Melendez,  discovering 
the  whereabouts  of  the  Huguenots  and  regarding  them  as  intruders  in  the  territor}-  of  Spain 
fell  upon  and  destroyed  the  entire  company. 

A  DREADFUL  VENGEANCE. 

The  news  of  this  atrocit}-  created  great  sorrow  and  indignation  among  the  Huguenots 
of  France.  Dominic  de  Gourges,  a  soldier  of  Gascony,  prepared  to  avenge  the  death  of  his 
countrymen.  He  planned  an  expedition  against  the  Spanish  settlements  in  Florida  and  soon 
came  down  upon  them  with  signal  vengeance.  His  squadron  was  fitted  at  his  own  expense. 
With  three  ships  and  only  fift>-  seamen  he  arrived  in  midwinter  on  the  coast  of  Florida. 
With  this  handful  he  surprised  successively  the  three  forts  on  the  river  St.  Johns  and  made 
prisoners  of  the  garrisons.  Then  when  he  was  unable  to  hold  his  position  any  longer  he 
condemned  and  hanged  his  leading  captives  to  the  branches  of  trees,  putting  up  this  inscrip- 
tion to  explain  what  he  had  done  :   "Not  Spaniards,  but  murderers." 

The  sixteenth  centur}-  drew  to  a  close.  It  was  not  until  1598  that  the  attention  of  the 
French  Government  was  once  more  directed  to  the  claims  which  the  early  navigators  had 
established  to  portions  of  the  American  coast.      In  this  year  the   Marquis  de  la  Roche,  a 


COLUMBUS   A\l)   COLUMlilA. 


■ioo 


tiobleman  of  influence  and  distinction,  took  up  the  cause  and  obtained  a  commission  author- 
izing him  to  found  an  empire  in  the  Xew  World.  Unfortunately  the  colony  was  again  to 
be  made  up  by  opening  the  prisons  and  granting  immunity  to  such  of  the  inmates  as  would 
emigrate.  The  expedition  soon  reached  Nova  Scotia  and  anchored  at  Sable  Island,  a  place 
of  desolation  and  gloom.  Here  the  Marquis  left  forty  men  to  found  the  colony  while  he 
himself  returned  to  France  for  a  cargo  of  supplies.  Soon  after  his  arrival  at  home  he  died, 
and  for  seven  dreary-  years  the  new  French  empire,  composed  of  forty  convicts,  langui.shed 
on  Sable  Island.      At  last  they  were  iiKici fully  picked  up  by  passing  ships  and  carried  back 


DR   <-.OIRGRS    AVENC.INC.   TIIK    M17RDER   OF  THE    HrGUENOTS. 

to  France.      It  was  reckoned  by  the  authorities  that  the  punishment  of  the  poor  wretches 
had  been  sufficient  and  they  were  never  remanded  to  prison. 

At  last,  however,  the  time  came  when  a  permanent  French  colony  should  be  established 
in  .\merica.  In  the  vear  1603  the  Government  of  France  granted  the  sovereignty  of  the 
country  from  the  latitude  of  Philadelphia  to  one  degree  north  of  Montreal  to  the  French 
Count,  Pierre  du  Guast,  commonly  kn<nvn  as  De  MonLs.  He  received  from  the  King  a 
patent  giving  him  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  in  the  new  country  and  conceding  religious 
freedom  for  Huguenot  immigrants. 


356  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

In  March  of  the  following  year  De  Monts  sailed  from  France  with  two  shiploads  of 
colonists  and  reached  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  The  summer  was  spent  in  explorations  and  in 
trade  with  the  Indians.  At  length  Poutrincourt,  captain  of  one  of  the  ships,  having  dis- 
covered on  tlie  northwest  coast  of  Nova  Scotia  an  excellent  harbor,  obtained  a  grant  of  the 
lands  adjacent  and  went  ashore  to  plant  a  colony.  The  viceroy,  with  the  remainder,  crossed 
the  bay  and  built  a  rude  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  Croix.  But  in  the  following 
spring  this  place  was  abandoned  and  a  company  returned  to  the  settlement  of  Poixtrincourt. 
Here  on  the  14th  of  November,  1605,  the  foundations  of  the  first  pennanent  French  settle- 
ment in  America  were  laid.  The  name  of  Port  Royal  was  given  to  the  ford  and  harbor 
and  the  country'  was  called  Arcadia. 

Now  it  was  that  the  famous  Samuel  Champlain  appeared  on  the  scene.  Already  he 
had  justly  earned  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  soldierly  men  of  his  times.  As 
early  as  1603  he  had  been  commissioned  by  a  company  of  Rouen  merchants  to  explore  the 
country  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  establish  a  trading-post.  The  discovery  had  at  last  been 
made  that  the  abundant  furs  of  these  regions  were  a  surer  source  of  riches  than  impossible 
mines  of  gold  and  silver. 

The  expedition  of  Champlain  reached  the  St.  Lawrence  in  safet}-,  and  the  spot  on  which 
Quebec  now  stands  was  chosen  as  the  site  for  a  fort.  In  the  autumn  the  leader  returned  to 
France  and  published  a  favorable  account  of  his  enterprise.  It  was  not  for  five  years,  how- 
ever, namely  in  160S,  that  Champlain  succeeded  in  returning  to  America.  On  the  3d  of 
July  in  that  year  the  foundations  of  Quebec  were  laid.  In  1609  the  leader  and  two  other 
French  adventurers  joined  a  company  of  the  Hurons,  then  at  war  with  the  Iroquois  of  New 
York.  On  this  expedition  Champlain  ascended  the  Sorel  River  until  he  discovered  the 
narrow  lake  which  has  ever  since  borne  his  name. 

FIRST  PERMANENT  FRENCH  SETTLEMENT. 

For  three  or  four  years  the  settlement  at  Quebec  languished  ;  but  in  161 2  the  Protest- 
ant party  in  France  came  into  power  and  Champlain  was  enabled  by  the  favor  of  the  great 
Conde,  Protector  of  the  Protestants,  to  prosecute  his  American  enterprise.  For  the  third 
time  he  returned  to  New  France  bringing  with  him  a  company  of  Franciscan  friars  to 
preach  to  the  Indians.  They  and  the  Huguenots  quarrelled  not  a  little  and  Champlain  a  sec- 
ond time  joined  the  Indians.  His  company  was  defeated  in  battle  and  he  himself,  seriously 
wounded,  was  obliged  to  remain  all  winter  among  the  Hurons.  In  the  summer  of  16 17  he 
returned  to  the  colony.  Three  years  afterwards  the  foundation  of  the  fortress  of  St.  Louis 
was  laid  and  in  1624  the  structure  was  completed — a  circumstance  which  secured  the  per- 
manence of  the  French  settlements  in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

We  have  now  followed  with  some  care  the  lines  of  English  exploration  and  French 
adventure  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  centur>-.  Let  us  in  the  next  place 
note  the  efforts  made  by  the  people  of  Holland  to  gain  a  footing  in  the  New  World.  The 
first  Dutch  settlement  in  America  was  made  on  IManhattan  Island.  The  stor\'  of  the  plant- 
ing introduces  to  us  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  who  left  a  name  and  impress  on  the 
primitive  histon-  of  our  country.  This  was  no  other  than  the  illustrious  Henr}-,  or  Hendrik, 
Hudson.  By  birth  this  great  navigator  was  an  Englishman.  The  year  1607  found  him  in 
the  employ  of  a  company  of  London  merchants,  by  whom  he  was  commissioned  to  tra\erse 
the  North  Atlantic  and  discover  a  route  either  eastward  or  westward  to  the  Indies. 

On  his  first  voyage,  made  in  a  single  ship,  Hudson  endeavored  to  circumnavigate 
Europe  to  the  north.  He  succeeded  in  reaching  the  island  of  Spitzbergen,  but  was  there 
obliged  by  the   rigor  of  the  seas,  filled  as  they  were  with  icebergs,  to  return  to  England. 


(^1) 


358  COLUMBUS    AND    COLUMBIA. 

In  the  next  year  he  renewed  the  vo)-age,  but  was  unable  to  find  the  northeastern  passage. 

His  courage,  however,  would  not  brook  defeat,  and  when  his  employers  declined  to  furnish 

the  means  for  further  explorations  he  went  to  Holland  and  succeeded  in  finding  in  Amsterdam 

the  patronage  which  had  been  denied  him  in  his  own  country. 

At  this  time  there  existed  at  Amsterdam  a  powerful  commercial   corporation  known  as 

the  Dutch  East  India  Company.      Before  the  officers  of  this  association  Sir  Henry  appeared, 

and  from  them  soon  obtained  assistance.      He  was  given  a  small  ship  called  the  Half-Moo;, 

and  was  directed  to  prosecute  his  search  for  an  all-water  route  to  the  Indies.      In  April  o; 

1609  he  sailed  on  his  third  voyage  into  the  seas  north  of  Europe.      He  passed  the  capes  01 

Norway,  reached  the  seventy-second  parallel  of  latitude,  turned  eastward,  gained  the  frozen 

passage  between  Lapland  and  Nova  Zembla,  but  was   there  turned  back  by  the  icebergs. 

Perceiving  that  it  was  impossible  to  beat  his  way  to  the  east  through  these  inhospitable 

waters  he  turned  his  prow  to  the  west,  determining  if  possible  to  find  somewhere  on  the 

American  coast  an  open  channel  b\'  which  he  might  reach  first  the  Pacific    and  afterwards 

the  shores  of  Asia. 

EXPLORATIONS  OF    HENRY  HUDSON.  , 

It  was  the  month  of  July,  1609,  when  Sir  Henry  reached  Newfoundland.  Repairing 
his  ship  he  .sailed  southward,  touched  Cape  Cod,  and  by  the  middle  of  August  came  to  the 
Chesapeake.  Still  the  northwest  passage  was  not  found.  Turning  to  the  north,  Hudson 
began  to  examine  the  coast  more  closely  than  any  of  his  predecessors  had  done.  On  the 
28th  of  the  month  he  entered  and  explored  Delaware  Bay.  He  next  traced  the  coast  line  to 
New  Jersey,  and  on  the  3d  of  September  the  Half-Moon  found  a  safe  anchorage  within 
Sandy  Hook.  Two  days  afterwards  a  landing  was  made  ;  the  Indians  came  in  great  num- 
bers to  the  scene,  bringing  their  gifts  of  wild  fruits,  corn  and  oysters.  New  York  harbor 
was  explored,  and  on  the  loth  of  the  month  the  Half-Mooii  entered  the  noble  river  which 
has  ever  since  borne  the  name  of  Hudson. 

For  eight  days  the  Half  Moon  ascended  the  stream.  On  either  hand  were  magnificent 
forests,'  beautiful  hills,  palisades,  fertile  valleys  between,  planted  with  Indian  corn,  and 
mountains  rising  in  the  distance.  On  the  19th  the  ship  was  moored  at  the  place  afterwards 
called  Kinderhook.  Hudson  and  a  part  of  the  crev\'  proceeded  in  the  boats  as  far  as  the  site 
of  Albany.  The  up-river  exploration  continued  for  several  days  when  the  party  returned 
to  the  HalfMoo7i,  the  vessel  dropped  down  stream,  and  on  the  4th  of  October  sailed  for 
Holland.  On  the  home-bound  voyage  Hudson,  not  unwilling  that  his  former  employers 
should  know  of  his  great  discoveries,  put  in  at  Dartmouth  where  the  ship  was  detained  by 
orders  of  King  James  and  the  crew  claimed  as  Englishmen.  Hudson  was  obliged  to  content 
himself  with  sending  to  Amsterdam  an  account  of  his  great  discoveries  and  his  enforced 
detention  in  England. 

The  sequel  showed  that  Sir  Henry  was  not  greatly  discomposed  by  his  captivity.  The 
English  merchants  came  forward  with  alacrity,  furnishing  the  money  for  another  expedition. 
A  ship  called  the  Discovery  was  given  to  Hudson  and  in  the  summer  of  16 10  he  again 
sailed  for  the  West.  The  vision  of  the  Indies  was  before  his  imagination,  but  he  was 
destined  never  to  see  the  land  of  gems  and  spices  or  to  return  to  his  own  country. 

It  had  now  been  determined  by  actual  exploration  that  no  northwest  passage  existed 
between  Florida  and  Maine.  The  whole  coast  had  been  minutely  traced  and  no  inlets  found 
except  bays  and  the  estuaries  of  rivers.  Therefore  the  coveted  passage  must  be  found  far 
to  the  north  between  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Greenland.  Sir  Henrj-  now  followed 
the  track  of  Frobisher  and  on  the  2d  of  August  reached  the  strait  which  was  henceforth   to 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


359 


bear  the  name  of  Hudson.  Xo  sliip  had  ever  before  entered  tliese  waters.  At  the  entrance 
the  way  was  barred  with  many  ishmds  ;  but  further  to  tlie  west  the  bay  seemed  to  ojien, 
the  ocean  widened  to  right  and  left,  and  the  route  to  Cathay  was  at  last  revealed  !  So 
believed  the  great  captain  and  his  crew;  but  further  to  the  west  the  inhospitable  shores 
were  seen  to  narrow  again  on  the  more  inhospitable  sea,  and  Hudson  found  himself  sur- 
rounded with  the  terrors  of  winter  in  the  frozen  gulf  of  the  north. 

He  bore  up  against  the  hardships  of  his  situation  until  his  provisions  were  almost 
exhausted.  Spring  was  at  hand  and  the  day  of  escape  liad  well  nigh  arrived  wh2n  the 
crew  broke  out  in  mutiny.  They  seized  Sir  Henn,-  and  his  only  son  with  seven  others 
who  had  remained  faithful  to  the  commander,  threw  them  into  an  open  boat  and  cast  them 
off  among  the  icebergs.  Nothing  further  was  ever  heard  of  the  illustrious  mariner  who 
had  contributed  so  largely  to  the  geographical  knowledge  of  his  times  and  made  possible 
the  establishment  of  still  another  nationality  in  the  New  World. 

Meanwhile,  in  1610,  the  Half-Moon  was  liberated  at  Dartmouth  and  returned  to 
Amsterdam.  The  Dutch 
merchants  reached  out 
eagerly  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  discover- 
ies made  by  Hudson. 
Ships  were  at  once 
sent  out  to  engage  in 
the  fur-trade  on  the 
banks  of  the  river 
which  that  mariner  had 
discovered.  This  traf- 
fic was  profitable  in  the 
highest  degree  and  one  if  '•  ^^^  ,,  ^^ 
voyage  followed  an- 
other. In  1614  the 
States-General  of  Hol- 
land passed  an  act 
granting  to  the  mer- 
chants  of  Amsterdam 
exclusive  rights  of  trade 
and  establishment  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  "^^  hauf-moox  in  the  hldson. 
country-  explored  by  Sir  Henr)-  Hudson.  Under  this  commission  a  squadron  of  five  trading 
vessels  soon  arrived  at  Manhattan  Island.  Here  some  rude  huts  had  already  been  built  by 
former  traders;  but  now  a  fort  for  the  defence  of  the  place  was  erected,  and  the  name  of 
New  Am.sterd.xm  was  given  to  the  settlement. 

In  this  same  summer  of  1614  Captain  Adrian  Block,  comnmndiug  one  of  the  trading 
ships,  made  his  way  through  East  River  into  Ivong  Island  Sound.  Thence  he  explored  the 
coast  as  far  as  Narragansett  Bay  and  even  to  Cape  Cod.  Meanwhile  Cornelius  May,  captain 
of  the  Fortune,  sailed  southward  along  the  coast  as  far  as  Delaware  Ba_v.  Upon  these 
various  voyages  Holland  set  up  her  uncertain  claim  to  the  countr>-  which  was  now  named 
New  Netherlands,  extending  from  Cape  Henlopen  to  Cape  Cod. 


CHAPTER   IV. 
PROGRESS  OF  DISCOVERY  AND  SETTLEMENT. 

jjY  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  destiny 

had  determined  the  relative  parts  and  places  of 

the  European  possessions  in  the  New  World.    The 

French  had  obtained  a  footing  in   the  extreme 

north.     The  Dutch  had  planted  a  settlement  at 

the  mouth  of  the  Hudson.     The  English — as  we 

shall  presently  see — had  secured  two  permanent 

plantations,  the  first  in  Virginia  and  the  second 

in  Massachusetts.     As  for  Spain,  her  .portion 

lay  to  the  south.      There  her  adventurers  and 

conquerors     had    established     themselves     much 

more  successfully  than  had  the  rival   nations  in  the 

other  parts  of   our  continent.      We  may  here  with 

propriety  revert  briefly  to  the  circumstances  of  Spanish 

discovery  and  colonization  in  the  southern  parts  of  North 

America. 

After  Columbus,  in  1499,  came  Amerigo  Vespucci,  a  Florentine  navigator  of  some 
daring  but  no  great  celebrity.  He  succeeded  in  reaching  the  eastern  coast  of  South 
America  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  his  explorations  there  were  of  great  importance. 
After  an  absence  of  two  years,  however,  he  returned  to  Europe  to  give  to  the  civilized 
peoples  the  first  published  account  of  the  New  World.  From  this  circumstance  the  name 
of  America  was  conferred  on  our  continent  rather  than  Columbia,  which  a  true  fame  would 
have  given  to  the  hemisphere  discovered  by  the  man  of  Genoa. 

Other  companions  and  followers  of  Columbus  came  rapidly  in  his  track.  Among  these 
we  may  mention  first  of  all  Alonzo  de  Ojeda.  This  adventurer,  so  brave  and  rash,  was  a 
native  of  Cuenca,  in  Spain,  where  he  was  bom  in  1465.  He  had  accompanied  Columbus 
on  his  second  voyage  to  America,  and  had  done  service  of  many  kinds,  as  well  as  mischief, 
in  the  West  Indies.  In  the  year  1499  he  obtained  pennission  to  make  a  voyage  on  his  own 
account,  and  set  out  from  Spain  on  a  vessel  called  the  Santa  Maria.  He  was  assisted  by 
Juan  de  la  Cosa,  who  had  been  the  pilot  of  Columbus. 

It  were  long  to  tell  the  stor}'  of  the  expedition.  Ojeda  beat  about  among  the  Bahamas, 
gathered  a  cargo  of  slaves  and  returned  to  Cadiz  in  June  of  1500.  Two  years  afterwards 
he  sailed  on  a  second  voyage,  and  attempted  to  found  a  colony  in  Santa  Cruz  ;  bat  his 
tyranny  led  to  his  arrest,  and  he  was  taken  to  Hispaniola  in  chains.  In  1508  we  find  him 
engaged  in  an  expedition  to  the  mainland,  carr^-ing  with  him  one  greater  than  himself,  that 
Francisco  Pizarro  who  was  destined  to  become  the  conqueror  of  Peru.  Ojeda  founded  on 
the  shore  of  the  gulf  of  Darien  the  colony  of  San  Sebastien.  He  attempted  to  make  a 
voyage  to  Hispaniola  for  supplies,  but  was  seized  by  the  captain  of  the  vessel  on  which  he 
took  passage.     The  ship  was  soon  afterwards  wrecked  and  Ojeda  was  set  free  in  Cuba. 

(360) 


COLUMBUS   AND  COLUMBIA.  361 

Meanwhile,  Vasco  Nunez  dc  Balboa  arrived  in  Central  America  and  deposed  Ojeda  from 
authority.  The  latter  sank  into  miser)-,  and  finally  died  in  Hispaniola  from  a  wound  given 
by  a  poisoned  arrow  while  he  was  at  San  Sebasticn. 

Do  Balboa  had  been  commissioned  as  governor  of  Antigua  b\-  the  Adclantado  Diego 
Columbus.  Reaching  the  land  of  his  destination,  he  heard  rumors  of  another  ocean  but  a 
short  distance  to  the  west.  He  accordingly  left  Antigua  in  1513  and  began  a  toilsome 
journey  through  the  isthmus  to  the  western  shore.  He  struggled  through  tangled  forests, 
over  rugged  heights  and  almost  impassable  mountains,  constantly  fighting  his  way  against 
the  hostile  natives,  until  the  25th  of  September,  when  gaining  a  summit  he  looked  down 
upon  the  illimitable  Pacific.  To  this  he  gave  the  name  of  "  Mar  del  Sur  "  or  "  Sea  of  the 
South."  Not  satisfied  with  merely  seeing  the  great  water,  ho  waded  in  a  short  distance 
from  the  shore  and  drawing  his  sword,  after  the  pompous  Spanish  fashion,  took  possession 
of  {he  ocean  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain. 

PONCE  DE  LEON   IN   FLORIDA. 

jNIany  of  the  Spanish  noblenicu  wliu  llourishcd  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  ceutur.- 
^ere  eager  to  acquire  for  themselves  new  estates  and  honors  in  the  West  Indies  and  in  the 
unexplored  regions  of  our  continent.  Among  these  was  the  old  cavalier.  Ponce  de  Leon, 
who  received  the  appointment  of  governor  of  Porto  Rico.  Ponce  had  been  a  companion 
of  Columbus  on  his  second  voyage,  but  like  many  others  had  broken  away  to  become  an 
adventurer  on  his  o^vn  account.  His  governorship  of  Porto  Rico  soon  brought  him  riches. 
But  he  was  already  aged  and  wrinkled,  and  what  were  riches  to  an  old  cavalier  who  could 
no  longer  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  youth?  In  the  meantime  a  tradition  had  gained  currency 
to  the  effect  that  somewhere  in  the  Bahamas  there  was  a  fountain  of  perpetual  youth.  Tlie 
stor\-  gained  credence  in  Spain,  and  particularly  among  the  Spanish  adventurers  who  had 
found  footing  in  the  West  Indies  and  in  Central  America. 

To  none  did  the  tradition  of  a  fountain  of  youth  appeal  more  strongly  than  to  the 
aged  Ponce  de  Leon  ;  for  he  had  need.  He  resolved  to  find  tlie  fountain.  Accordingly  he 
fitted  out  a  squadron  in  Porto  Rico  and  in  151 2  set  sail  on  the  quest.  He  first  stopped  at 
San  Salvador  and  the  neighboring  islands,  but  afterwards  steering  northwestward  from  Cuba 
he  came,  on  the  27th  of  March,  in  sight  of  an  unknown  shore.  This  at  first  he  supposed 
to  be  another  island  of  the  great  group  with  which  he  was  already-  acquainted.  The  coast 
line  was  one  of  great  beauty.  As  the  ships  drew  near  waving  forests  appeared, 
green  leaves,  birds  of  song  and  the  fragrance  of  unseen  blossoms.  It  was  the  day  of  the 
Pasqucs  de  Florcs,  or  Feast  of  Flowers,  known  in  the  rittial  of  the  Church  as  Pasciia  Florida. 
Partly  as  descriptive  of  the  delightful  landscape  and  partly  in  commemoration  of  tht-  day, 
De  Leon  gave  to  the  new  land  the  name  of  Florida — the  Land  of  Flowers. 

The  coast  which  the  adventurer  had  reached  was  that  which  a  half  century-  later  was 
occupied  and  colonized  by  the  Spaniards.  Here  in  after  times  were  to  be  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  St.  Augustine,  the  oldest  city  in  America.  The  countr\-  was  claimed  for  the  King 
of  Spain,  and  De  Leon  at  once  began  the  search  for  the  youth-restoring  fcuntain.  He 
turned  .southward  and  explored  the  coast  for  man\-  leagues,  discovered  and  named  tlie  Tor- 
tugas,  and  then  sailed  back  to  Porto  Rico,  not  perce])tibly  younger  than  when  he  started. 

PONCE  DE  LEON   IS   FATALLY  WOUNDED. 
But  the  voyage  had  added  new  lands  to  the  possessions  of  Spain.     Tlie  King  rewarded 
Ponce  with  the  governorship  of  his  Land  of  PMowers  and  sent  him  thither  again  to  fonud  a 
colony.     But  the  old  cavalier  was  slow  to  prosecute  the  work.     Not  until  1521  did  he  reach 


362 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


his  province  and  then  it  was  only  to  find  the  Indians  in  hostility.  Scarcely  had  he  landed 
when  they  gave  him  battle.  Many  of  the  Spaniards  were  killed  and  the  rest  were  obliged 
to  find  safety  on   the  ships.      Ponce  de  Leon   himself  received  a  mortal  wonnd  and  was 


-.SESSION   OF  THE   PACIFIC. 


carried  back  to  Cuba  to  die.      Such  was  the  first  passage  in  the  histor>'  of  Florida. 

Before  the  events  just  described,  namely  in  151 7,  Yucatan  and  the  bay  of  Canipeachy 


COLUMiJlS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


>,m 


were  discovered  by  Fernandez  de  Cordova.  Wliile  explorinjj^  the  northern  coast  of  this 
country-  he  also  was  attacked  b)-  the  hostile  Indians  and  was  mortalh-  wonnded  in  battle. 
In  the  following  year  the  coast  of  Mexico  was  explored  for  a  great  distance  by  J  nan  de  Gri- 
jalva,  nephew  of  Valasqnez,  governor  of  Cuba.  He  was  accompanied  and  directed  in  the 
expedition  by  the  same  pilot  who  had  served  under  Cordova.  Proceeding  along  the  coast 
he  found  constantl\-  increasing  signs  of  the  presence  of  a  civilized  race  of  men.  He  opened 
communication  with  the  Mexicans,  traded  with  them  and  learned  of  their  capital  city  and 
of  their  great  monarch  Montezuma.  Returning  to  Cuba,  \'alasquez  was  angr)-  at  his  subor- 
dinate for  not  taking  possession  of  the  country  and  planting  a  colony.  He  accordingly 
superseded  Grijalva  and  gave  command  of  the  new  expedition  to  Hernando  Cortez. 

It  was  now  the  year  15 19.  Cortez  landed  with  his  fleet  at  Tabasco  and  began  his 
famous  conquest  of  Mexico.  The  news  of  the  invasion  spread  abroad  and  the  Mexicans 
were  in  consternation.  Cortez  made  his  way  to  Vera  Cruz,  where  he  was  met  by  aniba.s.sa- 
dors  from  Montezuma.     The  purpose  of  the  Mexican  monarch  was  to  dissuade  the  terrible 

Spaniards  from 
making  their 
way  into  the  in- 
terior. But  Cor- 
tez. was  not  to  be 
]'nt  from  his 
purpose.  He 
marched  on  the 
Mexican  capital 
and  soon  came 
upon  such  a 
scene  as  had  not 
hitherto  been 
witnessed  or  even 
expected  in  the 
New    World. 

From  the  mountain  tops  the  Spaniards  looked  down  upon  the  valley  of  Mexico.  There 
lay  the  splendid  city,  glittering  like  a  vision  of  spires  and  temples.  In  vain  did 
Montezuma  tr\-  to  keep  his  inexorable  foe  at  bay.  On  the  8th  of  November,  1519,  tlie 
Spanish  anny  entered  the  city  and  was  quartered  in  the  great  square  near  the  temple  of 
the  Aztec  god  of  war. 

MARVELLOUS  PANORAMA  OF  THE  MEXICAN  CAPITAL. 
It  were  long  to  tell  tlio  ston.-  of  the  events  whicli  now  ensued.  Cortez  made  himself 
familiar  wnth  the  cit}-  and  with  the  manner  of  life  among  the  Mexicans.  He  found  vast 
treasures  of  silver  and  gold,  works  of  art,  aqueducts  and  causeways,  temples  where  liuman 
sacrifices  were  offered,  arsenals  filled  with  bows  and  javelins.  But  in  the  midst  of  all  this 
wealth  and  abundance  the  condition  of  the  conqueror  grew  critical.  There  were  muttor- 
ings  of  outbreak.  The  Spaniards  were  few.  The  Mexicans  were  hundreds  of  tliousands. 
In  the  emergency  Cortez  devised  a  plot  to  obtain  pos.session  of  the  person  of  Montezuma 
and  hold  him  as  a  pri.soncr.  He  was  accordingly  enticed  into  tlic  power  of  the  Spaniards 
and  was  compelled  to  acknowledge  himself  a  va.s.sal  of  the  King  of  Spain.  A  payment 
of  six  million  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  with  an  enonnous  annual  tribute,  was  exacted 
of  the  captive  emperor. 


FLORIDA    INDIANS    Fl-RIOUSLV   ATTACK   THK   SI'ANIARDS. 


;564 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


The  fame  of  all  this  was  quickly  borue  to  Cuba.  Valasquez,  the  goveruor,  was  heated 
with  jealousy  and  determined  to  arrest  the  progress  of  Cortez.  He  accordingly  prepared 
a  new  expedition  for  Mexico  and  gave  the  command  to  Pamphilo  de  Narvaez,  with  orders 
to  supersede  Cortez  in  the  government  and  take  possession  of  the  country.  The  forces 
of  Narvaez  numbered  twelve  hundred  soldiers  besides  a  thousand  Indian  servants  and 
guides.  But  Cortez  was  on  the  alert.  He  learned  of  the  animosit}-  of  the  Cuban  gov- 
ernor and  of  the  means  taken  for  his  own  overthrow.  He  determined  to  meet  the  forces 
of  Narv'aez  and  to  conquer  them  or  die  in  the  struggle.  When  the  new  anny  arrived  at 
Vera  Cmz,  Cortez,  leaving  behind  his  lieutenant  Alvarado  to  preserve  order  in  Mexico,  was 
already  near  at  hand  to  confront  his  powerful  antagonist.  On  the  night  of  the  26th  of 
May,  1520,  he  burst  suddenly  into  the  camp  of  Narv'aez  and  compelled  the  whole  force  to 
surrender.  He  transferred  the  new  army  to  his  own  command  and  marched  back  in  tri- 
umph to  Mexico. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  war  had  broken  out  in  the  city  and  for  months  too-ether 
there  was  almost  constant  fighting  between  the  Spaniards  and  the  Mexicans.  Cortez  com- 
pelled Montezuma  to  appear  as  a  prisoner  on 
the  top  of  the  palace  and  advise  his  people 
to  submit;  but  they  had  now  become  desperate 
and  in  the  fury  of  despair  let  fly  their  javelins 
at  the  Emperor.  He  was  mortalh-  wounded 
and  died  of  wretchedness.  At  one  time  Cortez 
was  driven  out  of  the  city;  but  in  December 
of  1520  he  returned  and  began  a  siege 
which  continued  until  August  of  the  follow- 
ing year.  At  length  the  city  was  taken ;  the 
empire  of  the  Montezumas  was  overthrown 
and  Mexico  became  a  Spanish  Province. 
VOYAGE  AND  DEATH  OF    MAGELLAN. 

At  the  very  time  of  this  invasion  and 
conquest  Ferdinand  Magellan  was  accom- 
plishing the  most  daring  enterprise  which 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury'. To  him  belongs  the  honor  of  having 
first  found  the  all-water  route  from  Western 
Europe  to  Eastern  Asia.  Magellan  was  a 
Portuguese  by  birth,  a  navigator  by  pro- 
fession. Having  formed  the  purpose  to 
discover  a  southwest  passage  to  the  Indies,  he  appealed 
ships  and  men.  But  the  monarch  listened  coldly  and 
subject.  Magellan  hereupon  renounced  his  allegiance,  went  to  Spain  and  laid  his  plans 
before  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  The  Spanish  monarch  caught  eagerly  at  the  opportunit>-, 
ordered  a  fleet  of  five  ships  at  the  public  expense  and  gave  the  command  to  Magellan.  The 
voyage  was  undertaken  from  Seville  in  August  of  15 19.  The  navigator  first  reached  the 
coast  of  South  America  and  then  beat  his  way  southward  until  he  reached  the  eastern  mouth 
of  that  strait  which  still  bears  the  name  of  its  discoverer.  Through  this  he  passed  into  the 
open  and  boundless  ocean,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  the  Pacific. 

Sailing  to  the  north  of  west,  the  expedition  reached  the  Ladrones  in  March  of  1520. 


HERNANDO   CORTEZ. 


to 


the  King   of    Portugal    for 
;  no    encouragement  to  his 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


.H)i> 


Here  Magellan  was  killed  in  a  battle  with  the  natives.  A  new  captain  was  chosen  and  the 
voyage  continued  to  the  Moluccas,  where  a  cargo  of  spices  was  gathered  for  the  market 
of  Europe.  Only  a  single  ship  now  remained  in  fit  condition  for  the  homebound  voyage  ; 
but  in  this  vessel  the  heroic  crew  bore  on  by  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  on  the 
17th  of  September,  1522,  arrived  in  Spain.     The  circumnavigation  of  the  globe  had  been 

accomplished.  The  theor)-  of 
Strabo,  of  the  ' '  olde  wise  as- 
tronomers," of  Mandeville  and 
of  Columbus  had  been  demons- 
trated, and  tlie  work  which  the 
great  Mercator  was  soon  to  per- 
fonn  in  mapping  the  seas  and 
continents  was  made  an  easy 
task. 

Meanwhile  the  work  of  Span- 
ish colonization  was  continued 
with  success,  la  1526  Charles  W 
appointed  De  Nars'aez  governor  of 
Florida,  with  the  privilege  of  con- 
quest The  latter  reached  his 
pro\-ince  at  Tampa  Bay  in  April, 
152S.  His  force  consisted  of 
two  hundred  and  sixty  soldiers 
and  forty  horsemen.  The  Indians 
had  now  learned  with  good 
reason  to  distrust  the  Spaniards 
under  all  circumstances.  They 
adopted,  therefore,  the  policy  of 
craft  and  falsehood  in  their  deal- 
ings with  the  otherwise  uncon- 
querable foe.  They  told  the 
Spaniards  that  the  gold  trinkets 
which  they  wore  had  come  from 
the  north,  where  there  were  great 
peoples  and  cities  and  treasures. 
Tlie  hint  was  eagerly  cavight  by 
the  Spaniards  and  they  struck 
out  boldly  in  the  direction  indi- 
cated. They  confidently  expected 
to  find  an  empire  in  the  interior, 
Mexico.  Tliey  jXMietrated  the  forest, 
reached   the  Withlacoochee  and    the 

Tills   then 


DEATH  OP  MONTEZUMA. 


and  to  make  such  conquest   as  Cortez  had   done   in 

crossed    great    swamps,   fought   with    tlie    savages, 

Suwanee  and  finally  came  to   Apalachee,    a   squalid  village  of  forty  cabin.s. 

was  the  mighty  city  to  which  their  guides  had  directed  them. 

It  now  remained  for  the  Spaniards  to  return  to  the  coast.  Through  great  fatigue  and 
hunger  they  at  last  reached  the  sea  at  the  harbor  of  St.  Mark's,  constructed  some  brigan- 
tines  and  attempted  to  reach  Mexico.     They  were  finally  driven  ashore  by  a  stonn,  and  ali 


\366) 


COLUMBUS   AXU   COLUMBLV. 


:!ii7 


the  coinpaiu-  perished  except  four  men,  who,  under  the  leadersliip  of  their  lieutenant,  De 
Vaca,  made  their  \va\-  to  tlie  Pacific  coast,  and  were  at  last  rescued  at  the  village  of  San 
Miguel. 

THE  CHIVALROUS  EXPEDITION  OF  DE  SOTO. 
The  expedition  of  Narvaez  was  only  a  scene  compared  with  the  drama  that  was  to  fol- 
low. The  year  1537  witnessed  an  adventure  the  most  remarkable  of  any  b>-  which  the 
interior  of  Spanish  America  was  made  known  to  the  world.  In  that  year  Ferdinand  De 
Soto,  most  cavalier  of  the  cavaliers,  was  appointed  governor  of  Cuba  and  Florida  with  the 
privilege  of  exploring  and  colonizing  the  country  at  will.  De  Soto  was  a  nobleman  of 
great  distinction  and  popularity  and  he  had  no  difficulty  in  gathering  to  liis  standard  in 
Spain  a  company  of  six  hundred  wealthy  and  high-born  adventurers.  Many  of  them  were 
of  knightly  birth  and  all  were  clad  in  the  elegant  apparel  and  annor  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  preparations  for  the  expedition  were  elaborate  to  the  last  degree.  Anns  and  stores 
were  provided  ;  shackles  were  wrought  for  the  slaves  whom   the  adventurers  expected  to 

take  in  the  X  e  w 
World  ;  the  tools  for 
the  forge  and  work- 
shop were  supplied  ; 
bloodhounds  w-  e  r  e 
bought  and  trained 
for  limiting  fugitives. 
A  full  stock  of  gaming 
apparatus  was  made 
ready  for  the  young 
knights.  Twelve 
priests  were  secured 
for  the  introduction 
of  -religion,  and  last 
of  all  a  drove  of  swine 
was  collected  to  fatten 
on  the  maize  and 
m  a  s  t  o  f  t  h  e  n  e  w 
countr)-. 
The  expedition  left  the  harbor  of  San  Lucar  and  came  to  Havana  in  safety.  De  Soto 
appointed  his  wife  to  govern  Cuba  in  his  absence,  and  in  June  of  1539  the  squadron  anchored 
in  Tampa  Bay.  When  a  landing  was  effected  an  expedition  was  at  once  organized  to  explore 
the  interior.  For  two  months  the  cavaliers  marched  northward  through  the  silent  forests 
and  gloomy  morasses.  In  October  they  reached  F'lint  River,  where  they  prepared  to  spend 
the  winter.  In  the  following  spring  they  were  allured  with  the  tradition  of  an  empire  niled 
by  a  wealthy  queen  ;  but  the  stor\- proved  to  be  a  delusion.  The  wanderers  continued  their 
march  down  the  Alabama  River  as  far  as  Mauville,  or  Mobile,  where  tlicy  fought  a  great 
battle  with  the  Indians.  Two  thousand  five  hundred  of  the  latter  were  killed  and  their 
town  destroyed.  The  losses  of  the  Spaniards  were  considerable  ;  hut  instead  of  turning  to 
Pensacola  where  their  supply  ships  had  arrived,  the  proud  and  stubborn  cavaliers  set  their 
faces  to  the  north  and  marched  on  till,  by  the  middle  of  December,  they  reached  the  country 
of  the  Chickasaws.  The  following  winter  they  spent  in  a  deserted  Indian  village  and 
with  the  opening  of  spring  came  to  the  Mississippi.      The  point  where  the  majestic  I'*ather 


HIS    FORCKS    IN 


368 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLU^IBIA. 


of  Waters  was  first  seen  by  white  men  was  at  the  lower  Chickasaw  blufi"  near  the  34th  paral- 
lel of  latitude.  Barges  were  built  and  in  the  latter  part  of  May  the  Sjianiards  crossed  to 
the  western  bank. 

The  expedition  now  proceeded  into  the  land  of  the  Dakotas.  The  country  was  abun- 
dant in  wild  fruits,  and  the  natives  were  inoffensive  and  superstitious.  The  Spaniards 
reached  the  river  St.  Francis  and  crossed 
into  the  southern  limits  of  the  present  State 
of  Missouri  iu  the  vicinity  of  New  Madrid. 
The  next  stage  was  about  two  hundred 
miles.  The  adventurers  came  to  the  Hot 
Springs  and  passed  the  winter  of  1541-42 
on  the  Washita  River. 

It  appears  that  by  this  time  the  ferocity 
of  the  Spanish  character  had  been  full}' 
aroused.  The  cavaliers  attacked  and  de- 
stroyed the  Indian  towns  which  they  came 
to,  chopped  off  Indian  hands  for  a  whim 
and  burned  captives  alive  because — being 
in  mortal  dread — they  had  told  a  falsehood. 
But  the  Spaniards  themselves  were  in  turn 
brought  to  suffering  and  despair.  They 
made  their  way  down  the  Washita  to  the 
Red  River  and  thence  by  that  stream  to 
the  Mississippi.  The  spirit  of  De  Soto 
failed  him.  The  vision  of  Peru  and  Mexico  faded  from  his  sight.  A  fever  seized  upoi 
him  and  death  ended  the  scene.  In  the  stillness  of  night  his  companions  wrapped  the  dcu' 1 
hero's  body  in  a  flag  ;  the  priests  chanted  a  requiem  ;  a  boat  conveyed  the  burial  part}-  out 
to  the  middle  of  the  great  river  and  there  Ferdinand  De  Soto  found  his  endless  rest. 

Thus  far  adventure  and  exploration  had  abounded,  but  no  colonization.  At  length 
Philip  II.  commissioned  a  Spanish  soldier,  Pedro  Melendez,  to  conduct  an  expedition  to- 
Florida  and  to  plant  therein  a  colony  of  not  fewer  than  five  hundred  persons  of  whom  one 
hundred  should  be  married  men.  A  company  of  twenty-five  hundred  gathered  around 
Melendez,  and  in  July  of  1565  the  expedition  left  Spain  for  Porto  Rico. 

The  reader  will  remember  the  story  of  the  French  Huguenots  who  had  before  this 
time  found  a  lodgment  on  the  river  St.  Johns,  in  Florida.  This  fact  was  known  to  the 
Spanish  court,  and  it  was  one  of  the  objects  of  Melendez  to  exterminate  the  heretical 
Frenchmen.  On  the  28th  of  August  the  fleet  arrived  in  sight  of  Florida.  It  was  St. 
Augustine's  day,  and  that  circtimstance  gave  a  name  to  the  colon}-  which  was  now  to  be 
established.  The  harbor  was  explored  and  named  in  honor  of  the  Saint.  Philip  II.  was 
proclaimed  monarch  of  North  America.  A  solemn  mass  was  said  b}-  the  priests,  and  there, 
in  the  sight  of  forest  and  sky  and  sea,  were  laid  the  foiindation  stones  of  the  oldest  town 
planted  by  Europeans  within  the  present  limits  of  the  United  States.  This  was  seventeen 
years  before  the  founding  of  Santa  Fe  by  Antonio  de  Espego  and  forty-two  years  before  the 
settlement  of  Jamestown. 


M  E  J€  I 


ROUTE   OF   DE   SOTO'S   EXPEDITION. 


CHAPTER  V. 


ENGLISH  COLONIZATION. 

HILE  the  colonial  enterprises  of  the  Spaniards 
foreran  those  of  the  English  by  more  than  half 
a  centur\-  in  time,  the  latter  people  were  finally 
more  snccessfnl  than  their  rivals  in  the  work 
of  colonizing  the  new  continent  They  were 
also  more  fortunate — if  fortune  is  a  part  of  histor\-. 
For  the\-  obtained  possession,  as  if  by  auspicious 
accident,  of  the  better  parts  of  the  New  World. 
They  struck  the  eastern  shores  of  America  in 
the  latitude  of  its  broadest  and  most  favorable 
belt.  The  circumstances  of  settlement  also,  though 
by  no  means  attended  with  the  pomp  and  patronage 
that  followed  the  enterprises  of  France  and  Spain, 
were  nevertheless  of  a  kind  to  foretoken  permanence, 
development  and  empire. 
We  shall  here  note  m  brief  paragraphs  the  leading  features  of  the  colonization  of 
Virginia  and  Massachusetts.  The  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  brought  in  a  con- 
dition of  affairs  more  favorable  than  hitherto  to  the  planting  of  English  settlements  in 
North  America.  At  the  very  beginning  of  his  reign  the  attention  of  King  James  I.  was 
turned  to  the  project  of  colonizing  his  American  possessions.  On  the  loth  of  April,  1606, 
he  issued  two  great  patents  to  men  of  his  kingdom  authorizing  them  to  possess  and  colonize 
that  portion  of  North  America  lying  between  the  34th  and  45th  parallels  of  latitude. 

Geographically  the  great  territon,-  thus  granted  extended  from  Cape  Fear  River  to 
Passamaquoddy  Bay,  and  westward  to  the  Pacific.  The  first  patent  was  directed  to  certain 
nobles,  gentlemen  and  merchants  residing  in  London.  The  corporation  was  called  the 
London  Company  and  had  for  its  bottom  motives  colonization  and  connnerce.  The  second 
patent  was  granted  to  a  like  bod\'  of  men  which  had  been  organized  at  Plymouth,  in  South- 
western England,  and  was  known  as  the  Plymouth  Company.  In  the  division  of  territory 
between  the  two  corporations  the  countr)'  between  the  34th  and  38th  parallels  was  a.ssigned 
to  the  London  Company,  that  between  the  41st  and  45th  parallels  to  the  Plymouth  Coiii- 
pan\-,  and  the  narrow  belt  of  three  degrees  between  the  two  to  each  corporation  equally, 
but  under  the  restriction  that  no  settlement  of  one  jiarty  should  be  made  within  less  than 
one  hundred  miles  of  the  nearest  .settlement  of  the  other. 

The  leader  in  organizing  the  Ivondon  Company  was  Bartholomew  Gosnold.  His 
principal  a.s.sociates  were  Edward  Wingficld,  a  rich  merchant;  Rolicrt  Hunt,  a  clergyman; 
and  Captain  John  Smith,  a  man  of  genius.  Others  who  aided  the  enterprise  were  vSit 
John  Popham,  Chicf-Jiistice  of  E^ugland;  Richard  Hakluyt,  a  historian;  and  Sir  Ferdinand 
Gorges,  a  distingiii.shed  nobleman. 

24  '.3*'Vi 


370 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA 


As  to  the  government  of  the  proposed  colon\-  the  royal  prerogative  was  carefully 
guarded.  There  was  to  be  a  Superior  Council  resident  in  England.  The  members  of 
this  body  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  King  and  might  be  removed  at  his  pleasure.  An 
Inferior  Council  residing  in  the  colony  was  provided  for;  but  the  members  of  this  body 
were  also  to  be  selected  b)'  the  royal  authorit}-  and  might  be  removed  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  King.  All  the  elements  of  government  were  virtually  reserved  and  vested  in  the  mon- 
arch. Paternalism  was  carried  to  the  extreme  in  one  of  the  restrictions  which  required 
that  all  the  propert}'  of  the  colonists  should  be  held  in  common  for  the  first  five  years  after 
organization.  The  emigrants,  however,  were  favored  in  one  particular,  and  that  was 
in  the  concession  that  they  should  retain  in  the  New  World  all  the  personal  and  social 
rights  and  privileges  of  Englishmen. 

VICISSITUDES  OF  THE  PLYMOUTH  AND  LONDON  COMPANIES. 

As  early  as  August,  1606,  the  Plymouth  Company  sent  out  their  first  ship  to  America. 
This  vessel,  however,  was  captured  by  a  Spanish  man-of-war.  Later  in  the  year  another 
ship  was  despatched  by  the  company  and  spent 
the  winter  on  the  American  coast.  In  the 
following  summer  a  colony  of  a  hundred  per- 
sons was  gathered  and  carried  safely  to  the 
mouth  of  the  River  Kennebec,  where  a  settle- 
ment was  planted  under  favorable  omens.  A  fort 
was  built  and  named  St.  George.  For  a  while 
affairs  went  well  with  the  settlers.  Later  in  ^i 
the  season  about  one-half  of  the  company! 
returned  to  England  ;  a  dreadful  winter  set  in; 
the  storehouse  was  burned;  some  of  the  settlers ^^^^"1 
were  starved,  some  frozen;  and  with  the  com- 
ing of  the  next  summer  the  miserable  remnant 
escaped  to  England. 

The  efforts  of  the  London  Company  were^ 
attended  with  greater  success.  A  squadron  of 
three  vessels  was  fitted  out  under  command 
of  Christopher  Newport.  A  colony  of  a 
hundred  and  five  members  was  collected  on 
board  and  on  the   gtli  of  December,  1606,  the  capt.  john  smith. 

ship  set  sail  for  the  New  World.  The  principal  men  of  the  company  were  Winfield,  Smith 
and  Newport.  The  expedition  followed  the  old  line  of  sailing,  by  way  of  the  Canaries 
and  the  West  Indies  and  did  not  reach  the  American  coast  until  April  of  the  following 
year.  The  leaders  of  the  colony  had  steered  the  fleet  for  Roanoke  Island;  but  a  storm 
prevailed  and  the  ships  were  borne  northward  into  the  Chesapeake  Bay. 

On  the  southern  shore  of  this  broad  water  the  pilots  soon  found  the  mouth  of  a  beau- 
tiful river  which  was  named  in  honor  of  King  James.  Proceeding  up  this  stream  about 
fifty  miles,  Newport  chose  a  peninsula  on  the  northern  bank  as  the  site  of  his  settlement. 
Here  the  colonists  were  debarked  and  the  ships  were  moored  by  the  shore.  On  the  1 3th  of 
May,  (old  style),  1607,  were  laid  at  this  place  the  foundations  of  Jamestown,  the  oldest 
English  settlement  in  America.  It  was  within  a  month  of  a  hundred  and  ten  years  after 
the  discovery  of  the  continent  by  the  elder  Cabot.  So  long  had  it  taken  in  an  age  of  war 
and  doubt  and  semi-darkne.ss  and  unprogressive  conditions  to  possess  the  first  square  mile 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


•>/ . 


of  that  vast  and  virgin  New  World  which  had  been  revealed  by  the  adventurers  of  .Spain 
and  England  in  the  last  decade  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Xcar]\-  forlv-two  years  had 
elapsed  since  the  founding  of  St.  Aui^usline  by  tlie  Spaniards  and  t\vent\-fivc  \cars  from 
the  planting  of  Santa  Fc  by  Antonio  de  Espego. 

In  this  way  did  tlie  London  Company  anticipate  its  rival  in  establishiuL'  an  .Vnicrican 
plantation.  For  se\eral  years  the  Plymouth  Company  made  little  progress.  Meanwhile 
personal  genius  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  prospects  of  England  in  America.  Captain 
John  Smith,  who  had  shown  himself  to  be  the  leading  spirit  of  the  Virginia  settlement,  had 
been  wounded  b\  an  accident  and  had  returned  in  1609  to  England.  Xo  discouragement 
could  daunt  the  spirit  of  such  a  man,  and  on  recovering  his  health  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  four  merchants  of  London  with  a  view  to  engaging  in  the  fur  trade  and  the  work  of 
colonization  within  the  limits  of  the  grant  made  three  years  previouslv  to  the  Plvmouth 
Compan\'. 

Two  ships  were  accordingly  equipped  under  command  of  Captain  Smitli.  Thesunnner 
of  1614  he  spent  on  the  lower  coast  of  Maine,  carrying  on  a  profitable  trade  with  the  Indians. 
The  crews  were  well  satisfied  with  their  gains  and  with  tlie  profitable  pleasures  of  fisliing. 
Captain  Smitli,  however,  engaged  his  energies  in  the  work  of  exploration.  He  traced  the 
wliole  coast  from  the  Penobscot  to  Cape  Cod  and  drew  a  map  of  the  country  which  is  still 
extant  and  is  a  marvel  of  accuracy  and  careful  work,  hi  this  map  the  name  of  Xkw  Eng- 
land was  written  as  the  title  of  the  country — a  name  which  Prince  Charles  confinned  and 
which  history  has  well  preser\-ed  for  posterity. 

STORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH   PURITANS. 

At  this  juncture  we  touch  the  story  of  the  English  Puritans.  This  bodv  of  religionists 
had  suffered  much  in  England  and  many  liad  exiled  themselves  into  Holland.  Though  not 
subject  to  further  persecutions  they  were  nevertheless  ill  at  ease  in  the  land  of  their  banish- 
ment. They  were  Englishmen  ;  the  unfamiliar  tongue  of  the  Dutch  grated  liarshh-  on  their 
ears,  and  they  pined  for  some  other  land  where  they  might  be  secure  from  molestation  and 
found  for  themselves  a  new  State  in  the  wilderness. 

With  a  view  to  promoting  this  vague  project  John  Car\-er  and  Robert  Cusliman  were 
despatched  from  Leyden  to  England  to  act  as  commissioners  for  the  Puritans  before  the 
King  and  his  ministers.  The  agents  of  the  IvOndon  Comp-any  and  the  Council  of  Plvniuuth 
gave  .some  encouragement  to  the  petitioners,  but  the  King  and  the  ministry,  especiallv  I^ord 
Bacon,  set  their  faces  against  all  measures  which  might  seem  to  fa\-or  heretics.  The  most 
that  King  James  would  do  was  to  give  an  informal  promise  that  he  would  let  the  I'lni/ans 
alone  in  America. 

Such  was  the  poor  report  which  Car\'er  and  Cushman  were  able  to  bear  back  to  Hol- 
land. But  the  e.xiles  were  not  easily  put  from  theft  ourpo.se.  They  resolved  of  their  own 
motion  to  seek  a  new  home  in  the  wilds  of  .Vmerica.  With  the  Kin_<j^'s  permission  or  with- 
out it  they  would  go  and  plant  a  new  State  in  the  western  wilderness.  The_\-  accordingly, 
b%-  sacrifice  and  contribution,  provided  two  vessels,  the  Spccdivcll  and  the  Mayjlenver^  for 
their  voyage  across  the  .Vtlantic.  The  Spced~u>cll  was  to  carry  the  emigrants  from  Leyden 
to  Southampton  where  they  were  to  be  joined  by  the  Mayjhncer  with  another  company 
from  London. 

The  Puritan  congregation  in  Ivcyden  followed  the  emijjfrants  to  the  shore.  There  under 
the  open  heaven  their  pastor,  John  Robinson,  gave  them  a  partinjjf  address  and  benediction. 
Both  vessels  with  the  Pilgrims  on  board  came  safely  to  vSoulliainpton,  where  the  exiu-dition 
was  reorganized.     On  the  5th  of  August  the  two  ships  put  to  sea  ;  but  the  Speedwell  way 


372 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


found  to  be  unfit  for  the  voyage  and  was  obliged  to  put  back  to  Plymouth.  The  more 
zealous  of  the  emigrants  collected  on  board  the  Mayflozccr^  and  on  the  6th  of  September 
the  first  colony  of  New  England,  numbering  a  hundred  and  two  souls  saw  the  shores  of  Old 
England  grow  dim  and  sink  behind  the  sea. 

The  Mayflower  had  a  stormy  voyage  of  sixty-three  da>'s'  duration.  The  vessel  was 
carried  out  of  its  course  and  the  first  land  sighted  was  the  bleak  Cape  Cod.  On  the  9th  of 
November  the  ship  came  to  anchor  in  Cape  Cod  Bay  ;  a  meeting  was  held  on  board  and  a 
compact  adopted  for  the  government  of  the  colony.  The  emigrants  declared  their  loyalty 
to  the  English  crown  and  covenanted  to  live  together  in  peace  and  harmony,  conceding 
equal  rights  to  all  and  obeying  just  laws  made  for  the  common  good.  The  compact  was 
signed  by  all  and  John  Carver  was  chosen  governor  of  the  colony. 

LANDING    OF   THE    PILGRIM    FATHERS. 
For  some  days  the  Mayflower  lay  at  anchor  while  the  boats  were  repaired  and  other 
preparations  made  for  debarkation.      Miles  Standish,  the  great  soldier  of  the  company,  went 

ashore  with   a    few  of 
the  braver  of  the  colo- 
nists and  made  explora- 
tions   through    the 
dreary   country,    but 
found  nothing  of  value 
or  interest.     Storms 
of  snow  and  sleet  beat 
upon  the  company  un- 
til   their   clothes    were 
converted  into  coats-of- 
mail.    The  ship  was  steered  around  the  coast 
until  it  was  driven,  half  by  accident  and  half 
b)'  the  skill  of  the  pilot,  into  the  safe  haven  on 
the  west  side  of  the  bay.      Here,  on  Monday, 
the   nth    of  December   (old  st>-le),  1620,  the 
Pilerim  Fathers  of  New  England  landed  on 
Plymouth  Rock. 

Before  the  Puritans  was  desolation  ;  behind  them  a  stormy  sea.  It  was  midwinter. 
The  sleet  and  snow  blew  upon  them  in  alternate  tempests.  The  houseless  immigrants  fell 
a-dying  of  hunger,  cold  and  despair.  A  few  days  were  spent  in  explorations  along  the 
coast  ;  a  site  was  chosen  near  the  first  landing  ;  trees  were  felled  and  the  snowdrifts  cleared 
away.  On  the  9th  of  January,  1621,  the  heroic  toilers  began  to  build  New  Plymouth. 
Each  man  took  on  himself  the  work  of  making  his  own  house  ;  but  the  ravages  of  disease 
grew  daily  worse.  Strong  amis  fell  powerless  ;  lung  fevers  and  consumption  wasted  every 
family.  At  one  time  only  seven  men  were  able  to  work  on  the  sheds  which  were  building 
for  shelter  from  the  rigors  of  winter,  while  their  provisions  were  so  completely  exhausted 
that  starvation  was  only  avoided  by  the  doling  out  of  a  few  kernels  of  corn  to  the  famishing 
women  and  children.  To  such  a  desperate  extremity  were  they  reduced  for  a  while  that 
five  kernels  of  the  little  store  of  corn  that  was  between  them  and  fatal  famine  was  the 
allowance  three  times  a  day  for  each  member.  If  an  early  spring  had  not  come  with  its 
sunshine  and  bird-song  and  gladness  the  colony  must  have  perished  to  a  man.  Such  were 
the  privations  and  griefs  of  that  memorable  event  by  which  New  England  began  to  be. 


SIGNING   THE    COMPACT. 


UEAU.NO   OUT  THE    FIVE    KERNELS    OF  CORN. 


(373) 


374 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


We  are  thus  at  the  close  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  centur>'  enabled  to  view 
the  general  situation  on  the  eastern  shores  of  our  continent  The  French  had  obtained  a 
footing  in  Nova  Scotia  and  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Ivawrence.  The  English  had  colonized  the 
countr}'  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  Dutch  had  established  themselves  on  Manhattan  Island 
and  in  detached  settlements  along  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware.  In  the  country  of  the 
Chesapeake  the  colony  of  Jamestown  was  so  well  founded  as  to  remove  all  doubt  of  its  per- 
manency. In  Florida  the  Spaniards  had  succeeded  in  planting  at  St.  Augiistine  and  several 
other  places  successful  and  promising  settlements.  It  was  clear  to  the  discerning  eye  of 
reason  and  prophec}'  that  the  white  race  had  fixed  itself  along  the  western  shores  of  the 
Atlantic  in  situations  which  were  to  become  the  centres  of  a  civilization  to  which  the  New 
World  had  hitherto  been  a  stranger.  We  may  now  properly  note  in  a  few  paragraphs  the 
spread  and  development  of  the  European  colonies  on  our  shores. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  these  was  the  colony  of  Connecticut.  The  history  of  the  set- 
tlement of  this  province  begins  with  the  j'ear  1630.     In  that  j-ear  the  Council  of  Plymouth, 

which  had  in  the  mean- 


t  i  m  e  superseded  the 
Plymouth  Company, 
made  a  grant  of  Ameri- 
can territorj'  to  the  Earl 
of  Warwick.  In  the 
following  year  the  claim 
was  assigned  by  War- 
wick to  Lord  Say-and- 
Seal,  Lord  Brooke,  John 
Hampden  and  others. 
Before  this  company 
was  able  to  avail  itself 
of  the  grant  some  of 
the  Dutch  settlers  from 
IManhattan  reached  the 
Connecticut  river  and 
built  on  the  after  site 
of  Hartford  a  nide  for- 
tress which  they  called 
the  House  of  Good 
Hope. 

Hearing  of  this  intrusion  the  people  of  the  Plymouth  colony,  who  claimed  the  valley 
of  the  Connecticut,  sent  out  a  force  to  expel  their  rivals.  The  English  of  New  Ph-mouth 
indeed  carried  theii  territorial  claim  westward  indefinitely,  extending  the  same  beyond  the 
Connecticut  and  the  Hudson  and  covering  the  Dutch  settlements  of  New  Netherland.  The 
English  expedition  from  Plymouth  entered  the  Connecticut  river,  passed  the  House  of  Good 
Hope,  defied  the  Dutch  and  about  seven  miles  up  the  stream  built  a  block-house  which  they 
called  Windsor. 

Not  satisfied  with  this  occupation,  the  people  of  Boston,  in  1635,  sent  out  a  colony  of 
sixt)'  persons  to  occupy  the  Connecticut  valle)'.  Settlements  were  made  by  these  at  Hart- 
ford, Windsor  and  Wethersfield.  In  the  same  year  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  arrived  in  New 
England  bearing  from  the  proprietaries  of  the  western  colony  a  commission  to  fortify  the 


COLUMIU'S  AM)  COIAMI'.IA. 


:i75 


mouth  of  the  Connecticut  and  to  expel  the  Dutch  from  that  region.  A  fort  was  built  at  tlie 
entrance  to  the  river  which  was  tiie  foundinjj;  of  Saybrook,  so  named  in  honor  of  the 
proprietaries  Lord  Say  and  Lord  Brooke.  These  noblemen,  in  accordance  with  their  j^rant, 
had  chosen  the  country  of  the  Connecticut  as  the  scene  of  their  colonization.  In  this  man- 
ner the  nm-^t  important  river  of  New  Knijlaud  was  brout;;ht  under  the  control  of  the   I'uri- 


ROr.ER    WILLIAMS   AT   THK   COl'NCIL   OF   CASONMCl'S. 

;     tans.     The  colony  of  Connecticut  was  established  and  a 
new  vantaj^e  fjained  for  the  further  spread  of  settlements. 
ROGER  WILLIAMS,   THE  LIBERAL  RELIGIONIST. 
The   fuuiuliiij;  dI"  Riioin.  I.si.a.nd  wa.s  the   work  of 
the    celebrated    Ro«;er  Williams,   a   youny:  minister  of 
Salem  village,  north  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

No  man  in  the  histor>-  of  New  England  deserves  a  brighter  or  more  enduring 
fame,  not  more  for  what  he  did  in  the  founding  of  a  successful  colony  than  for  the  exertion 
of  his  influence  with  Indians  whose  friendshi])  he  had  won,  by  which  he  several  times  s;ived 
the  whites  from   massacre.      His  sense  of  justice  was  ven-  like  that  which  distinguished 


376  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Penn  and  it  was  this  character  that  endeared  hiin  to  the  Indians.  The  Narragansetts  and 
Peqnods  were  hereditary  enemies,  but  through  the  persuasion  of  Williams  they  became  recon- 
ciled and  likewise  made  a  treaty" of  friendship  with  the  English.  But  this  compact  which 
seemed  propitious  of  perpetual  peace  soon  became  a  source  of  danger,  for  being  relieved 
of  their  hereditary  foes,  the  Narragansetts,  the  Peqnods,  whose  hatred  for  the  English  was 
irreconcilable,  violated  their  treaty  and  perpetrated  several  outrages  which,  however,  were 
speedily  avenged  by  the  militia.  Finding  themselves  tmequal  to  the  English,  the  Peqnods 
sought  an  alliance  with  the  Narragansetts  and  ]\Iohegans,  whom  they  persuaded  to  join  them 
in  an  extermination  of  the  whites.  The  situation  thus  became  critical  in  the  extreme  and 
the  purpose  of  the  alliance  was  only  defeated  through  the  efforts  of  Williams,  who,  first 
notifying  Sir  Henry  Vane,  Governor  of  ^lassachusetts,  of  the  peril,  went  alone  to  the  camp 
of  the  Narragansetts  and  in  the  tent  of  Canonicus  he  found  that  chief  in  council  with  sev- 
eral notable  Peqnods.  For  two  daj^s  he  pleaded  with  Canonicus  to  withdraw  from  the 
alliance  and  stand  steadfast  to  his  vows  of  peace  with  the  whites,  and  at  length  had  the  intense 
satisfaction  of  receiving  that  chief's  promise  to  renoi;nce  his  murderous  purpose.  Being 
thus  bereft  of  their  allies  the  Peqnods  were  easily  vanquished  by  the  English  militia,  who 
attacking  them  suddenly,  burned  their  fort  and  destroyed  all  but  seven  of  their  warriors. 

The  principles  of  social  and  political  organization,  as  well  as  of  religious  belief,  which 
Williams  adopted  were  the  most  liberal  and  tolerant  which  had  been  proclaimed  among 
men  since  the  beginning  of  the  modern  era.  He  assumed  that  the  conscience  of  the  indi- 
vidual could  not  be  bound  b}'  the  magistrate  or  the  civil  government ;  that  the  government 
had  to  do  only  with  the  collection  of  taxes,  the  restraint  of  law-breakers,  the  punishment 
of  crime  and  the  protection  of  all  in  the  enjoyment  of  equal  rights. 

Such  utterances  as  these,  however,  could  not  be  borne  by  the  narrow-minded  religio- 
lists  who  had  colonized  New  England.  So  long  had  the  oppressive  forces  of  society  and  the 
abuses  of  ecclesiasticism  borne  upon  the  Puritans  that  against  the  dictates  of  their  better 
natures  they  had  become  as  wickedl}'  and  perniciously  intolerant  as  were  the  persecutors 
from  whom  they  had  escaped  in  England  and  Holland.  Roger  Williams  was  arraigned  for 
his  doctrines  and  expelled  from  Plymouth  colony.  His  teachings  were  declared  to  be  hereti- 
cal, destructive  of  the  interests  of  society  and  inimical  to  the  best  interests  of  men.  He 
was  driven  awa}'  in  the  dead  of  winter,  and  was  obliged  for  fourteen  weeks  to  save  himself 
from  the  snows  and  inclemency  of  the  season  by  sleeping  in  hollow  trees  and  subsisting  on 
parched  corn,  acorns  and  roots.  He  went  among  the  Indians  whose  rights  he  had  defended, 
and  was  entertained  by  IMassasoit,  chief  of  the  Wampanoags,  at  his  cabin  at  Pokanoket ; 
also  by  Canonicus,  king  of  the  Narragansetts. 

The  exile  at  last  made  his  wa}'  to  the  bank  of  the  Blackstone  river,  near  Narragansett 
Bay,  where  with  the  opening  of  spring  he  planted  a  field  and  built  the  first  nide  house  in 
the  village  of  Seekonk.  It  was  soon  found,  however,  that  he  was  still  within  the  territory 
of  Plymouth  colon}-.  Meanwhile  five  companions  from  Salem  and  Boston  had  joined  him 
in  his  banishment,  and  with  these  he  left  his  house  and  crossing  to  the  west  side  of  the 
bay  purchased  a  new  tract  of  land  from  Canonicus.  Here,  in  June  of  1636,  he  and  his 
followers  laid  out  the  city  of  Providence,  and  thus  became  the  fathers  of  Rhode  Island. 

Already  a  settlement  had  been  effected  in  the  tefritorj-  of  NEW  Hampshire.  In  1622 
the  countr}-  between  the  rivers  IVIerrimac  and  Kennebec,  reaching  from  the  sea  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  was  granted  by  the  Council  of  Plymouth  to  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges  and  John 
Mason.  The  proprietaries  made  haste  to  secure  their  rights  b\-  planting  a  colony.  In  the 
spring  of  1623  two  small   companies  of  emigrants  were  sent  out  by  Mason  and  Gorges  to 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


:M7 


hold  uicir  province.  Already  a  score  of  years  previously  New  Hampshire  had  been 
visited  by  Martin  Pring  ;  and  the  adventurous  Captain  vSinitli,  in  1614,  had  explored  and 
mapped  the  coast. 

After  the  settlement  at  Plymouth  the  plantations  on  the  Merrimac  were  the  oldest  in 
all  New  England.  The  progress  of  the  colony,  however,  was  slow.  The  first  villages 
were  no  more  than  fishing  stations.  After  si.x  years  the  proprietaries  divided  their  dominion 
between  them,  Gorges  taking  the  northern  and  Mason  the  southern  portion  of  the  province. 
The  minister,  John  Wheelwright,  came  into  New  Hampshire  and  purchased  the  rights 
of  the  natives  to  the  territory-  occupied  by  Mason's  colony.  A  second  patent  was  issued 
to  the  proprietar)-,  and  the  name  of  the  province  was  changed  from  Laconia  to  New 
Hampshire. 

In  the  meantime  the  same  kind  of  expansion  was  taking  place  from  the  parent  colony 
in  \'irginia.  As  early  as  162 1  William  Clayborue,  a  resolute  English  sur\'eyor,  was  sent 
out  by  the  London  Company  to  make  a  map  of  the  countr>-  of  the  Chesapeake.  The  terri- 
tory- of  Virginia  had  by  the  terms  of  the  second  cliarttr  bitn  extended  on  tlu  imrth  to  the 
forty-first  parallel  of  lati- 
tude. This  included  the 
present  States  of  Mar)- 
land  and  Delaware  and  a 
great  part  of  New  Jersey 
and  Pennsylvania.  The 
ambitions  of  the  London 
Company  were  inflamed 
with  the  possession  of  so 
vast  and  beautiful  a 
territor}-,  and  they  put 
forth  laudable  efforts  to 
explore  and  occupy  it 
before  it  s h o u  1  d  be 
sought  and  seized  by 
rival  colonists. 

Claybonie  was  him- 
self a  member  of  the 
Council  for  Virginia,  and 
was  Secretary  of  State  in  that  colony.  In  1631  he  was  sent  out  as  a  royal  commis- 
sioner to  discover  the  sources  of  the  Chesapeake,  to  establish  a  trade  with  the  Indians  and 
exercise  the  right  of  governor  over  his  companions  and  any  .settlement  that  he  might 
form.  His  enterprise  was  attended  with  success.  He  first  planted  a  trading  post  on  Kent 
Island  and  another  at  the  head  of  the  bay  in  the  vicinity  of  Havre  de  Grace.  The 
rivers  that  fall  into  the  Chesapeake  were  explored  and  traffic  established  with  the 
natives.  It  seemed  for  the  time  that  the  territory'  of  \'irginia  was  about  to  be  ex- 
tended to  the  borders  of  New  Nctlierland. 

RIVALRY  BETWEEN  CATHOLICS  AND   PROTESTANTS. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  other  lii>lorical  forces  had  been  .set  in  operation  by  which 
the  intended  character  of  the  central  American  colonies  was  permanently  changed.  The 
religiotis  stniggles  and  persecutions  which  since  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation  had 
l>een  prevalent  in   the  Old  World   became  the  efficient  causes  of  the  planting  of  a  new 


AMONG   THE   INDIANS. 


378 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


colony  on  the  north  of  Virginia,  and  the  limitation  of  her  territories  in  that  direction. 
The  personal  agent  throngh  whose  instrnmentality  this  work  was  to  be  accomplished  was 
Sir  George  Calvert,  of  Yorkshire.  This  distinguished  nobleman  whose  name  is  indissoiubly 
associated  with  the  colonial  history  of  the  United  States  was  educated  at  Oxford.  He  had 
devoted  much  time  to  travel  and  study.  He  was  an  ardent  and  consistent  Catholic,  a 
friend  of  humanity,  honored  with  knighthood  and  a  member  of  the  Irish  peerage,  with  the 
title  of  Lord  Baltimore. 

In  Protestant  England  the  tables  had  been  turned  by  the  Refonned  part}-  on  the 
Catholics,  and  the  latter  suffered  not  a  little  through  the  malevolence  and  injustice  of  the 
fonner.  The  dominant  Church  of  England  persecuted  both  the  Catholics  and  the  dissent- 
ing Protestants,  following  them  with  hatred  and  violence  even  to  foreign  lands.  It  was 
this  condition  of  affairs  that  first  suggested  to  Lord  Baltimore  the  planting  of  a  Catholic 

colon^•  in  Newfoundland.      He  secured   from 


King  James  a  patent  for  the  southern  part  of 
the  island  and  there,  in  1623,  established  a 
refuge  for  the  distressed  people  of  his  faith. 

In  such  a  situation,  however,  no  colony 
could  thrive.  The  country-  was  cheerless  and 
desolate.  Profitable  industry  was  impossible. 
Only  the  fishing  interest  invited  to  enter- 
prise and  trade.  Besides,  the  ships  of  France 
hovered  around  the  coasts  and  captured  the 
English  fishing-boats.  Lord  Baltimore 
became  convinced  that  his  countrj-men  must 
be  removed  to  a  more  favorable  situation,  and 
in  selecting,  his  attention  was  turned  to  the 
genial  country  of  the  Chesapeake.  In  1629 
he  went  in  person  to  Virginia  and  was  favor- 
ably received  by  the  Assembly.  That  body, 
however,  in  offering  him  citizenship  required 
an  oath  to  which  no  honest  Catholic  could 
subscribe.  Sir  George  pleaded  for  toleration; 
but  the  Assembly  would  not  yield  and  Lord 
Baltimore  was  obliged  to  turn  awav. 


SIR    GEO.    CALVERT    (LORD    BALTIMORE). 


In  the  meantime  the  London  Company  had  been  dissolved  and  the  King  of  England 
had  recovered  whatever  rights  and  privileges  he  had  fonnerly  conceded  to  that  corporation. 
It  was  therefore  within  his  power  to  re- grant  the  vast  territory  north  of  the  River  Potomac, 
which  by  the  terms  of  the  second  charter  had  been  conceded  to  Virginia.  When  the 
Assembly  refused  toleration  to  Baltimore,  he  turned  from  that  body  and  appealed  to  the 
King  for  a  charter  for  himself  and  his  colony.  King  Charles  I.  heard  the  petition  with 
favor  and  the  charter  was  drawn  and  received  the  royal  signature.  The  Virginians,  by 
their  intolerance  had  saved  their  religion  and  lost  a  province. 

SETTLEMENT  OF  MARYLAND  UNDER  A  CODE  OF  LIBERAL  LAWS. 

The  territory-  granted  to  Sir  George  Calvert  was  ample.  It  extended,  after  the 
phraseolog}'  of  the  times,  from  ocean  to  ocean.  The  boundar>-  on  the  north  was  the  40th 
parallel.  On  the  west  the  limit  was  to  be  a  line  drawn  due  south  from  the  4otli  parallel  to 
the  westernmost  fountain  of  the  Potomac.      That  river  was  to  constitute  the  southern  boun- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


379 


dar)-.     A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  the  original  grant  included  the  present  States  of 
Maryland  and  Delaware,  besides  a  large  part  of  Peiuisylvania  and  New  Jersey. 

On  the  whole  the  charter  issued  to  Sir  George  Calvert  was  the  most  liberal  of  any 
which  the  English  kings  had  thus  far  granted  to  their  subjects.  Christianity  was  declared 
to  be  the  religion  of  the  State,  but  no  preference  was  given  to  sect  or  creed.  The  lives  and 
property  of  the  colonists  were  put  under  the  careful  protection  of  English  law.  Free  trade 
was  declared  as  the  policy  of  the  province,  and  arbitrary  ta.xation  was  forbidden.  The 
appointment  of  the  officers  of  the  colonial  govern- 
ment was  conceded  to  the  lord  proprietary  and  the 
right  of  m;iking  and  amending  the  laws  to  a 
popular  assembly. 

While  engaged  in    this  benevolent  work  Sir 
George  Calvert  died    and  his    estates    and  titles 
descended  to  his  son 
Cecil,     the     second 
Lord  Baltimore.  He, 
however,       received  '"ItB^'  ,    i*«i<B?U*      /  *E   H    ^IS     .X 


i^^m 


I.EOX.\RD    CALVERT    PLANTING  THB 
FIRST   COLONY    IN   MARYLANIl. 

the  charter  which  had  been  intended  for 
his  father.  In  honor  of  Henrietta  Maria, 
daughter  of  Henr>-  IV.,  of  France,  and 
wife  of  King  Charles,  the  name  of  Mary- 
land was  conferred  on  the  new  province. 
Its  independence  was  guaranteed  by  the  royal  constitution  and  it  only  remained  for  Sir 
Cecil  to  carry  out  his  father's  purposes  of  planting  a  free  State  in  the  New  World.  Some 
time,  however,  was  consumed  in  gathering  a  colony  and  it  was  not  until  1633  ^^^^^ 
a  company  of  two  hundred  persons  was  collected  for  the  voyage.  Lord  Baltimore  had  by 
this  time  changed  his  mind  with  respect  to  conducting  the  enterprise  in  person.  Instead 
of  accompanying  his  colony  he  appointed  his  brother,  Leonard  Calvert,  to  act  as  deputy 
governor,  and  sent  him  forth  to  plant  the  new  American  State. 

It  was  in  March  of  1634  that  the  Catholic  immigrants  arrived  at  Old    I'oint  Comfort 


380  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Calvert  bore  a  letter  from  the  King  charging  Governor  Harvey,  of  Virginia,  to  receive  the 
new  comers  with  conrtesy  and  favor.  The  governor  was  obliged  to  obe\-  ;  bnt  the, 
Virginians  were  inflamed  with  jealousy  at  the  success  of  an  enterprise  which  they  could  but 
perceive  would  deprive  them  of  the  profitable  fur  trade  of  the  upper  Chesapeake. 

Sailing  up  the  bay,  Leonard  Calvert  and  his  colony  entered  the  Potomac.  After  some 
explorations  they  selected  the  countrj'  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Mary's  as  the  site  of  their  set- 
tlement. Here  the  colonists  took  possession  of  a  half-abandoned  Indian  town,  purchased 
the  surrounding  territory,  set  up  a  cross  as  the  sign  of  Catholic  occupation  and  gave  the 
name  of  St.  ]\Iar}''s  to  this  the  oldest  colony  of  Maryland.  It  was  thus  that  by  strange 
vicissitude  a  company  of  Catholic  immigrants  was  established  in  the  midst  of  Protestant 
dissenters  on  the  American  coast.  While  the  Huguenots  had  been  driven  into  exile  by  the 
persecutions  of  the  Mother  Church  and  had  sought  refuge  in  New  France,  the  very  same 
kind  of  proscription  and  religious  vindictiveness  thrust  forth  from  Protestant  England  the 
Catholic  fathers  of  Maryland. 

We  may  now  glance  at  the  work  of  colonization  in  the  countr}-  south  of  Virginia.  The 
year  1630  witnessed  the  first  effort  to  plant  a  settlement  in  the  region  below  the  territorial 
limits  of  the  London  Company.  In  that  year  the  territory  between  the  30th  and  36th 
parallels  of  latitude  was  granted  b)'  the  King  to  Sir  Robert  Heath.  This  nobleman,  how- 
ever, did  not  succeed  in  organizing  a  colony.  His  successor.  Lord  Maltravers,  was  equally 
unsuccessful.  The  patent  continued  in  force  for  thirty-three  years  and  was  then  revoked 
by  the  roval  authority.  Almost  the  only  historical  result  of  the  issuance  of  Sir  Robert's 
charter  was  the  preserv-ation  of  the  name  of  Carolina  which  had  been  given  by  the  Hugue- 
nots to  the  countrj'  of  their  choice. 

COLONIZATION  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

Before  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  nameh-,  in  1622,  the  coast  of  the  southern  territory 
was  explored  by  Pory,  secretary  of  Virginia.  In  1642  a  company  of  Virginian  adventurers 
obtained  leave  of  the  Assembly  to  prosecute  discovery  on  the  lower  Poanoke  and  open  a 
trade  with  the  Indians.  The  first  actual  settlement  made  in  this  region  was  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Chowan  in  the  year  165 1.  Soon  afterwards  William  Claybome,  of  Mar>dand, 
made  explorations  along  this  part  of  the  coast.  In  1661  a  company  of  New  England  Puri- 
tans entered  the  Cape  Fear  River,  purchased  lands  of  the  natives  and  established  a  colony 
on  Oldtown  creek,  nearly  two  hundred  miles  further  south  than  any  other  English  settle- 
ment. In  1663  Lord  Clarendon,  General  Monk — now  honored  with  the  title  of  Dnke  of 
Albemarle — and  six  other  noblemen  received  from  King  Charles  II.  a  patent  for  all  the 
country  between  the  36th  parallel  and  the  river  St.  Johns,  in  Florida.  With  this  grant  the 
colonial  history  of  North  Carolina  properly  begins. 

The  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Chowan  flourished.  William  Drummond  was 
chosen  governor  in  1663  and  the  settlement  was  named  the  Albemarle  Count^•  Colony. 
Two  years  afterwards  it  was  discovered  that  the  settlement  was  north  of  the  36th  parallel 
and  therefore  beyond  the  limits  of  the  grant  to  Clarendon  and  Monk.  To  remedy  this  the 
northern  boundary  of  Carolina  was  fixed  at  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes — a  line 
which  has  ever  since  remained  as  the  southern  limit  of  the  parent  American  colony.  The 
Puritan  settlement  on  Cape  Fear  River  was  broken  up  by  hostile  Indians;  but  soon  after- 
wards a  territory  including  the  site,  with  thirty-two  miles  square  of  the  surrounding  countrj', 
was  purchased  by  certain  planters  from  Barbadoes.  A  new  county  called  Clarendon  county 
was  laid  out  and  Sir  John  Yeamans  was  appointed  governor.  This  adventure  prospered 
greatly;  new  immigrants  eagerly  sought  the  settlement,  and  within  a  year  the  colony  num- 
bered eight  hundred  souls. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


381 


Several  years  elapsed,  ho\ve\er,  before  branch  settlements  were  thrown  off  to  the  south. 
It  was  not  until  1670  that  a  company  made  its  way  into  the  county  of  vSoiTii  Carolina 
and  there  laid  the  foundations  of  a  new  State.  The  colony  was  enlisted  for  the  most  part 
from  England.  The  leaders  were  Joseph  West  and  William  Sayle.  At  the  date  of  the  pro- 
jection of  the  enterprise  there  was  not  a  European  settlement  between  Cape  Fear  River 
and  the  St.  Johns,  in  Florida.  The  country,  however,  was  one  of  the  most  attractive  of 
the  whole  American  coast.  The  new  colony  came  by  way  of  Barbadoes,  steered  far  to  the 
south  and  reached  the  mainland  near  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah.  The  vessels  entered  the 
harbor  of  Port  Royal.  A  hundred  and  eight  years  had  elapsed  since  John  Ribault,  leader 
of  the  Hugiienots,  had  set  up  on  the  island  in  this  same  harbor  a  rude  stone  memorial 
bearing  the  lilies  and  emblems  of  France.  But 
France  had  failed  to  colonize  the  country  of 
her  discovery  and  now  the  Englishman  had 
come. 

FOUNDING    OF   CHARLESTON  AND    SETTLEMENT  OF 
NEW  JERSEY. 

After  some  explorations  through  the  country 
the  new  colony  entered  the  Ashley  River,  and 
going  on  shore  laid  the  foundations  of  Old 
Charleston,  so  named  in  honor  of  the  English 
King.  Of  this,  the  first  settlement  of  South 
Carolina,  no  trace  remains  except  the  line  of  a 
ditch  which  was  digged  around  the  ancient  fort. 
But  the  colony  was  planted  and  became  the 
nucleus  of  another  American  commonwealth. 

Following  the  order  of  settlement  we  next 
come  to  the  planting  of  New  Jersev.  This 
province  has  an  early  history-  closely  linked 
with  that  of  New  Xetherland.  The  first  settle- 
ment was  that  of  Elizabethtown,  in  1664.  As 
early  as  161 8  a  trading  station  had  been  fi.xed 
at  Bergen,  west  of  the  Hudson.  But  forty  years 
passed  before  a  pennanent  settlement  was  made 
at  that  place.  In  1623  Fort  Nassau  was  built, 
where  Timber  Creek  falls  into  the  Delaware. 
This  was  the  work  of  Cornelius  May  and  his 
companions.  But  these  adventurers  abandoned  their  outpost  and  returned  to  New 
Amsterdam.  In  1629  the  southern  part  of  New  Jersey  was  granted  to  two  Dutch  patrons 
named  Godyn  and  Blomaert,  but  the  proprietaries  made  no  attempt  at  settlement. 

Many  years  went  by  before  the  colonization  of  this  part  of  the  coimtr>'  was  again 
undertaken.  At  length,  in  1651,  Augustine  Herman  purchased  a  considerable  district  in 
Jersey,  including  the  site  of  Elizabethtown.  Seven  years  later  the  grant  was  enlarged  so 
as  to  take  in  the  trading-post  of  Bergen.  In  1663  a  company  of  Puritans  about  to  emigrate 
from  Long  Island  obtained  permi.ssion  of  Governor  Stuyvcsant  to  occup\'  the  lands  on  the 
Raritan,  but  before  their  purpo.se  could  be  carried  out  the  Dulcli  (iovcrnment  was  over- 
thrown by  the  Engli.sh. 

The  English  crown  had   never  recognized  the  claims  of  the  Dutch  to  the  conntr>-  of 


382 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


New  Amsterdam.  It  had  only  been  a  question  of  time  when  violence  would  be  used  to 
extend  the  claim  of  England  over  the  whole  region  occupied  by  the  immigrants  from 
Holland.  King  Charles  II.  at  length  took  up  the  question,  and  in  1664  made  a  grant  of 
New  Netherland  and  the  whole  country  as  far  south  as  the  Delaware  to  his  brother  the 
Duke  of  York.  The  latter  in  turn  granted  the  province  between  the  Hudson  and  the 
Delaware  to  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir  George  Carteret.  These  were  the  same  noblemen  who 
were  already  proprietaries  of  Carolina.  They  had  adhered  to  the  King's  cause  during  the 
civil  war  in  England,  and  had  now  come  into  their  reward.  Their  friend  Charles  II. 
added  to  their  former  possessions  a  second  American  province  of  great  extent  and  promise. 
As  soon  as  the  authority  of  the  Dutch  was  overthrown  in  New  Netherland — as  soon  as  the 
English  governor  Nicolls  had  taken  the  place  of  Peter  Stuyvesant — a  company  of  Puritans 

made  application  to  the  governor  for  the  privilege  of 
occupying  the  lands  on  Newark  Ba}'.  This  was  granted; 
the  Indian  titles  were  purchased  by  the  colonists,  and 
in  October  of  1664  Elizabethtown,  the  oldest  settlement 
in  New  Jersey,  was  founded  and  named  in  honor  of  the 
Lady  Carteret. 

The  grants  made  by  the  English  kings  at  the  begin- 
ning of  our  civil  history  frequently  overlapped  one 
another,  the  second  superseding  the  first  or  contradict- 
ing its  provisions.  Governor  Nicolls  of  New  York  had 
been  recognized  by  the  English  Crown  as  in  rightful 
authority  over  all  New  Netherland;  but  in  1665  Philip 
Carteret,  son  of  Sir  George,  arrived  bearing  a  commis- 
sion from  the  Duke  of  York  as  governor  of  the  country 
between  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware.  Nicolls  resisted 
this  claim,  but  in  vain.  Elizabethtown  was  made  the 
capital  of  the  new  province.  Other  settlements  were 
established  on  the  banks  of  the  Passaic.  Newark  was 
soon  founded.  Hamlets  were  planted  along  the  shores  of 
the  bay  from  the  present  site  of  Jersey  City  as  far  as 
Sandy  Hook.  It  was  in  honor  of  Sir  George  Carteret, 
who  had  been  govehior  of  the  Isle  of  Jersey,  that  his 
American  domain  was  named  New  Jersey. 

WILLIAM    PENN    IN    PENNSYLVANIA. 

We  are  here  anticipating  the  many  events  of  interest  with  which  the  colonial  history 
of  America  in  the  seventeenth  century  was  filled.  We  pass  over  for  the  present  the  course 
of  events  in  the  parent  colonies  to  note  in  order  of  succession  the  founding  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. This  was  effected  under  the  auspices  of  the  great  Quaker  leader  William  Penn  and 
the  Society  of  Friends  whom  he  led  in  their  American  enterprises.  Already  this  people  had 
planted  flourishing  settlements  in  New  Jersey  and  were  greatly  encouraged  with  their 
success  ;  the  thought  of  Penn  was  to  found  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  a  free  State, 
having  for  its  foundation  stone  the  principle  of  universal  brotherhood. 

Great  had  been  the  sufferings  of  the  Friends  in  England.  Imprisonment,  exile  and 
proscription  had  been  their  constant  portion.  Nor  did  the  signs  of  the  times  indicate  any 
relaxation  in  the  policy  of  the  English  kings  towards  this  innocent  and  persecuted  people. 


COLL'.MBL'S   AND   COLUMBIA. 


383 


It  was  under  these  conditions  that  Penu  and  his  leadini;  associates  conceived  the  project 
of  establishing  a  complete  and  glorious  refuge  for  the  afflicted  Quakers  in  the  unoccupied 
wilds  of  America.  The  leader  want  boldly  to  King  Charles,  made  his  petition,  and  on  the 
5th  of  March,  1681,  received  a  charter  bearing  the  great  seal  of  England  and  the  signature 
of  Charles  II.  William  Penu  was  made  the  proprietary  of  the  province  which  received  his 
name.  A  vast  and  virgin  territory,  bounded  east  by  the  Delaware,  extending  north  and 
south  through  three  degrees  of  latitude  and  westward  through  five  decrees  of  lonaritude, 

<^  *j  otto* 

was  granted  to  him  and  received    the  name  of  Pennsyl\-ania.     Only  the  three  counties  com 
prising  the  present  State  of  Delaware  were  reserved  for  the  Duke  of  York. 

The  g^ant  was  complicated.     Penn  had  held  against  the  British  government  a  claim 
for  sixteen  thousand  pounds  sterling,  due  to  his  father's  estate.    This  he  agreed  to  relinquish 
in  consideration  of  the  grant  and  charter.      He  openly  declared   his  purpose   to  found  in 
America  a  free  commonwealth  without  re- 
spect to  the  color,  race  or  religion  of  the 
inhabitants.     He  believed  that  the  natives 
might  be  conciliated  and  won  over  by  a 
policy  of  justice  and   humanity,  that  a  re- 
fuge might  be  established  on  the  Delaware 
for  all  oppressed  peoples  who  might  choose 
for  conscience'  sake  to  flee  from  the  op- 
pressions and  hardships  of  their  homes  in 
Europe. 

The  event  fully  justified  the  policy. 
In  an  incredibly  iihort  time  three  shiploads 
of  Quaker  emigrants  were  sent  from 
England  to  the  land  of  promise.  With 
these  came  William  Markham,  agent  of 
the  proprietar\',  and  deputy -governor  of 
the  new  province.  Penn  exerted  himself 
to  be  at  peace  with  all.  He  wrote  to  the 
Swedes  who  had  established  themselves  in 
the  country-  covered  by  his  charter  that  they 
should  be  in  no  wise  disturbed — that  they 
should  keep  their  homes,  make  their  own 
laws  and  fear  no  oppression.  He  also 
instnicted  his  deptity  to  make  a  league  of  friendshij)  with  tlie  Indians  and  to  see  that  no 
injustice  was  done  by  the  colonists  to  the  original  owners  of  the  land.  He  sent  a  letter 
directly  to  the  native  chiefs,  a.ssuring  them  of  his  honest  purposes  and  brotherly  affection. 

In  the  next  place  Penn  drew  up  a  frame  of  government — liberal  almost  to  a  fault. 
Instead  of  endeavoring  to  e.xtort  large  profits  from  his  colonial  enterprise,  he  conceded 
ever\'thing  to  the  people,  allowing  them  even  to  accept  or  reject  the  constitution  which  he 
had  drawn  for  their  government.  The  world  had  not  hitherto  witnessed  so  great  liberalit)', 
so  complete  a  confidence  on  the  part  of  a  powerful  governor  in  the  righteousness  of  human 
nature,  the  essential  integrity  of  man.  The  proprietary  was  not  satisfied  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  three  Delaware  counties  from  his  grant.  With  extraordinary  skill  and  confi- 
dence he  approached  tiic  Duke  of  York  and  induced  liiui  to  surrender  the  three  counties 
in  favor  of  the  Quaker  colony.     Thus  was  the  whole  country  on  the  western  bank  of  the 


WILLIAM    I'EXX. 


384  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

ba>'  and  river,  as  far  north  as  the  33d  degree  of  latitude,  brought  under  the  dominion  of 
William  Penu.  This  work  occupied  the  years  1681-82.  In  the  summer  of  the  latter 
year  Penn  made  his  preparations  to  depart  for  America.  He  wrote  a  letter  of  farewell  to 
the  Friends  in  England.  A  large-  company  of  emigrants  gathered  about  him.  They  took 
ship  and  departed  for  America,  and  on  the  27th  of  October  landed  at  Newcastle,  where 
their  friends  who  had  preceded  them  were  waiting  to  recei\-e  them. 

Great  was  the  joy  of  the  new  comers  and  of  those  who  had  already  established  them- 
selves in  the  colony.  The  crowd  at  the  landing  was  composed  not  only  of  the  Quaker 
immigrants,  but  of  Swedes  and  Dutch  and  English  who  had  come  to  greet  the  new 
governor.  He  made  an  address  on  the  da}-  of  his  landing,  renewing  his  former  pledges 
and  exhorting  the  people  to  sobriety  and  honesty.  He  then  ascended  the  river  as  far  as 
Chester.  He  passed  the  site  of  Philadelphia,  and  visited  the  settlements  of  the  Friends  in 
West  New  Jersey.  He  crossed  the  province  to  New  York  and  Long  Island,  speaking  word 
of  comfort  to  the  Quakers  about  Brookh-n,  and  then  returned  to  the  Delaware  to  assume 
his  duties  as  chief  magistrate. 

PENN   IN  COUNCIL  WITH  THE  INDIANS. 

IMeanwliile  jMarkham,  the  deput}'  governor,  had  faithfully  followed  his  instructions. 
Friendly  relations  had  been  established  with  the  Indians  of  the  neighboring  tribes.  This 
feature  of  policy  Penn  dwelt  upon  as  essential  to  the  happiness  of  the  two  peoples.  The 
Indian  lands  were  in  every  case  honorably  purchased  by  the  Quakers,  and  many  pledges 
of  friendship  were  exchanged  between  them  and  their  red  brethren  of  the  forest  Soo.n 
after  the  return  of  Penn  from  New  York  a  great  conference  was  held  with  the  native  chiefs. 
All  the  sachems  of  the  Lenni  Lenapes  and  other  neighboring  tribes  were  called  together  on 
the  Delaware.  The  council  was  held  under  the  open  sky.  Penn,  accompanied  by  a  few 
unarmed  Friends,  clad  in  the  plain  garb  of  the  Quakers,  came  to  the  appointed  spot  and 
took  his  station  under  a  venerable  elm,  now  leafless,  for  it  was  winter.  The  chieftains  also 
sat  unanned  at  the  council.  After  the  manner  of  their  race  they  arranged  themselves  in  a 
semi-circle  to  hear  the  address  of  their  great  brother.  Standing  before  them  with  quiet 
demeanor  and  speaking  by  his  interpreter,  Penn  said  : — 

' '  ]My  Friends  :  We  have  met  on  the  broad  pathway  of  good  faith.  We  are  all  one 
flesh  and  blood.  Being  brethren,  no  advantage  shall  be  taken  on  either  side.  "WTien  dis- 
putes arise  we  will  settle  them  in  council.  Between  us  there  shall  be  nothing  but  openness 
and  love." 

The  chiefs  replied  :  "While  the  rivers  run  and  the  sun  shines  we  will  live  in  peace 
with  the  children  of  William  Penn." 

This  simple  compact  of  brotherly  faith  was  not  reduced  to  writing,  but  it  was  ever 
obser\'ed  with  fidelity  by  both  peoples.  No  deed  of  violence  or  injustice  on  the  part  of 
either  is  recorded  to  mar  the  faithfulness  of  the  red  men  or  the  simple-hearted  folk  with 
whom  they  made  the  treat}'.  The  peace  was  perpetual.  For  more  than  sevent}'  years, 
while  the  province  remained  under  the  control  of  the  Friends,  not  a  war  whoop  was  heard 
within  the  borders  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Quaker  hat  and  coat  proved  to  be  a  better 
defence  for  the  wearer  than  coat-of-mail  and  musket. 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  colony  made  a  legislative  Assembly  necessary  to  the  general 
welfare.  In  December  of  1682  a  general  convention  of  the  colonists  was  held  at  Chester. 
The  work  of  the  body  occupied  but  three  days.  At  the  close  of  the  session  Penn  deli\'ered 
an  address  to  the  Assembly  and  then  hastened  to  visit  Lord  Baltimore,  with  wliom  he  had 
an  important  conference  relati\-e  to  the  boundaries  between  the  two  provinces.     After  a 


COLUiMBUS   AND   COLUxMBIA. 


:i85 


mouth's  absence  he  leluniecl  lo  Chester  and  gave  his  attention  to  the  selection  and  mapping 
of  a  site  for  a  capital.  The  neck  of  land  between  the  Schnylkill  and  the  Delaware  was 
chosen  and  p^irchased  of  the  Swedes.  The  forest  as  yet  covered  these  lauds,  and  the 
chestnut,  the  walnut  and  the  ash  furnished  the  names  for  the  streets  of  the  city  that  was  to 
be.  In  1683  the  work  of  foundinjj  was  begun.  The  lines  of  the  streets  were  first  indicated 
by  blazing  the  forest  trees.  As  for  name,  Penn  chose  Pht  ^adelphia — City  of  Brotherly 
I<ove. 

THE  RAPID  BUILDING  OF  THE  QUAKER  CAPITAL. 

Never  before  had  such  success  attended  the  planting  of  a  town  in  America.  It  came  as 
if  by  magic  Within  a  mouth  the  General  Assembly  was  able  to  meet  at  the  new  capital. 
The  work  of  legislation  was  now  begun  in  earnest  and  a  Charter  of  Liberties  was  framed 
in  which  the  powers  and  prerogatives  of  the  government  were  defined.  The  common- 
wealtli  ^as  made  a  representati\-e  democrac}.-.  The  leading  officers  were  the  governor,  an 
advisor,-  council  consisting  of  a  limited  number  of  members  chosen  for  three  years  and  a 
larger  popular  assembly  to  be  elected  annually.  The  proprietarj'  conceded  everything  to 
the  people ;  but  the  power  of  vetoing  objectionable 
acts  of  the   council  was  left   in  his  bauds. 

Primitive   Philadelphia  was  a  mar\el  of  growth  and 
prosperity.       In  the    summer  of    16S3    there   were  only 


AND 

WClNlTV 


three  or  four  houses.  The  ground-squirrels  were  still 
imdisturbed  in  their  burrows  and  the  wild  deer  were  seen 
imder  the  oaks  and  chestnuts.  In  1685  the  city  contained 
si.x  hundred  houses!  Schools  had  been  established,  and 
the  printing-press  had  begun  its  work.  In  another  year 
Philadelphia  had  outgrown  New  York.  Of  a  certainty 
the  spirit  in  which  the  city  was  founded,  the  sense  of 
security,  the  cooperation  of  all  men  with  their  neighbors 
brought  the  legitimate  fruits  of  prosperity  and  astonish- 
ing development. 

We  have  now  sketched  the  planting  of  twelve  out  of  the  thirteen  original  colonies  of  the 
United  States.  It  only  remains  to  notice  the  founding  of  the  thirteenth — Georgia.  The 
reader  will  have  noted  how  far  forward  we  have  been  carried  in  following  out  the  history 
of  the  colonial  establishments.  The  two  Carolinas,  Pennsylvania  and  Georgia  belong  by 
the  dates  of  their  first  planting  to  the  second  rather  than  the  first  period  in  our  histor>-;  but 
the  unity  of  the  work  is  best  preserved  by  classifying  them  with  the  rest 

As  in  the  case  of  the  Quaker  State  the  colony  of  Georgia  was  the  product  of  a  benev- 
olent impulse.  The  English  philanthropist  James  Oglethorpe,  struck  with  compassion  at 
the  miserable  condition  of  the  English  poor  conceived  the  design  of  fonning  for  them  an 
asylum  in  America.  The  chief  abuse  to  which  the  poor  of  England  were  subjected  was 
imprisonment  for  debt.  Such  was  the  law  of  the  realm.  Thousands  of  English  laborers 
becoming  indebted  to  the  rich  were  annually  arrested  and  thrown  into  jail.  Tlieir 
families  were  generally  left  to  misery  and  starvation.  This  crime  against  humanity  became 
so  common  and  so  terrible  that  a  cry  of  the  oppressed  at  last  reached  Parliament.  In 
1728  James  Oglethorpe  was  appointed  at  his  own  request  to  look  into  the  condition  of  the 
English  poor  and  to  report  measures  of  relief  He  pcrfonned  his  duty  in  a  maimer  so 
creditable  that  the  debtor  jails  were  opened  and  the  poor  victims  of  poverty  set  free  to  return 
to  their  families. 

25 


386 


COLUMBQS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


The  condition,  however,  of  the  classes  thns  liberated  was  pitiable  in  the  extreme. 
The  emancipated  prisoners  were  disheartened  and  disgraced.  It  was  with  the  purpose  of 
furnishing  a  refuge  and  an  asylum  for  this  class  of  sufferers  that  Oglethorpe  appealed  to  King 
George  II.  for  the  privilege  of  granting  a  colony  in  America.  The  petition  was  fortunately 
not  made  in  vain.  On  the  9th  of  June,  1732,  a  royal  charter  was  issued,  by  which  the 
territory  between  the  Savannah  and  Altamaha  Rivers  and  westward  to  the  Pacific  was 
granted  to  a  corporation  for  twenty-one  years  to  be  held  in  trust  for  the  poor.  In  honor  of 
the  King,  the  new  pro\'ince  was  called  Georgia. 

SAVANNAH   FOUNDED  AS  AN  ASYLUM   FOR  THE  POOR. 

The  character  of  the  founder  was  such  as  to  attract  sympathy  and  confidence  to  his 
enterprise.  Oglethorpe  was  a  loyalist  by  birth  and  an  Oxford  man  by  education.  He  was 
a  high-churchman,  a  cavalier,  a  soldier,  a  member  of  Parliament.      In  his  personal  character 

he  was  benevolent,  generous,  sympathetic, 
brave  as  John  Smith,  chivalrous  as  De  Soto. 
With  his  accustomed  magnanimity  he  under- 
took in  person  the  leadership  of  the  first 
colon)'  to  be  planted  on  the  Savannah. 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  Ogle- 
thorpe collected  a  colon}-  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty  persons.  The  emigrant  ships  left 
England  in  November  and  reached  Charles- 
ton in  January  of  1733.  After  some  explora- 
tions the  high  bluff  on  which  the  city  of 
Savannah  now  stands  was  selected  as  the 
site  of  the  settlement.  Here,  on  the  ist  of 
February,  were  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
oldest  English  town  south  of  the  Savannah 
River.  Broad  streets  were  laid  out,  public 
squares  were  reserved,  and  a  beautiful  village 
of  tents  and  board  houses  soon  appeared 
among  the  pine  trees  as  the  capital  of  a  new 
commonwealth  in  which  men  should  not  be 
imprisoned  for  debt. 

The  settlement  floiirished  and  grew.  In 
1736  a  second  considerable  company  of  im- 
migrants arrived.  Part  of  these  were  Moravians,  a  people  of  deep  piety  and  fervent  spirit. 
First  and  most  zealous  among  them  was  the  celebrated  John  Wesley,  founder  of  Methodism. 
He  came  not  as  a  politician,  not  as  a  minister  merely,  but  as  an  apostle  to  the  New  World. 
Such  was  his  own  thought  of  his  mission.  His  idea  was  to  spread  the  gospel,  to  convert 
the  Indians,  and  to  introduce  a  new  type  of  religion,  characterized  by  few  fonns  and 
much  emotion.  His  brother  Charles,  the  poet,  was  a  timid  and  tender-hearted  man,  who 
was  chosen  by  the  governor  as  his  secretary'.  Two  jears  afterwards  came  the  famous 
George  Whitefield,  whose  robust  and  daring  nature  proved  equal  to  the  hardships  of  the 
wilderness.  These  men  became  the  evangelists  of  those  new  forms  of  religious  faith  and 
practice  which  were  destined  after  the  Revolution  to  gain  so  firm  a  footing  and  exercise  so 
wide  an  influence  among  the  American  people. 


JAMES    OGLIiTHOKPE. 


CHAPTER  \I. 


VIRGINIA. 


HE  reackr  will  not  have  fortjotteii  the  circumstances  of 
the  founding  of  the  oldest  American  colony  ou  the 
river  James.  At  the  first  the  settlement  was  badly- 
managed,  but  the  fortune  of  the  colonists  was  at  length 
restored  by  the  valor,  industry-  and  enterprise  of  their 
remarkable  leader,  Captain  John  Smith.  The  other 
members  of  the  corporation  showed  little  capacity  for 
government;  and  some  of  the  foremost  men  were  not 
only  incompetent,  but  dishonest.  Under  Captaiu 
Smith's  direction,  however,  Jamestown  soon  began  to 
show  signs  of  vitality  and  progress.  The  first  settlers 
were  afflicted  with  the  diseases  peculiar  to  their  situa- 
tion. Captain  Smith  adopted  such  improvements  in 
building  and  food-supply  that  the  health  of  the  .settlers 
was  measurably  restored.  His  own  confidence  was 
diffused  in  those  who  lacked,  and  the  project  of 
abandoning  the  settlement  was  at  length  given  ov^r. 
As  soon  as  practicable.  Captain  Smith  entered  ujxjn 
that  series  of  explorations  and  adventures  which  in  the  aggregate  has  converted  his  life 
into  a  romance.  We  find  him  now  in  the  Chesapeake,  making  a  map  of  that  broad  and 
important  water,  naming  its  tributaries.  Now  he  is  a  prisoner  among  the  Indians  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  winter,  and  escaping  from  captivity  through  the  intercession  of  chief 
Powhatan's  daughter,  Pocahontas,  who  threw  herself  between  the  prostrate  body  of  Smith 
and  the  uplifted  club  of  the  executioner,  but  wandering  back  to  the  settlement  only  to 
find  the  colony  wasted  away  to  thirty-eight  persons.  At  the  verj-  crisis  of  distress,  how- 
ever. Captain  Newport  returned  from  England  with  a  cargo  of  supplies  and  a  new  company 
of  immigrants. 

For  two  years  John  Smith  was  in  the  ascendant  and  the  colony  was  shaped  in  its  desti- 
nies by  his  masterly  hand.  In  1609,  however,  while  sleeping  in  a  boat  on  the  James  he 
was  wounded  by  the  explosion  of  a  bag  of  gunpowder.  His  flesh  was  torn  in  a  horrible 
manner  and  in  his  agony  he  jumped  overboard.  For  some  time  he  lay  in  the  tortures  of 
fever  and  great  suffering  from  his  wound.  At  length  he  detennined  to  seek  for  medical  and 
surgical  aid  in  England.  He  accordingly  delegated  his  authority  to  Sir  George  Percy  and 
in  the  autumn  of  1609  left  the  scenes  of  his  toils  and  sufferings  never  to  return. 

His  loss  was  soon  seriously  felt  in  the  colony.  The  first  settlers  had  been  an  improvi- 
dent folk,  little  disposed  to  labor  and  economy.  The  winter  of  1609-10  was  known  as  the 
starving-time.  The  settlers  were  reduced  to  great  want,  and  in  the  following  spring  it  was 
determined  to  abandon  Jamestown  and  return  to  England.  The  embarkation  was  actually 
effected;  but  before  the  settlers  had  passed  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  James  the  ships  of  Lord 
Delaware  came  in  sight  with  many  additional  emigrants  and  abundant  stores.  The  colo- 
nists reluctantly  gave  up  their  design  and  returned  to  their  abandoned  houses. 

(387) 


388 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Lord  Delaware  was  succeeded  in  the  goveriunent  of  Virginia  by  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  and 
he  in  turn  by  Sir  Thomas  Gates.  The  latter  held  office  until  1614  when  Dale  was  recalled, 
and  Gates  returned  to  England.  In  161 7  Samuel  Argall  was  chosen  governor  and  entered 
upon  an  administration  noted  rather  for  fraud  and  oppression  than  for  wise  and  humane 
policv.  For  two  years  he  remained  in  authority,  until  the  discontent  of  the  colonists  led  to 
his  recall  and  the  appointment  of  Sir  George  Yeardley  in  his  stead.  It  was  during  his 
administration  that  the  communistic  features  of  the  settlement  were  done  awa}-  and  a 
better  form  of  civil  management  introduced.  The  territory  of  the  colony  was  divided  into 
eleven  districts,  called  boroughs,  and  the  governor  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  citizens  of 
each  borough  to  select  two  of  their  own  number  to  constitute  a  legislative  assembly.  Elec- 
tions were  accordingly  held  and  on  the  30th  July,  1619,  the  delegates  convened  at  James- 
town. Here  was  organized  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  or  Colonial  Legislature,  the 
first  jDopular  assembly  held  in  the  New  World. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGRO  SLAVERY. 
The  same  year  was  marked  by  another  event  which  was  destined  to  exercise  a  vast 
influence  on  the  future  histor)-  of  the  country,  and  indeed  of  mankind.  This  was  the  intro- 
duction of  negro  slavery  into  Mrginia.  The  ser\-ants 
of  the  people  of  Jamestown  had  hitherto  been  persons 
of  English  or  German  descent  and  their  tenn  of 
service  had  varied  from  a  few  months  to  many  years. 
Perpetual  servitude,  or  slavery-  proper,  had  not  thus 
far  been  recognized.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  the  English 
colonists  would  of  themselves  have  instituted  the  sys- 
tem of  slave  labor.  In  the  month  of  August,  161 9,  a 
Dutch  man-of-war  sailed  up  the  James  to  the  colonial 
establishment  and  offered  by  auction  twenty  Africans 
as  slaves.  They  were  purchased  by  the  wealthier 
class  of  planters  and  reduced  to  ser^-itude  for  life. 
There  does  not  appear  to  have  been  at  first  any  proper 
sense  or  estimate  of  the  thing  done  among  the 
colonists.  They  were  for  a  long  time  indifferent  to 
the  success  and  continuance  of  the  s}"stem.  It  was 
nearly  a  half  century  from  the  time  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  negro  slaver\-  before  it  became  a  well  estab- 
lished institution  in  the  English  colonies. 

In  a  few  \ears  after  the  plantation  of  Jamestown 
other  settlements  were  made  in  the  James  River 
countrs-  as  far  up  as  Richmond  and  beyond.  The 
commonwealth  of  Virginia  grew  and  expanded  by 
the  natural  laws  of  development.  New  immigrants 
came  from  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland.  The  native-born  multiplied  rapidly,  and 
the  adventurous  pioneers  put  out  from  older  settlements  to  claim  the  better  land  for 
themselves  and  their  descendants.  Civil  and  political  institutions  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
the  colony  were  framed  by  the  leaders  and  the  pennanence  of  the  new  State  was  assured. 

But  the  one  element  wanting  for  the  permanent  settlement  and  future  prosperity  of  the 
colony  was — women,  without  the  help  of  whom  man's  successes  are  rareh'  pronounced. 
Very  few  families  had  emigrated  to  Virginia  and  societ)'  was  in  a  nebulous  state,  not  to  say 


MAP  OF  THE   CHESAPEAKE. 


c 


i>J 


390 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


cloudy  and  forbidding.  To  remedy  tliis  uninviting  condition  in  the  fall  of  1620  ninety 
young  women  were  induced  to  cast  their  fortunes  and  seek  husbands  among  the  Virginia 
colonists,  and  in  the  following  spring  sixty  otlier  likely  and  courageous  marriageables  landed 
at  the  new  settlement  and  became  wives  to  the  pioneers.  The  lyondon  Company  being  too 
poor  to  bear  the  expense  of  passage,  the  colonists  were  allowed  to  select  wives  from  among 
the  women  who  had  been  brought 
over  by  pa>'ing  a  sum  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds,  or  its  equiva- 
lent in  tobacco,  for  the  privilege,  a 
condition  to  which  neither  party  to 
the  contract  had  the  least  objection. 


'IHK   WAK-SHIP    "guinea"    ENFORCINC.   SUBMISSION. 

This  course  of  affairs  continued  with 
little  variation  from  the  planting  of  the 
colony  to  the  outbreak  of  the  English  Re- 
volution of  1640.  Virginia  sympathized 
rather  with  the  King's  party  than  with  the 

^__^ Parliamentarians    in    the  long  and  bloody 

struggle  of  the  Civil  War.  The  degree  of 
removal,  however,  from  the  dissensions  and  conflicts  of  the  mother  countr>'  saved 
the  Virginians  from  the  more  serious  consequences  of  the  struggle.  In  the  first  year 
of  the  rise  of  the  people  against  the  King,  Sir  William  Berkeley  came  out  to  Virginia 
as  royal  governor,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  brief  visit  to  England  in  1645  re- 
mained in  office  for  ten  years.  Berkeley  was  a  man  of  large  administrative  abilities  and 
notwithstanding  the  political  disturbance  in  the  Old  World  and  the  Ncav,  Virginia  prospered 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  391 

under  liis  haiul.  Tlie  settlements  were  rapidly  increased  in  population  and  importance. 
The  colonial  laws  were  improved  in  many  particulars  and  were  made  more  comformable  to 
the  laws  of  England.  The  long  existing  controversies  about  the  Virginia  land  titles  were 
amicably  settled.  Cruel  punishments  were  abolished,  and  the  ta.xes  equalized.  Berkeley 
was,  however,  a  thorough  loyalist,  and  to  this  extent  there  was  discord  between  him  and  the 
democracy  of  the  colony. 

■Most  of  the  \'irginians,  however,  adhered  to  the  cause  of  Charles  1.  even  to  the  day  of 
his  death.  When  that  monarch  was  beheaded  they  proclaimed  his  son  Charles  II.  the 
rightful  ruler  of  England  and  of  the  English  colonies  in  America.  Oliver  Cromwell,  the 
Lord  High  Protector  of  the  commonwealth,  was  offended  at  this  conduct  of  the  Virginians 
and  determined  to  emplo\'  force  against  them.  He  ordered  the  war-ship  Guinea  to  be 
equipped  and  sent  into  the  Chesapeake  to  enforce  submission;  but  in  the  last  extreme  he 
showed  him.self  to  be  just  as  well  as  wrathful.  Commissioners  of  the  English  common- 
wealth were  sent  on  board  the  vessel  to  make  overtures  of  peace  to  the  colonists.  Thev 
were  told  to  carr)-  the  olive  branch  in  one  hand  and  the  sword  in  the  other.  By  this  time 
it  had  become  apparent  that  the  cause  of  the  Stuart  kings  was  hopeless.  The  people  of 
Virginia  perceived  that  their  loyalty  to  an  overthrown  House  was  out  of  season  and  they 
cheerfully  entered  into  negotiations  with  Cromwell's  delegates.  In  a  short  time  they  were 
brought  to  acknowledge  the  supreme  authority  of  Parliament  and  the  Protector  was  not 
obliged  to  employ  force  against  his  subjects. 

OUTRAGES  OF  A  PROFLIGATE  MONARCH,   AND  BACON'S   REBELLION. 

With  the  failure  of  the  Knglisli  cummouwealth  Charles  II.  was  restored  to  the  throne 
of  his  ancestors.  He  came  to  his  ancient  regal  inheritance  as  one  might  do  to  the  inherit- 
ance of  an  estate.  He  chose  to  consider  the  British  P^mpire  as  personal  property  to  be  used 
for  the  benefit  of  himself  and  his  courtiers.  In  order  to  reward  the  worthless  profligates 
who  thronged  his  court  he  began  to  grant  to  them  large  tracts  of  land  in  Virginia.  True, 
these  lands  had  been  redeemed  from  the  wilderness  by  the  labor  of  men  and  were  planted 
with  orchards  and  gardens  ;  but  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  an  American  planter  to 
find  that  his  fann  which  had  been  cultivated  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  been  given  away 
to  some  dissolute  flatterer  of  the  royal  household.  Great  distress  was  produced  by  these 
iniquities  in  the  colony,  p-inally,  however,  in  1673,  the  King  .set  a  limit  to  his  own  reck- 
lessness by  giving  away  the  whole  State  of  Virginia  !  Lord  Culpepper  and  the  Earl  of 
Arlington,  two  ignoble  noblemen,  received  under  the  great  seal  a  deed  by  which  was  granted 
to  them  for  thirty-one  years  -"all  the  dominion  of  land  and  water  called  \'irginia."' 

The  tyranny  and  exactions  of  Sir  William  Berkeley,  governor  of  the  colony,  brought  at 
length  their  legitimate  fniits  of  discontent  and  insurrection.  His  administration  became 
odious  and  the  people  rose  in  rebellion.  The  revolt  was  coupled  with  and  excused  by  an 
Indian  war.  The  Susqnehannas  became  hostile  and  the  pioneers  of  the  border  suffering 
from  their  incursions  took  up  arms.  The  insurgent  militia  found  a  suitable  leader  in  the 
young  patriot  Nathaniel  Bacon.  The  refusal  of  the  governor  to  support  the  people  in  the 
war  with  the  Indians  and  to  recognize  their  leader  led  to  a  rebellion  against  the  government 
itself.  Ivord  Berkeley  was  e.xpelled  from  Jamestown  and  driven  across  the  Chesapeake.  The 
civil  broil  continued  for  some  time  with  varying  fo'^tunes  until  Bacon  fell  sick  and  died. 
With  his  death  the  spirit  of  the  insurrection  failed  and  the  militia  was  easily  dispersed.  For 
a  while  the  populace  continued  rebellious,  seeking  to  find  another  leader,  but  none  was 
found,  and  the  royalists  soon  triumphed.  The  latter  discovered  in  Robert  Beverly  a  captain 
who  was  as  able  on  their  side  as  Bacon  had  been  on  the  side  of  the  insurgents.      The  rebel- 


392  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

lion  was  quickly  suppressed  and  the  popular  cause  was  put  under  the  bau  of  the  government 
Sir  William  Berkeley  now  loosed  his  passions  on  the  defeated  rebels.  Fines  and  confis- 
cations became  the  order  of  the  day.  The  governor  fully  avenged  himself  and  his  partisans 
for  the  wrongs  which  they  had  suffered.  Twenty-two  of  the  patriot  leaders  were  seized  and 
hanged  with  little  form  of  law  and  with  hardly  opportunit\-  to  bid  their  friends  farewell. 
Such  was  the  vindictive  retribution  of  the  governor  on  his  enemies  that  when  the  easy- 
going Charles  II.  heard  of  what  was  done  he  exclaimed,  "  Why,  that  old  fool  in  that  poor 
countr}-  has  killed  more  men  than  I  did  for  the  murder  of  n:}-  father." 

Governor  Berkeley's  first  administration  ended  with  1651;  but  after  the  restoration 
of  Charles  II.  he  was  recommissioned  and  held  office  until  1676.  His  abilities  were  such 
that  notwithstanding  his  illiberal  principles  the  colonial  settlements  were  considerably 
extended  during  the  long  period  of  his  rule.  For  the  rest  he  set  himself  against  all 
manner  of  progress.  He  was  intolerant  to  the  last  degree  and  inflicted  a  severe  persecu- 
tion on  the  Quakers.  In  one  of  his  reports  on  the  condition  of  the  colon}-  he  is  quoted 
assaying:  "Thank  God,  there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing-presses  and  I  hope  there 
will  be  none  for  a  hundred  years;  for  learning  has  brought  disobedience  and  heresy,  and 
sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged  these  and  other  libels. '  '• 

At  the  close  of  Berkeley's  administration  Lord  Culpepper,  to  whom  with  Arlington 
the  province  had  been  granted  in  1673,  received  the  appointment  of  governor  for  life. 
The  new  executiv'e  arrived  in  1680  and  took  upon  himself  the  duties  of  his  office.  His 
administration,  however,  was  of  bad  repute.  His  official  conduct  was  marked  with  avarice 
and  dishonest}-.  It  was  evident  that  he  regarded  the  governorship  as  a  speculative  oppor- 
tunity. He  accordingly  adopted  the  policy  of  extortion  and  hard  rulings  until  the  mui- 
terings  of  rebellion  were  again  heard  among  the  settlements. 

They  who  hung  upon  the  favors  of  Charles  II.  held  by  a  precarious  tenure.  In 
course  of  time  he  repented  of  his  ra.sliness  in  giving  away  an  American  colony  to  worthless 
favorites.  Seeking  to  amend  his  error  he  found  in  the  vices  and  frauds  of  Culpepper  a 
sufficient  excuse  to  remove  him  from  office  and  take  away  his  patent.  This  was  accord- 
ingly done  and  in  1684  Virginia  from  being  a  proprietar}-  government,  became  a  Ro}-al 
province.  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham  was  appointed  governor,  and  he  in  turn  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Francis  Nicholson.  The  administration  of  the  latter  was  signalized  by  the 
founding  of  William  and  Mary  College,  so  named  in  honor  of  the  new  King  and  Queen 
of  England.  This  next  to  Harvard  was  the  first  institution  of  liberal  learning  planted  in 
America.  Here  the  boy  Jefferson,  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  shall  be 
educated.  Fiom  these  halls  in  the  famous  summer  of  1776  shall  be  sent  forth  young 
James  Monroe,  future  President  of  the  United  States. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  Virginia  pursued  an  even  course  of 
development.  Her  population  steadily — but  not  rapidly — increased.  Her  position  as  oldest 
of  the  little  American  republics  was  recognized  by  her  sister  colonies.  Her  men  began 
to  be  scholars  and  statesmen.  At  this  epoch  her  Revolutionary  heroes  that  were  to  be 
w^ere  born.  The  Virginian  character  was  developed  and  matured  for  the  exigencies  of 
both  war  and  peace.  In  tlie  times  of  the  Inter-colonial  conflicts  with  New  France  in 
alliance  with  the  Indians,  Virginia  suffered  less  by  her  position  than  did  the  great  colonies 
of  the  North;  but  her  patriotism  never  suffered  in  comparison,  and  when  the  premonitory 
thrills  of  National  Independence  shall  at  length  tremble  through  the  land,  the  call  of 
countr}'  shall  in  no  part  be  heard  with  profouuder  sympathy  or  tnore  ready  answer  than  in 
the  Commonwealth  of  \'irginia. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


MASSACHUSETTS. 

ASSING  to  New  Eiigland  we  note   with    interest  the  pro- 
gress of  the   first   Puritan   settlement   planted   by   the 


beginning 


Pilgrims  at  Plymouth.      At  the 
a   stni.ijgle    most    sharp    for   existence. 

proved   fatal   to 


winter    liad 


wellnigh 


there  was 

The    first 

the    whole 


i 

^■'?I^^.^/        -  ;  feffi  J^^        O      company  who  debarked  from  the  Jy^i')77(^av7-.     Hope 

however,  revived  with  the  spring,  and  the  first  bird 

■^     r*j  '  '^>*^  "i  BB'^"  4F      song  brought  welcome  to  the  weary  heart  of  man. 

^    kl^wi^^^sJF    ^  "       Though  one-half  of  the  colonv  had  been  swept  off 

^^_  by    disease   and    exposure  the  remainder   went  for- 

•g  i'H^B'^Br^^  ward  with  courageous  spirits  to  the  work  of  destiny. 

'i  Nm  ilwd W^k^A-JT'^^^.^.i^       The  governor  and  his  wife  and  son  went  down  to 

the  grave.      But  the  Pilgrims  had  in  them  a  soul  of 
resolution,   and    they  who  survived    rose    from    the 
-=^^       snows  of  winter  to  plant  and    build  and  sing  their 
hymns  of  thankfulness. 

One  of  the  first  exigencies  of  the  colon}'  had  respect  to 
the  disposition  of  the  natives.  Captain  Miles  Standish  was 
sent  out  with  his  soldiers  to  gather  information — to  see  in  what  manner  the  Indians  would 
bear  themselves  in  the  presence  of  a  European  settlement.  The  army  of  New  England 
consisted  of  six  men  besides  the  general.  Deserted  wigwams  were  found  here  and  there; 
the  smoke  of  campfires  arose  in  the  distance;  savages  were  occasionally  seen  in  the  forest. 
These  fled,  however,  at  the  approach  of  the  English  and  Standish  marched  back  unmolested 
to  Plymouth. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  Indians  to  make  an  attempt  at  intercourse.  A  month  after 
the  adventure  of  Standish,  a  Wampanoag  sachem  named  Samoset  came  into  Plymouth, 
offered  his  hand  and  bade  the  strangers  welcome.  He  could  speak  a  broken  English,  for  he 
had  been  with  the  whites  at  inter\'als  since  the  time  of  the  earlier  voyages.  He  gave  such 
account  as  he  might  of  the  number  and  strength  of  his  people,  and  told  the  colonists  of  a 
great  plague  by  which  a  few  years  before  the  country'  had  been  swept  of  its  inhabitants. 
He  attributed  the  present  feebleness  and  dispirited  condition  of  the  red  men  to  this  malady 
which  had  destroyed  their  fathers. 

Soon  afterwards  another  Indian  named  Squanto,  who  Iiad  been  carried  abroad  l)y  Hunt 
in  1614  and  had  learned  to  speak  English,  came  to  Plymouth  and  confinned  what  Samoset 
had  said.  Then  with  the  early  spring  came  Massasoit,  the  great  sachem  of  the  Wam- 
panoags,  and  with  him  a  treaty  was  made  which  remained  inviolate  for  fifty  years.  The 
compact  was  simple,  providing  that  no  injury  should  be  done  by  wliite  men  to  the  Indians 
or  by  the  Indians  to  them,  and  that  all  offenders  and  criminals  should  be  given  up  by 
either  party  for  punishment  according  to  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  two  peoples. 


394 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


SAMOSET  WELCOJIIXG  THE   ENGI^ISH. 


A  CHALLENGE  BRAVELY  MET. 

The  effect  of  the  treaty  was  salutary.  Nine  of  the  leading  tribes  entered  into  like 
relations  with  the  English,  and  acknowledged  according  to  the  limits  of  their  understand- 
ings the  sovereignty  of  the   English  king.       Some  of    the  sachems  were  suspicious  and 

hostile.  Standish  in  one 
instance  was  obliged  to 
lead  out  his  soldiers 
against  a  refractory  chief 
^^^fr  Canonicus,  king  of  the 
Narragansetts,  sent  to 
Governor  Bradford  a 
bundle  of  arrows  wrapped 
in  the  skin  of  a  rattle- 
snake ;  but  the  governor 
stuffed  the  skin  with 
powder  and  balls  and  sent 
it  back  as  a  significant 
answer  to  Canonicus.  The 
latter  would  not  receive 
it,  but  sent  it  on  from 
tribe  to  tribe  until  it  was 
finally  returned,  like  an 
unaccepted   challenge,    to  the  governor. 

The  first  }-ear  after  the  planting  of  Plymouth  was  unfruitful  and  the  colonists  were 
brought  to  the  point  of  starvation.  A  new  company  of  immigrants  without  provisions  or 
stores  arrived  during  the 
season  and  this  circum- 
stance lieightened  the  dis- 
tress, for  all  must  be  fed. 
The  new  coiners  remained 
over  winter  with  the 
people  of  Plymouth,  and 
then  crossed  to  the  south 
side  of  Boston  harbor, 
where  they  laid  the 
foundations  of  Wey- 
mouth. But  the  settle- 
ment did  not  prosper. 
The  Weymouth  people, 
instead  of  engaging  in 
necessarj'  work,  attempted 
to  live  by  fraudulent  trade 
with  the  Indians,  and 
when  they  were  about  to 
starve  abandoned  their  settlement  and  returned  to  England. 

The  third  year,  1623,  brought  a  pk-ntiful  harvest,  and  the  people  of  Phniouth   began 
to  have  abundance.     The  Indians  brought  in  the  products  of  tlie  -chase  and  exchanged  them 


/>  »^  >;  ^yyy'Awy:> 


-fc>j 


■■M 


1 


•—f^ 


TREATY   BtTWEl  N    l,()\I-KN<>K    L\K\I  K    \ND   M4SS\SOir 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  .-jyo- 

liberally  for  corn.  Meanwliik-  tht  main  body  of  pilgrini.s  still  tarried  at  Leyden.  John 
Robinson,  tJieir  leader,  made  strenuous  efforts  to  brinjj  his  people  to  America,  but  the 
London  adventurers  who  had  managed  the  enterprise  refused  to  furnish  money  or  transpor- 
tation, and  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  year  there  were  only  a  hundred  and  eight)-  persons  of 
the  white  race  in  New  England. 

In  1624  Cape  Ann  was  settled  by  a  company  of  Puritans  l"ri)m  Dorchester,  England. 
They  were  led  by  their  minister,  John  White.  The  place  chosen  for  the  colony,  however, 
was  found  to  be  unfavorable,  and  after  two  years  the  whole  company  moved  southward  to 
a  place  called  Xaumkaeg,  where  they  laid  the  foundations  of  Salem.  Two  vears  later  a 
second  company  arrived  at  the  same  place,  under  conduct  of  John  Endicott,  who  was 
chosen  governor.  The  colonists  obtained  a  patent  from  Charles  I.,  and  the  settlements 
were  incorporated  under  the  name  of  the  governor;  and  Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in 
New  England.  In  the  same  summer  two  hundred  additional  immigrants  arrived,  some  of 
whom  settled  at  Plymouth,  while  the  rest  removed  to  the  peninsula  on  the  north  side 
of  Boston  harbor  and  laid  the  foinidations  of  Charlestown.  In  1630  about  three  hundred 
of  the  best  Puritan  families  in  England  came  to  America  under  the  direction  of  John 
Winthrop,  who  was  chosen  governor.  Though  a  royalist  by  birth,  he  cast  in  his  lot  with 
the  Republican  party.  Himself  an  Episcopalian,  he  chose  to  suffer  affliction  with  the 
Puritans.  Surrounded  with  affluence  and  comfort  at  home,  he  left  all  to  share  the  destiny 
of  the  persecuted  pilgrims  in  .\hierica. 

FOUNDING  OF  BOSTON  AND  A  DEMOCRATIC  GOVERNMEN*;. 

Of  the  new  comers  of  1630  a  part  settled  at  Salem.  OiIilts  paused  at  Charlestown 
and  Watertown.  Others  founded  Ro.xbur\-  and  Dorchester.  The  governor  himself,  with 
a  few  of  the  leading  families,  crossed  the  harbor  to  the  peninsula  called  Shawmut  and 
there  laid  the  foundation  of  Boston,  destined  to  be  the  capital  of  the  colony  and  the 
metropolis  of  New  England. 

As  in  Virginia,  so  in  Massachusetts  the  civil  life  of  the  people  tended  from  the  first  to 
Democratic  liberty.  As  early  as  1634  a  representative  form  of  government  was  established 
by  the  Puritan  colonists.  This  work  was  accomplished  against  the  strenuous  opposition  of 
the  ministers.  On  election  day  the  voters  to  the  number  of  three  or  four  hundred  were 
called  together,  and  the  learned  Cotton  preached  powerfully  against  the  evils  of  Republican- 
ism. The  assembly  listened  attentively  and  then  went  on  with  the  election  !  To  make 
the  reform  complete,  a  ballot-box  was  substituted  for  the  old  method  of  public  \oting. 
The  restriction  on  the  right  of  suffrage,  by  which  only  church  members  were  pennitted  ta 
vote,  was  the  only  remaining  bar  to  a  truly  Democratic  government  in  New  England. 

The  year  1635  was  the  great  year  of  immigration.  Three  thousand  new  colonists  ar- 
rived. The  Puritans  abroad  had  come  to  see  that  it  was  worth  while  to  live  in  a  countr\- 
where  the  principles  of  freedom  were  spreading  with  such  rapidity.  The  new  immigrants 
were  under  the  leadership  of  Hugh  Peters  and  Sir  Henry  Vane.  For  a  .season  the  settle- 
ments around  Ma.ssachnsetts  bay  were  overcrowded.  It  seemed  that  there  would  not  b:^ 
room  for  the  incoming  immigrants  from  Europe.  The  more  adventurous  soon  began  to 
plunge  into  the  wilderness  and  to  find  new  places  of  abode.  One  little  company  of  twelve 
families,  under  leadership  of  Simon  Willard  and  Peter  Bulkekv  marched  through  the 
woods  until  they  reached  some  open  meadowlands,  about  sixteen  miles  distant  from  Boston, 
and  there  laid  the  foundations  of  Concord.  Later  in  the  same  year  another  branch  colony 
of  sixty  persons  made  their  way  westward  to  the  Connecticut  ri  .cr,  and  in  the  following 
spring  founded  Windsor,  Hartford  and  Wethersfield. 


396 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


The  Puritans  brought  with  them  to  America  religious  toleration — for  themselves  ! 
Strange  that  the\-  should  not  have  discerned  that  the  thing  needed  was  toleration  for  others  I 
But  the  vices  of  bigotry  and  narrow-mindedness  had  been  inherited  by  them  from  the 
middle  ages  and  could  not  be  cast  out.  As  a  consequence  religious  dissensions  appeared  in 
the  colon\-  from  the  first  \-ears  of  its  planting.  The  mind  of  this  people  was  deeply  con- 
cerned with  religious  questions.  To  debate  issues  which  were  impossible  of  decision  was 
the  food  and  drink  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  New  England.  The  conversation  of  those 
who  built  houses  was  about  the  abstruse  questions  of  theology.  The  sermons  preached  by 
the  ministers  had  to  pass  the  ordeal  of  review  and  criticism.  Under  such  circumstances 
the  more  audacious  minds  tended  strongly  to  a  larger  religious  libert}'. 

Such  persons,  howe\-er,  were  under  surveillance  and  ban  of  the  more  orthodox,  and 
particularly  of  the  preachers.  It  was  this  condition  of  affairs  that  led  to  the  expulsion  of 
Roger  Williams  from  Salem. 

FOUNDING  OF  A  WOMAN'S  REPUBLIC. 
The  dominant  class  of  Puritans  understood  religious  freedom  to  mean  the  privilege  of 
others  to  have  the  same  religious  beliefs  and  practices  as  themselves.     Most  prominent  among 

those  heretical  characters  at  Boston  who  were  said  to 
be  "as  bad  as  Roger  Williams  or  worse,"  was  Mrs. 
Anne  Hutchinson,  a  woman  of  great  gifts,  who  had  come 
'  >\-er  in  the  ship  with  Sir  Henr}^  Vane.  jMoved  b>-  the 
spirit  within  her,  she  claimed  the  privilege  of  speaking 
at  the  weeklv  meetings.  This  was  refused  by  the  elders. 
"Women  have  no  business  at  these  assemblies,  and 
most  of  them  need  their  tongiies  bridled  at  times  like 
common  scolds,"  said  they.  Hereupon  Anne  Hutchinson 
became  the  champion  of  her  sex,  and  denounced  the 
ministers  for  defrauding  women  of  the  benefits  of  the 
gospel.  She  called  them  Pharisees,  and  was  in  turn 
declared  by  them  to  be  unfit  for  the  society  of  Christians. 
She  with  a  large  number  of  friends  was  banished  from 
^Massachusetts — sent  forth  to  live  or  to  die  as  best  they 
might.  The  exiles  made  their  way  first  to  the  home 
IMiantonomoh,  chief  of  the  Narragansetts  made  them  a  gift  of  the 
beautiful  island  called  Rhode  Island,  where  in  March  of  1641  they  founded  a  little 
republic  of  their  own. 

While  intolerance  darkened  the  Puritan  character,  many  virtues  illumined  it.  It  was 
what  an  artist  might  call  a  cliiarosairo,  in  which  on  the  whole  the  light  shone  through  the 
darkness.  While  the  Puritans  stooped  to  the  character  of  persecutors  for  opinion's  sake, 
they  rose  in  many  particulars  to  the  level  of  philanthropists.  In  1636  the  general  court  of 
the  colony  appropriated  between  one  and  two  thousand  dollars  to  found  and  endow  a  col- 
lege. The  measure  met  with  popular  favor  and  the  enterprise  went  forward  to  success. 
Newtown  was  selected  as  the  sight  for  the  proposed  school.  Plymouth  and  Salem  gave 
gifts  to  help  the  enterprise,  and  the  villages  in  the  Connecticut  valley  sent  contributions  of 
com  and  wampum.  In  1638  John  Harvard,  a  young  minister  of  Charlestown,  being  about 
to  die,  bequeathed  his  library  and  nearly  five  thousand  dollars  to  the  institution.  To  per- 
petuate the  memor}'  of  this  benefactor,  the  new  school  was  named  Har\-ard  College  ;  and 
in  honor  of  the  place  where  manv  of  the  leading  men  of  Massachusetts  had  been  educated, 
the  name  of  Newtown  was  changed  to  Cam'bridge. 


A   SCOLD   G.\GGED. 


of  Roger  Williams. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


397 


SETTING  UP  THE  PRINTING  PRESS. 

The  priutiug-press  quickly  followed.  In  1638  Stephen  Daye,  an  English  printer,  came 
to  Boston  bringing  a  font  of  types  and  in  the  following  year  set  up  his  press  at  Cambridge. 
His  first  publication  was  an  almanac  calculated  for  New  England  and  the  vear  1639.  In 
the  next  year  Thomas  Welde  and  John  Eliot — two  ministers  of  Ro.\bur\- — and  Richard 
Mather  of  Dorchester  translated  the  Hebrew  Psalms  into  English  \erse,  and  published  their 
nide  work  in  a  volume  of  three  hundred  pages — the  first  book  printed  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic. 

All  the  elements  of  progress  followed  the  Puritans  to  their  American  e.xile.  The  set- 
tlements flourished  and  multiplied.  New  England  was  becoming  rapidly  populated.  Well- 
nigh  fifty  towns  and  villages  dotted  the  face  of  the  country.  It  was  estimated  that  during 
the  first  twenty  years  from  the 
founding  of  Plymouth  a  million 
dollars  were  spent  in  settling  and 
developing  the  new  State.  Material 
prosperity  came  also.  Enterprises 
of  many  kinds  were  rife.  Manu- 
factures, commerce  and  the  arts 
soon  sprang  up.  William  Stephens, 
a  shipbuilder  who  had  come  with 
the  immigrants  of  1629,  built  and 
launched  an  American  vessel  of 
four  hundred  tons  burden.  Before 
1640  two  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
emigrant  ships  had  anchored  in 
Massachusetts  Bay.  The  census  of 
the  year  just  referred  to  showed  a 
population  for  the  State  of  twenty- 
one  thousand  two  hundred. 

Political  unity  is  a  notion  which 
has  always  appealed  with  great  the  virst  pri.xtixg  pre 
force  to  a  certain  type  of  mind.  brought  to  America. 
Segregation,  isolation,  individuality,  localism,  appear 
such  in  the  nature  of  chaos  and  confusion.  Very  early 
the  histon.'  of  the  New  England  settlements  the  question  of  uniting  them  under  one 
civil  form  began  to  be  agitated.  In  1639  and  again  in  1643  '^  practical  measure  was 
brought  forward,  first  in  the  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  and  after\vards  in  those  of  the 
neighboring  colonies  looking  to  the  union  of  all.  The  act  was  adopted,  by  the 
terms  of  which  Massachusetts  Bay,  Plymouth,  Connecticut  and  New  Haven  were  joined 
in  a  loose  confederacy,  called  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England.  The  chief 
authority  was  vested  in  a  General  Assembh-  or  Congress  composed  of  two  representa- 
tives from  each  colony.  These  delegates  were  chosen  annually  at  an  election  where  all  the 
freemen  voted  by  ballot.  Since  the  colonies  were  under  tiie  general  authority  of  the 
English  King,  no  President  was  provifled  for  other  than  the  SjX'aker  of  the  .Assembly  ;  and 
he  was  without  executive  authority  powers.  Each  community  retained  as  before  its  own 
local  government  and  all  subordinate  questions  of  legislation  were  reserved  to  the  individual 
members  of  the  union. 


^98 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


FIRST  CHURCH  ERECTED   IN   HART- 
FORD,  CONNECTICUT,    163S. 


The  seutiuieiits  of  the  people  of  ^Massachusetts  with  respect  to  the  English  Revolution 
•were  very  different  from  those  of  the  people  of  Virginia.  The  latter  were  by  their  antece- 
■dents  and  habits  in  sympathy  with  the  King's  party,  while  the  people  of  ^Massachusetts 
were  for  opposite  reasons  attached  to  the  Republican  and  Parliamentary'  cause.  The  friends 
of  the  Puritans  had  made  their  way  into  the  English  House  of  Commons,  and  the  peril  to 
the  throne  was  to  be  feared  from  those  who  were  in  alliance  of  principle  and  sentiment  with 

the  colonists  of  New  England.  Throughout  the  Ci^'il  War 
the  American  Puritans  sustained  with  \'oice  and  sympathy 
the  Revolutiouarj-  party.  Distance,  however,  modified  the 
feelings  of  the  people  of  New  England,  and  when  Charles 
I.  was  brought  to  the  block  the}'  whose  fathers  had  been 
exiled  by  his  father  lamented  his  tragic  fate,  and  preser\'ed 
the  memor)'  of  his  virtues. 

Cromwell  understood  perfectly  the  temper  and  senti- 
ments of  the  American  colonists.  He  remained  from  first 
to  last  their  steadfast  friend.  We  have  seen  how  even  in 
\'irginia  the  over-loyal  people  of  that  province  found  the 
Protector  to  be  just  as  well  as  severe,  but  the  people  cf  New 
England  were  his  special  favorites.  To  them  he  was  bound 
by  all  the  ties  of  political  and  religious  sympathy.  For 
more  than  ten  years,  while  in  man}-  instances  his  hand  rested  heavily  upon  the  people  of 
the  home  countr}-,  Cromwell,  though  he  might  ha\-e  been  the  oppressor,  remained  the 
benefactor  of  the  English  in  America. 

PERSECUTION  OF  THE  QUAKEkS. 
In  was  in  July  of  1656  that  the  first  Quakers  arrived  at  Boston.  Among  these  were 
Ann  Austin  and  Mar}'  Fisher.  The  introduction  of  the  plagaie  would  have  occasioned  less 
-alarm  !  Strange  does  it  seem  to  us,  and  stranger  will  it  seem  to  posterity,  that  such 
innocent  enthusiasts  could  ha\e  been  regarded  with  so  <j 
great  antipathy  and  dread.  The  two  women  were  caught 
and  searched  for  marks  of  witchcraft.  Their  trunks  were 
broken  open,  their  books  burned  b}'  the  hangman,  and 
they  themselves  thrown  into  prison.  iVfter  several  weeks' 
confinement  the}'  were  brought  forth  and  driven  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  colony.  Others  came,  and  they  too 
were  whipped  and  exiled.  As  the  law  against  the 
Quakers  was  made  more  cniel  and  prescriptive,  fresh 
victims  rushed  forward  to  brave  its  terrors.  So  great  was 
the  public  alarm  that  the  Assembly  of  the  United  Colonies 
was  convened,  and  Massachusetts  was  advised  to  pro- 
nounce the  penalty  of  death  against  the  fanatical  dis- 
turbers of  the  public  peace.  In  1659  four  persons  were 
arrested,  brought  to  trial,  condemned  and  hanged  with- 
■out  mercy.  Nor  did  the  fact  that  one  of  these  was  a  woman  move  the  hearts  of  the 
persecuting  judges. 

The  era  of  the  English  commonwealth  drew  to  a  close.  Charles  II.,  long  fugitive 
from  the  kingdom  of  his  fathers,  was  restored  to  the  throne,  and  ou  the  27th  of  July,  1660, 
the  tidings  of  the  great  things  done  in  England  reached  Boston.      It  was  now  the  turn  of 


FIRST  SCENE  OF  KING  PHILIP'S  WAR. 


COLUMBUS   .\ND   COLUMBIA. 


;i'J9 


those  who  had  overthrown  the  mouarcliy  and  trampled  on  the  residue  to  fl)'  for  their  lives. 
In  the  same  ship  that  brought  intelligence  of  the  Restoration  came  Edward  Whalley  and 
William  Goffe,  two  of  the  judges  who  had  passed  sentence  of  death  on  Charles  I.  Governor 
Endicott  received  them  with  courtesy,  but  the  agents  of  the  British  Government  followed 
in  liot  pursuit. 

The  two  regicides,  or  king-killers,  as  they  were  called,  were  aided  by  the  people  of 
Boston  to  escape  from  the  officers.  They  made  their  way  to  New  Haven,  where  for  many 
weeks  they  lay  concealed,  no  one,  not  even  the  Indians,  accepting  the  reward  which  was 
offered  for  their  apprehension.  At  last  the  exiles  reached  the  village  of  Hadley,  in  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut,  and  there  found  seclusion  and  rest  during  the  remainder  of  their 
lives.  When,  in  the  time  of  King  Philip's  war,  the  village  of  Hadley  was  attacked  by  the 
savages,  the  venerable  Goffe  came  forth  from  his  hiding 
place,  rallied  the  flying  people  and  directed  the  defence. 
Then  he  went  back  to  his  covert  and  was  seen  no  more. 

The  outbreak  in  1664  of  a  war  between  England  and 
Holland  furnished  opportunity  to  Charles  II.  to  carr}-  out 
one  of  his  cherished  plans.  This  was  the  recovery  or  re- 
clamation of  the  American  colonies  from  their  proprietar\-, 
chartered  and  semi-independent  condition  to  a  complete  second  scene  of  king  ■philips  w.\r. 
subordination  to  the  English  crown.  Circumstances  favored  the  project,  for  it  became 
necessar)'  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  send  a  British  fleet  to  America  in  order  to  reduce 
the  Dutch  colonies  on  the  Hudson.  This  armament  might  easily  be  used  by  the 
King  in  the  work  of  reestablishing  absolutism  over  those  other  colonies  on  our  coast  which 
owed  their  political  existence  to  charters  and  guarantees  given  by  fonner  kings. 

In  furtherance  of  his  purpose  Charles  II.,  01  his  minister,  sent  four  royal  commissioners 
to  America  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  all  questions  of  dispute  and  intercolonial  controversy 
that  might  arise  among  the  colonies.  It  was  thought  that  the  acceptance  by  the  -Vmericans 
of  such  a  court  of  arbitration  would  lead  to  a  recognition  of  the  royal  authority  in  other  and 

purely  political  matters.  The  commissioners  came  to 
Boston  in  July  of  1664,  but  the  Americans  were  quick  to 
discover  the  meaning  of  the  thing  done,  and  gave  the  royal 
judges  so  cold  a  reception  that  they  were  soon  glad  to 
leave  the  country. 

KING  PHILIP'S  WAR,  AND  SIEGE  OF  BROOKFIELO. 

The  time  came  when  the  e.xpansiou  of  the  white  settle- 
ments and  the  reluctance  of  the  natives  to  retire  from  their 
ancient  hunting  grounds  brought  on  a  conflict  of  great 
severits'  between  the  two  peoples.    The  Wampanoag  Indians 

TlIIRn  SCEN'K  OF  KINT.  PHII.lr'S  W.\R.  '  ,  ,       ,         i  .  ,       .  ,    .     ^      .  -., .  tm    -i  • 

found  an  able  leader  in  their  great  chieltain.  King  Philip, 
and  for  awhile  they  held  their  own  against  the  superior  discipline,  steadier  courage  and 
better  weapons  of  the  English. 

All  the  causes  leading  to  King  Philip's  war  are  not  fully  known,  many  having  been 
assigned,  but  it  may  be  reasonably  inferred  from  that  chief's  actions  that  it  grew  out  of 
jealousy  at  the  encroachment  of  the  whites  upon  his  domains.  War  would  have  broken 
out  sooner  had  not  the  English  presented  so  strong  a  front  and  watched  with  unrclaxed 
vigilance  even-  movement  of  the  Indians.  But  Philip  was  a  cunning  chief  and  awaited  his 
opi<ortunity,   all  the  while  augmenting  his  forces  and  completing  his  prcparucions.     At 


^^  ;fe::pZ^vrT; 


400 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


length  a  friendly  Indian,  named  Sausanian,  who  was  known  to  be  on  intimate  terms  with 
both  his  own  people  and  the  whites,  was  murdered  by  three  hostiles  who  were  soon  after 
apprehended  and  being  brought  to  trial  before  a  jury  of  six  whites  and  as  many  Indians 
were  convicted  and  shot.  This  incident  precipitated  the  war  which  had  for  some  years 
been  expected.  Philip  now  assembled  his  warriors  and  took  up  a  position  in  a  woods  near 
where  the  cit}-  of  Bristol  now  stands.  Here  the  Indians  rendezvoused  for  a  while,  sending 
their  women  and  children  to  Narragansett,  until  their  full  force  was  mustered  and  read\-  foi 
the  conflict. 

Tlie  24th  of  June,  1675,  the  whites  spent  in  fasting  and  prayers  that  the  threatened 
horror  of  an  Indian  war  might  be  averted,  but  their  supplications   were  in  vain.      Three 

daj's  later  while  the 
people  were  returning 
from  church  in  Swansea 
the}'  were  fired  on  by 
Indians  and  three  were 
killed,  which  murder- 
ous outrage  was  fol- 
lowed b}-  the  burning 
of  bams  and  cabins. 
Several  \'illages  were 
attacked  in  turn  by  the 
savages  until  soon  all 
of  Plymouth  colony 
was  in  terror.  The 
Nipmuck  Indians  went 
on  the  war-path  in 
August  and  when 
Captain  Hutchinson 
with  twent}-  men  sought  a  conference  with  the 
Indians  he  was  ambushed  and  eight  of  his  company 
fell  before  the  deadly  fire  of  the  savages.  The 
sur\-ivors  fled  and  contrived  to  reach  Brookfield  fol- 
lowed by  their  foes.  The  village,  consisting  of  a 
few  log  cabins,  directly  became  the  scene  of  a  terrible 
conflict.  Every  person  able  to  handle  a  gun  flew  to 
the  defence  of  their  homes  and  prepared  to  resist  the  several  hundred  Indians  that 
nished  down  upon  them  with  ear-splitting  yells,  bearing  musket  or  bow  in  one  hand 
and  a  blazing  torch  in  the  other.  In  a  verj'  short  time  even-  cabin  was  on  fire  sa\e 
the  single  one  in  which  Captain  Hutchinson  and  his  men  had  taken  refuge,  who 
from  their  place  of  protection  poured  forth  a  deadly  hail  iipon  their  assailants.  The  desper- 
ate fight  went  on  with  small  advantage  to  the  Indians  several  of  whom  fell  before  the  well 
directed  aim  of  the  besieged.  Efforts  were  made  by  the  whites  to  break  through  the  line  of 
savages,  or  to  send  out  messengers  for  relief,  but  it  was  not  until  after  the  failure  of  several 
desperate  attempts  that  one  brave  fellow  succeeded  in  passing  the  lines  under  cover  of  dark- 
ness and  rushed  oS"  to  Providence  to  spread  the  alann.  For  three  days  and  nights  the  com- 
bat continued,  during  which  time  the  dn.-  clap-board  roof  of  the  cabin  was  fired  several 
times  by  arrows  wrapped  in  blazing  flax,  but  as  often  brave  men  broke  a  hole  through  the 


THE   FIGHT  AT  SWANSEA  CHURCH. 


INDIAN    ATTACK   ON    UKOOKFIELU. 


Uoi) 


26 


402 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


roof  and  put  out  the  flames.  On  the  evening  of  the  third  day,  however,  the  Indians  seized 
a  wagon  and  loading  it  with  wood  and  flax  set  the  whole  on  fire  and  then  by  means  of  poles 
pushed  it  against  the  building.  At  the  moment  when  their  destruction  appeared  inevitable 
the  sinking  hearts  of  the  whites  were  lifted  into  joy  by  a  down-pouring  rain  that  extinguished 
the  flames  and  so  saturated  everything  that  all  further  danger  from  fire  was  removed.  No 
sooner  were  they  relieved  from  this  terrible  extremity  than  the  shouts  of  friends  were  heard 
rushing  to  the  rescue.  ]\Iajor  Willard,  of  Boston,  with  fifty  men,  had  been  apprised  of  the 
siege  at  Brookfield,  and  with  all  possible  haste  rushed  to  the  succor  of  the  whites,  whose 
ammunition  and  energies  were  b\'  this  time  almost  completely  spent.  So  impetuous  was 
his  charge  upon  the  Indians  that  they  were  dispersed  like  chaff",  and  at  the  close  of  the 
engagement  the  bodies  of  eighty  savages  were  found  dead  around  the  log-cabin. 

The  struggle  continued  for  nearly  a  year  and  was  attended  with  great  loss  of  life  and 
destruction  of  property.  But  at  last  the  Indians  were  subdued  and  Philip  himself  hunted 
down  and  killed  near  his  old  home  at  Mount  Hope,  in  Rhode  Island. 

After  the  rejection  of  the  royal  judges  the  project  of  Charles  II.  to  regain  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  American  colonies  was  allowed  to  slumber  for  several  years.  With  the  accession 
of  James  II.,  however, 
the  old  charter  of  Mas- 
sachusetts was  fonnally 
revoked.  All  the  colonies 
between  Nova  Scotia  and 
Narragansett  Bay  were 
consolidated  into  one  and 
Joseph  Dudley  received 
the  appointment  of  gover- 
nor-general, or  president 
New  England  was  ncit 
able  for  the  time  openh 
to  resist  this  great  en- 
croachment on  popular 
liberty.  The  colonial 
assembly  was  dissolved  by 
its  own  act  and  the 
members  returned  sul- 
lenly to  their  homes. 
In  the  following  winter  Governor  Dudley  was  superseded  by  Sir  Edmond  Andros,  who  had 
been  appointed  royal  governor  of  New  England.  Under  his  administration  Massachusetts 
and  her  sister  colonies  lost  their  liberties.  All  sympathy  ceased  between  the  government 
and  the  people.  Andros  and  his  rule  became  extremely  odious  and  when  the  news  of  the 
expulsion  of  King  James  from  the  throne  of  England  was  borne  to  Boston  the  royal 
governor  was  visited  with  a  like  fate  at  the  hands  of  the  American  colonists.  On  the  i8th 
of  April,  1689,  the  citizens  of  Boston  and  Charlestown  rose  in  open  rebellion.  Andros  and 
his  minions  perceived  at  a  glance  that  resistance  was  in  vain  and  they  attempted  to  escape. 
The  people,  however,  seized  them  and  cast  them  into  prison.  The  insurrection  spread 
rapidly  throughout  New  England  and  in  less  than  a  month  every  colony  had  regained  its 
former  liberties.  . 

The  European  wars  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  which  England,  France  and  Holland 


DESTRUCTIO.N    OF  SCHKNECTADY. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  403 

were  involved,  spread  into  the  respective  colonies  of  those  States  in  America.  That  conflict 
which  was  ended  by  the  treaty  of  Ryswick  involved  the  English  possessions  in  New 
England  and  those  of  France  in  Nova  Scotia  in  a  .serions  war  which  continned  for  nearly 
eight  years.  The  resnlts,  however,  were  indecisive,  and  in  1697,  when  the  treaty  was  con- 
clnded  between  the  parent  kingdoms,  the  boundar\-  lines  of  their  respective  colonies  in 
America  were  established  as  before. 

DREADFUL  EPISODES  OF    THE  INDIAN  WARS. 

But  some  of  the  bloody  incidents  which  preceded  this  settlement  and  the  causes  leading 
thereto,  may  be  here  profitably  recounted  :  The  wars  between  France  and  England  in 
Europe  naturally  involved  the  colonists  of  America.  It  was  these  quarrels  which  led 
primarily  to*what  is  known  in  history  as  King  William's  War,  from  1689  to  1697  ;  Queen 
Anne's  War,  1702  to  17 13  ;  King  George's  War,  1744  to  1748,  and  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  1754  to  1763.  While  there  were  occasional  pauses  in  the  strifes  they  were  no  more 
than  truces  and  the  four  wars  may  properly  be  merged  into  one  continual  struggle 
wherein  the  question  to  be  decided  was  which  should  rule  in  the  New  World,  the  English 
or  the  French.  This  contention  led  to  the  most  savagely  horrible  massacres  and  thrilling 
episodes  that  deface  the  annals  of  American  history. 

In  all  the  early  wars  the  Indians  took  an  important  part,  and  were  almost  invariably 
allies  of  the  French.  Had  it  not  been  for  these  barbarous  foes  the  English  would  have 
gained  an  impregnable  ascendancy  in  the  New  World  fifty  years  before  they  did  ;  but  having 
such  wily  and  numerous  enemies  to  contend  with,  whose  tactics  were  stealth,  treacher.,  sur- 
prise. a.ssassination  and  merciless  slaughter,  the  English  settlers  were  harassed  until  life 
became  a  constant  battle,  and  horror  was  in  hourly  expectation.  The  school-house. 
where  children  gathered  ;  the  church,  where  families  repaired  to  worship ;  the  field, 
where  the  fanner  bent  to  his  toil,  were  all  too  familiar  scenes  of  pitiless  murder.  To 
guard  against  attacks  of  the  Indians  houses  were  protected  by  palisades,  while  every  village 
had  its  blockhouse  of  refuge,  and  men  went  everv'where  armed  in  preparation  for  the 
fray.  But  however  great  the  precaution  human  life  was  e.vceedingly  cheap  and  every 
day  had  its  blood\-  incident. 

In  the  depth  of  the  winter  of  1690  a  party  of  French  and  Indians  suddenly  descended 
upon  the  town  of  Schenectady  and  under  the  cover  of  darkness  fell  upon  the  unsus- 
pecting inhabitants.  Bursting  in  the  doors  of  the  hou.ses  men,  women  and  children 
were  dragged  from  their  beds  and  tomahawked  and  the  dwellings  were  then  fired.  .\ 
few  of  the  miserable  people  contrived  to  escape,  and  half  clothed  made  their  way 
through  a  driving  snow-stonn  to  .\lbany,  where  a  half  dozen  died  from  the  exposure 
two  days  later. 

In  June  of  the  preceding  year  ten  squaws  secured  lodging  in  the  five  garrisoned 
hou-ses  of  Dover,  New  Hampshire.  The  people  gave  them  hospitable  entertainment, 
having  no  suspicion  of  the  treachery  intended.  During  the  night  the  squaws,  two  in 
each  house,  stealthily  arose  and  unbarred  the  doors  to  admit  the  waiting  savages  with- 
out A  terrible  massacre  of  people  followed,  from  which  only  three  persons  managed  to 
escape. 

Some  years  later  (1697)  a  band  of  Indians  attacked  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  mur- 
dered twenty  of  the  people  and  carried  off  as  many  more  women  and  children,  to  whom 
was  re.ser\'ed  a  fate  no  le.ss  terrible  than  death.  .\t  the  time  of  the  attack  a  Mr.  Dustin 
was  working  in  a  field  near  by  and  realizing  the  im])ort  of  the  excitement  .seized  his 
gun  and  leaping  on  his  horse  rode  with  all   sj>eed  to  the  succor  of  his  wife  and  seven 


404 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


children.  By  extraordinar)-  bravery  he  held  the  Indians  at  bay  and  covered  the  escape  of 
six  of  his  children,  bnt  his  wife  was  ill  in  bed  at  the  time  and  she,  with  an  infant  and 
nurse,  was  made  captive.  While  the  Indians  were  hurrying  their  prisoners  away  Mrs. 
Dustin's  babe  began  to  cry,  whereupon  a  murderous  chief  seized  it  by  the  feet  and 
dashed  out  its  brains. 

The  miserable  captives  were  forced  to  march  at  the  top  of  their  speed  and  as  fast  any 
became  exhausted  they  were  despatched  with  a  tomahawk  and  their  bodies  left  to  mark  the 
route  over  which  they  had  travelled  to  their  death. 


MR.    DUSTIN   COVKRING   THE   RETRKAT    l)F    HIS    CHILDREN. 

HEROISM   OF    MRS.   DUSTIN. 

Mrs.  Dustin,  though  weak  from  her  illness,  was  a  woman  of  astounding  courage 
and  power  of  will.  .She  and  the  nurse  held  out  when  the  strength  of  many  who  appeared 
much  stronger  failed  and  sur\-ived  the  march  of  one  hundred  fift>-  miles.  Learning  that 
the  captives  were  to  be  tortured    when  their  destination   was  reached  she  resolved   to  take 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA 


40o 


the  most  desperate  chances  to  effect  her  escape.  By  this  time  the  Indians  had  divided  up 
into  small  parties,  the  prisoners  being  distributed  so  that  to  guard  them  required  little 
watchfulness.  Mrs.  Dustiu,  her  nurse  and  au  English  boy  of  fourteen  years  were  given  in 
charge  of  ten  Indiuii  warriors  and  a  squaw.  Thinking  that  their  captives  were  about 
exhausted  b\-  their  weary  march  the  Indians  relaxed  their  vigilance,  and  being  tired  them- 
selves one  night  they  all  fell  asleep,  each  probably  thinking  that  the  other  was' on  guard. 
Seeing  the  opportunity  for  which  she  had  been  watching  Mrs.  Dustiu  aroused  the  nurse  and 
boy  and  each  seizing  a  tomahawk  the\- despatched  the  sleeping  Indians.  But  not  fullv  satis- 
fied yet  \vith  this  brave  effort  that  gave  her  liberty  she  glutted  her  vengeance  by  scalping 
her  victims,  and  with  these  bloody  trophies  she  proceeded  to  a  river  bank  where  she  found 
a  canoe  and  in  it  returned  to  Haverhill,  where  she  was  soon  afterwards  reunited  with 
her  family. 

In  1704  the  same  horrifying  scenes  that  had  desolated  Haverhill  were  reenacted  at  Deer- 
field,  Massachusetts.      While  the  snow  lay  Unir  f-"^  •' learly  four  hundred  French  and 

-^  Indians  surrounded  the 
place  and  watching  theii 
opportunity  they  rushed 
on  the  place  while  the 
>cntinels  were  off  their 
guard  and  made  a  holo- 
caust of  the  inhabitants. 
I"()rt)-seven  bodies  of  the 
iinirdercd  men,  women 
and  children  were  con- 
sumed in  the  flames,  while 
one  hundred  and  twelve 
captives  were  taken  and 
made  to  travel  Tifty  miles 
through    the    deep  snow. 

MRS.    DISTIN     KII.I.INr,    HKR    C.\IT<)RS.  OUC    b\'    OUC     tllCV    fcll   CX- 

hausted  on  the  way  and  their  brains  dashed  out  with  the  ever  ready  tomahawk.  One  of 
the  captives,  daughter  of  a  minister  named  Williams,  .saw  her  mother  thus  cruelly 
slaughtered,  yet  being  herself  saved  from  a  like  fate  by  the  favors  of  a  chief  she  lived  to 
become  the  Indian's  wife,  and  in  after  years  visited  her  friends  in  Deerfield.  In  the  mean- 
time she  had  embraced  the  Catholic  faith,  but  so  channed  was  .she  with  the  wild  life  of  the 
savage  that  she  refused  to  abandon  her  dusky  husband  and  continued  faithful  to  him  until 

her  death. 

THE  SALEM    WITCHCRAFT    DELUSION. 

We  here  come  to  another  strange  paragraph  in  the  histor\-  of  primitive  New  England. 

The   reader  of  historical    narrative   is  obliged  at   intervals  to    turn    from    the  stately   and 

showy  progress  of  public  affairs  to  consider  the  occult  movement  of  the  human  mind,  to 

note  its  diseases  and  delusions  and  to  mark  with  astonishment  the  most  inexplicable  crimes 

which  it  is  capable  of  committing  in  the  days  of  its  delirium.       Onl\-  two  hundred  \earS 

ago  the   fathers  of    New  England   were  subject   to   that  strange   intellectual   and    moral 

malady  which  resulted  in  the  atrocities  of  the   Salem  witchcraft.       The  delusion  broke  out 

in  that  part  of  vSalem  village  afterwards  called  Danvers,  and  was  traceable  to  the  animosity 

of  the  minister,  Samuel  Parris  again.st  (ieorge  Burroughs,  a  fonner  pastor  of  the  church  at 

that  place.      By  Parris  the  charge  of  witchcraft  was  brought  against  several  of  the  friends 


406 


COLUAIBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


and  adherents  of  Burroughs  and  these  were  imprisoned  and  brought  to  trial  before  Stough- 
tou,  deputy-governor  of  the  colony.  Parris  was  in  correspondence  with  the  leading 
ministers  of  Boston  and  he  procured  the  assistance  of  the  celebrated  Cotton  Mather  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  alleged  witches.  Mather  undertook  the  cause  and  was  the  person 
chiefly  responsible  for  the  horrors  and  crimes  that  ensued.  Twenty  innocent  people, 
including  several  women,  were  condemned  and  put  to  death.  Fifty-five  others  were  tor- 
tured into  the  confession  of  abominable  falsehoods.  A  hundred  and  fifty  others  lay  in 
prison  awaiting  their  fate.  Still  two  hundred  others  were  accused  or  suspected,  and  ruin 
seemed  to  impend  over  New  England. 

Fortunatelv  for  mankind,  it  is  in  the  nature  of  such  atrocities — diseased  as  they  are— ^ 
to  cure  themselves  by  reaction.  At  the  very  crisis  of  this  delusion  the  reaction  came  and 
the  people  arose  and  righted  themselves.  Notwithstanding  the  vociferous  clamor  and 
denunciation  of  Mather,  the  witch  tribunals  were  overthrown.  The  General  Assembly 
convened  in  October  and  the  atrocious  court  which  Governor  Phipps  had  appointed  to  sit 
at  Salem  was  at  once  dismissed.  The  spell  was  dissolved.  The  thraldom  of  the  public 
mind  was  broken.  Reason  shook  off  the  terrors  that  oppressed  it.  The  prison  doors  were 
opened  and  the  poor  victims  of  superstition,  malice  and  delusion  went  forth  free. 
WAR   OF  THE  SPANISH   SUCCESSION,  OR    QUEEN   ANNE'S   WAR. 

When  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  so  called,  came  on  in  Europe,  the  American 
colonies  as  dependencies  of  the  foreign  Powers  became  involved  in  the  conflicts.  Tlie 
French  settlements  of  Canada 


and 


the    English  settlements 


THE   OLD   WITCH    HOUSE — SCENE   OF   EXAMINATIONS    .AT   SAI.E.M. 


of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut 
and  New   York  went  to    war 
because   the  parent  kingdoms 
were  trying  to  determine  with 
the  sword  who  should  occupy 
the    Spanish    throne.       The 
Canadian  Jesuits  instigated  the 
Indians     to    take      up      arms 
against  the  English    colonies. 
During     the     year     1703-04, 
havoc   and  desolation  were   spread    by  the  savages    along    the  exposed  frontiers  of    Con- 
necticut and  New  York. 

As  the  war  dragged  on,  a  great  expedition  was  planned  by  Massachusetts  for  the 
capture  of  Port  Royal  from  the  French.  In  1 707  a  fleet  bearing  a  thousand  soldiers  sailed 
from  Boston  harbor  for  Acadia.  But  Baron  Castin  who  commanded  the  French  garrison 
of  Port  Royal  conducted  the  defence  with  so  much  skill  and  courage  that  the  English 
were  obliged  to  abandon  the  undertaking.  ^Massachusetts  gained  nothing  but  discourage- 
ment and  debt  from  her  costh-  and  disastrous  expedition;  but  she  resolved  to  prosecute  the 
war  with  redoubled  energy-. 

A  second  armament  was  fitted  out  in  17 10.  A  squadron  of  thirty-six  vessels  bearing 
four  regiments  of  troops  sailed  from  Boston  to  Port  Royal  and  began  a  siege.  The  gar- 
rison was  now  weak  and  the  French  commander  had  not  the  ability  of  his  predecessor. 
The  supplies  ran  out;  famine  came  and  after  a  feeble  defence  of  eleven  days  the  place 
surrendered  at  discretion.     All  of  Nova  Scotia  passed  by  this  conquest  to  the  English  crown. 


> 

f 

o 

> 


> 
•J 

>■ 

r 

(4 
2 


(407) 


408 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


The  flag  of  Great  Britian  was  raised  over  the  conquered  fortress  and  the  name  of  Port 
Royal  gave  place  to  Annapolis,  in  honor  of  Queen  Anne. 

With  the  English  Revolution  of  1688  and  the  accession  of  William  and  Mar^^,  the 
people  of  Massachusetts  hoped  for  a  betterment  of  their  political  condition.  The  event, 
however  did  not  justify  the  expectation.  It  was  found  that  King  William  was  not  dis- 
posed to  relinquish  the  claims  of  his  predecessors  in  the  matter  of  a  royal  government 
over  the  colonies.  This  policy  of  sending  out  governors  from  England  was  continued;  but 
the  officers  who  were  sent  were  received  with  dislike  by  the  people,  and  there  was  constant 
variance  of  interests  and  views  between  the  citizens  and  the  governors.  Phipps  and 
his  administration  were  heartily  disliked.  Governor  Shute  was  equally  unpopular. 
IJtimett   who  succeeded  him  and  Belcher  afterward,  were  only  tolerated  because  the}-  could 

not  be  shaken  off 

In  such  a  condition  of  affairs  the  people  either  find  or  make  a  wa)-  according  to  their 
wishes.  The  opposition  to  the  royal  governors  in  New  England  took  the  fonn  of  a  con- 
troversy about  their  salaries.  The  General  Assembly  of  j\Iassachusetts  insisted  that  the 
governor  and  his  councillers  should  be  paid  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  their 
several  offices  and  for  actual  service  onl}-;  but  the  royal  commissioners  gave  to  each  officer 
a  fixed  salary  which  was  frequently  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  rank  and  services  of  the 
recipient.  After  many  years  of  antagonism  tlie  difficult}-  was  adjusted  with  a  compromise 
in  which  the  advantage  was  wholly  on  the  side  of  the  people. 

We  thus  reach  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  at  which  time  the  common  inter- 
ests of  the  American  colonies  began  to  prevail  over  their  prejudices  and  to  bring  them 
into  closer  union.  The  circumstances  which  led  to  a  community  of  action  and  finally  to 
the  establishment  of  a  common  government  will  be  narrated  hereafter.  The  danger  which 
came  to  all  by  the  French  and  Indian  War  was  the  most  powerful  single  cause  which  over- 
came the  spirit  of  localism  and  tended  to  the  union  of  all  the  colonies.      For  the  present 

as  in  the  case  of  \'irginia  and  ^Massachusetts — we  take  up  the  progress  of  the  Dutch 

settlements  on  the  Hudson  and  follow  their  history  down  to  the  time  when  it  merged 
in  the  common  history  of  the  countr}-. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


NEW  NETHERLANO. 

OR  ten  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  first  settler- 
on  Manhattan  Island  New  Amsterdam  was  governed  b\ 
Directors  appointed  by  the  Dntch  East  India  Conipan)'. 
In  1623  a  new  colony  of  thirty  f:xmilics  arrived  at  .Man- 
hattan. The  innnigrants,  called  Walloons,  were  Dutch 
Protestant  refugees  from  Flanders.  They  were  of  the 
same  religious  party  with  the  Huguenots  of  France  and 
the  Puritans  of  England.  They  came  to  America  to  find 
repose  from  the  persecutions  to  which  they  were  sub- 
jected in  their  own  country.  Cornelius  May  was  the 
leader  of  these  immigrants,  the  greater  number  of  whom 
settled  with  their  friends  at  New  Amsterdam;  but  the 
captain  with  a  party  of  fifty  sailed  down  the  coast  of 
New  Jersey,  and  entered  and  explored  the  bay  of  Dela- 
ware. On  his  return  in  the  following  year  he  was  made  first  governor  of  New  Netherland. 
The  ofiicial  duties  of  May  were  such  as  belonged  to  the  superintendent  of  a  trading 
post.  In  1625  he  was  succeeded  in  office  by  William  Verhulst.  Meanwhile  other  Dutch 
ships  came  to  Manhattan  Island  bringing  herds  of  cattle,  sheep  and  swine.  In  January 
of  1626  Peter  Minuit,  of  Wesel,  was  regularly  appointed  by  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company  as  governor  of  New  Netherland.  The  population  increased,  and  the  census  of 
1628  showed  two  hundred  and  seventy  persons  in  the  colony.  The  indnstr)-  of  the  first 
settlers  was  directed  to  the  fur  trade.  The  Dutch  boats  and  ships  were  found  in  all  the  ba>s, 
inlets  and  rivers  between  Rhode  Island  and  the  Delaware. 

As  the  colony  increased  in  strength  and  influence,  the  West  India  Company  prepared  a 
new  scheme  of  colonization.  The  corporation,  in  the  year  1629,  prepared  what  was  called 
a  Charter  of  Privileges,  under  which  a  class  of  proprietors  called  Patrons  were  authorized 
to  possess  and  colonize  the  country'.  Each  patron  might  select  for  himself  an\wliere  in 
New  Netherland  a  tract  of  land  not  more  than  sixteen  miles  in  length  and  of  a  breadth  to 
be  determined  by  the  location.  In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  charter,  five 
estates  were  soon  established.  Three  of  them  lying  contiguous,  embraced  a  district  of 
twenty-four  miles  in  the  valley  of  the  Hudson  above  and  below  Fort  Orange.  The  fourth 
was  laid  out  by  Michael  de  Pauw  on  Staten  Island,  and  the  fifth  and  most  important  in- 
cluded the  southern  half  of  the  present  State  of  Delaware.  At  the  beginning,  success 
seemed  to  attend  the  plans  of  the  West  India  Company  as  developed  in  the  Charter  of 
Privileges. 

It  was  at  this  date  that  the  Swedes  first  began  to  plant  .settlements  on  the  American 
coast.  Four  of  the  European  nations — Spain,  France,  England  and  Holland — had  now 
succeeded  in  establishing  permanent  colonies.  Sweden  was  the  fifth,  and  the  great 
King  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  the  patron  of  the  enterprise.  It  was  in  1626  that  a 
company  of  Swedish   merchants  was  organized   to  promote  the  emigration  of  a  colony  to 

(409) 


410 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


America.  For  this  purpose  a  large  capital  was  subscribed,  to  which  the  King  himself  con- 
tributed four  hundred  thousand  dollars.  But  before  the  purpose  of  the  company  could  be 
carried  out,  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  killed  in  battle,  and  the  work  was  transmitted  to  the 
great  Swedish  minister  Oxenstiem.  The  charter  which  the  late  King  had  given  to  the 
compan}-  was  renewed,  and  after  four  years  of  preparation  the  enterprise  was  brought  to  a 

successful  issue. 

CONFLICT  BETWEEN  THE  SWEDES  AND  THE  DUTCH. 

The  first  company  of  Swedes  and  Finns  left  the  harbor  of  Stockholm  in  1637.  ^^  ^^^ 
following  February  the  colony  reached  the  Delaware  Bay  in  safety.  To  the  men 
of  the  North  the  new  country  rose  like  a  vision  of  beauty.  They  called  Cape 
Henlopen  the  Point  of  Paradise.  The  lands  on  the  west  side  of  the  bay  and  up  the  river 
as  far  as  the  Falls  of  Trenton  were  honorably  purchased  of  the  Indians,  and  in  honor  of 
their  native  land  the  name  of  New  Sweden  was  given  to  the  territory. 

The  reader  will  easily  perceive  the  prior  claims  which  other  nations  had  upon  the 
countr}-  thus  occupied  b}-  the  Swedish  colony. 
The  first  to  assert  such  a  claim  was  the 
Dutch  governor  of  New  Netherland.  The 
Swedes  were  notified  that  the\-  were  intruders 
and  that  they  must  submit  to  the  authority  of 
Holland.  Hostilities  broke  out,  and  in  1651 
the  Swedish  colon}-  was  overpowered  and 
reduced  to  subjection  by  the  Dutch. 

The  names  of  several  of  the  early  gover- 
nors of  New  Netherland  are  known  to  histor}'; 
but  the  greatest  of  them  all  was  the  soldierly 
Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  came  out  under  com- 
mission of  the  West  India  Company  in  the 
year  1647.  -^^^  influence  over  the  colonists 
of  Manhattan  Island  and  the  Hudson  valley 
was  salutary',  and  the  Dutch  State  began  to 
improve  under  his  administration;  but  the 
progress  was  slow.  As  late  as  the  middle  of 
the  centur\'  the  better  parts  of  Manhattan 
Island  were  still  uncultivated,  though  divided 
among  the  Dutch  fanners.      Central  Park  was  as  yet  a  forest  of  oaks  and  chestnuts. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  conquest  of  the  little  State  of  New  Sweden,  on  the 
Delaware.  Stuyvesant  regarded  this  province  as  a  part  of  his  dominions.  Not  much  was  to 
be  feared  from  the  Swedes,  for  they  were  only  as  one  to  ten  of  the  Dutch.  There  was  a  dis- 
position among  the  fonner,  however,  to  establish  and  maintain  independence.  They  built 
a  fort  on  the  present  site  of  Newcastle;  but  this  the  Swedes,  under  Governor  Rising,  soon 
captured.  The  circumstances  gave  excuse  to  Stuyvesant  for  the  invasion  of  New  Sweden, 
and  in  1655  he  marched  at  the  head  of  six  hundred  soldiers  against  that  colony.  Resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  Swedes  was  useless.  Their  fortified  places  were  taken,  and  the  flag 
of  Holland  raised  instead  of  that  of  Sweden. 

The  disposition  of  Charles  II.  to  reclaim  the  chartered  and  proprietary  governments  of 
the  American  colonies  has  already  been  mentioned.  In  March  of  1664  that  monarch  issued  to 
his  brother  James,  Duke  of  York  and  Albany,  two  extensive  patents  for  American  territory. 


PETKR   STU^'VESANT. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  411 

The  first  o^ant  included  the  country  from  the  Kennebec  to  tlie  St.  Croix  river,  and  the  second 
embraced  the  whole  reijion  between  the  Connecticut  and  the  Delaware.  Without  regard  to 
the  claims  and  settlements  made  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  under  the  authority  of 
Holland,  and  with  no  respect  for  the  wishes  and  interests  of  the  Dutch  people  who  had 
populated  Manhattan  and  the  valley  of  the  Hudson,  and  disregarding  even  the  voice  of  his 
own  Parliament,  Charles  II.  in  a  single  hour  despoiled  a  sister  kingdom  of  a  well-earned 
province  in  America. 

THE  DUTCH  CONQUERED   BV  THE  ENGLISH. 

This  done  the  English  king  gave  orders  for  taking  possession  of  the  country  granted 
to  his  brotlier  the  Duke.  James  himself  made  haste  to  secure  the  benefits  and  honors 
which  were  conceded  by  the  new  patents.  An  armament  was  sent  out  under  command  of 
Richard  Xicolls,  whom  the  Duke  of  York  had  named  as  governor.  On  his  arrival  at  New 
Amsterdam  with  his  squadron  Nicolls  called  on  Governor  Stuyvesant  to  surrender.  The 
latter  was  justly  angered  at  the  arrogance  of  this  demand,  and  tried  to  induce  his  Dutch 
councillors  to  declare  war.  He  stormed  at  them  and  at  the  indifferent  people  of  Manhattan 
with  all  the  passion  of  a  patriot,  but  they  would  not  fight. 

Doubtless  the  Dutch  were  not  wanting  in  courage,  but  their  property  interests  were 
imperilled,  and  they  chose  to  save  their  homes  at  the  expense  of  patriotism.  On  the  8th  of 
September,  1664,  New  Amsterdam  surrendered  and  New  Netherland  ceased  to  e.xist.  The 
English  flag  was  raised  over  the  fort  and  the  name  of  New  York  was  substituted  for  that  of 
New  Amsterdam  and  as  the  name  of  the  whole  province.  Two  weeks  afterwards  Fort 
Orange  on  the  Hudson  was  surrendered  and  received  the  name  of  Albany,  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  Duke's  second  title.  The  Swedish  and  Dutch  settlements  on  the  Delaware  also 
capitulated.  England  triumphed  over  her  rivals.  The  conquest  was  complete.  The 
supremacy  of  Great  Britain  in  central  North  America  was  henceforth  firmly  established. 
From  the  northeastern  extremity  of  Maine  to  the  southern  limits  of  Georgia  ever}-  mile  of 
the  American  coast  acknowledged  the  dominion  of  the  English  flag  and  crown. 

With  this  revolution  of  1664  we  come  to  a  succession  of  English  governors  who  held 
rule  in  New  York  to  tlie  close  of  the  centui\-  Of  these  Richard  Nicolls  remained  in  office 
for  three  years,  when  he  was  superseded  by  Lord  Lovelace.  The  latter  left  behind  him  a 
reputation  for  tyranny-  and  arbitrary  rule.  He  held  authority  until  1673,  when  the  counter- 
revolution of  that  year  occurred.  The  Dutch,  having  gone  to  war  with  England,  sent  out  a 
squadron  to  reclaim  their  American  colony.  For  the  nonce  the  expedition  was  successful. 
New  York  was  seized  and  the  supremacy  of  Holland  was  for  a  brief  season  restored  in  the 
countn,'  between  the  Connecticut  and  the  Maryland.  In  the  following  year  Charles  II.  was 
obliged  by  Parliament  to  make  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Dutch  government.  This  was 
done,  but  the  treaty  contained  a  clause  for  the  restoration  of  all  conquests  made  during  the 
war.  New  York  thus  reverted  to  England  and  the  rights  of  the  Duke  of  York,  whatever 
they  were,  were  again  confinned  over  the  province.  The  Duke,  however,  took  the  precau- 
tion to  make  his  authorit>'  doubly  secure  by  obtaining  from  liis  brother,  the  King,  a  new 
patent  confinnator\'  of  the  former  charter. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  arrival  of  Sir  Edmond  Andros  as  governor  of 
New  York.  Andros  attempted  to  establish  his  authority,  but  the  people  resisted  him  to  the 
verge  of  insurrection.  He  hoped  to  obtain  recognition  as  governor  of  all  the  middle  colo- 
nies; but  in  this  expectation,  however,  he  was  resisted  and  frustrated  in  the  .same  manner 
3S  he  was  destined  to  be  by  the  people  of  New  England.      There  was   a   constant   broil 


412  COLUMBUS   AND   COI,UMBIA. 

between  the  governor  and  his  council  on  the  one  side  and  the  popular  assembly  and  citizens 
on  the  other.  This  state  of  civil  commotion  extended  to  1683,  when  Andros  was  superseded 
by  Thomas  Dongan,  a  Catholic. 

Under  the  administration  of  Dongan  the  form  of  the  government  was  changed.  The 
assembly  of  the  people  was  recognized  as  a  part  of  the  colonial  management.  All  freeholders 
were  oranted  the  right  of  suffrage  ;  trial  b\-  jur\-  was  established,  and  it  was  agreed  that 
taxes  should  not  henceforth  be  levied  upon  the  people  except  by  consent  of  the  General 
Assemblv.  It  was  provided  that  soldiers  should  not  be  quartered  on  the  people  ;  that  marital 
law  should  not  exist;  that  men  should  not  be  distressed  or  persecuted  on  account  of  their 
relio-ious  beliefs.  All  the  rights  and  privileges  which  the  people  of  IVIassachusetts  and 
Virginia  had  gained  under  their  charters  and  by  the  plan  of  self-government  were  carefully 
adopted  by  the  law-makers  of  New  York  in  tlieir  early  constitution. 

TYRANNY  OF  JAMES   II. 

In  the  year  after  the  beginning  of  Dongan's  administration  an  important  treaty  was 
concluded  at  Albany.  In  July  of  that  year  the  governors  of  New  York  and  \'irginia  were 
met  in  convention  by  the  sachems  of  the  Iroquois,  arid  the  terms  of  a  lasting  peace  were 
agreed  upon.  At  this  time  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  of  bad  fame,  drew  to  a  close.  In  1685 
he  died,  and  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  was  raised  to  the  throne  with  the  title  of  James 
II.  For  more  than  twenty  years  now  past  a  reaction  against  popular  liberty  and  against 
Protestantism  had  been  going  in  England  under  the  patronage  and  leadership  of  the  crown. 
In  his  later  years  Charles  II.  had  virtually  gone  back  to  the  Mother  Church.  King  James 
who  succeeded  him  was  in  heart  and  fact  a  Catholic.  The  old  principles  of  government 
which  had  been  avowed  and  practised  by  the  House  of  Tudor  were  again  assumed  as  axioms 
of  the  administration  and  were  acted  upon  as  far  as  the  temper  of  the  'English  nation 
would  permit. 

In  this  reactionary  policy  James  II.  was  bolder  than  his  brother.  He  applied  his  theory 
not  only  to  the  home  administration  of  England,  but  everywhere.  As  soon  as  he  was  seated 
on  the  throne  he  proceeded  to  violate  the  pledges  which  he  had  made  to  his  American  sub- 
jects. He  became  the  open  antagonist  of  the  ver\-  government  which  had  been  established 
under  his  own  lieutenants  in  New  York.  He  abrogated  the  popular  legislature  of  that  prov- 
ince. He  imposed  an  odious  tax  by  arbitrary  decree  on  the  people.  He  forbade  printing 
presses,  and  restored  all  the  old  abuses  under  which  the  colony  had  labored  and  groaned  in 
times  past. 

Late  in  1686  Sir  Edmond  Andros  received  his  commission  as  governor  of  all  New  Eng- 
land. As  his  deputy  he  sent  to  New  York  and  New  Jersey  Francis  Nicholson  to  act  in  his 
name  and  b\-  his  authority.  Governor  Dongan  was  superseded,  and  New  York  was  con- 
verted into  a  dependency  of  New  England.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  revo- 
lution of  1688  which  expelled  James  II.  from  the  kingdom  and  carried  away  with  him  all 
of  his  dependents  and  partisans.  The  government  of  Andros  in  New  England  and  of  his 
lieutenant,  Nicholson,  in  New  York  was  immediately  overthrown.  The  governor  and  his 
adherents  were  glad  to  escape  from  the  countn*-,  hearing  behind  them  as  they  fled  the  huzzas 
with  which  the  Americans  hailed  the  accession  of  William  of  Orange  to  the  throne  of 
England. 

REBELLION  AND   PIRACY. 

In  New  York  the  expulsion  of  Nicholson  from  the  government  had  been  effected  by  an 
actual  rebellion  of  the  people.  The  leader  of  the  insurrection  was  a  certain  Jacob  Leisler 
and  his  son-in-law  named  Milbome.      These  led  the  revolt  with  a  high   hand  and   though 


COLUMBUS   A^•D   COLUMBIA.  Alii 

their  action  could  hardly  be  condemned  by  the  crown  since  it  was  a  part  of  the  revolution 
in  Enojlaiid,  yet  the  deputx-ijovernor,  Colonel  Slou;j;hter,  who  was  sent  out  by  William  and 
Mary,  was  induced  by  the  enemies  of  Leislcr  and  Milborne  to  have  them  arrested,  condemned 
and  hanged. 

Sloughter's  administration  began  in  1691;  but  he  was  soon  superseded  by  Benjamin 
Fletcher,  who  held  office  initil  the  invasion  of  New  York  by  the  French  under  Governor 
Frontenac,  of  Canada,  in  1696.  Two  years  afterwards  came  the  Earl  of  Bellomont,  an  Irish 
nobleman  of  excellent  character  and  popular  sympathies.  His  administration,  succeeding 
that  of  Fletcher,  lasted  for  nearly  four  years  and  was  the  happiest  period  in  the  histor)-  of 
the  colony.  His  authority  was  recognized  as  far  as  the  river  Housatonic.  At  one  time 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  were  under  his  jurisdiction.  The  colonies  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut,  howe\er,  refused  to  acknowledge  his  rule.  It  was  during  his 
administration  thai  the  coasts  and  merchant  vessels  of  the  eastern  and  middle  colonies 
were  kept  in  alarm  b\  the  ravages  of  the  famous  sea-marauder,  Captain  William  Kidd,  the 
pirate. 

Bellomont's  administration  ended  in  17(12.  He  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Cornbur)-,  wlio 
arrived  at  New  York  in  May  of  that  year;  but  his  cliaracter,  manners  and  policy  were  wholly 
different  from  those  of  his  predecessor.  He  soon  l^roke  with  the  popular  assembly,  and  each 
succeeding  legislature  resisted  his  authority  more  and  more.  Petitions  were  circulated  for 
his  removal  from  office.  The  councillors  chose  their  own  treasurer,  refused  to  make  appro- 
priations, cut  down  the  revenue  and  vexed  the  governor  witli  opposition  until  after  six  years 
of  tunnoil  and  dissension  he  was  not  only  compelled  to  retire  from  office,  but  was  impover- 
ished and  ruined.  He  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Lovelace,  who  bore  a  commission  from  Queen 
Anne,  the  new  sovereign  of  England.  As  for  Cornbur\-,  he  was  seized  by  the  people  and 
imprisoned  for  debt,  until  by  his  father's  death  he  became  a  peer  of  England  and  could  no 
longer  be  held  in  confinement. 

QUEEN  ANNE'S  WAR. 

New  York  participated  with  New  England  in  the  events  of  King  William's  and  Queen 
Anne's  war.  The  soldiers  of  the  western  province  joined  the  army  of  New  England  to  the 
number  of  eighteen  hundred  in  the  unsuccessful  expedition  against  Montreal.  The  united 
forces  of  the  colonies  proceeded  as  far  as  South  River,  east  of  Lake  George.  Here  the  news 
came  that  the  English  fleet  which  had  been  expected  to  cooperate  with  the  American  pro- 
vincials in  the  reduction  of  Quebec  had  been  sent  to  Portugal.  The  squadron  of  New  Eng- 
land was  not  sufficiently  strong  to  attempt  the  capture  of  the  Canadian  stronghold,  and  the 
troops  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  were  o])liged  to  retreat  to  their  own  countries.  A  sec- 
ond time,  in  171 1,  an  expedition  was  sent  forward  to  the  borders  of  Canada.  In  this  instance 
Sir  Hovenden  Walker  conducted  an  English  squadron  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  but  the  sequel 
showed  that  he  was  incompetent  for  such  an  enterprise.  The  American  forces  meanwhile 
reached  Lake  George;  but  tlie  news  of  the  disaster  to  Walker's  fleet  removed  all  hope  of 
success  and  the  provincials  once  more  returned  to  their  homes. 

We  have  now,  as  in  the  case  of  Ma.ssachusetts  and  \'irginia,  carried  the  narrative  of 
events  in  New  York  well  forward  into  the  eighteenth  century.  In  1732  Governor  Cosby 
came  into  office  and  his  administration  was  marked  with  a  struggle  of  the  people  for  the 
freedom  of  the  press.  The  liberal  newspapers  of  the  province  held  that  the  acts  of  the 
government  were  subject  to  review  and  criticism  in  the  pul)lic  journals.  The  aristocratic 
party  denounced  such  liberty  as  mere  license,  dangerous  to  the  established  order  and  likely 
to  sap  the  foundation  of  all  auliuirity.      In  one  instance  an  editor  named  Zenger  published 


414 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


certain  hostile  criticisms  on  the  policy  of  the  governor  and  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  for 
so  doing.  Great  excitement  ensued  ;  the  people  became  clamorous  for  the  liberation  of 
their  champion.  Andrew  Hamilton,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  Philadelphia,  was  sent  for 
to  defend  Zenger,  who  was  brought  to  trial  at  New  York  in  July  of  1735.  He  was  charged 
with  libel  against  the  government;  the  cause  was  ably  argued  and  the  jury  quickly  brought 
in  a  verdict  of  acquittal.  The  aldermen  of  the  city  testified  their  appreciation  of  Hamil- 
ton's services  in  the  cause  of  liberty  by  making  him  a  present  of  an  elegant  gold  box  and 
the  people  kindled  bonfires  in  their  enthusiasm  over  the  victory  which  they  had  gained  for 

a  free  press. 

THE  NEGRO   RIOTS. 

The  year  1741  was  marked  by  the  occurrence  of  what  was  called  the  Negro  Plot.  At 
this  time  negro  slavery  existed  in  New  York  and  the  slaves  constituted  a  considerable  frac- 
tion of  the  population.    Several  destruc- 


tive fires  occurred,  and  the  belief 
gained  currency  that  these  were  the 
work  of  incendiaries.  For  some  un- 
known reason  the  slaves  were  first 
distrusted  and  then  suspected.  They 
became  objects  of  fear  and  hatred. 
In  this  condition  of  affairs  some 
abandoned  women  came  forward  and 
informed  the  authorities  that  the 
negroes  had  conspired  to  burn  the 
cit}',  kill  all  who  opposed  them,  and 
set  up  one  of  their  own  number  as 
governor. 

Notwithstanding  the  absurdity  of 
this  rumor,  the  people  in  their  terror 
were  ready  to  believe  it.  The  reward 
of  freedom  was  offered  to  any  slave 
who  would  reveal  the  plot.  ]\Iany 
witnesses  rushed  forward,  telling  foolish 
and  contradictor}'  stories  about  the 
conspiracy,  and  the  jails  were  soon 
filled  with  the  accused.  More  than 
thirty  of  the  miserable  creatures,  with 
hardly  a  form  of  trial,  were  convicted 
and  then  hanged  or  burned  to  death.  Others  were  transported  and  sold  as  slaves  in 
foreign  lands.  No  sooner,  however,  had  the  excitement  passed  and  the  people  regained 
their  senses  than  it  came  to  be  doubted  whether  the  whole  shocking  affair  had  not  been 
the  result  of  terror  and  fanaticism.  The  verdict  of  aftertimes  has  been  that  there  was 
no  plot  at  all. 

In  the  time  of  King  George's  war  New  York  was  several  times  invaded  by  the  French, 
and  Indians,  but  these  incursions  were  easily  repelled.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  State  a 
few  villages  were    abandoned  and  considerable  property  in   exposed    localities   destroyed. 


OUEEN   ANNE. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
MINOR   COLONIES   AND   THE   PEQUOO   WAR. 


K  have  already  narrated  the  settlement  of  the  first  colonics 
in  Connecticnt.  With  the  Ibnuding  of  Saybrook  the 
\alley  of  the  most  important  river  of  New  England  was 
secnred  for  English  plantations.  Settlers  came  and  a  few 
years  sufficed  to  populate  the  valley  with  several  enter- 
prising communities.  Scarcely,  however,  had  these 
established  themselves  in  their  future  homes  when  the 
settlers  became  involved  in  a  war  with  the  Pequods. 
This  broke  out  in  the  year  1633.  The  cre-,v  of  a  trading 
\essel  was  ambushed  and  murdered  by  the  Indians. 
What  provocation  the  whites  had  given  is  not  known. 
An  embassy  of  sachems  went  to  Boston  to  apologize  for 
the  crime  and  a  treat}'  was  patched  up,  by  the  terms 
of  which  the  Pequods  acknowledged  the  sovereigutv  of 
the  English  king  and  agreed  to  become  civilized,  what- 
ever that  might  mean. 
The  Xarragansetts  had  already  made  a  similar  agreement  with  the  English.  It  thus 
happened  that  the  two  principal  nations  of  Indians  were  brought  to  peace  with  each  other, 
and  the  hereditary-  fear  which  the  Pequods  had  entertained  of  the  Narragansetts  was  removed. 
It  appears  that  the  Pequods  soon  took  advantage  of  the  immunity  thus  gained  to  break 
their  compact  with  the  English  and  to  begin  on  the  frontier  a  series  of  hostilities.  Old- 
ham, captain  of  a  trading  vessel,  was  killed  by  them,  and 
they  in  turned  were  pursued  and  shot  down  by  the  Con- 
necticut militia.  Hereupon  the  suppressed  rage  of  the  red 
men  burst  out  in  flames,  and  war  began  in  earnest. 

As  soon  as  fighting  was  the  order  of  the  day  the 
Pequods  .sought  to  unite  the  Narragansetts  with  them  for 
the  extermination  of  the  whites.  In  this  serious  mischief 
they  were  well  nigh  successful.  The  conspiracy,  however, 
was  defeated  by  the  heroic  generosity  of  Roger  Williams, 
who  used  his  influence  with  the  sachems  of  the  Narragan-  '  '  -      Q 

setts  to  prevent  them  from  making  the  alliance,  as  already  and  more  full\-  described.      The 
Mohegans  were  in  like  manner  induced  to  remain  at  peace  with  the  whites. 

In  the  spring  of  1637  an  expedition  was  organized  mider  the  command  of  Captain 
Mason,  who  advanced  against  the  Pequods  in  their  own  country.  He  came  upon  the  prin- 
cipal fort  of  the  tribe,  attacked  it,  set  the  wigwams  on  fire  and  made  a  holocaust  of  the 
village  and  its  wretched  inhabitants.  Only  seven  of  the  warriors  arc  .said  to  have  escaped. 
Six  hundred  men,  women  and  children  perished,  nearly  all  of  them  being  roasted  to  death 
in  one  hideous  heap  in  the  flames.  The  Pequod  nation  was  destroyed.  Not  a  wigwam  was 
spared.  The  few  whf>  were  taken  prisoners  were  distributed  as  ser\'ants  among  the 
Mohegans  and  the  Narragansctt.s. 

(415) 


416 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


THE  BIBLE  AS  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   STATE. 

Just  after  the  close  of  the  Pequod  war  New  Haven  was  founded  by  a  company  of 
colonists  from  Boston.  In  1639  the  settlers  held  a  convention  /;/  a  barn,  and  adopted  the 
Bible  as  the  constitution  of  the 
State  !  The  gov'ernnient  was  called 
the  "House  of  Wisdom,"  and  seven 
of  the  leading  men  were  called  the 
Seven  Pillars.  Theophilus  Eaton, 
first  and  greatest  of  the  Pillars,  was 
chosen  governor  for  twenty  years  con- 
secutively. About  this  time  the  first 
settlements  were  planted  on  the 
opposite  shores  of  Long  Island  Sound, 
where  pleasant  villages  appeared  before 
the  middle  of  the  century. 

The    civil    organization    of  Con- 
necticut   may    be  dated     from    1639. 
Delegates     from   the    three    principal 
towns    came    together  at    Hartford     and  adopted     a 
simple    constitution,   in  which  the  only  qualification 
of  citizenship  was  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  State. 
All     religious     opinions    were    alike    tolerated    and 
respected. 

In  1643    Connecticut  became  a   member  of  the 

union  of  New 


CAPT.  MASON    FIRING  THE  INDIAN  VILLAGE. 


England.  New  Haven,  which 
had  not  adopted  the  Connecticut  constitution, 
was  also  admitted.  In  the  following  year 
Saybrook  was  annexed  to  the  parent  colon)'. 
Up  to  the  middle  of  the  century  fears  were 
constantly  entertained  of  a  conflict  with  the 
Dutch.  In  1650,  however,  Governor  Stuy- 
vesant  and  the  commissioners  of  Connecticut 
met  at  Hartford  and  framed  a  treat)-  by 
which  the  boundary  between  his  province 
and  that  of  the  English  was  established.  In 
the  brief  space  of  a  year  war  broke  out 
between  England  and  Holland,  and  the 
conflict  was  about  to  be  renewed  in  America  ; 
but  before  the  colonists  actually  took  up 
arms  news  of  peace  arrived,  and  the  war  was 
happily  averted. 

When  monarchy  was  restored  in  England, 
Connecticut  at  once  recognized  Charles  II. 
as  their  rightful  sovereign.  In  doing  so,  they 
were  moved  not  so  much  by  their  political 
principles  as  by  the  hope  of  obtaining  from 
that  monarch  a  charter  for  their  colony  ;  for  none  such  had  as  yet  been  secured.  The 
younger   Winthrop   was  sent  in    this  interest  to  London  with  a    constitution   which  the 


THK   YOUNGER    WINTHROP. 


COLUMBUS*   AND   COLUMBIA. 


417 


Hartford  patriots  had  drawn  for  themselves.  This  the  Kin^  was  induced  to  sign,  and 
Wiuthrop  came  back  in  high  spirits  to  the  rejoicing  people  of  Connecticut.  The 
charter  was  liberal  to  the  last  degree,  conceding  everything  but  independence  to  the 
people.  After  this  Winthrop  was  chosen  governor  annually  for  fourteen  consecutive 
years.  Meanwhile  the  population  greatly  increased  ;  peace  reigned  ;  the  husbandman 
was  undisturbed  in  the  field  and  the  workman  in  his  shop. 

In  1675 — as  already  narrated — Sir  Edmond  Andros  arrived  as  the  governor  of  New 
York,  and  Captain  Bull,  who  commanded  the  fort  at  Saybrook,  was  ordered  to  surrender 
the  fort  to  the  new  official.  The  order  w-as  disregarded,  and  when  Andros  having  come  to 
land  undertook  to  read  his  commission,  he  was  resisted,  and  finally  obliged  to  go  back 
foaming  with  anger  to  his  ship.  Eleven  \ears  later,  however,  Andros  became  governor  of 
all  New  England.  He  established  his  authority  first  in  the  three  eastern  colonies  and  theu 
came  to  Hartford.  He  went  into  the  provincial  assembly 
and  wrote  Finis  at  the  bottom  of  the  secretary's  book 
of  minutes!  He  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  charter;  _ 
but  a  debate  ensued,  and  as  the  shades  of  evening  fell 
Captain   Joseph  Wadsworth 


stole  the  coveted  instrument 
and  hid  it  in  the  famous 
Charter  Oak — so  called  from 
this  heroic  and  romantic 
incident.  Andros  succeeded 
for  the  time  in  establishing 
his  authority;  but  two  jears 
afterwards  was  overthrown 
and  expelled  from  the  colo- 
nies, as  already  narrated. 

THE    DRUMS   OF  LIBERTY    BEAT 

DOWN  THE  VOICE  OF 

USURPATION 

In  1693,  when  Gover- 
nor Fletcher  of  New  York 
was  holding  nile  in  tliat 
province  he  made  an  un- 
warranted attempt  to  ex- 
tend his  authority  over  Con- 
necticut. His  commission  from  King  William  gave  warrant  for  such  a  proceeding  but 
the  colonial  charter  forbade  it.  When  he  attempted,  therefore,  to  assume  command  of 
the  militia  at  Hartford  Captain  Wadsworth  caused  the  drums  to  be  beaten.  "  vSilence, 
silence!"  exclaimed  the  enraged  governor.  "Drum,  drum!"  shouted  the  captain. 
The  controversy  waxed  liot,  until  Wadsworth  threatened  the  would-be  governor  witli  a 
volley  from  the  colonial  muskets.  Thereupon  Fletcher  retreated  from  the  contest  and 
Connecticut  retained  her  liberties. 

"I  give  these  books  for  the  founding  of  a  college  in  this  colony."     Such   were  the 

words  of  ten  ministers  who,  in   the  year  1700,  met  at  the  village  of  Branford,  a  few  miles 

east  of  New  Haven.      Each  of  them  as  he  uttered  the  words  deposited  a  few  volumes  on  tlie 

table  around  which  they  were  sitting.     Such  was  the  founding  of  Yale  College.    Two  years 

27 


THE   VOICE   OK   USURPATION    DROWNED    BY   riRUM    BEATS. 


418  "  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

afterwards  the  school  was  formally  opened  at  Saybrook,  from  which  place  it  was  removed  to 
New  Haven  in  17 17.  One  of  the  most  liberal  patrons  of  the  college  was  Elihn  Yale,  from 
whom  the  famous  institution  of  learning  derived  it'-  name. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  French  and 
Indian  War,  all  the  western  districts  of  New  England  enjoyed  a  period  of  prosperity.  The 
blessings  of  free  institutions  and  of  unbroken  peace  were  realized  in  full  measure  by  the 
people  of  Connecticut.  Want  was  unknown  and  pauperism  unheard  of  in  the  colony. 
Wealth  was  little  cared  for  and  crime  of  rare  occurrence  among  a  people  with  whom  intel- 
ligence and  virtue  were  the  only  foundations  of  nobility. 

The  story  of  "the  exile  of  Roger  Williams  from  Salem  and  Boston  has  already  been  told. 
West  of  the  Narrangansett  the  wanderer,  with  a  few  companions  who  had  joined  him  at 
Seekonk,  laid  out  the  settlement  of  Providence  Plantation.  This  was  in  the  summer  of 
1636.  Williams  was  a  man  of  the  largest  abilities  and  great  attainments  in  scholarship- 
according  to  the  standard  of  the  age.  Religiously  he  was  affiliated  with  that  most  radical 
body  of  dissenters  called  Anabaptists.  He  had  himself  received  baptism  in  infancy  ;  but 
he  came  at  length  to  doubt  the  validity  of  the  ordinance  so  performed  and  determined  to 
receive  a  second  baptism.  For  this  duty  he  selected  a  layman  by  whom  he  was  baptized 
and  whom  he  in  turn  baptized,  with  ten  other  exiles  of  the  colony.  Such  was  the  organi- 
zation of  the  first  Baptist  Church  in  America.  * 

Civil  government  followed  in  the  simplest  of  simple  forms.     The  beginning  of  formal 

society  in  Rhode  Island  was  democratic  in  the  last  degree.     Williams  reser\'ed  for  himself 

uo  rank  or  privilege.     The  lands  which  were  purchased  from  the  Indians  were  freely  and 

equally  distributed  among  the  colonists.     The  governor  toiled  like  the  rest  in  the  tilling  of 

his  two  small  fields.      The  constitution  was  at  first  a  simple  agreement  signed  by  all  the 

settlers  that  in  all  matters  except  those  of  conscience  they  would  yield  to  the  rule  of  the 

majority. 

AN  EXPERIMENTAL  THEOCRACY  IN  AMERICA. 

The  "Government,"  moreover,  bore  the  test  of  experience.  Providence  Plantation 
had  peace  and  prosperity.  At  one  time  the  magnanimity  of  Roger  Williams  led  to  a  move- 
ment among  his  friends  at  Boston  for  his  recall  from  banishment ;  but  the  ministers  of 
Boston  hotly  opposed  the  proposition,  saying  that  his  principles  and  teachings  would  subvert 
the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  !     So  the  proposal  was  rejected. 

In  1638  a  new  company  of  exiles  from  the  parent  colony  arrived  at  Rhode  Island. 
These  were  led  by  John  Clarke,  William  Coddington  and  j\Irs.  Ann  Hutchinson.  Thi. 
exiles  left  Massachusetts  to  found  a  new  colony  on  the  Delaware  ;  but  Roger  Williams  bad< 
them  welcome,  and  Sir  Henry  Vane,  at  that  time  governor  of  Massachusetts,  induced  Mian- 
tonomoh,  sachem  of  the  Narragansetts,  to  make  to  the  exiles  a  gift  of  the  island  of  Rhod< 
Island.  Here  the  colony  was  planted.  Portsmouth  was  founded  first.  As  to  a  frame  of 
government,  the  little  band  concluded  that  they  would  take  ancient  Israel  as  a  model.  Tlie\ 
accordingly  established  a  little  theocracy  and  William  Coddington  was  elected  judge. 
Strange  spectacle  to  behold  on  an  island  in  Narragansett  Bay  the  restoration  or  attempted 
revival  of  a  fonn  of  society  which  had  perished  three  thousand  years  before  ! 

It  was  not   long  till  the  Israel  of  Narragansett  Bay  proved  a  failure  ;  but  the  colony 

*  The  regular  Baptists  do  not  concede  the  organization  of  their  Church  to  Roger  WilUanis,  but  regard  Dr. 
John  Clarke,  ol  Rhode  Island,  as  the  true  father  of  the  Baptist  denomination  in  America.  Much  controversy  has 
grown  out  of  the  dispute  between  the  two  parties.  Volumes  have  been  written  in  behalf  of  each.  The  congre- 
gation organized-by  Williams  was  first  in  time  ;  that  organized  by  Dr.  Clarke  had  the  sanction  of  regularity  and 
is  accepted  by  regular  Baptists  as  their  original. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  419 

did  not  fail  or  wane.  On  the  contrary',  it  waxed  and  multiplied.  The  establishment  of  a 
civil  government  succeeded  the  theocracy  in  1641.  The  new  style  of  civil  affairs  was 
entitled  a  "  Democracie,"  or  government  by  the  people.  The  supreme  authority  was 
lodged  with  the  whole  body  of  freemen  ;  and  freemen  iu  this  instance  meant  everybody. 
On  the  seal  of  the  State  was  written   Amor  Vincet  Omnia — Love  will  conquer  all  things. 

Rhode  Island  was  not  penu'tted  tc  enter  the  union  of  New  England.  The  refusal 
of  the  parent  colony  to  accept  those  of  Narragansett  Bay  on  terms  of  equality  and  the 
claim  now  advanced  by  Plymouth  to  jurisdiction  over  the  prosperous  settlements  in  that 
region  alarmed  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  and  they  determined  to  make  secure  their 
political  existence  by  obtaining  a  royal  charter.  For  this  purpose  Roger  Williams  was 
appointed  plenipotentiar)'  of  the  two  plantations  and  sent  to  London.  There  he  was 
received  by  his  old  friend.  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who  aided  him  in  obtaining  from  Parliament 
the  grant  cf  a  chartei.  Great  was  the  rejoicing  when  the  ambassador  came  back  to  his 
people  bearing  the  Parliamentar,-  patent.  He  was  received  with  shouts  by  the  people  of 
Seekonk,  who  conducted  him  in  triumph  to  his  home  at  Providence. 

The  future  history  of  Rhode  Island  was  prosperous  and  full  of  promise.  .-Vfter  the  resto- 
ration of  the  colony  through  the  agency  of  George  Baxter,  the  people  secured  from  Kino- 
Charles  II.  the  confirmation  and  reissuance  of  their  charter  and  were  thus  iinnly  established 
as  an  independent  democratic  State.  Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  near  the  close  of 
the  century  Sir  Edniond  Andros  arrived,  broke  the  seal  of  the  colony,  subverted  the  gov- 
ernment, appointed  an  irresponsible  council  and  left  the  little  "  Democracie  "  in  ruins. 

The  usurpation,  however,  was  brief  In  16S9  James  II.  and  his  royal  governors  and 
satellites  passed  away  together.  On  Mayday  of  the  following  year  the  people  of  Rhode 
Island  "restored  their  liberties.  The  old  democratic  institutions  were  revived  and  Walter 
Clarke  was  reelected  governor.  He  was,  however,  fearful  of  accepting,  as  was  also  Gov- 
ernor Almy  who  was  chosen  in  his  stead.  It  remained  for  an  octogenarian  Quaker  named 
Henry  Bull  to  accept  the  tnist  And  restore  the  old  form  of  government.  Again  the  little 
State  around  the  Bay  of  the  Narragansetts  began  to  prosper.  For  a  period  of  fifty  years  the 
peace  of  the  colony  was  unbroken.  The  principles  of  the  great  founder  became  in  large 
measure  the  principles  of  the  commonwealth — and  have  remained  such  to  the  present  day. 

PROSPERITY  ATTENDS  THE  COLONY  IN   MARYLAND. 

Before  closing  the  present  chapter,  we  ina\-  glance  at  llie  development  of  ]\Iar>-land,  the 
principal  southern  colony  after  Virginia.  Leonard  Calvert  treated  the  natives  in  the 
neighborhood  of  his  settlement  of  St.  Mar>''s  with  great  liberality.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  settlers  had  peace  and  plenty.  The  Indians  and  the  colonists  interchanged  com- 
modities and  both  were  profited.  Within  six  months  the  colony  at  St.  Man's  grew  into 
greater  prosperity  than  that  at  Jamestown  had  reached  in  as  many  years.  The  pledge  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  made  by  the  founder  was  fully  redeemed;  nor  should  the  reader 
fail  to  remember  that  this  example  of  almost  perfect  toleration  on  the  part  of  the  Catholics 
preceded  by  fully  two  years  the  first  settlement  of  Rhode  Island. 

In  1633  the  first  assembly  of  the  freemen  of  Maryland  was  convened  at  St.  Mary's. 
Colonial  legislation  proper  began  two  years  afte^^vards;  but  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the 
records  for  the  first  ten  years  not  much  is  known  of  the  spirit  and  tendency  of  tlic  primitive 
legislation  of  the  colony.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  there  were  .serious  difficulties  to 
contend  with.  Claybome,  who  had  planted  a  settlement  on  Kent  Island  resisted  L^rd  Bal- 
timore's authority.  A  petty  war  broke  out.  A  few  were  killed  and  one  or  two  jx^rsous 
executed  before  the  Clayborne  settlement  was  subdued. 


420 


COLUMBUS  AND    COLUMBIA. 


In  1639,  representative  government  was  established  in  Maryland.  Soon  afterwards 
when  the  news  came  of  the  English  Revolution  the  Indians  began  to  show  signs  of  hos- 
tility, and  in  1642  war  broke  out  between  the  colonists  and  the  natives.  The  conflict  was 
less  destractive  and  barbarous  than  usually  happened  in  the  case  of  Indian  wars,  and  after 
two  years  of  hostility  a  treaty  was  made  with  the  savages. 

The  religious  statutes  of  the  colony  favoring  toleration  date  from  1649.  I^  these  free- 
dom of  conscience  was  guaranteed  to  all.  One  of  the  remarkable  spectacles  of  the  time 
was  witnessed  in  the  refuge  which  was  furnished  by  the  Catholic  colonists  of  the  Chesa- 
peake for  certain  persecuted  Protestants  who  had  been  proscribed  and  banished  by  other 
Protestants  of  the  neighboring  colonies.  The  bigotry  of  the  age  was  further  illustrated 
in  the  conduct  of  the  Puritan  and  Republican  party  when  that  party  gained  the  ascendant 
during  the  time  of  the  commonwealth  in  England.  The  first  act  of  the  body  was  to 
acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Cromwell,  and  the  next  was  to  disfranchise  and  outlaw  the 
Catholics!     The  result  was  necessarily  a  civil  war. 

For  several  years  the  conflict  continued  until,  iu   1658,  a  compromise  was  aflfected  by 

which  Josias  Fendall, 
deputy  of  Lord  Balti- 
more,  was  acknow- 
ledged as  governor. 
The  acts  of  the  Protes- 
tant assemblies,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  re- 
cognized as  valid  and 
a  general  amnesty  was 
declared  for  all  offences. 
After  the  death  of 
Oliver  Cromwell  the 
people  of  Maryland 
were  perplexed  to 
choose  a  policy.  At . 
length,  however,  they 
declared  their  inde- 
pendence. This  led  to  a  setting  aside  of  the  rights  of  Lord  Baltimore  and  the  abrogation 
of  his  council.  The  same  course  was  taken  by  the  people  of  Virginia.  As  soon  as  it  was 
known,  however,  that  Charles  II.  had  been  restored  to  the  throne  the  rights  of  the 
Baltimores  were  revived  and  recognized.  Governor  Fendall,  wlio  had  in  the  meantime 
espoused  the  cause  of  independence,  was  now  seized  and  tried  for  treason,  but  his  life  was 
saved  by  the  clemency  of  Lord  Baltimore. 

WARS  BETWEEN  CATHOLICS  AND  PROTESTANTS. 
In  1675  Sir  Charles  Calvert  succeeded  to  the  estates  and  titles  of  the  Baltimores,  and 
for  sixteen  years  exercised  proprietary'  rights  as  governor  of  Mar}dand.  The  population  of 
the  colony  had  now  increased  to  more  than  ten  thousand.  The  laws  of  the  province  were 
carefully  revised  on  the  same  liberal  principles  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  first  Lord 
Baltimore.  The  English  Revolution  of  1688  brought  great  confusion  to  the  colonists  of  the 
Chesapeake.  The  deputy  of  Lord  Baltimore  hesitated  to  acknowledge  William  and  Mar>- 
as  the  rightful  sovereigns.  A  rumor  was  spread  abroad  by  the  Protestant  party  that  the 
Catholics  had  leagued  with  the  Indians  for  the  destruction  of  all  who  opposed  them.  This 
led  again  to  war,  and  the  Catholic  party  was  compelled  to  surrender  the  government 


TRAINING-DAY  IN   THE   OLDEN    TlMl, 


COLUxMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  421 

These  circumstauces  gave  opportuuit\-  and  excuse  to  King  William  to  interfere 
decisively  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  On  the  ist  of  June,  1691,  the  charter  of  Lord  Balti- 
more was  arbitrarily  taken  away  and  a  royal  governor  appointed  over  the  province.  Sir 
Lionel  Copley  was  commissioned  and  came  out  to  Maryland  in  1692.  Not  only  the  old 
patent,  but  the  principles  on  which  that  patent  was  founded,  were  swept  away.  The 
Episcopal  Church  was  established  b\-  law  and  a  system  of  ta.vation  was  invented  for  its 
support.  Religious  toleration  was  abolished  on  the  ver>'  scene  of  its  greatest  triumphs! 
For  twenty-four  years  this  condition  of  affairs  continued  until,  in  1715,  Queen  Anne  was 
induced  to  restore  the  heir  of  Lord  Baltimore  to  the  rights  of  his  ancestors.  Maryland 
again  became  a  proprietary-  go\'ernment,  under  the  authorit}-  of  the  Calverts,  and  so  con- 
tinued until  the  Revolutionary  War. 

It  remains  to  notice  briefl\-  the  progress  of  the  two  Carolinas.  The  Albemarle  county 
colony  had  for  its  first  governor  William  Dnimmond.  Shortly  afterwards  the  Clarendon 
county  colony  was  planted  under  the  governorship  of  Sir  John  Yeamans.  Both  settlements 
flourished.  Immigration  was  rapid,  and  within  a  single  year  eight  hundred  people  settled 
along  the  River  Chowan. 

As  for  government,  the  task  was  assigned  to  Sir  Ashley  Cooper,  who  appointed  the 
philo-sopher  John  Locke  to  prepare  a  constitution.  In  1669  that  learned  man  produced  his 
frame  of  government  called  the  Grand  IModel.  The  sequel  showed  that  it  had  been  better 
named  the  Grand  Absurdity.  Locke  had  provided  in  the  pompous  instniment  for  the 
organization  of  an  empire  in  which  there  were  to  be  many  orders  of  nobilitv — dukes,  earls 
and  marquises,  knights,  lords  and  esquires,  baronial  courts,  heraldic  ceremony  and  everj- 
sort  of  feudal  nonsense  that  the  human  imagination  could  conceive.  Such  was  the  mag- 
nificent constitution  which  wisdom  had  planned  for  the  government  of  a  few  colonists  who 
lived  on  \enisou  and  potatoes  and  paid  their  debts  with  tobacco. 

The  people  of  Carolina,  however,  proceeded  to  organize  for  self-goveniment  after  the 
simple  manner  of  pioneers.  The  Grand  Model  was  found  impossible  of  application  and  after 
twenty  years  was  cast  aside.  The  soil  of  Clarendon  county  was  poor,  and  in  1671  the 
greater  number  of  colonists  were  removed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ashley  River.  By  the  close 
of  the  century  the  primitive  settlement  was  abandoned,  but  Albemarle  county-  was  more 
prosperous. 

DiSTRACTrONS  AND  OPPRESSIONS. 

In  1680  the  notorious  Seth  Sothel  became  dcput\'  governor  of  Carolina  ;  but  he  was 
fortunately  captured  by  pirates,  and  did  not  arrive  until  1683.  For  five  years  he  defrauded 
and  oppressed  the  people,  until  he  was  finally  overthrown  and  sentenced  by  the  General 
Assembly  to  disfranchisement  and  twelve  months'  banishment  from  North  Carolina.  Other 
governors  followed  of  greater  prudence  and  probitw  Immigration  continued,  priucijxilly 
from  Virginia  and  Maryland.     Quakers  came  from  New  England  and  the  Delaware. 

In  1707  a  band  of  French  Huguenots  arrived  from  France.  A  hundred  families  of 
Genuan  refugees  escaped  from  their  distant  homes  beyoiad  the  Rhine  to  find  asylum  on  the 
banks  of  the  Neuse.  Peasants  from  Switzerland  came,  and  founded  New  Benie  at  the 
mouth  of  Trent  River.  Meanwhile  the  Indian  nations  receded  and  wasted  away.  Peace 
was  maintained  with  the  natives  until  171 1,  when  a  brief  war  completed  the  ruin  of  the 
natives  and  expelled  them  from  the  better  parts  of  North  Carolina. 

Such  in  general  was  the  course  of  events  in  the  northern  colony  until  its  separation 
from  the  southern.  This  was  effected  in  1729.  The  Cape  Fear  River  was  made  the  divid- 
ing line,  and  a  royal  governor  was  appointed  for  each  of  the  two  colonies.     In  South 


422  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Carolina  immigration  had  not  lagged.  ]\Iany  circumstances  favored  the  settlement  of  this 
province  and  few  disasters  retarded  it.  Old  Charleston  remained  the  capital  until  the  year 
1680,  when  the  present  metropolis  was  founded  on  the  peninsula  called  Oyster  Point, 
between  the  Ashley  and  Cooper  Rivers. 

The  best  nations  of  Europe  contributed  to  the  population  of  New  Charleston  and  of 
the  whole  country  between  the  Cape  Fear  and  the  Savannah.  Hither  came  in  great 
numbers  the  French  Huguenots.  They  were  met  by  the  proprietaries  with  pledges  of  pro- 
tection and  promise  of  citizenship  ;  but  for  a  season  they  were  treated  with  distrust  by  the 
English  colonists.  Not  until  1697  were  all  discriminations  against  the  French  immigrants 
removed.  A  just  civil  administration  of  the  colony  was  not  obtained  until  1695,  when 
John  Archdale,  a  distinguished  and  talented  Quaker,  was  appointed  governor.  Under  his 
influence  a  law  was  enacted  by  which  the  Huguenots  were  admitted  to  full  citizenship,  and 
all  Christians  except  the  Catholics  were  enfranchised.  The  ungenerous  exception  was  made 
by  the  assembly  against  the  governor's  will. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  centurj-  the  Church  of  England  was  established  by  law  in 
South  Carolina.  All  the  dissenters  were  disfranchised.  An  appeal  was  made  by  the 
minority  to  the  proprietaries  of  the  province,  but  they  refused  to  listen.  The  appeal  was 
then  carried  to  Parliament,  and  by  that  body  it  was  decided  that  the  proprietaries  had  for- 
feited their  charter.  The  legislature  thereupon  revoked  its  own  act ;  but  the  Episcopal 
Church  remained  as  the  religious  establishment  of  South  Carolina. 

In  1729  seven  of  the  eight  proprietaries  of  the  Carolinas  sold  their  entire  claims  in 
the  provinces  to  the  King.  Lord  Carteret,  the  eighth,  would  surrender  nothing  but  his 
right  of  jurisdiction,  reserving  his  share  in  the  soil.  Royal  governors  were  hereupon 
appointed,  and  the  affairs  of  South  Carolina  were  settled  on  a  permanent  basis  not  to  be 
disturbed  for  more  than  fort}^  years. 

The  people  who  colonized  the  Carolinas  were  brave  and  chivalrous.  On  the  banks  of 
the  Santee,  the  Edisto  and  the  Combahee  were  gathered  some  of  the  best  elements  of  the 
European  nations.  Equally  with  the  rugged  Puritans  of  the  north  the  Carolinians  were 
lovers  of  libert}-.  Without  the  severe  morality  and  fonnal  manners  of  the  Pilgrims,  the 
people  became  the  leaders  in  courtly  politeness  and  high-toned  honor  between  man  and 
man.  In  the  coming  struggle  for  freedom  and  independence  the  colonists  of  the  South, 
now  risen  to  the  stature  of  American  citizens,  showed  themselves  to  be  worth}'  descendants 
of  their  ancestors.  They  joined  hands  with  their  fellows  of  the  North  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  suffered  in  that  great  cause,  and  helped  as  much  as  any  to  vindicate  it  with 
their  swords. 


BOOK     SECOND. 


Epoch   of  Independence. 


CHAPTER  X. 
THE  OLD  THIRTEEN. 

E  are  here  to  enter  upon  an  account  of  the  first  movements 
made  in  coinniou  by  the  American  colonies — the  first  half- 
conscious  attempts  of  our  thirteen  primitive  republics  to 
enter  into  union.  Such  had  been  the  nature  of  the  various 
colonial  establishments — such  the  diverse  nationalities  and 
antagonistic  principles  which  had  contributed  to  fonn  the 
early  plantations — that  few  or  none  of  our  citizens 
of  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  accepted  as 
true  the  aphorism,  "  In  union  there  is  strength." 

On  the  contrary'  the  fathers  held  practically  the  notion 
that  strength  lay  in  diversity  and  independence.  The 
founders  of  the  American  colonies  came  to  America  to  find 
individuality,  freedom,  the  liberty  of  localism,  exemption 
from  the  exactions  of  authority  and  the  hardships  of  power. 
Tiie  isolation  of  the  early  American  settlements  may  well 
remind  the  reader  of  the  bristling  individualism  of  the 
ancient  Greek  democracies.  If  there  ever  is  to  be  an  American  Union,  therefore,  the  old- 
time  spirit  and  purpo.se  of  the  colonists  must  be  changed,  transfonned  into  a  new  mood  and 
tense,  turned  into  a  different  channel  of  will  and  action. 

It  is  needless  to  point  out  the  manner  in  which  such  changes  are  historically  effected. 
War  is  the  usual  agent  which  histon-  adopts  in  the  destruction  of  social  and  race  prejudices. 
Although  new  prejudices  are  produced  thereby,  the  old  are  extinguished.  It  was  destined 
to  be  so  in  the  ca.se  of  our  American  colonies.  Their  segregation  was  to  be  overcome  and 
their  prejudices  finally  abated,  not  indeed  by  one  war,  but  by  many.  We  have  now  arrived 
at  the  time  wlien  an  inter-colonial  conflict  was  imminent  and  when  the  English  colonists  in 
America  must  out  of  the  sentiment  of  safety  join  their  issues  in  a  common  cause  against  a 
common  foe.  Tliis  movement  was  the  beginning  of  American  independence.  We  should 
not  wait  for  the  passage  of  tlie  Stamp  Act,  for  the  Boston  Tca-]xirty,  tlie  Port  Bill,  the  com- 
ing of  a  British  anny  from  Halifax  to  tlie  metropolis  of  New  England,  tlie  meeting  of  a 
Colonial  Congress,  the  flash  of  musketry  at  Lexington  or  on  the  slopes  of  Breed's  pasture — 
to  note  the  beginning  of  our  War  for  Independence.      That  decisive  and  world-changing 


424  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

event  began  with  the  first  tentative  efforts  of  the  American  colonies  to  act  as  one.  The 
sentiment  of  unit}'  was  the  germ  of  nationality  and  whenever  the  first  appeared  the  second 
began  to  be. 

Before  entering  upon  an  account  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  (for  that  is  the  conflict 
to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  preceding  paragraphs)  it  is  appropriate  to  sketch  briefly 
the  general  condition  of  our  colonial  republics  at  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century — to 
give  some  account  of  their  attainments,  dispositions,  tendencies  and  purposes  while  they 
still  stood  asunder  under  the  influence  of  the  forces  which  had  created  them  as  distinct 
entities  on  our  coasts. 

The  colonies  were  thirteen  in  number.  Four  of  them  constituted  New  England,  namely, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire.  Four  were  Middle  Colo- 
nies— New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware.  Five  were  Southern  Colonies — 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  All  had  grown  and 
prospered.  True,  the  rate  of  progress — as  progress  is  estimated  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century- — was  exceedingly  slow,  but  it  was  nevertheless  progress.  The  elements  of  power, 
rather  than  the  exhibition  of  power,  were  present  in  all  the  colonies.  A  wilful,  patriotic 
and  vigorous  race  of  democrats  had  taken  possession  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  had  fitted 
themselves  with  skill  and  courage  to  their  new  environment.  Institutions  unknown  in 
Europe,  peculiar  to  the  situations  of  these  peoples  in  the  New  World,  made  necessary  by  the 
conditions  and  surroundings  of  the  colonies,  had  sprung  up  and  taken  deep  root  in  American 
soil. 

POPULATION  OF  THE  COLONIAL  STATES, 

At  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  entire  population  of  the  old  thirteen 
colonies  was  about  a  million  and  a  half.  Ten  years  later  the  estimates  recorded  a  million 
six  hundred  and  ninety-five  thousand  souls.  Of  these  about  three  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
were  blacks.  Massachusetts  was  at  this  period  the  strongest  colony,  having  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  people  of  European  ancestr}'  within  her  borders.  True,  Virginia  had  a 
greater  aggregate  population,  numbering  altogether  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand 
inhabitants;  but  of  these  a  hundred  and  sixteen  thousand  were  Africans — slaves.  Next  in 
order  stood  Pennsylvania  with  her  population  of  nearly  two  hundred  thousand;  next  Con- 
necticut with  her  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  people;  next  Maryland  with  a  hundred  and 
four  thousand;  then  New  York  with  eighty-five  thousand;  New  Jersey  not  quite  as  many; 
then  South  Carolina,  and  so  through  the  feebler  colonies  to  Georgia,  in  whose  borders  were 
fewer  than  five  thousand  inhabitants,  including  the  negroes. 

By  the  middle  of  the  century  the  people  of  the  American  colonies  had,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, approximated  a  common  character.  The  old-time  differences,  however,  still  existed 
to  a  marked  degree.  The  peculiarities  which  the  ancestors  of  the  colonists  had  brought 
with  them  from  Europe  were  retained  by  their  descendants,  though  with  a  measure  of  modi- 
fication. In  New  England,  particularly  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  the  principles 
and  practices  of  Puritanism  still  prevailed,  and  were  universally  recognized  as  the  founda- 
tions of  good  society.  To  a  certain  extent,  however,  the  lineaments  of  the  system  as  it  had 
existed  at  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  softened  and  relaxed.  Though  the 
Church  was  still  dominant  over  secular  society,  its  tyranny  was  not  so  absolute  and  galling 
as  it  had  been  aforetime. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  the  manners  and  customs  of  Holland  were  still  prevalent, 
in  some  districts  almost  as  prevalent  as  they  had  been  a  hundred  years  before.  In  other 
parts  of  New  York,  the  English  language  and  people  had  predominated.     This  was  particu- 


CULUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


425 


larly  tnie  at  New  York  city,  wliich  by  this  time  had  become  thoroughly  Anglicized.  Be- 
yond the  Delaware  the  Quakers  had  gathered  in  great  numbers.  They  controlled  the  Legis- 
lature of    Pennsylvania,  and  gave  form  to  society.     Other  elements  had  been  freeh-  admit- 


PKKSixrrioN  oi-  Till-;  mokavia.vs. 


^^■:t^>^'^^_ 


ted  into  the  colony;  but  were  not  thus  far  sufficiently  strong  to  bring  serious  innovations 
upon  the  simple  methods  of  civil  and  social  life  introduced  by  Penu  and  his  coujpanions. 


426  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

An  exception  to  this  peaceful  condition  and  freedom  of  opinion  was  found,  however,  in 
the  general  bearing  of  society  against  the  IMoravians,  who,  though  somewhat  like  the  Qua- 
kers, were  yet  madeobjects  of  the  bitterest  persecutions,  particularly  in  New  York  and  Connect- 
icut, where  the  Catholics  held  them  in  extreme  aversion.  They  were  charged  with  inciting 
the  Iroquois  Indians  to  hostility  in  the  interest  of  France,  and  other  specific  allegations  of 
perfidy  were  made  to  incite  popular  hatred  and  thus  to  justify  the  abuses  to  which  they  were 
subjected.  Refusing  to  subscribe  to  an  oath  on  religious  scruples,  this  refusal  was  made 
the  excuse  for  the  passage  of  a  law  prohibiting  any  person  living  in  the  province  who  ob- 
jected to  being  bound  by  such  obligation.  In  order  to  carr}-  this  iniquitous  law  into  eifect, 
the  Moravians  were  attacked  in  the  most  inhuman -manner  and  driven  with  blows  from  their 
fields,  homes  and  workshops,  by  which  persecutions  the  Moravian  missions  had  to  be  aban- 
doned.    Intolerance  did  its  work,  and  bigotry  was  accordingly  increased,  to  the  insecurity 

of  society. 

SOCIETY  IN  THE  STATES. 

On  the  northern  bank  of  the  Potomac,  the  youthful  Frederick,  the  sixth  Lord  Balti- 
more, a  frivolous  and  dissolute  personage,  ruled  the  people  who  still  conformed  to  the  order 
of  things  established  a  century  and  a  quarter  pre\'iously  by  Sirs  George,  Cecil  and  Leonard 
Calvert.  The  revolutions  to  which  the  province  had  been  subjected  had  abated  somewhat 
its  distinctly  Catholic  character;  but  the  ^Mother  Church  was  still  in  great  reputation  and 
power.  Baltimore  had  grown  to  be  an  important  city,  though  the  province  as  a  whole  had 
been  pressed  between  the  two  powerful  colonies  of  Peunsjlvania and  \^irginia,  until  the  ter- 
ritory had  been  narrowed  in  some  parts  almost  to  a  thread. 

In  Virginia,  the  mother  of  States  and  statesmen,  the  people  had  retained  their  old 
peculiarities.  Here  pride  of  ancestry  more  than  elsewhere  had  prevailed  to  give  an  aristo- 
cratic cast  to  society.  The  Virginians  had  ci.ltivated  a  somewhat  haughty  demeanor. 
They  had  taken  their  models  from  the  English  nobility.  Broad  estates  gave  honor  to  those 
who  possessed  them.  Fondness  for  the  aristocratic  life,  and  in  particular  for  the  sports  of 
the  aristocracy  had  become  a  passion.  There  was  much  seclusiveness,  but  it  was  accompa- 
nied with  hospitality;  great  -dignity,  hauteur,  artificialities  of  honor;  but  these  were 
blended  with  a  sincere  love  of  freedom. 

The  North  Carolinians  were  at  this  epoch  the  same  rugged  and  insubordinate  race  of 
hunters  that  they  had  always  been.  They  were  pioneers  by  preference.  To  them  com- 
merce and  the  city  life  had  few  attractions.  They  carried  their  personal  peculiarities  into 
the  civil  affairs  of  the  colon}-.  The  legislative  assembly  in  its  controversies  with  Governor 
Dobbs  manifested  all  the  intractable  stubbornness  which  characterized  that  bod}-  in  the  da}-s 
of  Seth  Sothel. 

In  South  Carolina  there  was  much  prosperit}-  and  happiness;  but  there,  too,  popular 
liberty  had  been  enlarged  by  the  constant  encroachment  of  the  Legislature  upon  the  ro}-al 
prerogative.  The  people  were  mostly  of  French  descent,  and  were  as  hot-blooded  and  jeal- 
ous of  their  rights  as  their  Hngiienot  ancestors  had  been  in  the  time  of  their  exile  and  ban- 
ishment. Very  elegant  and  proud  and  high-mannered  was  the  little  society  of  the  upper 
blood,  which  might  be  seen  in  the  homes  and  evening  parties  of  Charleston  at  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Not  a  little  fine  dress  was  there — much  chi^'alr}-  among  the 
young  men  of  the  day — ^much  beaut}-  and  fine  bearing  among  the  ladies  of  the  little 
seaport  city. 

Of  all  the  colonies  Georgia  had  at  this  time  the  least  strength  and  spirit.  Under  the  sys- 
tem of  government  established  at  the  first  the  commonwealth  had  languished.  Perhaps  the 
liberated  debtors  from  the  English  jails  and  their  first  descendants  were  not  able  to  rise  at 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


427 


ouce  into  a  large  prosperity.  It  was  not  until  1754,  when  Governor  Reynolds  assumed  con- 
trol of  the  colony,  that  the  aflairs  of  the  people  on  the  Savannah  began  to  flourish.  Even 
afterwards  something  of  the  indigence  and  want  of  thrift  and  spirit  which  had  marked  the 
followers  of  Oglethorpe  still  prevailed  in  Georgia.  Nevertheless,  after  making  allowance 
for  all  these  differences  of  colonial  character  as  they  might  be  noted  in  the  sixth  decade  of 
the  centur)-,  a  considerable  degree  of  American  unity  had  been  attained.  Inter-colonial 
relations  had  been  established  by  which  even  the  remotest  colonies  were  in  some  slight 
degree  bound  the  one  to  the  other.  The  old  religious  prejudices  had  softened  under  the 
influence  of  time  and  intelligence,  and  the  people  as  a  whole  were  far  less  antagonistic, 
individual  and  sectional  than  they  had  been  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

EDUCATIONAL   ADVANTAGES. 

In  the  matter  of  education  New  England  had  from  the  first  taken  the  lead.     She  had 
at  an  early  date  established  the  system  of  free  schools  and  these  were  now  extended  to  every 

village  and  hamlet  from  the 
Penobscot  to  the  Hudson.  Each 
town  or  district  furnished  its 
owni  local  facilities  for  the  ac- 
quirement of  knowledge.  So 
complete  and  universal  were  the 
means  of  instruction  that  in  the 
epoch  immediately  preceding 
the  Revolution  there  was  said 
not  to  be  found  in  all  New  Eng- 
land an  adult  born  in  the 
countn,-  who  could  not  read 
and  write  !  Whatever,  there- 
fore, may  have  been  the  narrow- 
ness and  bigotr)-  of  Puritanism 
as  a  system  of  religion,  its 
record  on  the  question  of  educa- 
tion is  worthy  to  be  written  in 
gold, 
universal  education  of  a  people 
first  half  the  eighteenth  century 


I'KlMiTiVt,    NEW    ENGLAND 
SCHOOL. 


True  it  is  that  the 
situated  as  the  New  England  colonists  were  during  the 
is  an  easy  task  as  compared  with  the  universal  instniction  of  such  a  people  as  now 
inhabit  the  same  States  of  the  Union.  In  the  present  age  the  volume  of  population  is 
vastly  expanded.  The  difficulty-  of  a  general  super\-ision  over  society  is  infinitely  greater 
than  when  a  few  towns  and  villages  with  salubrious  country  districts  stretching  between 
furnished  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  Now  the  waters  of  population  are  disturbed 
with  cross  currents  and  made  muddy  with  tiie  discharge  therein  of  a  hundred  foreign 
streams.  A  vast  municipal  life  of  depravity,  ignorance,  vice,  ambition,  lu.xup*'  on  the  one 
hand  and  squalor  on  the  other,  has  succeeded  to  the  simple  and  wholesome  life  which  still 
prevailed  in  the  New  England  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  Still,  after  allowance  for 
all  this  shall  have  been  fully  made,  we  must  be  convinced,  as  before,  that  the  success 
of  the  Puritan  colonies  in  promoting  the  institution  of  free  schools  and  in  making 
universal  education  not  only  a  possibility  but  a  fact  stands  unparalleled  in  the  history 
of  the  western  nations. 


428 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


In  the  Middle  Colonies  education  was  not  so  general.  In  Pennsylvania,  however, 
there  was  a  wholesome  system  of  public  schools  and  much  intelligent  activity  among  the 
people.  In  this  colony  the  greatest  distinction  was  achieved  by  individuals.  Here  it  was 
that  the  illustrious  Franklin  scattered  the  light  of  learning,  not  onh'  in  Philadelphia  and 
the  Quaker  commonwealth,  not  only  throughout  the  American  colonies,  but  eveu  to  foreign 
shores. 

South  of  the  Potomac  educational  facilities  were  insufficient  and  irregular.  The 
schools  in  these  parts  were  generally  designed  for  the  benefit  of  the  wealthier  classes.  In 
some  localities,  however,  the  means  of  enlightenment  were  well  provided.  Institutions  of 
learning  sprang  up  scarcely  inferior  to  those  of  the  eastern  provinces  or  of  Europe.  Edu- 
cation in  the  South,  however,  was  rather  a  matter  of  personal  than  of  social  enterprise. 
Men  established  schools,  while  A-illages  and  hamlets  and  towns  neglected  to  do  so.  It 
could  hardly  be  said,  therefore,  that  in  the  South — taking  Virginia  as  the  standard — the 
people  were  educated.  Certainly  they  were  not  universalh'  instructed  even  in  the  rudi- 
ments of  learning.  The  private  schools  generall)-  owed  their  origin  to  those  who  taught 
therein.  Many  men — Scottish  reformers,  Irish  liberals  and  French  patriots — despising  the 
bigotrj'  and  intolerance  of  their  countr}-men,  fled  for  refuge  to  the  New  World  and  there  by 
the  banks  of  the  Housatonic,  the  Hudson,  the  Delaware,  the  Potomac,  the  Ashle}-  and 
the  Savannah,  taught  the  lore  of  books  and  the  lesson  of  civil  liberty  to  the  rugged  boys  of 
the  American  wilderness. 

LOG  SCHOOL-HOUSE  AND  THE  SCREW  PRINTING  PRESS. 
Among  the  Southern  Colonies  \'irginia  led  the  van  in  educational  enterprises.     The 
Virginian  youth  bom  in  tlie  middle  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  among  the  largest 

brained  of  the  sons  of  men.  Such  must  needs  be 
educated.  They  themselves  would  find  a  way  or 
make  it.  Some  foiind  it  in  private  academies;  some 
with  individual  teachers  who  had  been  well  educated 
in  the  universities  of  Eiirope;  others  in  the  colleges 
of  the  commonwealth;  while  only  a  few  were  sent 
abroad  for  instruction.  The  planters  of  this 
period  were  fully  able  to  give  their  sons  liberal 
educations  in  the  universities  of  the  mother  country-; 
but  there  was  clearly  a  growing  dislike  of  foreign 
instruction  and  an  increasing  preference  for  the  home 
institution  of  learning  such  as  it  was. 

In  Mar^'land,  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  the 
cause  of  ediication  lagged  behind.  Previous  to  the 
Revolution  nine  colleges  worth}'  of  the  name  had 
been  established  in  the  American  colonies.  These 
Yale,    Princeton,    King's,   (now  Columbia),    Brown, 

In  1764  the 


PRINTING   THE    BOSTON  NEWS   LETTER. 


were   Harvard,  William    and    Marv, 


This  great 


Queen's  (after^vards  called  Rutger's),  Dartmouth,  and  Hampden  and  Sydney 
first  medical  college  in  America  was  founded  at  Philadelphia. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  early  institution  of  the  printing  press, 
agent  and  forerunner  of  civilization  abounded — not  in  the  sense  that  it  aboimds  at  the 
present  day,  but  relatively  to  the  condition  and  activities  of  society.  Before  the  Revolu- 
tion the  press  was  already  effective  as  an  organ  of  opinion  and  promoter  of  public  rights. 
As  early  as  1774  the   Boston  Neii's  Letter,  first  of  periodicals  in  the  New  World,  was  pub- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  .li>'j 

lished  ia  the  cit\-  of  the  Puritans.  Fifteen  years  elapsed,  however,  before  another  experi- 
ment of  tlie  same  sort  was  made.  In  1721  the  New  Enjjlaud  Couranl^  a  little  sheet 
devoted  to  free  thought  and  the  extinction  of  rascality  was  established  at  Boston  by  the 
two  Franklins — James  and  Benjamin.  As  late  as  1740  New  York  had  but  one  periodical; 
Virginia  one,  and  South  Carolina  one;  and  at  the  close  of  the  French  and  Indian  War 
there  were  no  more  than  ten  newspapers  published  in  the  American  colonies. 

Perhaps  the  chief  obstacles  to  such  publications  were  the  absence  of  great  cities  and 
the  difficulty  of  communication  betw-een  distant  sections  of  the  countrj-.  Boston  and 
Philadelphia  had  each  at  this  period  no  more  than  eighteen  thousand  inhabitants  ;  New 
York  had  but  twelve  thousand.  In  all  Virginia  there  was  not  one  important  town  ;  while 
from  her  southern  limit  as  far  south  as  the  borders  of  Florida  there  was  scarcely  a  consider- 
able village.  To  reach  this  widely  scattered  population  with  periodical  publications  was 
quite  impossible.  As  for  popular  literature,  there  was  little  or  none.  Books  were  few,  and 
man}-  of  those  which  the  colonial  libraries  afforded  were  as  husks  and  straw  to  the  hungr\- 
mind  of  man.  Some  dr>-  volumes  of  annals  (dignified  by  the  name  of  histor}),  theologj- 
and  politics  were  the  only  stock  and  store.  On  the  latter  subject  the  publications  were 
sometimes  full  of  pith  and  spirit. 

It  was  in  the  political  treatise,  great  or  small,  that  the  pre-Revolutionary  author  found 
vent  for  what  wit  and  wisdom  soe\-er  nature  had  gi\-en  him  withal.  In  this  there  was 
freedom.  As  for  religious  books  the  old  theology'  was  in  full  force  and  sat  like  a  nightmare 
on  every  page.  Historical  literature  had  not  yet  appeared  in  the  earth,  at  least  not  since 
the  deatli  of  the  classical  ages,  and  the  novel  was  generally  ruled  out  by  the  dogmatic  spirit 
of  the  age.  But  notwithstanding  this  barrenness  of  books  and  general  poverty  of  the 
resources  of  knowledge,  it  was  no  unusual  thing  to  find  at  the  foot  of  the  Virginia  moun- 
tains, in  the  quiet  precincts  of  Philadelphia,  by  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  or  in  the  valleys 
and  towns  of  New  England,  a  mau  of  great  and  solid  leaniing.  Such  a  man  was  Thomas 
Jefferson  ;  such  were  Franklin  and  Livingston,  and  the  Adamses,  and  of  a  later  date  Hamil- 
ton— men  of  profound  scholarship,  bold  in  thought,  ready  with  the  pen,  skilful  in  argument, 
studious,  witty  and  eloquent. 

MEANS  OF  TRAVEL  AND  COMMUNICATION. 

Nothing  proved  to  be  a  greater  impediment  to  the  progress  of  the  colonies  than  the 
want  of  roads  and  thoroughfares.  Easy  and  rapid  communication  between  the  different 
sections  was  tuiknown.  No  general  system  of  post-offices  or  post-roads  had  as  yet  been 
established  ;  and  the  people  were  thus  left  in  comparative  or  total  ignorance  of  events  in 
neighborhoods  and  settlements  not  ven,-  remote  from  their  own.  .\s  a  rule,  the  people  of 
one  colony  heard  only  at  a  late  day,  and  then  by  imperfect  tradition  and  fl>ing  rumor,  of  the 
events  of  another  colony^-even  events  of  the  greatest  importance.  No  common  sentiments 
could  be  expressed — no  common  enthusiasm  be  kindled  in  the  country  by  the  slow-going 
mails  and  packets.  The  sea-coast  towns  and  cities  found  a  readier  intercourse  by  means 
of  small  sloops  plying  the  Atlantic  ;  but  the  inland  districts  were  almost  wholly  cut  off 
from  this  advantage.  Roads  were  slowly  built  from  point  to  point  and  lines  of  travel  by 
coach  and  wagon  were  gradually  established. 

It  thus  happened  that  to  the  ver)-  beginning  of  the  Revolution  the  American  colonists 
lived  apart.  They  were  isolated  and  dependent  upon  their  own  resources  for  life  and  eujoy- 
menL  Doubtless  there  was  in  the  condition  quite  a  tinge  of  solitude  ;  but  it  should  be 
remembered  that  solitude  is  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  efficient  schools  of  instruction. 
In  it  the  faculties  acquire   a  peculiar  robustness,  a  strength   and   vi^'or  which   ma\  well 


430  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

betoken  heroic  action,  patriotism  and  longevity.  It  was  at  this  epoch  that  the  means  of 
inter-communication  began  to  be  enlarged  and  improved.  In  1766  an  express  wagon  made 
the  trip  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia  in  two  days.  Such  rata  of  speed  was  considered  a 
marvel  of  rapidity  !  Six  years  later  the  first  stage  coach  began  to  run  regularly  between 
Boston  and  Providence.  * 

If  we  elance  at  the  industrial  life  we  shall  find  that  before  the  Revolution  the  Ameri- 
cans  were  for  the  most  part  an  agricultural  people.  Within  the  tidewater  line  of  Virginia 
the  lands  weie  divided  into  estates,  and  the  planters  devoted  themselves  almost  exclusively 
to  the  cultivation  of  tobacco.  Further  inland  the  products  were  more  various.  Above  the 
line  of  tidewater  wheat,  com,  potatoes,  upland  cotton,  hemp  and  flax  were  easily  and 
abundantly  produced.  In  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  the  rice  crop  was  most  important ; 
after  that,  indigo,  cotton  and  some  silk  ;  tar,  turpentine,  and  what  the  hunter  and  fisherman 
gathered  from  the  woods  and  streams.  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Boston  were  then  as 
now  the  great  centres  of  trade  ;  but  commerce  was  carried  on  in  a  slow  and  awkward 
manner  wholly  unlike  the  rushing  activity  of  more  recent  times. 

One  of  the  most  important  industrial  interests  of  the  colonies  was  shipbuilding.  In 
New  England  the  people  of  the  coasts  were  generally  experts  in  the  building  and  manage- 
ment of  ships,  such  as  ships  were  at  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  the  yeai 
1738  no  fewer  than  forty-one  sailing  vessels,  with  an  average  burden  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
tons,  were  built  and  launched  at  the  shipyards  of  Boston.  This  was  done,  as  all  the  world 
knows,  in  the  face  of  the  restrictions  laid  by  the  mother  country  on  every  marine  enter- 
prise promoted  among  the  Americans. 

New  England  w^s  the  seat  of  the  principal  manufacturing  interests  of  the  coimtry. 
Everything  in  this  direction,  however,  was  checked  and  impeded  by  the  British  Board  of 
Trade,  whose  arbitrary  restrictions  acted  as  a  damper  on  all  manner  of  colonial  thrift  and 
enterprise.  No  sooner  would  some  young  and  prosperous  company  of  New  England  men 
begin  the  building  of  a  factory  than  this  ofiicious  Board  would  interfere  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  success  impossible.  So  jealous  was  the  English  Ministry  of  American  progress  !  If 
previous  to  the  Revolution  any  colonial  manufactures  were  successfully  established,  it  was 
done  against  the  will  of  Great  Britain  and  in  spite  of  her  mean  and  churlish  opposition. 

Such  were  the  American  colonies  at  the  time  when  they  first  began  to  act  as  one  in  a 
common  cause.  New  generations  had  now  arisen  with  kindlier  feelings  and  more  charitable 
sentiments  than  had  been  entertained  by  the  austere  fathers  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
New  conditions  had  appeared,  new  relations  of  a  complex  and  international  character, 
which  were  well  calculated  to  bring  the  people  of  the  American  communities  into  concord 
and  final  union  of  action.  The  event  which  history  had  reserved  as  the  immediate  cause 
of  such  approximation  and  union  of  effort  was  the  event  of  war. 

*  The  reader  may  naturally  conclude  that  the  American  colonies  were  greatly  behindhand  in  developing  the 
means  of  inter-communication  ;  but  not  -o.  The  classical  nations  of  antiquity  built  great  thoroughfares  from 
State  to  State  ;  but  in  the  Middle  Ages  great  road^  were  almost  unknown  in  Europe.  Even  in  England  such 
works  lagged  to  a  late  period.  In  so  old  a  country  as  Scotland  there  were  no  great  thoroughfares  constructed 
until  after  the  Scotch  rebellion  of  1745. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
FRENCH   AND    INDIAN    WAR. 


T  was  the  sense  of  a  coininou  danger  that  led  our  colonial 
fathers  of  1754  to  nnite  their  energies  in  repelling  a  foe 
equally  inimical  to  all.  The  time  was  now  at  hand 
when  the  final  struggle  should  occur  between  France 
and  England  for  colonial  supremacy  in  America.  It 
was  necessity  that  compelled  the  English  colonies  to 
combine  their  energies  against  the  French.  We  may 
here  note  briefly  the  causes  of  the  war  which  ensued, 
first  in  America  and  afterwards  between  the  parent 
nations  in  Europe. 

The  first  and  most  efficient  of  these  causes  was  the  con- 
flicting territorial   claims  of  France  and   England.     The 
latter  had   colonized   the   American  seaboard;  the  fonner 
had  colonized  the  interior  of  the  continent.      Great  Britain 
occupied  the  coast,  but  her  claims  reached  far  bevond  he: 
colonies.      The  English  kings  had   always  proceeded   upon  the   llicor}-  that  the  prior  dis- 
coveries of  the  Cabots  had  established  a  just  claim,  not  only  to  the  countries  along  tlie 
coast,  but  also  to  the  great  inland  region  stretching  westward  to  the  Pacific. 

The  claims  of  France  were  of  a  different  kind.  She  had  colonized  first  of  all  the 
valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Montreal,  one  of  her  earliest  settlements,  was  planted  five 
hundred  miles  from  the  sea.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century-  the  French 
pushed  their  way  westward  and  southward,  first  along  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes,  then 
to  the  headwaters  of  the  Wabash,  the  Illinois,  the  Wisconsin  and  the  St.  Croi.x,  then  down 
these  streams  to  the  Mississippi,  and  then  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  historical  eflfect  and  perhaps  the  conscious  purpose  of  these  jnovements  were  easily 
discoverable.  The  result  was  to  divide  North  America  b\-  circumscribing  the  English 
colonies  with  a  broad  band  of  French  territory'  which  would  enable  France  to  possess  first 
the  great  river  valleys  of  the  interior,  and  afterwards  the  better  half  of  the  continent.  It 
might  indeed  have  been  apprehended  a  priori  that  France  and  England,  occupying  the 
hither  verge  of  Europe,  would  be  the  leading  nations  to  colonize  the  central  parts  of  North 
America,  and  also  that  these  two  States  would  ultimately  contend  for  the  master}"  in  the 
New  World.     The  events  corresponded  to  expectation. 

The  work  of  French  colonization  in  America  had  been  chiefly  effected  by  the  Jesuit 
missionaries.  In  1641  Charles  Raymbault,  first  of  the  great  explorers,  passed  through  the 
northern  straits  of  Lake  Huron  and  entered  Lake  Superior.  In  the  thirty  years  that 
followed  the  Jesuit  missionaries  continued  their  explorations  with  prodigious  activity'. 
Missions  were  established  at  various  points  north  of  the  lakes  and  in  the  countries  aftersvards 
called  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Illinois.  In  1673  Fathers  Jolict  and  Marquette  passed 
from  the  headwaters  of  Fox  River  over  the  watershed  to  the  upper  tributaries  of  the  Wis- 

(430 


432 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


consiu,  and  thence  down  that  river  in  a  seven  day's  voyage  to  the  Mississippi.  It  was  now 
a  hundred  and  thirt\-three  years  since  the  discovery'  of  the  Father  of  Waters  by  De  Soto. 
For  a  full  month  the  canoe  of  Joliet  and  Marquette  bore  them  downward  toward  the  sea. 
They  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  River  and  reached  the  limit  of  their  voyage  at  the 
thirty-third  parallel  of  latitude.  Turning  their  boat  up  stream  they  entered  the  mouth 
of  the  Illinois,    and  returned  by  the  site  of  Chicago  into  Lake  Michigan  and  thence  to 

Detroit. 

EXPLORATIONS  OF  LA  SALLE,  AND  HIS  ASSASSINATION. 

It  remained  for  Robert  de  La  Salle,,  most  illustrious  of  the  French  explorers,  to  trace 
the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth.      This  indomitable  adventurer  built  and  launched  the  first  ship 

above    Niagara     Falls.       He   sailed    westward 

through  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Huron,  anchored 

in  Green  Bay,  crossed   Lake   Michigan   to  the 

mouth  of  the   St.  Joseph,  ascended  that  stream 

with  a  few  companions,  traversed    the   country 

to    the  upper   Kankakee    and  dropped    down 

that  stream   into  the   Illinois.      Here   disasters 

overtook  the  expedition  and 

La  Salle  was  obliged  to  return 

on  foot  to  Fort  Frontenac,  a 

distance  of  nearly  a  thousand 

miles!     During    his    absence 

Father  Hennepin,  a  member 

of    the     company,    traversed 

Illinois,  found  the  Mississippi 

and  ascended  the  great  river 

as    far    as    the     falls    of    St. 

i\nthony. 

In  1681  La  Salle  reor- 
ganized his  expedition  and 
sailed  down  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  After- 
wards he  made  his  way  back 
to  Quebec  and  then  returned  to  France.  He  formed  vast  plans  for  colonizing  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi  and  induced  Louis  XIV.  to  take  an  interest  in  the  enterprise.  Four  ships, 
bearing  two  hundred  and  eighty  emigrants,  were  equipped  and  left  France  in  July  of  1684. 
Beaujeu  commanded  the  fleet  and  La  Salle  led  the  colony  in  person.  His  plan  was  to 
plant  a  new  State  on  the  banks  of  the  lower  Mississippi.  The  captain,  however,  was  head- 
strong and  against  La  Salle's  entreaties  steered  the  squadron  out  of  its  course  to  the  west, 
so  that  instead  of  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  he  entered  the  bd}'  of  Matagorda. 
Here  a  landing  was  effected,  but  the  store-ship  was  wrecked  and  lost.  Nevertheless  a 
colony  was  established  and  Texas  became  a  part  of  Louisiana. 

La  Salle  now  made  unwearied  efforts  to  rediscover  the  Mississippi.  It  would  appear 
that  he  was  not  well  informed  as  to  the  best  direction  to  be  taken  in  order  to  reach  the  great 
river.  His  expeditions  were  attended  with  many  misfortunes;  but  his  own  resolute  spirit 
remained  tranquil  in  the  midst  of  calamity.  At  last  he  set  out  with  sixteen  companions  to 
cross  the  continent  to  Canada.      The  march   began  in  January  of  1687   and  continued   for 


FATHER  JOLIET   AND    MARQUETTE   DESCENDING   THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


COLUMBUS   AND  COLUMBIA. 


433 


sixty  days.  Tlie  w.iiulerers  reached  the  b.isiu  of  the  Colorado.  Discontent  and  treachery 
had  in  the  meantime  arisen  in  his  camp.  On  the  20th  of  March,  while  La  Salle  was  at 
some  distance  from  the  rendezvous  two  conspirators  of  his  own  company  hiding  in  the  prairie 
grass  took  a  fatal  aim  and  shot  the  famous  explorer  dead  in  his  tracks.  Only  seven  of  the 
adventurers  succeeded  in  reaching  a  French  settlement  on  the  Mississippi. 

It  was  thus  that  the  great  inland  circuit  of  the  American  lakes  and  rivers  was  revealed 
by  exploration  to  the  knowledge  of  men.  France  was  not  slow  to  occupy  the  vast  region 
traversed  by  the  Jesuit  fathers.  As  early  as  16S8  militar}'  posts  and  missions  had  been 
established  at  Frontenac,  at  Niagara,  at  the  straits  of  Mackinac  and  on  the  Illinois  River. 
Before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  centur}'  pennanent  settlements  had  been  planted  by  the 
French  on  the  Maumee,  at  Detroit,  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph,  at  Green  Bay,  at  Vincennes^ 
on  the  lower  Wabash,  on  the  Mississippi  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kaskaskia,  at  Fort  Rosalie — 
the  present  sight  of  Natchez — and  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

JEALOUSIES  BETWEEN  FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND. 

A  second  cause  of  the  conflict  about  to  ensue  was  the  long-standing  animosity  of  France 
and  England.     The  rivalry-  between  these  two  great  States  of  Western  Europe  was  as  old  as 


LA  SAM. 


COMrANIOKS   ON   TIIH    MISSISSIPPI. 


the  Dark  Ages.  The  jealousy  of  the  one  for  the  other  extended  over  both  land  and  sea. 
When  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  centur>-  it  was  seen  that  the  people  of  the  English 
colonies  outnumbered  those  of  New  France  by  nearly  twent}'  to  one  the  French  govennnent 
was  filled  with  envy.  When  by  the  enterprise  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  and  explorers  the 
French  began  to  dot  the  basin  of  the  Mississippi  with  fortresses  and  to  monopolize  the  fur 
trade  with  the  Indians  England  could  not  conceal  her  wrath. 

A  third  and  more  immediate  cause  of  the  oncoming  war  was  the  conflict  of  interests,  and 
soon  aftenvards  the  conflict  of  arms  between  the  frontiersmen  of  the  two  nations  in  the  Ohio 
valley.  These  difficulties  began  about  the  year  1749.  By  this  time  the  strolling  traders 
and  hunters  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  had  made  their  way  through  the  mountains  and 
begun  to  frequent  the  Indian  towns  on  the  tributaries  of  the  Ohio.  The  French  traders 
of  Canada  visited  the  same  villages  and  they  and  the  English  were  brought  into  competi* 
tion  in  the  purchase  of  furs  from  the  natives. 
28 


434 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


Virginia  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  her  ancient  charters  claimed  the  whole  country 
between  her  western  borders  and  the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Erie.  Tlie  French  fur 
o-atherers  of  this  district  were  under  this  construction  intruders  in  the  territories  of  another 
State.  The  Virginians  were  in  no  measure  disposed  to  yield  or  modify  their  claim.  In 
order  to  prevent  further  encroachment  a  number  of  the  leading  men  of  the  colony  joined 
themselves  too^ether  in  a  body  called  the  Ohio  Company  with  a  view  to  the  immediate  occu- 
pation of  the  disputed  countr}-.  The  leading  members  of  the  corporation  were  Governor 
Robert  Dinwiddle,  Lawrence  and  Augustus  Washington  and  Thomas  Lee,  President  of  the 
Virginia  Council. 

In  March  of  1749  George  II.  of  England  granted  to  this  company  an  extensive  tract 
of  land  covering  an  aggregate  of  five  hundred  thousand  acres.  The  grant  was  to  be  located 
between   the    Kanawha   and   the    Monongahela 


Before  the 
the    French 


northern  bank  of  the  River  Ohio, 
could  send  out  a  colony,  however, 
of  Canada  despatched  three 
hundred  men  to  preoccupy  the 
upper  Ohio  valley.  In  the  next 
year  the  Ohio  Company  sent  out 
its  first  exploring  party  under 
Christopher  Gist,  who  traversed 
the  country  and  returned  to 
Virginia  in  1751. 

The  issue  was  now  clear. 
It  was  simply  who  should  pre- 
occupy and  possess  the  region 
where  the  Ohio  gathers  his 
waters.  The  expedition  of  Gist 
was  followed  by  vigorous  counter 
movements  on  the  part  of  the 
French.  The  latter  built  a  fort 
called  Le  Boeuf  on  French 
creek,  and  another  named  Ven- 
ango on  the  Alleghany.  About 
the  same  time  the  country  south 
of  the  Ohio  was  a  second  time 
explored  by  Christopher  Gist 
and  a  party  of  armed  surve\-ors. 
In  1753  the  English  constructed  a  road  from  Wills's  creek  through  the  mountains,  and 
fhe  first  small  colony  was  planted  on  the  Youghiogheny. 

THE  ISSUES  OF  WAR. 

All  of  these  movements  proceeded  in  superb  disregard  of  the  rights  of  the  native 
races.  The  Indians  were  greatly  alarmed  at  this  double  intrusion  of  the  whites  into  their 
country.  Thus  far  the  English  rather  than  the  French  had  secured  the  favor  of  the  red 
men;  but  the  allegiance  of  the  latter  was  uncertain.  In  the  spring  of  1753  the  Miami 
tribes,  under  the  leadership  of  a  chieftain  called  the  Half-King,  met  Benjamin  Franklin  at 
Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  and  made  a  satisfactory  treaty  with  the  English  ;  but  the  ties  thus 
established  were,  as  the  sequel  showed,  but  slight  and  easily  broken. 


ASSASSINATION    OF   LA   SAI.LE. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


435 


The  great  diflSculty  thus  precipitated  between  the  French  and  the  English  in  the  Ohio 
valley  was  for  some  time  almost  unnoticed  and  unknown  by  the  parent  nations.  The  people 
of  the  English  colonies,  however,  were  greatly  excited.  The  \'irginians  were  ready  for 
war,  but  Governor  Dinwiddie  determined  in  the  first  place  to  try  diplomacy.  He  would 
send  a  formal  remonstrance  to  the  French  authorities  warning  them  to  withdraw  and  stand 
off  from  the  territory  belonging  to  Virginia.  A  paper  was  drawn  up  setting  forth  the 
nature  and  validit\-  of  the  English  claim  to  the  valley  of  the  river  Ohio,  and  warning  the 


CHIEF  HALF-KING  OF  THE  MIAMIS  CONCLUDING   A   TKEATY    WITH   THE   ENGLISH. 

French  against  further  intrusion.  The  >oung  surveyor,  George  Washington,  was  called 
upon  by  the  governor  to  carr>'  this  paper  from  Williamsburg  to  General  .St.  Pierre,  com- 
mandant of  the  French  at  Presque  Isle,  on  Lake  Erie. 

On  the  last  of  October,  1753,  the  youthful  Washington  set  out  on  his  mission.  He 
was  attended  bv  four  comrades,  besides  an  interpreter  and  Christopher  Gist,  the  guide.  The 
part}-  reached  the  Youghiogheny  and  pas.sed  down  that  stream  to  the  site  of  Pittsburgh. 
At  a  place  called  I^ogstown  Washington  held  a  friendly  council  with  the  Indians  and  then 
pressed  forward  to  Venango.      From  this  point  he  traversed  the  trackless  forest  to  Fort   Le 


436 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Boeuf.  Here  the  conference  was  held  with  St.  Pierre.  Washington  was  received  with 
French  politeness  ;  but  the  General  refused  to  enter  into  any  discussion  of  the  great  ques- 
tions involved  in  the  remonstrance  of  Virginia.  He  was  acting,  he  said,  under  military 
instructions,  and  would  presently  eject  ever)-  Englishman  from  the  Ohio  valley. 

Bearing  this  uusatisfactor>'  reply,  Washington  took  leave  of  the  French  and  returned 
to  the  Alleo-hany  with  Gist  as  his  only  companion.  That  stream  was  so  filled  with  floating 
ice  that  crossing  was  extremely  perilous.  But  regardless  of  the  danger,  the  two  intrepid 
travellers  made  a  rude  raft  of  logs  which  they  launched  and  upon  which  they  pushed  their 

way  through  the  ice  to 
the  opposite  shore.  Wash- 
ington left  the  river  at 
Fort  Venango  and  struck 
into  the  woods.  Clad  in 
the  robe  of  an  Indian ; 
sleeping  with  frozen 
clothes  on  a  bed  of  pine 
brush  ;  guided  at  night 
by  the  North  star  ;  fired 
at  by  a  prowling  savage 
from  his  covert ;  lodging, 
on  an  island  in  the  Alle- 
ghany until  the  river  was 
frozen  over ;  plunging 
again  into  the  forest ; 
reaching  Gist's  settlement 
and  then  the  Potomac — 
the  strong-limbed  young  ambassador  came  back  without  wound  or  scar  to  the  capital  of 
Virginia.  The  defiant  despatch  of  St.  Pierre  was  laid  before  Governor  Dinwiddle,  and 
the  first  public  service  of  Washington  was  accomplished. 

THE  FOUNDING  OF  PITTSBURGH. 
The  next  movement  of  the  English  was  made  in  the  early  spring  of  1754.  A  volun- 
teer party  led  by  an  explorer  named  Trent  reached  the  confluence  of  the  Alleghany  and  the 
Monongahela,  and  built  the  first  rude  stockade  on  the  site  of  Pittsburgh.  After  all  the 
boasting  and  threats  of  the  French,  the  English  had  beaten  them  and  seized  the  key  to  the 
Ohio  Valley.  It  was  not  to  be  expected,  however,  that  such  an  occupation  as  that  of 
Trent  could  long  be  made  good  in  the  face  of  the  purpose  and  forces  of  the  French. 
The  successful  establishment  of  the  English  fort  at  the  juncture  of  the  two  rivers  was  a 
short-lived  triumph.  As  soon  as  the  Alleghany  was  opened  for  navigation  to  boats,  the 
French  fleet  which  had  been  prepared  at  Venango  came  sweeping  down  the  river.  Trent 
with  his  handful  of  men  cotild  offer  no  successful  resistance.  He  was  driven  away  by  the 
French,  who  immediately  occupied  the  place,  felled  the  forest  trees,  built  barracks  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  Fort  Du  Quesne. 

As  for  Washington  he  had  now  been  commissioned  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Virginia 
militia  and  stationed  at  Alexandria  to  enlist  recruits  for  a  campaign  into  the  disputed 
country.  A  regiment  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  had  been  enrolled;  but  it  was  impossible 
to  bring  succoi  to  Trent  in  time  to  save  the  post.  On  the  17th  of  April  the  commanding 
position  at  the  head  of  the  Ohio  was  surrendered,  while  Washington  was  not  able  to  set 


WASHINGTON    FIRED    AT   BY   A    LURKING   SAVAGE. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


•1:57 


out  Irom  Wills's  Creek  until  the  latter  part  of  the  same  month.  Negotiations  had  now  failed, 
Remonstrauces  had  been  tried  in  vain.  The  possession  of  the  disputed  territory  was  at 
length  to  be  detennined  by  the  harsher  methods  of  war. 

But  as  yet  there  was  no  fonnal  war.  France  and  England  were  at  peace.  Dating 
from  the  spring  of  1754,  it  was  fully  two  years  before  the  fonnal  outbreak  of  the  seven 
years'  war  in  Europe;  but  the  French  and  English  colonies  in  America  were  already 
involved  in  that  conflict  which  was  to  decide  the  possession  of  the  larger  and  better  part 
of  the  continent.  For  good  reason,  therefore,  the  struggle  upon  an  account  of  which  we 
are  now  to  enter  has  generally  been  called  in  American  history  the  French  and  Indian  War. 

It  fell  to  Colonel  Washington,  acting  under  the  authority  of  \'irginia,  to  begin  the 
conflict.  According  to  -his  instructions  he  was  to  proceed  with  a  regiment  of  frontier 
soldiers,  like  himself  wholly  inexperienced  in  war,  to  build  a  fort  at  the  source  of  the  Ohio 
and  to  repel  all  who  should  interrupt  the  English  settlements  in  that  part  of  the  country- 
Late  in  April  the  young  commander,  now  but  twenty-two  years  of  age,  left  Wills's  Creek 
on  the  toilsome  march  for  his  destination.  The  men  were  obliged  to  drag  their  cannon. 
The  roads  were  in  miserable  condition  from  the  spring  rains.       Rivers  were  bridgeless  and 

provisions  insufficient. 

WASHINGTON  FIRES  THE  FIRST  GUN. 

Late  in  May,  1754,  the  English  reached  a  place  called  the  Great  Meadows,  in  Penn- 
sylvania. Here  Washington  learned  that  the  French  had  anticipated  liis  mnveineiit  and 
were  on  the  march  to  meet 


him.  The  little  anny  was 
halted.  A  stockade  was  im- 
mediately erected  and  named 
Fort  Necessit)-.  Washington 
then  conferred  with  the 
Mingo  chiefs  and  decided  to 
strike  the  first  blow.  Indian 
guides  led  the  way  to  where 
the  French  were  encamped. 
The  latter,  however,  were  on 
the  alert  and  sprang  to  arms. 
"Fire!"  was  the  command 
of  Washington  and  the  first 
volley  of  a  great  war  went 
flying  throtigh  the  forest 
Jumonville,  leader  of  the 
French  and  ten  of  his  party 
were  killed,  and  tweirty-one 
were  made  prisoners. 

Having  won  in  the  initial  encounter,  Washington  returned  to  Fort  Necessity  and 
waited  for  reinforcements.  His  waiting,  however,  was  fruitless.  Only  a  single  company 
of  volunteers  arrived.  The  young  commander  spent  the  time  in  cutting  a  road  for 
twenty  miles  in  the  direction  of  Pittsburgh.  He  had  hoped  that  the  Indians  from  the 
Muskingum  and  the  Miami  countr>'  would  join  hin:  in  the  movement  against  the  French, 
but  in  this  he  was  disappointed.  His  whole  force  numbered  about  four  hundred  men. 
While  engaged  in  opening  a  road  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy  Washington  learned  that 


^^Vutli 


WASHfNGTON  ATTACKING  THK   FRENCH   ENCAMP.MKNT. 


438  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  French  general,  De  Villiers,  was  approaching  with  a  large  force  and  he  therefore  deemed 
it  prudent  to  plant  himself  at  Fort  Necessity.  Scarcely  had  he  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
fort  when  on  the  3d  of  July  De  Villiers  came  in  sight.  The  stockade  was  at  once  sur- 
rounded by  the  French.  They  stationed  themseh'es  on  an  eminence  about  sixt}-  }-ards 
distant  in  a  position  from  which  they  could  fire  down  upon  the  English  with  fatal  effect. 
The  Indian  allies  of  De  V^illiers  climbed  into  the  tree-tops  where  in  concealment  they  could 
see  into  the  fort.  For  nine  hours,  during  a  rain  storm,  the  assailants  poured  an  incessant 
shower  of  balls  upon  the  little  band  in  the  fort.  Thirty  of  Washington's  men  were 
killed;  but  his  tranquil  presence  encouraged  the  rest  and  the  battle  was  continued.  At 
length  the  French  commander  proposed  a  parley.  Washington  seeing  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  hold  out  much  longer,  accepted  the  honorable  terras  of  capitulation  which 
were  offered  by  De  Villiers.  On  the  4th  of  July — significant  day  of  the  future — the  Eng- 
lish garrison,  retaining  all  its  accoutrements  marched  out  of  the  little  fort  so  bravely 
defended  and  withdrew  from  the  countr}-. 

Meanwhile  a  Congress  of  the  American  colonies  had  been  called  to  meet  at  Alban\'. 
The  objects  had  in  view  were  twofold:  first  to  renew  the  treat)'  with  the  Iroquois  confed- 
eracy, and  secondly,  to  stir  up  the  colonial  authorities  to  some  sort  of  concerted  action 
against  the  French.  The  colonists  had  become  convinced  of  a  disposition  on  the  part  of 
the  Iroquois  to  go  over  to  the  eneni}-.  The  recent  reverses  had  encouraged  the  Indians 
to  renounce  their  alliance  with  the  English.  It  was  clear  that  something  must  be  done 
speedily  or  the  flag  of  England  could  never  be  borne  into  the  vast  regions  west  of  the 
Alleghanies. 

The  Albany  Congress  was  not  wanting  in  great  abilities.  No  such  venerable  and 
dignified  body  of  men  had  ever  before  assembled  on  the  American  continent.  There  were 
Hutchison  of  Massachusetts,  Hopkins  of  Rhode  Island,  Franklin  of  Pennsylvania  and 
others  scarcely  less  distinguished.  After  a  few  days'  consultation  the  Iroquois  chieftains, 
though  but  half  satisfied  were  induced  to  renew  their  treat}-.  They  promised  to  remain 
faithful  to  the  whites  in  the  war  with  the  French  and  then  departed  to  their  own  A-illages. 

AN   AMERICAN   UNION    PROPOSED. 

Already  the  notion  of  an  American  Union  had  ajjpeared  in  the  vision  of  the  thoughtful. 
Could  the  American  colonies  be  united  in  a  single  government  ?  This  question  came  be- 
fore the  Albany  Convention.  On  the  loth  of  July  Benjamin  Franklin  laid  before  the  com- 
missioners the  draught  of  a  general  constitution.  His  vast  and  comprehensive  mind,  more 
than  any  other,  had  realized  the  true  condition  and  wants  of  the  countr\-,  and  he  perceived 
that  the  thing  demanded  for  the  safety  and  future  development  of  the  colonies  was  a  cen- 
tral government  for  all.  How  else  could  revenues  be  raised,  annies  be  organized,  and  the 
common  welfare  be  provided  for  ? 

According  to  the  proposed  plan  of  union,  Philadelphia  was  to  be  the  capital.  The  city 
was  central  and  might  be  more  easily  reached  than  any  other,  even  by  the  delegates  of  New 
Hampshire  and  Georgia.  It  was  thought  and  argued  that  such  delegates  could  reach  the 
seat  of  government  in  fifteen  or  twenty  days  !  Slow-going  old  patriots  !  The  chief  execu- 
tive of  the  new  confederation  was  to  be  a  governor-general  appointed  and  supported  by  the 
King.  The  legislative  authority'  was  vested  in  a  Congress,  to  be  composed  of  delegates 
chosen  triennially  by  the  General  Assemblies  of  the  respective  provinces.  Each  colony 
should  be  represented  in  proportion  to  its  contributions  to  the  federal  government;  but  no 
colony  should  have  fewer  than  two,  or  more  than  seven  representatives  in  Congress. 

As  to  the  distribution  of  powers,  the  right  of  appointing  all  military   officers  and  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


439 


vetoing  objectionable  laws  was  lodged  with  the  governor-general.  On  the  other  hand  the 
appointment  of  civil  officers,  the  raising  of  troops,  the  levying  of  ta.xes,  the  snperin- 
tendence  of  Indian  affairs,  the  regnlation  of  commerce,  and  all  the  general  dnties  of  gov- 
ernment shonld  belong  to  Congress.  This  body  was  to  convene  once  a  year,  to  choose  its 
own  officers,  and  remain  iu  session  not  longer  than  six  weeks.  Franklin's  plan  contained 
no  provision  respecting  the  establishment  of  a  general  jndiciar>-  for  the  colonies. 

Copies  of  this  constitution  were  at  once  transmitted  to  the  several  colonial  capitals,  and 
were  everywhere  received  with  disfavor.  Nothing  could  more  clearly  illustrate  the  views 
and  dispositions  of  the  fathers  at  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  than  the  reasons 
which  were  assigned  for  the  non-acceptance  of  Franklin's  constitution.  In  Connecticut  the 
paper  was  rejected.  In  Massachusetts  it  w^as  opposed,  and  in  New  York  coldly  and  indif- 
ferently adopted.  The  chief  objection  urged  against  the  instrument  was  the  power  of  veto 
given  to  the  governor-general.  Some  thought  that  the  consolidation  of  the  colonies  was  too 
close,  and  that  the  tendency  was  to  reestablish  despotism.  A  few  were  of  opinion  that  it 
was  a  covert  project  of  the  Crown  to  regain  a  lost  ascendancy  over  the  American  Republics, 
and  most  were  of  opinion  that  the  principles  of  Democracy  would  be  endangered  and  local 
liberty  destroyed  by  the  establishment  of  a  central  go\'ernment.  Nor  did  the  new  constitu- 
tion fare  any  better  in  the  mother  country.  The  English  Board  of  Trade  rejected  it  with 
disdain,  saying  that  the  forward  Americans  were  trying  to  make  a  government  of  their 
own  ! 

By  this  time  it  had  been  discerned  in  England  that  the  interests  of  the  British  Crown 
in  America  were  seriously  imperilled.  It  was  clear  that  the  French  must  be  repelled  from 
the  countries  west  of  the  Alleghanies  or  the  better  parts 
of  the  continent  would  be  lost  to  English  rule.  It  \\as 
determined  to  send  at  once  a  British  army  to  America,  to 
accept  the  ser\'ice  of  such  provincial  troops  as  the  colonies 
might  be  able  to  furnish,  and  to  repel  the  aggressions  of 
France  along  the  western  border. 

As  yet,  however,  there  had  been  no  declaration  of  war. 
The  ministers  of  France  and  England  kept  assuring  each 
other  of  their  peaceable  intentions;  but  Louis  XV.  took 
care  to  send  three  thousand  soldiers  to  Canada,  and  the 
British  Government  ordered  General  Edward  Braddock  to 
proceed  to  America  with  two  regiments  of  regulars.  The 
latter  having  arrived  in  the  colonies  met  the  governors  in 
a  conference  at  Alexandria,  \'irginia,  and  the  plans  of  a 
campaign  against  the  French  were  discussed  and  adopted.  * 
On  the  last  of  May,  1755,  Braddock  set  out  from  Cumber- 
land to  recapture  Fort  Dn  Ouesne  from  the  Frencli. 

BATTLE  BEFORE  DU  QUESNE  AND   DEATH  OF  BRADDOCK. 

The  expedition  was  undertaken  with  full  confidence  and  great  spirit.  The  advance 
was  made  during  the  month  of  June,  and  by  the  Sth  of  July  the  English  vanguard  had 
reached  a  point  within  twelve  miles  of  the  position  of  the  French.     On  the  following  day 

*  The  old  house  in  .-Mexaii<lria  in  which  Braddock  met  the  coh)nial  >;ovcrnor9  is  still  ])reserve<l  iti  stii/ii  quo. 
The  room  in  which  the  conference  w.as  held  is  shown  to  visitors,  and  the  traveller  is  ahle  l>y  imagination  to  restore 
the  scene  of  a  humlred  and  thirty-seven  years  ajjo.  Perhaps  no  other  American  house  of  the  epoch  of  the  French 
and  Indian  war  is  txrtter  preserved  than  this  oM  wooden  hoti-1  whiili  u  is  n-,.d  In  llra.ldoofc  jis  his  headquarters 
at  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  .America. 


BATTLE  GROUND   OF    FRENXH    AND 
INDIAN    WAR,     1755. 


440 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  English  march  was  continued  down  the  left  bank  of  the  Mouongahela,  and  at  noon 
Braddock  crossed  the  stream  near  the  confluence  of  Turtle  creek.  Thus  far  he  had  noticed 
no  signs  of  the  presence  of  the  enemy. 

The  advance  was  now  along  a  narrow  road  through  the  forest.  Colonel  Thomas  Gage 
was  in  command  of  the  vangiiard.  The  country  was  uneven  and  thickly  wooded.  On 
either  hand  was  a  dense  undergrowth  of  bramble  and  thicket;  rocks  and  ravines;  a  hill  on 
the  right  and  a  dry  hollow  on  the  left.  A  few  guides  led  the  advance,  and  some  feeble 
flanking  parties  had  been  thrown  out.  In  the  rear  came  the  general  with  the  main  division 
of  the  army,  the  artillery'  and  the  baggage.  All  at  once  a  quick  and  heavy  fire  was  heard 
in  front.  For  the  French  and  Indians,  believing  themselves  unable  to  hold  Fort  Du  Quesne, 
had  gone  forth  and  laid  an  ambuscade  for  the  English.  The  place  selected  was  a  woody 
ravine,  well  adapted  to  protect  those  who  were  concealed  in  ambush,  and  to  entrap  the  ap- 
proaching anny.     The  unsuspecting  British  marched  directly  into  the  net. 

The  battle  began  with  a  panic.  The  English,  unable  to  see  the  enemy,  fired  con- 
stantly, but  at  random.  The  French  perceived  at  once  the  success  of  their  plan  and  the 
yianifest  confusion  of  the  invading  army.  Braddock  hurried  to  the  front,  and  rallied  his 
tnen;  but  it  was  all  in  vain.     They  stood  huddled  together  like  sheep.     In  a  short  time  the 

forest  was  strewn  with  British  dead.  Out  of  eight}--two 
officers,  twenty-six  were  killed.  Of  all  the  aids,  only  Colonel 
Washington  remained  to  distribute  ordeirs.  It  was  evident 
that  the  French  and  Indians  in  ambush  were  coolly  taking 
aim  and  shooting  down  the  officers  and  men  at  will.  Of  the 
f)rivates,  seven  hundred  and  fourteen  had  fallen.  Braddock 
himself  was  mortally  wounded.  A  retreat  began  at  once, 
and  Washington  with  all  that  remained  of  the  Virginian 
rangers  covered  the  flight  of  the  army.  The  disaster  was 
complete,  overwhelming,  irremediable. 

It  appears  that  the  French  and  Indians  were  surprised 
at  their  own  victory.  The  native  chiefs  on  the  next  day 
returned  to  Fort  Du  Quesne,  clad  in  the  laced  coats  of  the 
British  officers.  The  savages  after  their  manner  had  despoiled 
the  dead  of  the  battlefield,  and  left  them  unburied.  The 
dying  Braddock  was  borne  along  in  the  train  of  the  fugitives.  On  the  evening  of  the 
fourth  day  he  expired,  and  was  buried  near  Dunbar's  camp.  When  the  fugitives  reached 
that  place,  the  confusion  and  alarm  were  greater  than  ever.  The  artillery,  baggage  and 
public  stores  were  destroj-ed  and  a  hasty  retreat  begun,  first  to  Fort  Cumberland,  and 
afterwards  to  Philadelphia.  The  failure  and  ruin  of  the  expedition  could  hardly  have 
been  more  complete  and  irretrievable. 

EXILE  OF  THE  ACADIANS. 
The  reader  will  readily  recall  the  conquest  of  Port  Royal  and  Nova  Scotia  by  the  Eng- 
lish. Though  the  authority  of  England  was  fully  established  in  place  of  that  of  France, 
the  French  population  continued  as  before  greatly  to  outnumber  their  conquerors.  The 
general  result  of  the  campaign  had  been  to  establish  a  British  military  occupation.  When 
Braddock  met  the  colonial  governors  at  Alexandria,  it  was  urged  that  the  new  expedition 
against  Acadia  would  be  necessarj-,  in  case  of  hostilities,  in  order  to  overawe  the  French 
people  and  maintain  British  authority'.  With  this  end  in  view,  an  expedition  was  organized 
under  Colonel  Monckton,  and  in  May  of  1755  the  squadron  sailed  with  three  thousand 
troops  from  Boston  for  the  Bay  of  Fundy. 


SCENE  OF  BRADDOCK'S  DEFEAT, 

1755- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


441 


The  French  liad  in  the  province  two  fortresses,  called  Beau-Sejour  and  Gaspereau. 
The  couimandant,  Dt^  \\i\;.m-,  liail  n'>  inliination  of  tlic  apprn;u'li  of  O.w  l",iiL;li-li  until  ilie 
squadron  sailed 
into  the  ba>- 
and  anchored 
before  the  walls 
of  Beau-Sejour. 
On  the  3d  of 
June.  1755,  the 
English  forces 
effected  a  land- 
ing and  made 
their  way  across 
Messagouche 
creek  to  beg^n 
the  siege  of  the 
fortress,  but  no 
siege  was  neces- 
saiA'.  Fear  and 
confusion  pre- 
vailed among 
the  garrison, 
and  no  success- 
ful resistance 
could  be  of- 
fered. Beau- 
Sejour  capitu- 
lated and  was 
named  Fort 
Cumberland. 
The  whole  of 
Nova  Scotia 
was  overrun  in 
a  brief  cam- 
p  a  i  g  n  and 
brought  under 
dominion  of  the 
English  flag. 

Although 
this  conquest 
had  been  thus 
easily  effected, 
the  French  in- 
habitants still 
greatly  out 
numbered     the 

English.      Governor  Lawrence  determined,   tiierefore,   to  bring  about  a  different  state  of 
circumstances  by    driving    the  inhabitants  into    banishment.      In  the  first   place  an    oath 


442 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


ISTHMUS   OF   ACADIA. 


of  allegiance  was  demanded,  and  then  the  snrrender  of  all  the  firearms  and  boats  belong- 
ing to  the  French.  British  ships  were  then  made  ready  to  carry  the  French  peasants 
into  exile.  The  conntiy  about  the  isthmus  was  ruthlessly  laid  waste  and  the  flying 
people  driven  into  the  larger  towns.  Wherever  a  considerable  number  could  be  got 
together  they  were   compelled  to  go  on  shipboard.       At.  the  village  of  Grand   Pre  more 

than  nineteen  hundred  people  were  driven  into  the  boats 
at  the  point  of  the  baj'onet.  Wives  and  children,  old 
men  and  mothers,  the  sick  and  the  infirm,  all  shared 
the  common  fate.  IMore  than  three  thousand  of  the 
Acadians  were  carried  away  by  the  British  squadron  and 
scattered  in  helplessness  and  starvation  among  the  English 
colonies  as  far  south  as  Louisiana.  Thus  in  complete 
disaster  to  the  cause  of  France  ended  the  second  campaign 
which  had  been  planned  at  Alexandria. 

The  third  expedition  outlined  at  the  same  conference 
was  to  be  conducted  by  Governor  Shirley,  of  Massa- 
3iL"  chusetts,  against  the  French  at  Fort  Niagara.  Early 
in  August  the  governor  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  men 
set  out  from  Alban)-.  Arriving  at  Oswego  the  commander  spent  four  weeks  in  preparing 
boats.  Then  tempests  prevailed  and  sickness  broke  out  in  the  camp.  The  Indians 
deserted  the  standard  of  the  English,  and  late  in  October  the  provincial  forces  led  by 
Shirley  marched  homeward  without  striking  a  blow. 

THE  ATTACK  ON  FORT  EDWARD. 
The  fourth  expedition  had  been  intrusted  by  Braddock  to  General  William  Johnson, 
of  New  York.     The  object  of  the  movement  was  to  capture  Crown  Point  and  drive  the 
French  from  Lake  Champ-  ^  -^ 

lain.       Early     in     August     -slAs^S":  ^.^ % 

Johnson,  at  the  head  of  his  i^^fc 

forces,  reached  the  Hudson      ,  i,  -aa^^ 

above    Albany    and    built 

Fort  Edward.     Thence  he 

proceeded  to  Lake  George 

and  established  a  military 

camp.     To  this  place    the 

artillery  and  stores  of  the 

expedition    were    brought 

forward.   Meanwhile  Count 

Dieskau,    commandant    of 

the  French  at  Crown  Point, 

advanced     with     fourteen 

hundred  French,  Canadians 

and    Indians  against   Fort 

Edward.     General  Johnson  ==-'''^'^  °p  "^""^  acadians  from  grand  pre. 

sent  Colonel  Williams  and   Hendrick,  chief  of   the   Mohawks,  with  twelve   hundred   men 

to  the  relief  of  the  fort.      On  the  8th  of  September  Williams's  regiment  and  the  Mohawks 

were  ambushed  by  Dieskau's  forces  and  driven  back  with  loss  to  Johnson's  camp. 

The   victorious  Canadians  and  French  regulars  followed    and   attacked    the   English 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  443 

position.  A  severe  engagement  ensued.  For  five  hours  the  battle  was  incessant.  Nearly 
all  of  Dieskau's  men  were  killed.  At  last  the  English  troops  made  a  sortie  and  completed 
the  rout  of  the  enem>-.  Dieskau  was  mortally  wounded.  Two  Imndrcd  and  sixteen  of  the 
English  were  killed,  but  the  victory  was  complete.  General  Johnson  proceeded  to  build  on 
the  site  of  his  camp  Fort  William  Henr>-.  hi  the  meantime  the  French  fell  back,  but 
fortified  Ticonderoga.  Such  was  the  condition  of  affair^  at  the  close  of  the  first  year 
of  the  war. 

With  the  beginning  of  1756  the  command-in-chief  of  the  English  forces  was  given  to 
Governor  Shirley.  Virginia  relied  mostly  on  her  own  provincials,  whom  she  placed  under 
connnand  of  Washington  and  sent  into  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah  to  repel  the  French 
and  Indians.  The  Pennsylvanians  chose  Franklin  for  their  colonel,  built  a  fort  on  the 
Lehigh,  and  made  a  successful  campaign.  The  expeditions  which  were  planned  for  the 
year  embraced  the  conquest  of  Quebec  and  the  capture  of  Forts  Frontenac,  Toronto,  Niagara 
and  Du  Quesne. 

Meanwhile  the  British  government  took  up  the  cause  and  sent  out  two  battalions  of 
regulars  to  New  York.  These  arrived  in  the  spring  of  1 756.  The  Earl  of  Loudoun  was 
appointed  connnander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces  in  America.  General  Abercrombie  was 
second  in  rank.  On  the  1 7th  of  May  in  this  year  Great  Britain,  after  nearly  two  years  of 
actual  hostilities,  involving  campaigns  and  conquests  and  loss  of  life  and  annies,  made  a 
formal  declaration  of  war  against  France. 

In  July  Lord  Loudoun  took  command  of  the  colonial  army.  After  the  death  of 
Dieskau  the  Marquis  of  Montcalm  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  French,  and  on  his 
first  campaign  besieged  and  captured  Oswego.  Six  vessels  of  war,  three  hundred  boats,  a 
hundred  and  twenty-  cannon  and  three  chests  of  money  were  the  fruits  of  his  victor)-. 
During  this  summer  the  Delaware  Indians  of  western  Pennsylvania  broke  into  hostility  and 
killed  or  captured  more  than  a  thousand  people.  In  August  Colonel  Annstrong  at  the 
head  of  three  hundred  volunteers  marched  against  the  Indian  town  of  Kittaning,  and  on 
the  8th  of  December  routed  the  savages  with  great  losses.  The  village  was  bunied  and 
the  spirit  of  the  Indians  completely  broken. 

STRANGE  INACTION   OF  THE   ENGLISH. 

Lord  Loudoun  planned  for  the  summer  of  1757  the  conquest  of  Louisburg.  He  had 
under  his  command  an  anny  of  si.x  thousand  regulars  and  abundant  resources  in  the  way  of 
supply  and  transportation.  His  fleet  left  New  York  on  the  proposed  expedition  on  the  20th 
of  June  and  came  to  Halifa.x  where  the  connnander  was  joined  by  Admiral  Holboum  with  a 
fleet  of  sixteen  men-of-war.  Five  thousand  additional  troops  fresh  from  the  annies  of 
Europe  were  on  board  the  squadron;  but  Loudoun  with  amazing  incompetency,  instead  of 
proceeding  at  once  to  Cape  Breton,  tarried  awhile  at  Halifax,*  and  then  sailed  back  to  New 
York  without  striking  a  blow  or  even  seriou.sly  attempting  to  accomplish  the  work  in  which 
he  was  engaged. 

If  paralysis  seemed  to  re.st  upon  the  English  commander  it  was  very  different  witli  the 
French.  The  Marquis  of  Montcalm  collected  for  his  campaign  of  this  year  seven  thousand 
regulars,  Canadians  and  Indians.  With  this  force  he  advanced  into  New  York  for  the  cap- 
ture of  Fort  William  Henr>-.  This  stronghold  was  held  by  five  hundred  men  under  Colonel 
Monro.  For  six  days  the  French  besieged  the  fort  until  the  ammunition  of  the  garrison 
was  expended  and  nothing  remained  but  to  capitulate.      Honorable  terms  were  granted  by 

•  It  was  here  that  I.onl  I.oiulonn  Iml  a  Lir^e  area  of  the  cultiv.ihle  lamls  ahoat  HaliTax  planted  in  onions  lest 
his  men  utig/il  take  the  scur\-j'  ! 


444 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  captors.      On  the  9th  of  August  the}-  took  possession  of  the  fortress.     Among  the  sup- 
plies of  the  English  was  a  quantity  of  spirits.      In  spite  of  the  exertions  of  Montcalm  the 


MhuK   cii-    MJKT    WILIJAM    HHN'RV. 

Indians, becoming  intoxicated, 
fell  upon  the  prisoners  and 
massacred  thirty  of  them  in 
cold  blood. 

On  the  whole  the  war  wa- 
_  ■  ,^  greatly  in  favor  of 
France.  Such  had  been  the 
success  of  the  French  arms  | 
that  the  English  had  not  at 
this  juncture  a  single  hamlet  left  in  the  whole  basin  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
wa,s  true  in  the  west.      Everj-  cabin  where  English  was  spoken  had  been  sw 


The  same 
ept  out  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


445 


LOIISBCRU 


'-iSA.M  VS 


the  Ohio  Valley.      At   the  close  of  1757   France  possessed   ticcnty  limes  as   much    territor)' 
in  America  as  did  England  and  five  times  as  much  as  England  and  Spain  together  I 

The  ill-success  of  England  thus  far  in  the  war  was  doubtless  attributable  to  the 
inefficiency  of  the  government,  resulting,  iis  it  did,  in  the  appointment  of  incompetent  com- 
manders and  inadequate  preparations  for  conquering  the  French  in  America.  In  1757, 
however,  a  change  occurred  in  British  politics  and  William  Pitt  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  ministr>-.  A  new  spirit  was  at  once  diffused  in  the  mailagement  and  conduct  of  the  war. 
Loudoun  was  deposed  from  the  command  of  the  American  anny.  General  Abercrombie 
was  made  his  successor,  but  the  main  reliance  was  placed 
on  an  efficient  corps  of  subordinate  commanders.  Admiral 
Boscawen  was  put  in  charge  of  the  fleet.  General 
Amherst  was  given  a  division.  Young  Lord  Howe  was 
appointed  to  rank  next  to  Abercrombie.  James  Wolfe, 
also  in  his  youth,  was  made  brigadier,  and  Colonel  Richard 
Montgomer\-  was  put  at  the  head  of  a  regiment. 

CAPTURE  OF  LOUISBURG  AND  ASSAULT  ON  TICONDEROGA. 
The  campaigns  planned  for  175^  were  three  in  number. 
The  first  was  to  undertake  the  capture  of  Louisburg;  the  '^'"^^^  "•  --  '  "  '- 
second  to  reduce  Cro^\^l  Point  and  Ticonderoga,  and  the  third  to  recapture  Fort  Du 
Quesne  from  the  French.  In  the  latter  part  of  May  General  Amherst  arrived  at  Hali- 
fax with  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men.  In  the  brief  space  of  six  days  the  British  fleet 
was  anchored  before  Louisbnrg.  Soon  afterwards  three  French  vessels  were  burned 
in  the  harbor.  The  town  was  bombarded  imtil  it  was  reduced  to  a  heap  of  ruins.  On 
the  2Stli  of  July  Louisburg,  together  with  Cape  Breton  and  Prince  Edward's  Island,  were 
surrendered  to  Great  Britain.  The  garrisons,  numbering  about  six  thousand  men,  became 
prisoners  of  war.  The  expedition  had  been  speedily  crowned  with  signal  success  for  the 
English. 

Meanwhile  General  Abercrombie  with  fifteen  thousand  men  moved  forward  in  the 
beginning  of  July  against  Ticonderoga.  On  the  morning  of  the  6th  of  the  month  the  Eng- 
lish fell  in  with  the  French  picket  line  and  a  severe  skirmish 
ensued  in  which  the  F'rench  were  overwhelmed  and  Lord 
Howe  was  killed  in  the  onset.  On  the  morning  of  the  Sth 
the  English  anny  was  arranged  for  an  assault  on  Ticon- 
deroga. The  countPk'  round  about  was  broken  .and  ini- 
favorable  for  militan.'  operations,  but  obstacles  were  over- 
come and  a  desperate  battle  was  fought  continuing  for  four 
hours,  until  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  E^nglish 
were  finally  repulsed.  The  loss  on  the  side  of  the  assailants 
amounted  in  killed  and  wounded  to  nineteen  hundred  and  sixteen.  In  no  battle  of  the 
Revolution  did  the  British  have  so  large  a  force  engaged  or  meet  so  terrible  a  loss. 

With  the  failure  of  the  assault  the  English  army  retreated  to  Fort  George.  Soon  after- 
wards a  division  of  three  thousand  men  under  command  of  Colonel  Bradstreet  was  sent 
against  Fort  Frontenac  on  Lake  Ontario.  This  movement  of  the  English  was  attended  with 
complete  success.  Fort  Frontenac  was  only  able  to  endure  a  siege  of  two  davs'  duration. 
The  fortress  was  taken  and  demolished.  The  capture  of  the  place  was  regarded  by  the 
English  as  a  counterpoise  to  their  failure  at  Ticonderoga. 


RUnrS  OF  TICONDEROG.\. 


446 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


WONDERFUL  COURAGE  OF  MAJOR  STRABO. 

About  the  same  time  Major  Strabo  harassed  the  enemy  by  several  bold  strokes  and 
sudden  descents  upon  their  shipping  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  One  of  his  desperate  enter- 
prises was  the  capture  of  a  French  sloop  that  was  conveying  a  company  of  Indians  and  a 
large  quantity  of  supplies  to  Quebec.  At  the  time  of  this  undertaking  Strabo  was  march- 
ino-  down  the  river  on  the  New  York  side  with  a  company  of  ten  men,  when  seeing  a  French 
.schooner  in  the  offing  he  signaled.it  to  land.      The  officer  in  charge  suspecting  no  treachery 


WOXDERFUL   EXPLuiT    ol-    AiAJOR   STRABO. 

came  ashore  and  was  generously  treated  by  Strabo  with  some  choice  mm;  but  at  an  auspi- 
cious moment  he  gave  a  sign  at  which  his  men  rushed  out  of  their  concealment  and  in  a 
trice  made  the  officer  and  his  men  prisoners.  T)'ing  them  and  leaving  them  on  shore, 
Strabo  boarded  the  schooner  and  set  out  in  pursuit  of  a  French  sloop  en  route  for  Quebec. 
Being  a  master  of  the  French  tongue  Strabo  had  no  difficulty,  after  approaching  near 
the  vessel,  in  convincing  the  commander  that  he  was  bearing  a  message  to  Ralfe  at  Quebec. 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


n; 


Under  pretence  that  he  desired  to  coininunicate  confidentially  with  the  sloop's  oflficer  he 
was  pennitted  to  draw  along  side.  In  the  next  moment  his  men  fired  on  the  exposed 
crew  and  lashing  the  schooner  to  the  sloop  boarded  the  prize  so  qnicklj-  that  no  time  was 
given  for  defence.  Strabo  drove  nearly  all  the  Indians  into  the  waters,  killed  most  of 
the  crew  and  then  setting  fire  to  the  schooner  he  sailed  away  on  the  sloop  with  all  its  stores 
and  brought  her  into  the  port  of  Louisburg. 

The  third  expedition  of  this  year  was  entrusted  to  General  Forbes.  His  division 
numbered  nine  thousand  men  and  his  part  in  the  campaign  was  the  capture  of  Fort  Du 
Quesne.  The  \"irginia  provincials  were  again  placed  under  command  of  Colonel  Wash- 
ington. The  main  body  of  the  anny  moved  slowly;  but  Major  Grant  with  the  advance 
pressed  on  in  the  direction  of  Fort  Du  Quesne.  When  within  a  few  miles  of  that  place, 
he  ran  carelessly  into  an  ambuscade  in  which  he  lost  a  third  of  his  forces.  But  it  was  not 
to  be  expected  that  the  game  which  the  French  and  Indians  had  so  successfully  played  with 
Braddock  could  be  repeated. 

Washington  now  took  the  lead  and  on  the  24th  of  November  reached  a  point  within 
ten  miles  of  the  fort.  During  that  night  the  garrison  of  Du  Quesne,  apprised  of  the 
approach  of  the  British  anny,  took  the  alarm,  burned  the  fortress,  embarked  in  boats  and 
dropped  down  the  Ohio.  On  the  25th  the  victorious  English  marched  in,  raised  the  ban- 
ner of  St.  George  and  named  the  place  Pittsburgh.  A  suinmar\'  of  the  movements  of  the 
year  1758  shows  that  in  two  of  the  priucipal  cauipaigns  the  English  had  been  overwhelm- 
ingly successful,  while  in  the  third  the  result  was  a  drawn  battle,  the  French  being 
victorious  before  Ticonderoga  and  losing  on  the  other  hand  their  fortress  and  garrison  at 
Frontenac. 

CAPTURE  OF   NIAGARA. 

General  Amherst  now  succeeded  Abercrombie  in  command  of  the  American  army. 
Great  Britain  became  terribly  in  earnest  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war  against  the  French. 

A  bloody   incident  of  this  year  (1759)  transpired  in  ; »  . 

the  vicinity  of  Fort  Miller,  on  the  Hudson  River  six  miles 
from  Schuyler\-ille.  A  party  of  soldiers  from  the  garrison 
went  fishing  in  a  clear  stream  of  water  eight  miles  from 
the  fort.  While  thus  engaged  they  were  attacked  by  a 
band  of  Indians  who  were  in  concealment  in  the  thick 
covert  on  the  bank.  Being  wholly  unprepared  for  resist- 
ance tlie  soldiers  were  panic  stricken  at  the  first  fire 
and  nine  were  killed  who  were  afterwards  scalped  and 
their  bodies  left  lying  where  they  fell.  On  occount  of  this 
fatal  occurrence  the  stream  has  ever  since  been  called 
"Bloody  Run." 

Bv  the  beginning  of  summer,  1759,  the  British  and  colonial  forces  under  arms  num- 
bered nearly  fifty  thousand  men.  On  the  other  side  the  entire  French  army  scarcely 
exceeded  seven  thousand.  Three  campaigns  were  planned  for  the  year.  General  Prideaux 
was  appointed  to  lead  an  expedition  against  Niagara.  The  couunander-in-chief  at  the 
head  of  the  main  division  was  to  proceed  against  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point.  General 
Wolfe,  with  his  contingent  was  sent  up  the  St.  Lawrence  for  the  capture  of  Quebec. 

The  first  expeditiou  was  crowned  with  success.  General  Prideaux  succeeded  in  mid- 
summer in  the  investment  of  Fort  Niagara.  The  French  commander,  D'.Vubry,  with  twelve 
hundred  men,  came  to  the  relief  of  the  fort.     On  the   15th  of  the  month,   Prideaux   was 


nvj 


OOUy    KIN. 


448 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


killed  by  the  bursting  of  a  gun,  and  the  command  devolved  on  Sir  William  Johnson.      On 

the  24th,  the  French  army  came  in  sight,  and  a  bloody  battle  was  fought  in  which  the 

French  were  completely  routed.     On  the  following  day  Niagara  capitulated,  and  the  garri- 
son to  the  number  of  six  hundred  became  prisoners  of  war. 

The  central  division,  numbering  eleven  thousand  men,  marched  against  Ticonderoga.' 

The  army  was  debarked  before  the  fortress 
on  the  22d  of  July;  but  the  French  did  not 
dare  to  stand  against  such  overwhelming 
numbers.  After  four  days  the  garrison,  hav- 
ing partly  destroyed  the  fortifications,  abandoned 
Ticonderoga,  and  retreated  to  Crown  Point. 
On  the  31st  of  July  they  deserted  this  place 
also,  and  fell  back  to  Isle-aux-Noix,  in  the 
river  Sorel. 

The  third  division  of  the  British  forces 
was  led  forward  by  General  Wolfe  to  the  St 
LauTence.  In  the  early  spring  he  began  the 
ascent  of  that  river.  His  division  consisted 
of  nearly  eight  thousand  men,  assisted  by  a 
fleet  of  forty-four  vessels.  On  the  27th  of 
June,  Wolfe  reached  the  Isle  of  Orleans,  four 
miles  below  Quebec,  where  the  English  camp 
was  pitched  at  the  upper  end  of  the  island. 
The  fleet  gave  the  English  command  of  the 
river  and  the  southern  bank  was  undefended. 
On  the  second  night  after  Wolfe's  arrival,  he 
sent  General  Monckton  to  seize  Point  Levi. 
From   this  position   the  lower  town  ■rt'as  soon 

reduced  to  ruins  and   the  upper  town   much   injured;  but  the  fortress  held  out  and  some 

other  plan  of  attack  had  to  be  invented. 

BATTLE  OF  QUEBEC. 
General  Wolfe  in  the  early  part  of  July  crossed  the  St.   Lawrence  and  encamped  near 

the  mouth  of  the  Montmorenci.     This  stream  was  fordable  at  low  water,  and  the  English 

undertook  to  force  a  crossing  in  the  face  of  the    French, 

but  were  repulsed  with  serious  losses.     Wolfe  was  obliged 

to  withdraw  his  camp,  and  again  change  his  plans.      He 

nov  fell   into  a  fever,  and  for  some   time  was    confined  to 

his   tent.     A   council  was  held,    and  the  young   general 

proposed  a   second   assault,   but"  was    overruled.       It  was 

then  detennined  to   ascend    the  St.    Lawrence    by  night, 

and  if  possible  gain  the  Plains  of  Abraham  in  the  rear  of 

the  city. 

The  lower  camp  of  the  English  was  accordingly  broken 

up,  and  on  the  6th  of  September  the  troops  were  convened 

from    that  position   to   Point    Levi.       In  the  next    place 

Wolfe    succeeded    in    transferring   his    army  without    the 

knowledge  of  the  French  to  a  point  several    miles  up  the 


GEN.  JAMES  WOLFE. 


VICINITY   OF   QUEBEC,    I759. 

river.     He  then  examined  the 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  w.J 

northern  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  discovered  a  pathway  up  the   steep  cliffs  leadin<r 
to  the  plains  in  the  rear  of  Quebec. 

On  the  night  of  the  12th  of  September  the  English  forces  again  embarked  and  dropped 
down  the  river  to  the  place  now  called  Wolfe's  Cove.  It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
that  the  soldiers,  supporting  themselves  b_\-  the  bushes  and  rocks,  clambered  up  the  preci- 
pice. The  Canadian  guard  on  the  summit  was  easily  dispersed,  and  in  the  dawn  of  morn- 
ing Wolfe  marshalled  his  army  for  battle.  Montcalm  was  in  amazement  when  he  heard  the 
news.  The  French  forces  were  hastily  brought  from  the  trenches  on  the  Montmorenci  and 
thrown  between  Quebec  and  the  English. 

The  battle  was  begun  without  dela\\  At  the  first  there  was  a  cannonade  of  an  hour's 
duration,  and  then  Montcalm,  with  his  inadequate  forces  attempting  to  turn  the  English 
flank,  was  beaten  back.  The  Canadian  provincials  and  their  Indian  allies  were  soon  routed. 
The  French  regulars  wavered,  and  were  thrown  into  confusion.  Wolfe  led  his  anny  in  per- 
son. Early  in  the  engagement  he  was  wounded  in  the  wrist,  but  pressed  on  without  atten- 
tion to  his  injury-.  Again  he  was  struck,  but  still  kept  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  column. 
At  the  moment  of  victon.-  a  third  ball  pierced  his  breast,  and  he  sank  to  the  earth.  "  Thev 
run,"*  said  the  attendant  who  bent  over  him.  "Who  run?"  was  the  response.  "The 
French  are  flying  everywhere,"  replied  the  officer.  "Do  they  run  alreadv  ?  Then  I  die 
happy,"  said  the  expiring  hero. 

Montcalm  shared  a  like  fate.  Attempting  to  rally  his  regiments  he  was  struck  with  a 
ball  and  fell  mortally  wounded.  "Shall  I  survive?"  said  he  to  his  surgeon.  "  Only  a 
few  hours  at  most,"  answered  the  attendant.  "So  much  the  better,"  replied  the  heroic 
Frenchman;   "  I  shall  not  live  to  witness  the  surrender  of  Quebec!  " 

Five  days  after  the  battle  the  cit}-  capitulated  and  an  English  garrison  took  possession 
of  the  citadel.  France  soon  made  an  unsuccessful  effort  to  recover  her  loss.  In  the  spring 
of  1760  a  French  arm\-  gained  a  position  a  few  miles  west  of  Quebec  and  the  English  were 
driven  within  the  defences,  but  the  city  was  soon  reinforced  and  the  assailants  were  beaten 
back.  In  the  year  following  the  capture  by  Wolfe,  General  Amherst  conducted  a  successful 
expedition  against  Montreal,  the  last  important  post  of  France  in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence. On  the  8th  of  September  the  place  was  taken  and  the  whole  of  Canada  passed  under 
the  dominion  of.  England. 

A  REAPPORTIONMENT  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

Thus  with  the  great  campaigns  of  1759-60  the  French  empire  in  America  was  subverted. 
New  France  passed  away.  The  result  was  reached  by  the  determined  and  powerful  support 
which  Great  Britian  gave  to  her  American  interests  and  by  the  feeble,  wavering  and 
unworthy  efforts  of  France  to  support  her  own  can.se  in  the  New  World.  There  came  to 
pass  a  vast  disparity  between  the  contending  parties.  At  one  time  the  English  and  .\meri- 
can  provincials  were  as  twenty  to  one  to  the  French  and  at  nearly  the  same  time  the  .\meri- 
can  territorial  possessions  of  France  were  as  twenty  to  one  to  those  of  her  rival.     There  was 

•  It  i.s  narrated  that  while  the  English  fleet  on  this  memorable  night  were  silently  gliding  down  the  St  Law- 
rence under  the  dark  shadow  of  the  overhanging  banks  the  brave  and  imaginative  Wolfe,  standing  in  the  how  of 
his  boat  and  discovering  with  the  keen  instincts  of  a  prophet  the  probabilities  of  his  fate,  repeated  over  and  over 
to  his  companions  the  stanza  from  Gray's  E/eg-y  in  a  Country  Churchyard,  which  had  been  published  only  a  short 
time  before  in  England  : 

"  The  boast  of  heraldry,  the  pomp  of  power 

.\nd  all  that  beauty,  all  that  wealth  c\-r  gave, 
Await  alike  the  inevitable  hour  ; 

The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave." 

29 


450 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


thus  on  the  side  of  England  the  concentration  of  resources  and  power  and  on  thf  side  of 
France  the  dissipation  of  her  diminished  energies  over  a  vast  and  indefensible  region  of 
countr}'. 

But  while  the  vicissitudes  of  war  favored  the  English  in  all  their  latter  conflicts  with 
the  French  other  harassments  vexed  the  settlers  in  sections  not  within  the  immediate 
territory  in  dispute.  In  the  spring  of  1760  the  Cherokee  Indians  of  eastern  Tennessee  arose 
ao-ainst  the  English  and  besieged  Fort  Loudon  which  was  forced  to  capitulate,  but  no  sooner 
was  the  o-arrison  disarmed  than  the  Indians  in  ^■iolation  of  the  terms  of  surrender  massacred 
the  o-reater  number  and  carried  oif  the  others  into  captivit}'.      To  punish  the  savages  for  this 


THE  DEATH  OF  GENKRAL  WOEFE. 

atrocity  Colonels  Grant  and  Montgomery  were  sent  against  them,  who  after  a  vigorous  cam- 
paign compelled  the  Indians  to  sue  for  peace. 

PONTIAC'S  CONSPIRACY  AND  ATTACK  ON  DETROIT. 
But  after  the  overthrow  of  the  French  it  devolved  upon  the  English  to  take  actual 
possession  of  all  the  territory  bordering  on  the  Great  Lakes  and  Major  Roberts  was  accord- 
ingly despatched  by  General  Amherst  with  two  hundred  rangers  to  receive  the  surrender  of 
the  outposts.  In  this  duty  Major  Roberts  met  with  no  resistance  and  by  the  close  of  1760 
the  English  flag  waved  above  all  the  forts  along  the  lakes.  No  sooner,  however,  had  the 
occupation  been  accomplished  when  the  English  began  a  system  of  petty  persecutions  upon 
the  Indians,  whose  violent  resentment  was  speedily  aroused,  excited,  as  it  was,  not  more  by 
their  ill-treatment  than  by  the  instigations  of  the  French,  who   though  conquered   became 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


451 


even  more  bitterly  hostile  in  their  feclin<;;s  towards  the  Englisli.  In  the  summer  of  1761 
the  Senecas  and  Wyandots  conspired  to  capture  Detroit  by  treachery  and  massacre  the  gar- 
rison, but  the  plot  was  revealed  and  thwarted  b>'  the  commandant,  Colonel  Campbell.  Soon 
after  another  attempt  was  made,  but  likewise  failed  through  timely  warning  given  by  a 
friendl\-  Indian.  Thereafter  peace  prevailed  for  a  while  though  at  no  time  was  .security  felt, 
the  ugly  temper  of  the  Indians  being  indicated  by  mutterings  of  discontent  which  gave  con- 
stant fear  of  an  outbreak. 

Towards  the  close  of  1 762  Pontiac,  chief  of  the  Ottawas,  a  brave  and  sagacious  warrior, 
conceived  the  design  of  uniting  all  the  tribes  from  the  AUeghanies  to  the  Mississippi  into 
one  confederacy  and  hurling  them  in  resistless  bodies  against  the  English  by  attacking  simul- 
taneously all  the  forts  and  settlements.  The  7th  of  ^May,  1763,  was  appointed  to  begin  the 
general  massacre,  but  at  the  last  moment  the  tribes  refused,  through  rivalries  and  old  enmi- 
ties, to  act  in  concert  and  ultimate  failure  was  the  consequence,  though  the  direct  result  was 
terribly  disastrous. 

Pontiac  reser\-ed  for  himself  the  most  dangerous  task  of  capturing  Detroit  and  butcher- 
ing the  garrison  and  so  adroitly  did  he  perfect  the  details  of  his  horrible  plot  that  their 
execution  must  have  ,  ,,  „ 

proved  successful   but  for  (»..•  i^\vi\ 

the  timely  exposure  of 
the  conspiracy.  On  the 
day  preceding  the  time 
set  for  the  treacherous 
and  murderous  act  an 
Ojibway  girl  visited  the 
fort  bearing  a  pair  of 
moccasins  which  she  de- 
signed as  a  present  for 
Major  Gladwyn,  the  com- 
mandant. By  this  subter- 
fuge she  gained  his  pres- 
ence and  when  the  two 
were  aione  she  revealed 
to  that  officer  the  particu- 
lars of  the  plot.  The 
major  lost  no  time  in 
putting  the  fort  in  the 
sought  to  put  their  treacherous  plans  into  execution  on  the  following  day  they  confronted 
a  strono-  force  of  English  fully  prepared  to  receive  them,  every  citizen  as  well  as  soldier 
being  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle. 

Pontiac  withdrew  from  the  fort  mortified  at  the  failure  of  his  plans,  but  unwilling  to 
abandon  his  purpose  he  invested  Detroit  with  nearly  two  thou.sand  Indians  and  entered  upon 
a  siege  of  the  place.  Some  desperate  .sorties  and  counter  a.ssaulLs  characterized  the  siege, 
in  which  the  Indians  lost  heavily  and  after  three  days  of  fruitless  effort  to  burn  (in  which 
they  partially  succeeded)  or  reduce  the  place  they  withdrew  to  join  other  bands  of  Indians 
who  were  doing  great  execution  elsewhere.  Under  the  attacks  wliich  followed  and  were 
led  by  Pontiac  every  fort  in  tlic  west  except  Niagara,  Detroit  and  Fort  Pitt  was  cap- 
tured bv  the  Indians,  who  in  nearly  every  instance  ma.ssacrcd  the  garrisons. 


OJIBWAY   MAIDEN   EXPOSING  THE   CONSPIRACY. 

most  thorough   state  of  defence   and  when  Pontiac  and  his  band 


452 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Though  the  fighting  on  land  between  France  and  England  practically  ceased  with  the 
capture  of  Quebec  and  the  surrender  of  the  lake  forts  the  conflict  continued  on  the  sea  with 
almost  invariable  success  to  the  English  arms  until  the  loth  of  February,  1863,  when  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  made  between  the  two  nations  at  Paris  by  which  all  the  French  posses- 
sions in  North  America  eastward  of  the  ^Mississippi  from  its  source  to  the  River  Iberville  and 
thence  through  Lakes  ilaurepas  and  Pontchartrain  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  were  surrendered 
to  Great  Britain.  It  was  the  transfer  of  an  empire.  At  the  same  time  Spain,  with  whopi 
England  had  been  at  war,  ceded  East  and  West  Florida  to  the  English  crown.  As  reciprocal 
with  this  pro\-ision  France  was  constrained  by  Great  Britain  to  make  a  cession  to  Spain  of 
all  that  vast  territor}-  west  of  the  Mississippi  known  as  the  Province  of  Louisiana.  It  thus 
happened  that  the  Spanish  possessions  on  our  continent  were  vastly  extended,  while  those 
of  France  were  extinguished.  The  French  king  lost  his  entire  empire  in  the  New  World 
and  England  became  dominant  over  all  east  of  the  Mississippi.  West  of  the  Father  of 
Waters  Spain  took  all  for  her  own. 

As  yet  the  question  had  not  publicly  risen  of  the  independence  of  the  English  States 
in  North  America;  but  already,  before  the  treat}'  of  Paris,  namely,  in  1775,  John  Adams, 
at  that  time  a  young  school  teacher  in  Connecticut  wrote  this  in  his  diary:  "In  another 
centur>',  all  Europe  will  not  be  able  to  subdue  us.  The  only  way  to  keep  us  from  setting 
up  for  ourselves  is  to  disunite  us."  Significant  words  these  were,  containing  in  them  the 
germs  of  the  great  struggle  which  was  already  at  the  door,  which,  indeed,  had  already  begun, 
but  of  the  presence  of  which  neither  the  British  government  nor  the  American  colonists 
were  as  )'et  aware. 

The  French  and  Indian  War— so  called  in  the  phraseolog}'  of  American  history — was 
one  of  the  most  important  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  By  this  conflict  it  was  decided  that 
the  decaying  institutions  of  the  middle  ages  should  not  prevail  in  the  countries  west  of  the 
Atlantic  and  that  the  powerful  language,  laws  and  liberties  of  the  English-speaking  race 
should  be  planted  forever  in  the  vast  domains  of  the  New  World. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


CAUSES  OF  THE  WAR  OF   INDEPENDENCE. 


|S   we   have  said,  the  war  of  American  Independence — the  Revo- 
lution so-called — by  which  the  American  colonies  were 
detached  from  their  allegiance  to  the  mother  country 
and  at  length  made  a  nation,  began  with  those  con- 
ditions  and   circumstances    which   first    brought   the 
Americans  into  union  of  effort  and  purpose.      In  the 
preceding  chapter  we    have  seen  how  the    colonists 
discovered  in  themselves  the  elements  of   unity  and 
strength.       The   provincial    soldiers   soon   found   out 
that  the  British  regulars  were  not  superior  to  them- 
selves in  battle — that  the  discipline  of  the  regulars  from  the 
mother  countn,'  was  compensated  by  the  knowledge  which 
the  Americans  possessed  of  the  manners  and  tactics  of  the 

enemy. 

To  the  British  regulars  the  new  arena  of  war  in  America 
was  full  of  unknown  perils  and  pitfalls.  The  continent  was  an  expanse  of  woods  and 
mountains  and  rivers.  The  Indian  method  of  warfare  was  unheard  of  and  at  first  despised. 
The  Braddock  campaign  showed  clearly  that  the  provincials,  whose  bad  reputation  with 
the  British  officers  had  become  traditional,  were  really  the  most  available  contingent  of 
he  anny. 

Many  things  tended  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  decades  of  the  century  to  develop  a 
national  consciousness  in  America.  Nations  are  even  as  men.  They  have  their  periods 
of  childhood  and  adolescence.  At  length,  with  growth  and  development,  consciousness 
appears.  True,  it  were  difficult  to  discover  from  what  sources  in  the  individual  life  per- 
sonal consciousness  at  length  arises;  and  so  in  the  case  of  nations.  For  the  present  it 
suffices  to  point  out  the  fact  that  the  time  at  which  we  have  now  arrived  in  American 
histop.'  was  the  time  when  consciousness  appeared — consciousness  of  individuality-,  of 
strength,  of  personal  will  and  ultimately  of  independent  right. 

There  is  a  great  popular  error  in  underestimating  the  character  and  significance  of  the 
French  and  Indian  War.  As  matters  of  fact  the  conflict  was  of  longer  duration  than  the 
Revolution  proper.  The  forces  engaged — the  English  forces — were  greater  in  numbers  and 
equipment  than  were  at  any  time  seen  in  America  during  the  war  of  Independence.  The 
battles  fought,  though  not  more  numerous,  were  on  the  whole  more  detennined  and  much 
more  bloody.  As  has  been  said,  the  losses  in  the  battle  of  Ticondcroga,  almost  unknown 
as  it  is  in  the  popular  memor)',  were  much  more  severe  and  destructive  of  life  than  any 
single  conflict  of  the  Revolution. 

A  REMARKABLE  CHANGE  OF  POLITICAL   FEELING. 

We  are  here  to  take  iip  the  narrative  after  llie  treal>  of  Paris  and  to  note  the  causes 
which  led  to  the  rebellion  and   final   independence  of  the  American  colonies.     After  the 

(453) 


454  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

treaty  of  peace  there  was  a  brief  period  of  recuperation.  The  British  armies  were  with- 
drawn from  America  to  be  used  abroad.  It  is  now  clear  in  the  retrospect  that  the  rela- 
tions between  the  soldiers  of  the  colonies  and  the  foreign  regulars  had  never  been  gracious 
or  agreeable.  The  British  officers  were  disliked  and  in  some  instances  the  dislike  rose — or 
sank — to  the  level  of  hatred. 

It  is  one  of  the  strange  circumstances  of  the  histor}-  of  these  times  that  the  French.,  the 
enemy  with  whom  the  American  colonists  were  for  several  years  engaged  in  bloody  war, 
appear  not  to  have  been  so  seriously  disliked  as  the  British,  under  whose  patronage  and  by 
whose  overwhelming  power  and  alliance  the  war  was  brought  to  a  successful  end.  We  shall 
see  with  astonishment  how  in  the  course  of  a  \-ery  few  }-ears  all  the  conditions  were  reversed 
and  a  new  sentiment  created  by  which  the  French  were  converted  into  friends  and  the 
British  made  enemies — a  state  of  feeling  and  opinion  which  much  more  than  a  century  of 
time  has  not  availed  to  obliterate. 

The  epoch  upon  which  we  now  enter  was  one  in  which  existing  institutions  were 
rapidl}-  transformed.  Many  old  things  passed  away.  A  new  man  and  a  new  society  were 
born  out  of  a  sort  of  fruitful  anarchy,  as  if  from  a  soil  long  prepared  with  the  care  of  the 
husbandman.  There  was  a  civil  and  social  revolt  of  the  people  against  the  existing  order, 
and  in  particular  against  the  institution  of  monarchy  which  had  so  long  intrenched  itself 
as  the  prevailing  political  form  among  the  western  nations. 

Our  Revolution  of  1776  was  one  of  the  leading  incidents  of  a  large  and  world-wide 
movement  which  has  not  }-et  by  any  means  reached  its  limits.  It  is  important  that  we 
should  note  with  some  care  at  least  the  more  immediate  causes  of  our  conflict  with  the 
mother  country.  Doubtless  the  first  and  most  general  of  these  was  the  claim  and  exercise 
of  the  right  of  arbitrary  government  by  Great  Britain,  which  "right"  was  denied  and 
resisted  by  the  colonies.  At  the  first  the  enunciation  of  such  a  right  on  the  part  of  the 
mother  country  was  a  matter  of  little  importance.  The  claim  was  theoretical  rather  than 
practical.  The  colonies  had  not  yet  reached  the  stage  of  autonomy,  but  when  the  English 
government  began  to  force  the  principle  in  practice  upon  full-grown  States  having  more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  within  their  borders,  and  lying  at  a  distance  of 
three  thousand  miles  from  the  mother  countr}-,  the  colonies  resisted. 

The  qTiestions  involved  in  the  coming  controversy  began  to  be  openh-  discussed  about 
the  time  of  the  treaty  of  Aix  la  Chapelle  in  1748,  and  from  that  period  until  the  outbreak 
of  hostilities  in  1775  each  year  witnessed,  in  some  fonn,  a  renewal  of  the  agitation.  But 
there  were  also  many  subordinate  causes  tending  to  bring  on  a  conflict.  First  among  these 
may  be  named  the  influence  of  France,  which  was  constantly  exerted  so  as  to  excite  a  spirit 
of  resistance  in  the  American  colonies.  Doubtless  the  French  king  would  never  have 
agreed  to  the  treaty  of  1763,  by  which  Canada  was  ceded  to  Great  Britain,  had  it  not  been 
with  the  ulterior  hope  and  aim  of  securing  American  Independence. 

THE  FORESHADOWING  OF  REBELLION. 

It  was  the  theory'  of  France  that  by  giving  up  Canada  to  the  other  English  colonies  in 
America,  the  whole  group  would  become  so  strong  as  to  renounce  their  allegiance  to  the 
crown.  Such  a  result  was  feared  by  the  British  government.  More  than  once  it  was 
openly  proposed  in  Parliament  to  recede  Canada  to  France  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  check- 
ing the  ominous  growth  of  the  American  States.  ' '  There,  now, ' '  said  the  French  states- 
man Vergennes,  when  the  treaty  of  1763  was  signed,  "we  have  arranged  matters  for  an 
American  rebellion  in  which  England  will  lose  her  empire  in  the  west!"     Such  was  the 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  Aoo 

prescience  of  the  shrewd  politicians  of  Western  Europe  who  played  at  dice  with  our  repub- 
lican commonwealths  in  the  seventh  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

A  second  cause  leading  to  our  war  for  independence  may  be  discovered  in  the  natural 
disposition  and  inherited  character  of  the  colonists.  They  were  for  the  most  part  republi- 
cans in  political  sentiment  and  dissenters  in  religion.  The  people  of  the  home  country 
were  monarchists  and  high-churchmen.  The  American  colonists  had  never  seen  the  king 
who  ruled  them,  or  any  king.  The  broad  Atlantic  lay  between  them  and  the  British  min- 
istr}-.  Their  dealings  for  a  century  past  and  more  with  the  royal  officers  had  been  such  as 
to  engender  a  dislike,  not  only  for  the  officers  themselves,  but  for  the  system  of  govern- 
ment which  they  represented.  The  people  of  America  had  not  forgotten,  could  not  well 
forget,  the  circumstances  of  hardship  and  abuse  under  which  their  ancestors  had  come  to  the 
New  World.  Moreover,  for  six  generations  the  colonists  had  managed  their  own  affairs. 
They  had  been  accustomed  to  popular  assemblies  and  to  certain  methods  of  conducting 
public  business  until  the  instinct  of  democratic  management  had  become  hereditarv.  The 
experiences  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  had  shown  the  Americans  that  their  own  best 
reliance  in  the  day  of  trouble  was  themselves — that  they  were  able  to  defend  themselves  and 
their  countr}'  against  aggression. 

There  was  a  natural  evolution  of  public  opinion  in  the  colonies  tending  to  indepen- 
dence. The  more  advanced  thinkers  came  to  believe  that  a  complete  separation  from 
England  was  not  onl)-  possible  but  desirable.  The  remark  of  young  John  Adams,  recorded 
in  his  dian-  for  1755,  has  already  been  quoted  on  a  fonner  page.  His  opinion  and  the 
opinions  of  others  like  him  were  at  first  expressed  only  in  private,  then  by  hints  in  pam- 
phlets and  newspapers,  and  at  last  publich-  and  ever\-where.  It  is  needless  to  say,  howe\-er, 
that  ideas  so  radical  and  seemingly  dangerous  were  accepted  by  the  people  at  large  verv 
slowly,  cautiously,  reluctantly.  Not  until  the  war  of  the  Revolution  had  actually  begun 
could  the  majority-  of  the  colonists  be  brought  to  declare  for  independence. 

THE  POLITICAL  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  III. 

Another  subordinate  cause  of  the  contlict  with  tlie  mother  country  was  found  in  the 
personal  character  and  political  methods  of  the  King,  George  III.,  w-ho  ascended  the 
English  throne  in  1760,  and  who  proved  to  be  one  of  the  worst  monarchs  of  modern  times. 
His  notions  of  government  were  altogether  despotic.  He  was  by  mental  constitution  a 
stubborn,  thick-headed,  stupid  man,  in  whose  mind  the  notion  of  human  rights  was  almost 
wholly  wanting.  His  beliefs  and  aphorisms  were  derived  from  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was 
well  nigh  impossible  for  him  to  conceive  of  a  magnanimous  public  project  or  to  appreciate 
the  value  and  desirability  of  civil  liberty.  In  his  personal  life  he  was  a  man  of  e.xemplary 
habits,  not  incapable  of  domestic  affections  and  fidelity  ;  but  his  public  administration  was 
as  bad  as  any  which  Europe  had  seen  since  the  dcatli  of  Louis  XI\'.  His  reign  of  sixtv 
years  was  as  odious  to  patriotism  as  it  was  long  in  duration.  It  was  a  part  of  his  public 
policy  to  employ  only  those  who  were  the  narrow-minded  partisans  of  himself  and  his  Tory 
ministn,-.  Tiie  members  of  his  cabinet  and  council  were  for  the  most  part  men  as  incom- 
petent and  illiberal  as  their  king.  With  such  a  ruler  and  such  a  ministry' it  was  not  likely 
that  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims  in  America  woiM  get  on  smoothly. 

The  more  immediate  cause  of  the  Revolution,  however,  was  the  passage  by  Parliament 
of  a  series  of  act?  destructive  of  colonial  liberty.  These  acts  were  first  opposed  and  then 
resisted  by  the  colonies,  and  the  attempt  was  made  by  (ireat  Britain  to  enforce  them,  first 
with  authority  and  then  with  the  bayonet.  The  general  question  involved  in  these  acts  was 
that  of  taxation.     It  is  a  well-grounded   principle  of  the   English   common   law  that  the 


456 


COLUMBUS  AND  COLUMBIA. 


subjects  of  the  crown  b\-  their  representatives  in  the  House  of  Commons  have  the  right 
of  \oting  whatever  taxes  and  customs  are  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  kingdom.  It  was 
but  natural  that  this  right  should  be  claimed  by  the  American  colonists  ;  for  they  were 
English  subjects  with  the  full  rights  of  Englishmen. 

AVith  good  reason  the  General  Assemblies  of  the  colonies  urged  that  they,   the  Assem- 
blies, held,  out  of  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  same  relation  to  the  American  people  as  the 

House  of  Commons 
held  to  the  people  of 
England.  To  this  pro- 
position the  English 
ministers  replied  that 
Parliament,  and  not  the 
colonial  Assemblies,  was 
the  proper  body  to  vote 
taxes  in  any  and  all 
parts  of  the  British  em- 
pire. ' '  But  we  are  not 
represented  in  Parlia- 
ment," was  the  answer 
of  the  Americans  ;  ' '  the 
House  of  Commons  mar 
therefore  justly  assess 
taxes  in  England,  but 
not  in  America." 
"Many  of  the  towns, 
boroughs  and  shires  in. 
these  British  isles  have 
no  representatives  in 
Parliament,  and  yet  the 
Parliament  ta.xes  //lem, ' ' 
replied  the  ministers, 
now  driven  to  sophistry. 
"  If  any  of  your  towns, 
boroughs  and  shires  are 
not  represented  in  the 
House  of  Commons, 
they  ought  to  be,"  was 
the  American  rejoinder, 
and  there  the  argument 
ended.  It  is  easy  for  the  reader  to  discover  in  this  incipient  controversy  the  elements  of  a 
profound  dispute  relative  to  the  rights  of  local  self-government  and  home-rule — a  dispute 
which  has  not  yet  ceased  to  agitate  and  disturb  the  British  empire. 

SPECIFIC  COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  ENGLAND. 

Such  were  the  essentials  of    the  controvers\-    between   the    colonies    and  the  mother 

country.      It  is  now  proper  to  notice  the  principal  parliamentary  acts  which  the  colonists 

complained  of   and  resisted.      The  first  of  these  was  called  the  Importation  .-Vet.      It  was 

passed  in  the  year  1733.      The  statute  was  itself  a  kind  of  supplement  and  revival  of  the 


(^^^^ra^^cJ^ra'^^m/''^^ 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  -407 

old  Navigation  Act  of  165 1.  By  the  terms  of  the  new  law  exorbitant  dnties  were  laid  oa 
all  the  sugar,  molasses  and  rum  imported  into  the  colonies.  The  effect  was,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  to  raise  the  price  of  these  articles  to  the  consumers,  with  the  consequent  discontent 
and  distress  which  such  measures  always  produce.  At  first  the  payment  of  the  unreason- 
able customs  was  evaded  by  the  merchants,  and  then  the  statute  was  openly  set  at  nauglit, 
disobeyed  and  neglected  as  though  it  were  not.  In  1750  an  act  was  passed  forbidding  the 
erection  of  iron  works  in  America.  The  manufacture  of  steel  was  specially  interdicted, 
and  the  felling  of  pines  outside  of  law  was  made  a  nii.sdenieanor  under  penalt)\ 

All  of  these  laws  were  at  length  disregarded,  as  thc\-  were  from  the  first  denounced  by 
the  people  of  the  colonies  as  being  unjust  and  tyrannical.  In  1761  the  question  of  these 
violated  statutes  was  taken  up  and  a  strenuous  effort  was  made  to  enforce  the  Importatioa 
Act.  The  colonial  courts  in  America  were  directed  to  issue  to  the  King's  officers  a  kind 
of  search-warrants  called  writs  of  assistance.  With  the.se  in  hand  it  was  possible  for  petty 
constables  to  enter  any  and  every  place,  searching  for  and  seizing  goods  which  were  suspected 
of  having  evaded  the  duty.  It  was  but  natural  that  this  proceeding  should  be  resisted. 
At  Salem  and  Boston  the  greatest  excitement  prevailed.  Tiie  question  of  resistance  was 
carried  to  the  courts,  and  James  Otis,  an  able  and  temperate  man,  pleaded  eloquently  for 
the  right  of  the  colonies,  denouncing  the  parliamentar)-  acts  as  contrary-  to  the  British  con- 
stitution. The  address  of  Otis  was  accepted  as  a  masterly  defence  of  the  people,  and  the 
event  produced  a  profound  feeling  throughout  the  colonies.  Already  there  began  to  be 
hints  of  resistance  by  force  of  arms. 

Two  years  after  these  events  the  English  ministers  again  took  up  the  question  of  en- 
forcing the  law  which  required  the  payment  of  duties  on  sugar,  molasses  and  mm.  The 
officers  of  the  admiralty  were  directed  to  seize  and  confiscate  all  vessels  engaged  in  the 
transportation  of  these  articles  except  under  certificate  that  the  duties  thereon  had  been 
paid.  While  this  act  was  pending  in  Parliament  and  before  a  knowledge  of  its  passage 
had  reached  Boston  a  great  town-meeting  was  held  in  that  cit\-.  The  orator  of  the  day  was 
the  patriot  Samuel  Adams.  He  produced  a  powerful  argument,  showing  conclusively  that 
under  the  British  constitution  taxation  and  representation  are  inseparable.  Meanwhile  ves- 
sels from  the  English  navy,  under  direction  of  the  admiralty,  were  sent  to  hover  around  the 
American  harbors  and  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  Importation  .\ct.  By  these  a  great  num- 
ber of  merchantmen  bearing  cargoes  of  sugar  and  spirits  were  seized,  in  so  much  that  the 
colonial  trade  with  the  West  Indies  was  almost  destroyed. 

These  events  occupied  public  attention  during  the  years  1763—64.  In  the  latter  year 
was  made  in  Parliament  the  first  formal  declaration  of  a  purpose  to  tax  the  colonies.  Sir 
George  Grenville  was  at  this  time  Prime  Minister  of  England.  By  his  influence  on  the 
loth  of  March,  1764,  a  resolution  was  adopted  in  the  House  of  Commons  declaring  that  it 
would  be  proper  to  charge  certain  stamp  duties  on  the  American  colonies.  It  was  an- 
nounced that  a  bill  embodying  this  principle  would  be  prepared  by  the  ministers  and 
brought  forward  at  the  next  session  of  Parliament. 

EXCITEMENT   PRODUCED  BY  THE  STAMP  ACT. 

The  news  of  this  measure  was  to  tlie  Americans  like  a  sjiark  in  a  magazine  of  com- 
bustibles. Universal  excitement  and  indignation  prevailed  throughout  the  colonics.  Politi- 
cal meetings  became  the  order  of  the  day.  Orators  were  in  great  demand.  The  newspapers 
teemed  with  arguments  against  the  proposed  enactment.  Resolutions  were  passed  in  opposi- 
tion at  almost  ever>'  town-meeting.  F'ormal  remonstrances  were  drawn  up  and  forwarded 
to  the  King  and  Parliament.  vSome  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  colonies  were  appointed  agents 
and  sent  to  Ivondon  in  the  hope  of  pre\eiiting  the  pa.ssage  of  such  a  law. 


458 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


The  reader  may  be  curious  to  know  by  what  argument  a  British  Commoner  of  1764 
would  defend  the  provisions  of  the  Stamp  Act.  It  was  thus  :  The  French  and  Indian 
war  had  just  been  concluded  with  a  treaty  of  peace.  Great  Britain  had  been  at  large  ex- 
pense and  had  incurred  heavy  debt.  The  war  had  been  fought  for  the  English  colonies  in 
America,  in  their  defence  against  the  French,  for  the  extension  of  their  territorial  domains 
beyond  the  mountains.  It  would  be  just  and  right  that  the  expense  of  the  war  should  be 
borne  by  the  colonies.  The  debt  incurred  might  be  properly  and  equitably  provided  for  by 
levying  stamp  duties  on  the  business  of  the  colonists. 

To  all  this  the  Americans  replied  that  England  ought  to  defend  her  colonies  for  the 
reason  that  they  were  hers  and  for  motives  of  humanit}-;  that  in  the  prosecution  of  the  late 
war  the  colonies  had  aided  Great  Britain  as  much  as  she  had  aided  them ;  that  the  American 
provincials  had  devoted  their  treasure  and  shed  their  blood  in  ihat  cause  which  was  to  secure 
the  supremacy  of  the  British  crown  in  the  vast  region  east  of  the  Mississippi;  that  the  re- 
cent cession  of  Canada  had  amplj-  compensated 
England  for  her  losses  in  the  war;  and  finally 
that  it  was  not  the  payment  of  money  which 
the  colonists  dreaded,  but  the  loss  of  their 
liberties.  It  was  a  principle  for  which  they 
contended  —  the  principle  of  representa- 
tion and  tax.  The  Americans  were  not  re- 
presented in  Parliament,  and  Parliament  there- 
fore should  not  tax  them  either  directly  or  in- 
directly. To  all  this  was  added  with  some 
acerbity  that  in  case  of  another  war  the 
Americans  would  fight  their  own  battle.  In 
the  light  of  the  retrospect  and  the  impartial 
judgment  of  history  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the 
American  argument  had  in  it  a  force,  a  cogency, 
an  element  of  truth  and  justice  for  which  we 
should  look  in  vain  in  the  reasonings  of  the 
British  ministr}-. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  contro^•ers^•  in  the 
British  Parliament,  the  cause  of  the  Ameri- 
cans was  defended  by  the  celebrated  William 
Pitt,  afterwards  Earl  of  Chatham.  But  with 
the  coming  of  1765  that  statesman  had  been  obliged  to  yield  his  place  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  with  that  event  the  Stamp  Act  was  passed.  In  the  Lower  House  the 
measure  was  adopted  by  a  majority-  of  five  to  one.  In  the  House  of  Lords  the  vote  was 
unanimous.  At  the  time  of  the  passage,  the  King  was  in  a  fit  of  insanity,  and  was  unable 
to  sign  the  bill.  On  the  2 2d  of  March  the  royal  assent  was  given  by  a  board  of  commis- 
sioners acting  in  the  King's  name.  "The  sun  of  American  liberty  has  set,"  wrote  Benjamin 
Franklin  to  a  friend  at  home.  "  Now  we  must  light  the  lamp  of  industry  and  economy." 
' '  Be  assured, ' '  said  the  friend  in  reply,  ' '  that  we  shall  light  torches  of  another  sort ."  * 
And  the  answer  reflected  the  sentiment  and  detennination  of  the  whole  countn-. 

The  leading  provisions  of  the  Stamp  Act  were  as  follows  :  Ever\'  note,  bond,  deed, 
mortgage,  lease,  license  and  legal  document  of  whatever  sort  required  in  the  colonies  should, 
after  the  ist  day  of  November,   1765,  be  executed  on  paper  bearing  an  English  stamp. 


BENJ.    FRANKUN. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


459 


This  stamped  paper  was  to  be  furnished  b>'  the  British  government,  and  for  each  sheet  the 
colonists  were  required  to  pay  a  sum  varying,  according  to  the  nature  of  tlic  document  to 
be  written  or  printed  thereon,  from  three-pence  to  six  pounds  sterling.  Ever\-  colonial 
pamphlet,  almanac  and  newspaper  was  required  to  be  printed  on  the  stamped  paper,  the 
value  of  the  stamps  in  this  case  ranging  from  a  half-penny  to  four-pence  ;  ever)-  advertise- 
ment was  taxed  two  shillings.  No  contract  was  to  be  of  any  binding  force  unless  written 
on  paper  bearing  the  royal  stamp. 

THE  TORCH  OF  REBELLION   LIGHTED. 

It  was  not  likely  that  an  act  such  as  this  would  be  received  in  other  than  a  wrathful 
spirit  by  the  already  goaded  American  colonists.  The  news  of  the  passage  of  the  act  swept 
over  the  country-  like  a  thunder-cloud.  The  weaker  of  the  people  gave  way  to  grief  ;  but 
the  stronger,  the  more  courageous, 
were  indignant,  angrj-,  defiant. 
Crowds  of  excited  men  surged  into 


the  towns  and  there  were  some  acts 
of  violence.  In  Philadelphia  and 
Boston  the  bells  rung  a  funeral  peal 
and  the  people  called  it  the  death- 
knell  of  liberty.  At  New  York 
there  was  a  procession  ;  a  copy  of 
the  Stamp  Act  was  carried  through 
the  streets  with  a  death's-head  nailed 
to  it  and  a  placard  bearing  this  in- 
scription— "The  folly  of  England 
and  the  ruin  of  America." 

The  orators  added  fuel  to  the 
flame.  In  the  Virginia  House  of 
Burgesses  there  was  a  memorable 
scene.  Patrick  Henp*-,  the  youngest 
member  of  the  House,  an  un- 
educated mountaineer  from  Louisa 
county,  waited  for  some'  older 
delegate  to  lead  the  Burgesses  in 
opposition  to  Parliament.  But  the 
older  members  were  of  that  con- 
ser\-ative  folk  with  whom  ease  and 
estates  and  possessions  have  tri- 
umphed over  the  hazards  of  freedom  and  aggression, 
went  home. 

Offended  at  this  lukewannness,  Henr>-  in  his  passionate  way  snatched  a  blank  leaf  out 
of  an  old  law-book  and  hastily  drew  up  a  series  of  fier\'  resolutions  declaring  that  the 
Virginians  were  Englishmen  with  English  rights  ;  that  the  people  of  Great  Britain  had  the 
exclusive  privilege  of  voting  their  own  taxes  and  so  had  the  Americans  ;  that  the  colonists 
were  not  bound  to  yield  obedience  to  any  law  imposing  taxation  on  them  ;  and  that  who- 
ever said  the  contrary  was  an  enemy  to  the  country.  The  resolutions  were  at  once  laid 
before  the  House. 

It  was  the  signal  for  excitement  and  tumult.     A  violent  debate  ensued,  in  which  the 


PROCESSION  IN"    NKW  YORK    IN    OPPOSITION    TO  THE  STAMP   ACT. 


Some    of  these  hesitated  ;  others 


460 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


patriots  had  the  best  of  the  argument.  It  was  a  moment  of  intense  interest.  The  legisla- 
tive assembly  of  the  oldest  and  most  populous  of  all  the  colonies  was  about  to  act.  Two 
future  Presidents  of  the  United  States  were  in  the  audience  ;  Washington  occupied  his  seat 
as  a  delegate  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  fresh  from  college,  stood  just  outside  the  railing.  The 
eloquent  and  audacious  Henry  bore  down  all  opposition.      "  Tarquin  and  Csesar  had  each 

iifl  ''lil|ir'"'TT''l  liis  Brutus, "  said  the  in- 
dignant orator;  "Charles 
I.  had  his  Cromwell,  and 
George  III."  — 
' '  Treason  ! ' '  shouted 
the  Speaker.  ' '  Trea- 
son, treason  ! ' '  cried  the 
terrified  loyalists, 
springing  to  their  feet. 
—"And  George  III. 
may  profit  by  their  ex- 
ample, "  continued 
Henry  ;  and  then  added 
as  he  took  his  seat,  "If 
that  be  treason,  make 
the  most  of  it  !"  The 
resolutions  were  put  to 
the  House  and  adopted  ; 
but  the  majorities  on 
some  of  the  votes  were 
small,  and  the  next  day  when  Henr>'  was  absent  the  most 
violent  paragraph  was  reconsidered  and  expunged  ;  some 
of  the  members  were  greatly  frightened  at  their  own 
audacit}-.  But  the  resolutions  in  their  entire  form  had  gone  before  the  country  as  the  ex- 
pression of  the  oldest  American  commonwealth  and  the  effect  on  the  other  colonies  was  as 
the  shock  of  a  batten-. 

ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  CONGRESS. 
Other  Assemblies  proceeded  in  a  similar  strain.  Resolutions  like  those  of  the  Virginia 
House  were  adopted  in  New  York  and  Massachusetts — in  the  Assembly  of  the  latter  State 
before  the  action  of  Virginia  was  known.  At  Boston  James  Otis  proposed  the  holding  of 
an  American  Congress.  His  plan  was  to  the  effect  that  each  colony,  without  leave  of  the 
King,  should  appoint  delegates  to  meet  in  the  following  autumn  and  discuss  the  affairs  of 
the  nation.  The  proposition  was  received  with  much  favor.  Nine  of  the  colonies  appointed 
delegates  and  on  the  7th  of  October,  1765,  the  First  Colonial  Congress  assembled  at  New 
York. 

Twenty-eight  representatives  were  present  at  the  session  of  this  memorable  body. 
Timothy  Ruggles,  of  Massachusetts,  was  chosen  president.  After  much  discussion  a  Decla- 
ration of  Rights  was  adopted  setting  forth  in  moderate  but  unmistakable  terms  that  the 
American  colonists,  as  Englishmen,  could  not  and  would  not  consent  to  be  taxed  save  by 
their  own  representatives.  Memorials  were  also  prepared  and  addressed  to  the  two  Houses 
of  Parliament.  A  manly  petition  declaring  loyalty  and  praying  for  a  just  and  humane 
policy  toward  his  American  siibjects  was  drawn  up  and  directed  to  the  King. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  4r,l 

The  Stamp  Act  was  to  have  .a^one  into  effect  on  the  ist  of  November.  The  British 
goveniment  went  straight  ahead  with  the  preHminaries  fully  expecting  the  American  colo- 
nies to  accept  the  measure.  Duriug  the  summer  great  quantities  of  the  stamped  paper  were 
prepared  and  sent  to  America.  Everywliere  it  was  rejected  or  destroyed.  The  ist  of 
November  instead  of  marking  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of  British  revenue  in  the  colonies 
was  observed  as  a  day  of  mourning.  At  first  legal  business  was  suspended.  The  court 
houses  and  other  public  offices  were  shut  up.  Not  even  a  marriage  license  could  be  legally 
issued  and  the  affianced  of  the  young  men  and  women  put  off  the  consummation  of  their 
unions. 

By  and  by,  however,  the  offices  began  to  be  opened  and  business  was  resumed,  but  it 
was  not  transacted  with  stamped  paper.  The  antagonism  against  the  act  had  now  pene- 
trated to  the  secret  depths  of  society.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  patriotic  order  known  as 
the  Sons  of  Liberty  was  organized  under  an  oath  of  secrecy  and  with  the  one  profound  pur- 
pose of  resisting  the  arbitrary  acts  and  t\Tanny  of  the  British  ministry.  The  patriot  mer- 
chants at  New  York,  Boston  and  Philadelphia  took  up  the  cause  and  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment to  purchase  no  more  goods  of  Great  Britain  until  the  Stamp  Act  should  be  repealed. 

Meanwhile  the  ministr\-  had  to  meet  the  rising  tide  of  an  indignant  opposition  in  Eng- 
land as  well  as  America.  It  was  found  that  the  American  colonists  were  not  without  their 
friends.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  British  statesmen  espoused  their  cause.  In  the  House 
of  Commons  William  Pitt  planted  himself  squarely  in  the  pathway  of  the  government.  On 
one  occasion  he  delivered  a  powerful  address  on  the  relations  of  the  mother  country  to  the 
colonies.  "You  have,"  said  he,  "  no  right  to  tax  America.  I  rejoice  that  America  has 
resisted!"  The  opposition  prevailed  and  on  the  i8th  of  March,  1766,  the  Stamp  Act  was 
formally  repealed.  At  the  same  time,  however,  and  as  a  sort  of  salve  to  the  Parliamentary 
honor  it  was  declared  by  resolution  that  Parliament  had  the  right  "to  bind  the  colonies  in 

all  cases  whatsoever." 

IMPOSITION  OF  OTHER  OPPRESSIVE  DUTIES. 

Great  was  the  joy  in  both  England  and  America  when  the  news  of  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act  was  borne  abroad.  The  reversal  in  British  policy  was  so  complete  as  to  effect  a 
change  in  the  ministry-.  Earl  Grenville  was  obliged  to  retire  from  the  place  of  Prime  Minis- 
ter and  the  leadership  of  the  cabinet  was  given  to  William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham.  That 
statesman,  however,  was  already  fallen  into  the  decrepitude  which  preceded  his  death.  In 
the  veiA'  crisis  of  affairs  he  was  confined  by  sickness  to  his  countr>'  home.  In  accordance 
with  usage  Charles  Townshend,  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  acted  in  the  place  of  the  Prime 
Minister,  and  while  holding  that  position  for  a  brief  period  brought  forward  with .  strange 
fatuity  a  new  scheme  for  taxing  America.  On  the  29th  of  June,  1767,  a  system  of  American 
customs-duties  was  devised  and  an  act  passed  imposing  an  import  tariff  on  all  the  glass, 
paper,  painters'  colors  and  tea  which  should  thereafter  be  shipped  to  .Vmerican  harbors. 

With  the  passage  of  this  act  the  slumbering  resentment  of  the  colonists  burst  out  anew. 
A  second  agreement  was  made  b\-  the  American  merchants  not  to  pnrcha.sc  British  goods 
until  the  objectionable  acts  should  be  repealed.  The  colonial  newspapers  were  filled  with 
denunciations  of  Parliament.  The  question  was  again  taken  up  by  the  patriots  in  the  vari- 
ous lej^islatnres.  Early  in  1768  the  A».  embly  of  Ma.ssachusetts  prepared  a  circular  and  sent 
it  abroad  calling  jipon  the  other  colonies  for  assistance  in  the  effort  to  obtain  redress  of 
grievances.  This  paper  had  the  effect  of  enraging  the  British  ministers  and  they  required 
the  Assembly  to  rescind  their  action  and  to  express  regret  for  that  "rash  and  hasty 
pnxi  ceding." 


462  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  merchantmen  trading  with  the  colonies  caught  their  spirit.  In  many  instances 
they  chose  to  violate  the  customs  act  and  dutiable  goods  were  thus  brought  in  free.  In  June 
of  1768  a  sloop  charged  with  evading  the  payment  of  duty  was  seized  by  the  custom  house 
ofl&cers  at  Boston.  This  done,  a  tumult  broke  out  The  people  became  insurgent,  attacked 
the  houses  of  the  officers  and  obliged  the  occupants  to  save  themselves  by  flight  to  Castle 
William,  on  an  island  in  the  harbor.  Affairs  soon  came  to  so  high  a  pass  as  to  betoken 
revolution.  General  Gage,  commandant  of  a  regiment  of  British  regulars  at  Halifax,  was 
accordingly  ordered  to  repair  to  Boston  and  overawe  the  insurgents.  He  arrived  at  that 
city  on  the  ist  of  October  bringing  with  him  seven  hundred  soldiers.  With  these  he 
marched  into  the  capital  of  Massachusetts  after  the  manner  of  a  conqueror. 

The  excitement  in  Parliament  rose  to  an  equal  height.  In  February  of  1769  that 
body  passed  an  act  declaring  the  people  of  Massachusetts  to  be  rebels  and  directing  the 
governor  to  arrest  such  as  might  be  deemed  guilty  and  send  them  to  Etiglajtd  for  trial! 
This  act  was  fuel  to  the  flame.  The  General  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  met  the  outrage 
with  defiant  resolutions.  Similar  measures  were  taken  by  the  Assemblies  in  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina.  In  the  latter  State  there  was  a  popular  insurrection,  but  Governor  Tryon 
succeeded  in  suppressing  it.  The  insurgents  being  outlawed  escaped  across  the  mountains 
to  become  the  founders  of  Tennessee. 

THE  BOSTON  MASSACRE. 

Already  in  the  principal  American  cities  the  peace  was  broken  between  the  British 
soldiery  and  the  people.  The  former  constituted  a  kind  of  garrisons,  with  no  respect  indeed 
to  a  foreign  foe,  but  having  the  manifest  purpose  of  suppressing  the  inhabitants  among 
whom  they  were  quartered.  In  1770  the  British  soldiers  in  New  York  cut  down  a  liberty- 
pole  which  had  been  erected  in  the  Park.  Hereupon  a  conflict  ensued  in  which  the  people 
were  victorious.  In  Boston  a  more  serious  difficulty  occurred.  In  that  cit>',  on  the  5th  of 
March,  a  crowd  of  people,  rough  but  patriotic,  surrounded  Captain  Preston's  company 
of  the  city  guard,  addressed  them  with  epithets,  hooted  at  them  and  dared  them  to  fire. 
At  length  the  soldiers  becoming  angry  took  the  challenge,  discharged  a  volley  and  killed 
three  of  the  citizens,  wounding  several  others.  This  riot  of  blood  aud  lawlessness  became 
known  as  the  Boston  massacre.  The  event  created  a  profound  sensation.  Captain  Preston 
and  his  company  were  arrested  and  tried  for  murder,  and  two  of  the  oflenders  were  con- 
victed of  manslaughter. 

By  this  time  it  had  become  apparent  even  in  England  that  a  different  policy  must  be 
adopted  with  the  American  colonies.  The  method  of  conciliation  was  now  attempted,  and 
Parliament  passed  an  act  repealing  all  duties  on  American  imports  except  that  on  tea.  The 
people  in  answer  pledged  themselves  to  use  no  more  tea  until  the  duty  should  be  uncon- 
ditionally repealed.  In  1772  an  act  was  passed  making  the  salaries  of  the  King's  officers 
in  Massachusetts  payable  out  of  the  treasury  without  consent  of  the  Assembly.  This 
measure  was  resisted  as  the  others  before  it  had  been.  About  the  same  time  the  Gaspee,  a 
royal  schooner  anchored  at  Providence,  was  boarded  by  the  patriots  of  that  city  and  burned. 

A  VIOLENT  RESENTMENT  OF  THE  TAX  ON  TEA. 

In  the  following  year  Parliament,  acting  after  the  manner  of  a  petulant  boy  leaving 
the  wrong  side  of  a  quarrel,  and  abandoning  his  former  untenable  position  as  if  by  stages 
of  apology  and  reparation,  passed  an  act  removing  the  export  duty  which  had  hitherto 
been  charged  on  tea  shipped yJ'ow  England.  The  price  was  by  so  much  lowered,  and  the 
ministers  flattered  themselves  with  the  belief  that  when  the  cheaper  tea  was  oflered  in  the 
American  market  the  colonists  would  pay  the  import  duty  without  suspicion.     Ships  were 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


403 


accordingly  loaded  with  tea  for  America.  Some  of  the  vessels  reached  Charlestown ;  but  tlie 
tea  chests  being  refused  by  the  merchants  were  stored  in  cellars  and  the  contents  mined. 
At  New  York  and  Philadelphia  the  ships  were  forbidden  to  enter  the  docks.  At  Boston 
the  authorities  would  not  permit  the  tea  to  be  landed. 

Now  it  was  that  one  of  the  striking  incidents  precursive  of  the  coming  war  occurred 
at  the  capital  of  Massachusetts.  On  the  i6th  of  December,  1773,  there  was  a  great  town- 
meeting,  at  which  about  seven  thousand  people  were  present.  Samuel  Adams  and  Josiah 
Quincy  spoke  to  the  multitude.  Evening 
came  on,  and  the  meeting  was  about  to 
adjourn  when  a  war  w-lioop  was  heard,  and 
fifty  men  disguised  as  Indians  marched  to 
the  wharf  where  the  tea-chests  ships  were  at 
anchor.  The  masqueraded  men  quickly 
boarded  the  vessels  and  emptied  three  hundred 
and  fort}'  chests  of  tea  into  the  baj-.  Such 
was  the  Boston  Tea  Party!  In  the  language 
of  Carlyle,  "Boston  harbor  was  black  with 
unexpected  tea  !' ' 

Great  was  the  wrath  produced  by  the 
intelligence  of  this  event  in  Great  Britain. 
Parliament  made  haste  to  find  re\-enge.  On 
the  31st  of  March,  1774,  the  Boston  Port  Bill 
was  passed,  by  which  it  was  enacted  that  no 
kind  of  merchandise  should  any  longer  be 
landed  or  shipped  at  the  wharves  of  Boston. 
The  custom-house  was  removed  to  Salem  ; 
but  the  people  of  that  town  refused  to  accept 
it  !  What  must  have  been  the  temper  and 
sentiment  of  a  town  which  refused  to  accept 
a  custom-house  as  a  free  gift  from  the  mother  countr>-  ?  The  inhabitants  of  Marblehead 
gave  the  free  use  of  their  warehouses  to  the  merchants  of  Boston. 

When  the  news  of  the  passage  of  the  Port  Bill  reached  Virginia  the  burgesses 
promptly  entered  a  protest  on  their  journal.  Hereupon  Governor  Dunmore  ordered  the 
members  to  their  homes  ;  but  they  adjourned  only  to  meet  in  another  place  and  continue 
their  work.  On  the  20th  of  May  a  climax  was  reached  in  Parliament  by  the  passage  of 
an  act  revoking  and  annulling  the  charter  of  Massachusetts.  Tlie  people  of  that  province 
■were  declared  rebels,  and  the  governor  was  ordered  to  send  abroad  for  trial  all  persons  who 
should  resist  the  roj'al  officers. 

Now  it  was,  namely,  in  September  of  1774,  that  the  Second  Colonial  Congress  assem- 
bled at  Philadelphia.  Eleven  colonies  were  represented.  One  address  was  prepared  and 
sent  to  the  King,  a  second  to  the  English  nation  and  a  third  to  the  people  of  Canada.  A 
resolution  was  adopted  to  suspend  all  commercial  intercourse  with  Great  Britain  !  When 
information  of  this  daring  measure  reached  England  Parliament  retaliated  by  ordering 
General  Gage  to  reduce  the  colonists  by  force.  A  fleet  and  ten  thousand  .soldiers  were  .sent 
to  aid  him  in  the  work  of  subjugation.  Boston  Neck  was  seized  and  fortified  by  the  Britisli. 
The  militar)' stores  at  Cambridge  and  Charlestown  were  conveyed  to  Boston  and  the  General 
Assembly  was  ordered  to  disband.  Tiie  members,  however,  instead  of  dispersing,  voted  to 
raise  and  equip  an  army  of  twelve  thousand  men  for  defence. 


■^"'y^.'.c 


SAMIEI.   AD.\MS. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
FROM  CONCORD  TO  QUEBEC. 


^^- 

^i^^ 

•  iw 

7^.-'^%.     "■•""* 

ROM  the  first  the  people  of  Boston  were  on  one  side  and 
General  Gage  and  his  anny  on  the  other.  There  was 
hardly  a  middle  ground  of  conser\'atisni  between  them. 
As  soon  as  the  British  occupancy  was  effected,  the  Bos- 
tonians,  concealing  their  ammunition  in  carts,  conveyed 
it  out  of  the  city  to  the  village  of  Concord,  about  sixteen 
miles  away.  The  possession  of  these  military-  stores  was 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  colony,  and  their  recap- 
ture of  like  importance  to  the  British  commander.  On 
the  night  on  the  i8th  of  April  he  accordingly  despatched 
a  regiment  of  eight  hundred  men  to  recapture  or  destroy 
the  stores  which  the  patriots  had  collected  at  Concord. 
The  plan  of  the  British  was  made  with  great  secrecy,  but 
the  provincials  discovered  the  movement,  and  when  the 
regiment,  under  command  of  Colonel  Smith  and  Major 
Pitcairn,  set  out  for  Concord,  the  people  of  Boston  were  roused  by  the  ringing  of  bells  and 
the  firing  of  cannon. '  Two  messengers,  William  Dawes  and  Paul  Revere,  rode  with  all 
speed  to  Lexington  and  spread  the  alarm  through  the  country. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  19th  of  April  a  company  of  a  hundred  and 
thirt\'  minute-men  gathered  on  the  common  at  Lexington.  They  came  with  arms  to  resist 
the  approaching  enemy.  But  no  enemy  appeared  until  about  five  o'clock,  when  the  British 
advance  under  Pitcairn,  came  into  sight.  The  pro\'incials  were  led  by  Captain  Parker. 
Pitcairn  rode  up  and  exclaimed  :  "  Disperse,  ye  villains!  Throw  down  your  arms!"'  The 
minute-men  stood  still,  and  Pitcairn  cried  "Fire!"  The  first  volley  of  the  Revolution 
whistled    through  the  air  and  sixteen  of  the  patriots  fell  dead  or  wounded.      The  rest  fired 

a  few  random  shots  and  dispersed. 

BATTLE  OF  CONCORD. 

After  this  passage  at  anns  the  British  passed  on  without  further  molestation  to  Concord. 
But  the  inhabitants  had  removed  the  stores  to  a  place  of  safety  and  there  was  but  little  left 
for  destruction.  While  the  British  were  ransacking  the  town  the  minute-men  gathered  and 
confronted  a  company  of  soldiers  who  were  guarding  the  North  Bridge.  Here  the  Ameri- 
cans first  fired  under  orders  of  their  officers  and  two  British  soldiers  were  killed.  The 
volley  was  hotter  than  the  enemy  had  expected,  and  the  company,  abandoning  the  bridge, 
began  a  retreat  through  the  town  and  thence  in  the  direction  of  Lexington. 

This  movement  was  the  signal  for  the  patriots  to  rally.  They  came  flocking  from  all 
directions.  They  rose  on  ever}-  side  as  if  from  the  earth.  For  six  miles  they  kept  up  the 
battle  along  the  road.  They  hid  behind  trees,  fences  and  barns  and  poured  a  constant  fire 
upon  the  retreating  British.  At  one  time  it  seemed  that  the  whole  regiment  would  be 
obliged  to  surrender.  As  it  was,  the  enemy  lost  two  hundred  and  sevent>-three  men, 
while  the  American  loss  was  forty-nine  killed,  thirty-four  wounded  and  fi->'e  missing. 

(464) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


■Hid 


Great  was  the  fame  of  the  battle, 
and  sped  away  through  all  the  colonies. 


P.i.L"L  REVERE  SPREADING  THE  ALARM. 


Rumor  took  the  news  thereof  upon  her  wings 
Not  even  the  Allcf^fhanies  stiyed  the  intelligence 

until  it  had  reached  the 
remotest  English  cabins 
:i  the  Ohio  Valley, 
Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see. The  country  was 
fired  with  the  passion 
of  war.  Men  anned 
themselves  of  their  own 
accord  and  within  a 
few  days  an  army  of 
twenty  thousand  patriot 
ildiers  gathered  about 
Moston.  A  line  of  en- 
trenchments was  drawn 
around     the    city    from 

Roxbur>-  to   Chelsea.       It  was    the    common    talk  of    the    tumultuous  host    that    they 

would  soon  drive  Gage  and  his  red-coats  into  the  sea.     Captain  John  Stark  came  down 

with  the  militia  of  New  Hampshire.     Old  Israel  Putnam,  with  his  leather  waistcoat  on, 

hurried   to  the  nearest  town,  mounted    a  horse  and  rode  to  Cambridge,    a  distance  of  a 

hundred    miles  in    eighteen    hours!     Rhode 

Island  sent  her  men  under  Colonel  Nathaniel 

Greene,  and  Benedict  Arnold  came  with  the 

provincials  of  New  Haven. 

CAF^URE  OF  TICONDEROGA. 
Ethan   Allen,  of  Vennont,   made  war  in 

the    other   direction.       With    a    company  of 

two  hundred  and  seventy  patriots   from    the 

Green  Mountains  he  advanced  against  Ticon- 

deroga.     Arnold  joined  the    expedition  as  a 

private.     On  the  evening  of  the  9th  of  May, 

the  force  reached  the  shore  of  Lake  George 

opposite    the  fort.       On  the  following  morn- 
ing eighty-three  men  succeeded   in  crossing. 

With  this  mere    handful  Allen  made  a  dash 

and  gained   the   gateway    of  the   fort.     The 

sentinel  was  driven  in  closely  followed  by  the 

patriot  mountaineers.     The  audacious  captain 

mshed  to  the  quarters  of  the  commandant  and 

cried   out,    "Surrender  this    fort    instantly!" 

"  By  what  authorit>' ?  "   inquired  the   officer. 

"  In  the  name  of  the  great  Jehovah  and  the 

Continental    Congress,"  said    Allen,   flourishing   his  sword.* 


GEN.    NATHANIEL  CREKNK. 


There  was  no  alternative. 


•  The  bravado  of  Ethan  .Mien  and  his  answer  have  ever  U-en  precious  morsels  in  Revohitionar>-  tradition. 
His  conduct  and  words  were  as  humorous  as  they  were  emphatic.  His  citation  of  authority  was  a  luilicrous 
anachronism,  for  the  capture  of  the  fort  was  made  about  five  hours  before  the  Continental  Congress  convened. 

30 


466 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


ETHAN    AIXEN   DEMANDING   THE  SURRENDER    OF  TICONDEROGA. 


So  thought  the  officer,  and  he  surrendered  at  discretion.  The  garrison  were  made  prisoners 
and  sent  to  Conuecticut.  By  this  daring  exploit  vast  quantities  of  military  stores  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Americans. f  Two  da>s  afterward  Crown  Point  was  taken  and  the 
British   authority   ended   on   the  shores  of   L,ake  George. 

Great  Britain  after  her  manner  rose  to  the  emergency.  She  had  now  made  the 
issue  and  must  meet  it.  An  ami)-  of  reinforcements  under  Generals  Howe,  Clinton  and 
Burgoyne  reached  Bos- 
ton on  the  25th  of 
May.  The  British 
forces  were  thus  aug- 
mented to  more  than 
ten  thousand  men. 
Rumors  now  flew 
abroad  that  General 
Gage  was  about  to 
begin  a  campaign  from 
Boston  into  the  countr\- 
for  the  purpose  of 
burning  the  neighbor- 
ing towns  and  laying 
waste  the  region  round 
about.  Belief  in  the 
truth  of  this  rumor 
produced  great  activity 
among  the  Americans,  and  they  determined  to  anticipate  the  movement  of  the  enemy  by 
seizing  and  fortifying  Bunker  Hill  which  commanded  the  Peninsula  of  Charlestown. 

It  was  now  midsummer  of  1775.  On  the  night  of  the  i6th  of  June  Colonel  William 
Prescott  was  sent  forward  from  Cambridge  with  about  twelve  hundred 
men  to  occupy  and  entrench  the  hill.  The  provincials  passed  over  the 
Neck  in  safety  and  reached  the  eminence  known  as  Bunker  Hill;  but 
Prescott  and  his  engineer,  Gridley,  not  liking  the  position,  proceeded  down 
the  peninsula  to  the  place  called  Breed's  Pasture,  afterwards  named 
Breed's  Hill,  within  cannon  range  of  Boston.  On  this  height  a  redoubt 
was  thrown  up  during  the  night.  The  British  ships  in  the  harbor  were 
so  near  at  hand  that  the  American  pickets  along  the  shore  could  hear 
the  sentinels  of  the  enemy  repeating  the  night  call,    "  All  is  well!  " 

With  the  coming  of  morning  General  Gage,  perceiving  the 
extraordinary  thing  which  patriotism  had  accomplished  during  the 
night,  ordered  the  ships  in  the  harbor  to  begin  the  cannonade  of  the 
American  position.  The  British  batteries  on  Copp's  Hill,  which  is  the 
eminence  in  Boston  over  against  Breed's  Hill  also  opened  fire.  Just  aftei 
noon  three  thousand  British  veterans  comuiauded  by  Generals  Howe  and  Pigot  landed  al 
Morton's  point  on  Charlestown  peninsula  and  prepared  to  can-\'  the  American  redoubt. 

T  One  of  the  marvellous  things  in  Bancroft  is  the  following  :  "  Thus  Ticonderoga,  which  had  cost  the  British 
nation  eight  millions  sterling,  a  succession  of  campaigns  and  many  lives,  was  won  in  ten  minutes  by  a  few  undis- 
ciplined volunteers  without  the  loss  of  life  or  limb." — Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  vii.,  p.  340. 
The  historian  here  gives  as  the  cost  of  Ticonderoga  a  sum  more  than  ten  times  greater  than  it  would  require  tf 
rebuild  Fortress  Monroe  ! 


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COLUMBUS   A\D   COUUMRIA. 


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The  entire  force  of  the  provincials  now  ready  for  action  was  fewer  llian  fifteen  hun- 
dred men.  Generals  Pntnam  and  Warren  had  both  arrived  at  the  redonbt,  bnt  each 
refused  to  take  the  command  from  Colonel  Prescott  and  both  served  as  privates  in  the 
trenches.  During  the  British  advance  Charlestown  was  set  on  fire  and  soon  reduced 
to  ashes.  Thousands  of  spectators  climbed  to  the  housetops  in  Boston  to  watch  the  battle. 
On  came  the  British  in  a  stately  and  inii)osin<T  column. 

BATTLE  OF  BUNKER  HILL. 

The  Americans,  as  directed  by  their  officers,  reserved  their  fire  until  tlie  advancing  line 
of  the  enemy  was  within  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Then  from  the  breastworks  suddenly 
there  burst  a  sheet  of  flame,  and  the  front  ranks  of  the  British  withered  in  the  blast.  Aftei 
a  few  volleys  of  this  deadly  fire  the  rest  of  the  enemy  fell  into  retreat.  Once  out  of  range 
of  the  patriot  muskets,  Howe  rallied  his  men  and  led  them  to  the  second  charge.  Again 
the  Americans  withheld  their  fire  until  the  enemy  was  but  a  few  rods  from  the  works,  and 
then  with   steady  aim  the  deadly  work  of  the  first  charge  was  repeated.     The  provincials 

took  steady  aim  and  \'olley  after  volley  was  poured  upon 
the  British  column  until  it  was  broken  and  driven  into 
flight. 

Before  the  second  repulse  the  ships  of  the  enemy's  fleet 
changed  position  so  as  to  get  the  range  of  the  American 
redoubt  and  that  position  became  almost  untenable.  For 
the  third  time  the  British  soldiers  were  refonned  and  sent 
forward  up  the  hillside  with  fi.ved  bayonets.  Unfortunately 
for  the  patriots  they  had  been  but  poorly  supplied  with 
ammunition.  They  were  also  exhausted  with  the  battle, 
and  with  the  indiscretion  of  raw  troops,  had  eaten  up  their 
rations  earl\-  in  the  day.  The  provincials  had  but  three  or 
four  rounds  of  powder  and  balls  remaining.  These  they 
expended  on  the  advancing  enemy  and  then  there  was  a  lull.  The  British  reached  the 
ramparts  and  clambered  over.  The  Americans,  now  out  of  ammunition,  clubbed  their 
guns  and  hurled  stones  at  the  assailants.  There  was  a  brief  hand-to-hand  conflict  But 
the  courage  of  the  defenders  was  in  vain  and  they  were  driven  out  of  the  works  at  the 
point  of  the  ba\onet. 

One  of  the  last  to  leave  the  trenches  was  the  heroic  Warren,  who  was  struck  with  a 
British  ball,  and  gave  his  life  for  freedom.  The  losses  on  both  sides  had  been  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  numbers  engaged.  That  of  the  British  was  a  thousand  and  fifty-four  in 
killed  and  wounded,  while  the  Americans  lost  a  hundred  and  fifteen  killed,  three  hundred 
and  five  wounded  and  thirty-two  prisoners.  More  than  a  third  on  each  side  had  been  put 
/tors  du  combat  in  the  struggle  on  the  sunnnit  of  Breed's  Hill.  The  Americans  fell  back 
over  Bunker  Hill,  and  were  led  in  retreat  by  Prescott  and  Putnam,  first  to  Prospect  Hill 
and  then  across  Charlestown  Neck  to  Cambridge. 

Thus  was  the  war  of  the  Revolution  precipitated  by  a  bloody  battle.  To  the  patriots 
the  conflict  on  Bunker  Hill  was  a  circumstance  of  inspiration  rather  than  discouragement. 
There  was  no  longer  any  doubt  that  provincial  militiamen,  ununifonned  and  undisciplined, 
each  with  his  own  hunting-shirt  and  powder-horn  and  rifle,  would  stand  against  the  veteran 
columns  of  Great  Britain.  This  was  much.  The  news  of  the  battle  was  borne  swiftly 
through  the  colonies  as  far  as  Georgia  and  the  spirit  of  determined  opposition  was  every- 


PLAN    OF  THE    HATTLF.  OF  BCTNKER 
HILL. 


468 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


where  aroused.  The  people  began  to  speak  of  the  United  Colonies  of  America.  They 
talked  openly  of  independence  as  a  possible  consequence  of  the  war.  At  Charlotte,  in 
the  Mecklenburg  district  of  North  Carolina,  the  citizens  ran  together  in  a  convention  and 
actually  passed  a  resolution  and  preamble  declaring  Independence. 

WASHINGTON  APPOINTED  TO  COMMAND  THE  AMERICAN  ARMY. 
Meanwhile,  on  the  same  day  as  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga,  the  Colonial  Congress  con- 
vened at  Philadelphia.     It  was  a  noted  assembh".     Washington  was  there  and  John  Adams 
and  Samuel  Adams,  Franklin  and  Patrick  Henry  ;  Jefferson  came  soon  afterwards.      It  was 
a  meeting  of  heroes  and  patriots.      A    last   appeal    was  drawn    up  and  sent  to  the  King, 

telling  that  monarch  that 
the  American  colonists, 
driven  by  exaction  and 
injustice,  had  chosen  war 
in  preference  to  slavery. 

Early    in    the   session 
John  Adams    made    an 
address    in  the    course  of 
which    he  referred    to  the 
necessity  of  appointing    a 
commander-in-chief  for  the 
American  army,  and  noted 
the   qualities    requisite    in 
that     high     officer.       The 
speaker  concluded  by  put- 
ting in  nomination  George 
Washington,    of   Virginia. 
On    the     mention    of    his 
name    Washington     arose 
and  withdrew  from  the  hall,  saying  to  a  friend  outside, 
"I  fear   that  this  day  will   mark   the  beginning  of  the 
downfall   of  my  military  reputation."     On  the    15th  of 
June,   two  days  before  the    battle    of   Bunker    Hill,   the 
nomination    was    confirmed   by  Congress,    and   the   man 
who    had    saved    the    wreck    of    Braddock's   army    was 
called  upon  to  stand  between   the  colonies  as  a  whole 
and  the  wrath  of  the  mother  countn-,  and  to  save,  possibly  to  build,  a  nation. 

Washington  was  at  the  time  of  his  election  as  commander-in-chief  a  little  more  than 
forty-three  years  of  age.  His  reputation  was  already  that  of  a  hero,  patriot  and  statesman. 
He  was  out  of  Virginia — born  in  Westmoreland  county,  on  the  nth  of  Februarv-  (old  style), 
1732.  At  the  age  of  eleven  he  had  been  left  to  the  sole  care  of  his  mother.  His  education 
was  limited  to  the  common  branches  of  learning  ;  he  was  not  a  collegian.  Surveying  was 
his  favorite  study.  At  the  early  age  of  sixteen  he  had  been  sent  by  his  uncle  to  survey  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  valley  of  the  South  Potomac.  His  first  public  duties  performed  in 
the  service  of  the  Ohio  Company,  under  direction  of  Governor  Dinwiddle,  and  in  the  disas- 
trous campaign  of  Braddock,  have  already  been  narrated.  With  great  dignity  and  difii- 
dence.he  accepted  the  appointment  of  commander-in-chief,  and  set  out  to  join  the  army  at 
Cambridge.  Henceforth  to  the  end  of  the  war  the  destinies  of  the  American  cause  were  in 
the  largest  measure  entrusted  to  his  keeping. 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


ACO 


At  the  ven'  beginninof  of  the  session  Concrress  voted  to  equip  an  anny  of  twenty  thou- 
sand men,  but  the  means  of  doin<j  so  wore  not  furnislied.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  we  note 
the  essential  vice  of  that  confederative  plan  of  government  with  which  the  history'  of  the 
American  people  as  a  nation  begins.  Tlie  raising  of  revenue,  the  furnishing  of  supplies, 
the  payment  of  levies,  and  all  things  included  in  this  important  branch  of  administration, 
were  left  to  the  individual  States.  Congress,  under  the  existing  compact,  had  no  right  to 
collect  revenues  or  gather  the  supplies  requisite  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  Through- 
out the  revolutionary  struggle  both  Congress  and  the  general  of  the  annies  were  constantly 
hampered  and  impeded  by  this  fatal  defect  in  that  system  of  administration  which  went  by 
the  name  of  government,  but  was  in  reality  no  govennnent  at  all. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ARMY. 
On  taking  command  of  the  army  at  Cambridge  Washington  found  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  force  of  fourteen  thousand  five  hundred  volunteers  ;  but  they  were  undisciplined  and 

insubordinate.  Worse  than  this,  they  did 
not  for  the  most  part  desire  to  be  disciplined 
or  to  become  subordinate.  The  spirit  of 
individuality  and  localism  was  rampant 
The  supplies  of  war  were  almost  wholly 
wanting.    But  the  army  was  soon  organized 


and  arranged  in  three  divisions. 


The  right 


wing   was  assigned    to    General    Artemas 


Ward  and  stationed  at  Roxbur}-.  The  left 
was  put  under  command  of  General  Charles 
Lee  and  given  position  at  Prospect  IlilL 
The  centre  under  the  commander-in-chief 
lay  at  Cambridge.  After  Bunker  Kill  the 
British  held  possession  of  Boston,  including 
the  Charlestown  peninsula;  but  the  patiiots 
yielded  no  inch  of  their  ground,  and  soon 
returned  to  the  siege  of  the  city.  The  in- 
vestment was  made  with  vigor  and  deter- 
mination, and  the  British  generals  soon 
found  themselves  cooped  up  with  no  pros- 
pect of  free   campaigns   or  success  in  the 

GF.ORGE   WASHINGTON.  OpCU   ficld. 

The  King's  authority  was  ver>'  soon  overthrown  in  all  the  colonies.  In  most  of  them 
there  was  little  resistance  to  the  popular  movement.  In  Virginia  the  governor,  Lord  Dun- 
more,  after  being  driven  from  office,  proclaimed  freedom  to  the  slaves,  and  raised  a  force 
of  loyalists  and  inaugurated  civil  war ;  but  he  was  soon  defeated  by  the  patriots  in  an 
engagement  near  Norfolk.  By  the  autumn  of  1775  the  royal  officers  were  all  expelled, 
and  popular  governments  on  the  republican  plan  instituted  in  every  one  of  the  thirteen 
colonies. 

It  was  expected  by  the  .Vmericans  that  Canada  would  make  counnon  cause  with  the 
rest,  but  this  expectation  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  In  the  hope  of  encouraging  the 
people  of  that  province  to  renounce  the  mother  country  and  take  up  arms,  Generals 
Schuyler  and  Montgomery  were  ordered  to  proceed  against  St.  John's  and  Montreal.  The 
former  fort  was  reached  on  the   lolh  of  Seiiteml)er,  and  General   Montgomer\'  succeeded  at 


470 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


length  in  capturing  it  from  the  British  garrison.  Montreal  was  invested  shortly  afterwards 
and  on  the  13  th  of  November  was  obliged  to  capitulate.  General  Montgomery  in  the  next 
place  marched  with  three  hundred  men  against  Quebec.  In  the  meantime  Colonel  Benedict 
Arnold  had  set  out  for  the  same  destination  with  a  thousand  men  drawn  from  the  anny  at 
Cambridge.  After  a  march  of  untold  hardship  and  suffering  that  daring  commander 
reached  the  St.  Lawrence  and  climbed  to  the  Plains  of  Abraham  above  Quebec.  At  Point 
aux  Tremples  he  was  joined  by  Montgomer>',  who  as  the  senior  officer  took  command. 
The  whole  force  fit  for  effective  duty  did  not  now  exceed  nine  hundred  men,  so  greatly  had 
they  sufiered.  Quebec,  in  addi- 
tion to  being  a  place  of  great 
natural  and  artificial  strength, 
was  defended  by  greatly  superior 
numbers.  Yet  for  three  weeks 
with  his  mere  handful  of  troops 
Montgomery  besieged  the  town, 
and  finally  staked  everything  on 
the  issue  of  an  assault. 

ASSAULT  ON  QUEBEC. 

Before  daybreak  of  the  31st 
of  December,  1775,  the  first 
division  of  the  Americans,  led 
b}-  Montgomer}'  in  person,  at- 
tacked the  Lower  Town.  The 
second  column,  under  Arnold, 
attempted  to  storm  the  Prescott 
gate.  As  Montgomer\''s  men 
were  rushing  forward  a  masked 
battery  before  them  burst  forth 
with  a  stonn  of  grapeshot,  and 
at     the    first    discharge    Mont- 


gomery fell  dead.  The  men, 
heartbroken  at  the  loss  of  their 
leader,  retreated  and  made  their 
way    to   Wolfe's    Cove,    above  the  city. 

Arnold  had  meanwhile,  by  extraordinary  daring,  fought  his  way  into  the  Lower  Town; 
but  while  leading  a  charge  he  was  severely  wounded  and  borne  to  the  rear.  Captain 
Morgan  assumed  command,  and  not  knowing  the  fate  of  Montgomer}'  pressed  on  through 
the  narrow  streets  until  he  was  overwhelmed  and  compelled  to  surrender.  Arnold  with  the 
remnant  of  his  forces  retired  to  a  point  three  miles  above  the  citv.  The  small-pox  broke 
out  in  the  camp  ;  Quebec  was  strengthened  ;  and  in  the  following  June  the  Americans 
evacuated  Canada.  The  event  fixed  the  destiny  of  the  northern  province.  The  Canadians 
remained  in  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  Canada  was  used  as  a  base  of  operations 
by  the  British  in  the  further  prosecution  of  the  war. 


THE   ATTACK    ON    QUEBEC   AND    DEATH   OF   MONTGOMERY. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  YEAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

CAME  the  King's  answer  to  the  appeal  of  Congress.  The 
petitions  of  the  colonies  were  rejected  with  contempt 
George  III.  and  his  minister  planted  themselves  in  a  posi- 
tion from  which  there  was  no  retreat.  The  issue  was 
made  np.  Subjugation  was  the  method  deliberately 
adopted  by  the  British  Government  with  respect  to  the 
American  colonies.  By  this  policy  and  by  the  t)rannical 
answer  of  the  King  the  day  of  Independence  was  brought 
near,  even  to  the  door. 

After  Bunker  Hill,  General  Howe  succeeded  Gage  in 
the  command  of  the  British  forces  of  Boston.  All  winter 
long  the  city  was  besieged  by  \Vashington,  and  by  the  opening  of  spring,  1776,  he  felt  himself 
strong  enough  to  risk  an  assault;  but  the  officers  of  his  staff  were  of  a  different  opinion,  and 
a  less  hazardous  plan  was  adopted.  It  was  resolved  instead  of  the  direct  assault  to  seize 
Dorchester  Heights,  gain  a  position  from  which  the  American  batteries  might  command  the 
city,  and  thus  drive  Howe  out  of  Boston. 

For  two  days  the  attention  of  the  British  was  drawn  by  a  constant  fire  from  the  Ameri- 
can guns.  Then,  on  the  night  of  the  4th  of  March,  a  strong  detachment  was  thrown  forward 
under  cover  of  the  darkness  and  reached  the  Heights  of  Dorchester  unperceived.  The  British 
gained  no  hint  of  the  movement  until  morning;  but  with  the  coming  of  light,  Howe  per- 
ceived at  a  glance  that  he  was  suddenly  thrown  on  the  defensive  and  that  he  must  immedi- 
ately carry  the  American  position  or  abandon  the  city.  He 
accordingly  ordered  a  force  of  two  thousand  four  hundred 
men  to  storm  the  Heights  before  nightfall. 

Washington,  noting  the  plans  and  purposes  of  his 
adversary,  visited  the  trenches,  exhorted  his  men  and  gave 
directions  to  his  officers.  A  spirit  of  battle  flamed  up  like 
that  at  Bunker  Hill.  It  was  the  auniversar)-  of  the  Boston 
massacre,  and  that  circumstance  added  fuel  to  the  fires  of 
patriotism.  A  battle  was  momentarily  expected;  but  in  the 
lull  of  preparation  a  storm  arose,  and  rendered  the  harbor 
impassable  for  ships.  The  tempest  continued  to  rage 
for  a  whole  day,  and  the  attack  could  not  be  made.  Before 
the  following  morning  the  Americans  had  so  strengthened 
tneir  fortifications  that  all  thoughts  of  an  assault  were 
abandoned,  and  General  Howe  found  himself  reduced  to  the  extremity  of  giving  up  the 
capital  of  Xew  England. 

It  was  still  in  the  power  of  the  British,  however,  to  destroy  what  they  could  not  hold. 
Boston  might  he  burned  to  the  ground.  Such  a  disaster  nuist  needs  weigh  heavily  upon 
the  patriots.     Washington  entered  into  negotiations   with   the  British  commander,  and  it 

(471) 


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VI 

MILIUI                        .'                                        I 

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SIKCE   OF    lUlMUN,     1; 


472  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

was  aoreed  that  the  latter  should  retire  from  Boston  unmolested  on  condition  that  the 
city  should  not  be  injured.  On  the  17th  of  March,  the  whole  British  army  went  on 
board  the  fleet  and  sailed  away.  About  fifteen  hundred  lo\-alists  who  had  chosen  to 
hold  to  the  King's  cause  against  the  cause  of  their  country,  and  dreading  to  remain  in  a 
citv  and  among  a  people  by  whom  they  must  henceforth  be  ostracized  as  Tories  and  traitors, 
escaped  with  the  British  squadron.  On  the  20th  of  the  month  Washington  made  a  fonnal 
entry  at  the  head  of  his  triumphant  army.  The  countrj^  was  wild  with  delight  at  the  expul- 
sion of  the  enemy.  Congress  ordered  a  gold  medal  stnick  in  honor  of  Washington  ''victo- 
rious over  the  enemy  for  the  first  time  put  to  flight." 

THE  CONFLICT  OPENS  IN  OTHER  SECTIONS. 

The  recovery  of  Boston  from  the  British  entailed  two  kinds  of  results  on  the  patriot 
cause.  New  England  at  once  recovered  herself ;  Boston  was  fortified  ;  a  sense  of  relief 
came,  and  the  people  of  New  England  feeling  themselves  freed,  as  they  hoped  for  ever,  of 
the  presence  of  the  British,  regarded  the  conflict  as  virtually  over  and  the  victory  won- 
This  confidence  was  salutary  so  far  as  New  England  was  concerned ;  but  owing  to  the  strong 
local  prejudices  existing  among  the  colonies,  it  was  injurious  to  the  cause  in  other  parts  of 
the  field.  In  a  word,  the  men  of  New  England  were  ready  to  fight  to  the  death  for  the  de- 
fence of  New  England,  but  did  not  feel  the  force  of  that  higher  patriotism  which  would 
lead  them  to  fight  with  equal  resolution  and  courage  in  the  defence  of  the  other  American 
States. 

The  e\-il  influences  of  these  feelings  were  felt  as  soon  as  the  commander-in-chief  began 
to  withdraw  his  army  from  Boston  for  the  defence  of  New  York.  Washington  perceived 
that,  though  Boston  was  rescued.  New  York  was  exposed.  General  Lee  was  sent  forward 
to  the  latter  city  with  Connecticut  militia,  and  reached  New  York  just  in  time  to  baffle  an 
attempt  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  whose  fleet  arrived  off"  Sandy  Hook. 
He  found  that  the  city  was  already  preoccupied  by  the  patriot 
forces,  and  thereupon  sailed  away  southward,  to  be  joined  by  Sir 
Peter  Parker  and  Lord  Cornwallis,  with  two  thousand  fi\-e  hundred 
additional  British  troops. 

This  force  was  reckoned  suflficient  for  the  capture  of  Charles- 
t(m,  but  the  Carolinians  were  by  no  means  sleeping.  Led  by 
General  Lee  thev  rose  in  arms  and  flocked  to  the  city  as  the  men  of 

New  England  had  rushed   to   Boston  after  Concord  and   Lexington.     ^^^^^  ^^  Charleston. 
Charleston  was  quickly  fortified  and  a  fort  commanding  the  entrance 

to  the  harbor  was  built  on  Sullivan's  Island.  On  the  4th  of  June  the  British  squadron 
came  in  sight,  but  it  was  not  until  the  28th  that  the  hostile  fleet  began  a  bombardment 
of  the  fortress  which  was  commanded  b}-  Colonel  William  Moultrie.  The  British  vessels 
obtained  a  good  position  and  poured  a  torrent  of  balls  upon  the  fort,  but  the  walls,  built 
of  palmetto  wood,  were  little  injured.  The  flag-staff"  was  shot  away,  but  Sergeant  Jasper 
leaped  down  outside  the  parapet,  recovered  the  flag  and  set  it  in  its  place  again — an 
incident  famous  in  the  revolutionary  tradition.  As  evening  came  on  the  British,  finding 
that  they  could  make  no  impression  upon  the  fortification,  were  obliged  to  withdraw  after 
losing  two  hundred  men.  The  patriot  loss  was  thirt>--t\vo.  As  soon  as  the  British  could 
repair  their  fleet  they  abandoned   Charleston  and  sailed  for  New  York. 

It  was  now  evident  that  the  military  operations  of  1776  were  to  be  centred  at  New 
York  and  vicinity.  During  the  summer  Washington's  forces  were  nominally  increased  by 
volunteering  to  about  twenty-seven  thousand  men,  but  the  eff"ective  force  was  little  more 


PUTNAM'S  DARING   RIDE 


Al/>MIrt    CIIArrKI     PIWl'T. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


473 


than  half  that  number.  The  recruits  were  raw,  undisciplined,  unused  to  hardship,  strangers 
to  battle,  poorly  supplied,  poorly  equipped  and  in  some  instances  badly  commanded  ;  or 
not  all  of  the  patriot  officers  were  equal  to  their  responsibilities. 

On  the  other  side  Great  Britain  with  her  enormous  resources  made  the  vastest  prepara- 
tions. She  entered  into  a  treaty  with  some  of  the  minor  German  States  by  which  .seventeen 
thousand  Hessians  were  hired  for  the  American  war.  George  HI.  was  going  to  quell  his 
revolted  provinces  by  sending  against  them  a  mercenar\",  brutal,  foreign  soldier)-.  Twcnt\-- 
five  thousand  additional  English  troops  were  levied.  A  powerful  squadron  was  fitted  out  to 
aid  in  the  reduction  of  the  colonies  and  a  million  dollars  voted  for  the  extraordinary  expenses 
of  the  war  department 

DAWN  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

L'ntil  this  epoch  the  hope  had  been  entertained  in  .Vmerica  that  the  battle  for  English 
rights  could  be  fought  and  won  without  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  British  crown. 
The  anger  of  the  Ameri- 
cans had  been  against 
the  ministrj'  and  the 
King  rather  than  agaiiast 
the  British  people  or  the 
institution  of  monarchy. 
The  vast  majority  of  the 
patriots  were  np  to  this 
time  wholly  averse  to 
the  notion  of  independ- 
ence. As  late  as  the 
spring  of  1776  Washing- 
ton himself  had  said  that 
he  abhorred  the  idea  of 
separating  the  colonies 
from  the  mother  country. 
But  the  heats  of  war 
soon  melted  and  transfused  the  senti- 
ment of  the  Americans  into  another 
form.  It  was  in  the  early  part  of  1776 
that  this  change  of  opinion  was  effected.  The  y 
change  was  wellnigh  iniivensal.  Only  a  few  still 
clung  to  England  and  the  ancient  system.  Though  the 
colonists  had  thus  far  claimed  to  be  lo\al  subjects  of  the 
crown  they  now  became  rebels  and  insurgents  in  earnest. 
Now  the  hope  of  reconciliation  seemed  utterly  abolished. 
The  people  began  to  urge  the  Assemblies  and  the 
Assemblies  to  urge  Congress  to  declare  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  Congress  re- 
sponded at  first  by  recommending  the  colonies  to  adopt  each  and  several  for  them- 
selves such  governments  as  might  seem  most  conducive  to  tlie  .safety  and  welfare  of  the 
people.  Meanwhile  the  discissions  of  Congress  tended  constantly  in  tlie  direction  indicated 
by  the  popular  voice. 

It  was  on  the  7th  of  June,  1776,  that  Richard  Henr>'  Ivcc,  a  delegate  from  Virginia, 
offered  in  Congress  the  first  resolution  declaring  that  the  United  Colonies  were  and  of  right 


TIIK    ATTACK   ON    FORT    MOl'LTRIE. 


474 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


oiiglit  to  be  Free  and  Independent  States.  A  long  and  exciting  debate  ensued  in  which 
the  advocates  of  independence  constantly  gained  ground  and  the  minority  of  opposition 
wasted  away.  It  was  first  agreed  that  the  final  consideration  of  Lee's  resolution  should  be 
postponed  until  the  ist  of  July.  Meanwhile  on  the  nth  of  June,  four  days  after  the  first 
introduction  of  the  measure,  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Roger 
Sherman  and  Robert  R.  Livingston  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  formal 
declaration.  * 

Accordingly  on  the  ist  of  July  the  committee  made  its  report  to  Congress.  On  the 
next  day — the  2d — Lee's  resolution  was  adopted  iu  the  original  words.  During  the  3d  the 
formal  declaration  as  reported  by  the  com- 
mittee was  debated  with  great  spirit.  The 
discussion  was  resumed  on  the  4th,  though  it 
was  now  clear  both  within  and  without  the 
halls  of  Congress  that  the  members  had  risen 
to  the  level  of  their  convictions  and  that  the 
report  would  be  adopted.  At  2  o'clock  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  memorable  day  the  vote 
on  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence 
was  called  and  the  measure  carried  by  a 
unanimous  vote  of  all  the  colonies. 

The  tradition  runs  that  the  old  bellman 
of  the  Statehouse,  waiting  with  the  rope  in 
his  hands  until  afternoon,  became  discouraged 
and  said  to  the  bystanders,  "They  will 
never  do  it.  They  will  never  do  it."  But 
they  did  do  it,  and  the  old  bellman  rang  out 
the  note  of  freedom  to  the  nation.  The  multi- 
tudes caught  the  signal  and  ansvv^ered  with 
shouts.  Everywhere  the  Declaration  was  re- 
ceived with  enthusiastic  applause.  The  people 
of  Philadelphia  proceeded  at  once  to  throw  down  the  king's  arms  and  burn  them  in  the 
streets.  At  Williamsburg,  Charleston  and  Savannah  bonfires  were  kindled,  and  orators 
roused  the  people  with  declamation  and  appeal  for  freedom.  At  Boston  the  Declaration  was 
read  in  Faneuil  Hall.  At  New  York  the  populace  pulled  down  the  leaden  statue  of  George 
III.  and  cast  it  into  bullets.  Washington  for  his  part  ordered  the  Declaration  to  be  read 
at  the  head  of  each  brigade  of  the  army. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  DECLARATION. 

But  what  was  this,  our  new  Charter  of  Liberties  ?  The  leading  principles  of  it  are 
as  follows  :  That  all  men  are  created  equal  ;  that  all  have  a  natural  right  to  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  ;  that  human  governments  are  instituted,  not  for  the  benefit 
of  kings  and  princes,  but  for  the  sole  purpose  of  securing  the  welfare  of  the  people  ;  that 
the  people  have  a  natural  nght  to  alter  or  even  abolish   their  government  whenever  it 

*  The  committee  on  the  Declaration  had  at  first  for  its  chairman  the  mover  of  the  resolution,  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  but  before  the  consideration  of  the  subject  was  formally  taken  up  Lee  was  called  home  to  Virginia  by  sick- 
ness in  his  family.  Thereupon  Jefferson  was  appointed  to  serve  in  his  place.  The  duty  of  preparing  the  Declara- 
tion devolved  by  seniority  on  John  Adams,  but  he  requested  Jefferson  to  prepare  the  draught,  giving  as  he  does  in 
his  Works  as  a  reason  that  he  himself  was  a  Massachusetts  man,  Jefferson  a  Virginian,  and  that  he  had  noted  with 
iAxanaWon  Jefferson's  incisive  style  0/ writing! 


THOMAS.  JEFFERSON. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


475 


becomes  dcstnictive  of  liberty  ;  that  the  j:jovernini.'iU  of  George  III.  had  become  destructive 
of  liberty,  and  had  thus  passed  under  the  ban  of  condemnation  ;  that  tiie  despotism  of  the 
King  of  England  and  his  ministers  could  be  shown  by  a  long  list  of  indisputable  proofs,  and 
the  pioofs  are  given  ;  that  time  and  again  tlic  colonies'  had  humbly  petitioned  for  a  redress 
of  grievances  ;  that  all  their  petitions  had  been  spurned  with  derision  and  contempt;  that 
the  King's  irrational  tyranny  over  his  American  subjects  was  no  longer  endurable  by  free- 
men ;  that  an  appeal  to  the  sword  is  preferable  to  slaver\',  and  that,  therefore,  the  United 
Colonies  of  America  are  and  of  right  ought  to  be  Free  and  Independent  States.  To  the 
support  of  this  nobie,  manly  declaration  of  principles  the  members  of  the  Continental 
Congress  mutually  pledged  their  lives,  their  fortimes  and  their  sacred  honor. 

Already  the  people  of  the  colonics  were  rcad>'  for  the  work  done  by  Congress.      Indeed 
the  public  mind,  in  its  anger  at  British  aggression  and  tyranny,  had  forenm  the  act  of  their 


ADOPTION    OF   THK    nKCI.ARATION   OF    IXDEPENDENXE. 

representatives.  The  people  had  been  indoctrinated  with  the  concept  and  purpose  of 
Independence.  Tiie  writings  of  tiic  .Vdamscs,  Otis  and  Jefferson  had  disseminated  tlie 
principles  of  political  freedom,  and  the  taste  thereof  was  sweet  on  llie  palate  of  the  jxople. 
Thomas  Paine's  celebrated  pamphlet  on  Omnunu  Sritsi\  which  more  than  any  other  single 
writino'  furnished  the  logical  basis  of  Independence,  had  sapped  the  fouiulatiou  of  the 
reniainin"  lovalt\'  to  the  Brilisli  crown.      Xo  scidiur  w.is  tlu-  grtat  Dcilan.ti.Mi  jiniuiul'^ated 


470  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

than  the  people  of  the  colonies,  now  the  people  of  the  United  States,  like  the  signers  of 
their  Charter  of  Liberty,  pledged  to  its  support  their  lives,  their  fortunes  and  their  sacred 
honor. 

It  was  now  a  question  of  war  and  international  ity.  Could  the  American  colonies 
sustain  themselves  against  the  overwhelming  force  of  Great  Britain?  The  enemy  was 
already  strong,  not  only  in  the  home  resources  of  the  kingdom,  but  in  her  forces  on 
American  soil.  In  the  beginning  of  July,  General  Howe  was  able  to  plant  a  force  of 
nine  thousand  men  on  Staten  Island.  Thither  Clinton  and  Cornwallis  came  from  their 
unsuccessful  attack  on  Charleston,  and  Admiral  Howe,  brother  of  the  general,  arrived  from 
England.  The  whole  British  force  now  concentrated  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York  amounted 
to  not  fewer  than  thirty  thousand  men.  About  half  of  these  were  the  imported  Hessians, 
for  whose  transit  through  his  dominions  Frederick  the  Great  had  charged  so  much  a  head, 
saying  in  magnificent  sarcasm  that  that  was  the  rate  which  he  charged  for  driving  live-stock 
across  his  kingdom  !  Washington's  ami)-  was  greatly  inferior  to  the  enemy  in  every 
respect — in  numbers,  in  equipment,  in  experience,  in  discipline. 

ENGLAND,  ALARMED,   SEEKS  TO  CONCILIATE  THE  AMERICANS. 

Great  Britain  had  not  expected  the  startling  denouement  of  Independence.  She  had 
considered  herself  thus  far  as  dealing  with  a  lot  of  refractory,  contrary,  penurious,  half- 
rebellious  colonists,  whom  she  might  easily  overawe  and  then  punish  for  their  contumacy. 
Now  she  suddenly  awoke  to  the  fact  that  she  was  confronted  by  a  nation  of  people  who 
■would  fight  and  die  for  their  rights.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  read  with 
astonishment,  not  only  in  England,  but  in  every  court  of  Europe.  No  other  such  docu- 
ment had  been  drawn  since  the  beginning  of  the  modern  era.  Indeed,  it  was  doubtful,  and 
is  still  doubtful,  whether  any  other  such  political  paper  had  ever  been  produced  among 
men.  It  was  admitted  by  the  gravest  sages  and  statesmen  that  the  Declaration  prepared 
and  sent  abroad  by  the  American  people  in  Congress  could  not  have  been  surpassed  by  the 
most  astute,  learned  and  patriotic  tliinkers  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  effect  of  it  was 
tremendous  in  the  public  opinion  of  Europe,  insomuch  that  Great  Britain,  for  the  moment 
shocked  into  her  senses,  deemed  it  prudent  to  try  conciliation. 

Could  the  Americans  be  conciliated  ?  That  was  the  question.  Lord  Howe  was 
instructed  to  open  negotiations  and  attempt  conciliator}-  measures  with  the  Americans. 
He  and  his  brothers  had  aforetime  been  the  friends  and  companions  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
in  London.  With  them  that  great  philosopher  and  patriot  had  held  many  conferences, 
urging  them  to  interpose  against  the  folly  of  England  in  driving  the  Americans  to  rebel- 
lion and  independence.  Now  the  tables  were  turned.  The  miscjiief  had  been  done  and 
Lord  Howe  must  become  the  ambassador  of  his  countr\-  in  the  attempt  to  reestablish 
peace.  Howe  addressed  Franklin,  and  through  him  would  fain  exercise  an  influence  over 
his  fellow-countrymen.  Franklin  replied  in  one  of  those  polite  but  caustic  letters  which 
so  frequently  in  the  days  of  trial  proceeded  from  his  pen,  concluding  with  these  words  to 
his  former  friend,  Lord  Howe:   "  Henceforth  you  are  my  enemy,  and  I  am 

Yours, 

B.   Fr.\nklin." 

Lord  Howe  sent  to  the  American  Camp  a  despatch  directed  to  "George  Washington, 
Esquire.''''  Washington  refused  to  receive  the  communication  which  purposely  ignored 
his  official  position  as  General  of  the  American  Armies.  Howe  then  sent  another 
communication  addressed  to  "George  Washington,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. ;  "  and  the  bearer  insisted 
that  and-so-forth  might  mean  General  of  the  American  Army.      But  Washington  sent  the 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUMBIA. 


47; 


officer  away.  It  was  not  likely  that  the  proud  and  sedate  Virginian  would  permit  a  mes- 
senger to  insult  him  by  ignoring  his  official  title.  It  was  known,  moreover,  that  Lord 
Howe's  authority'  extended  only  to  granting  pardons  at  discretion  to  those  who  would 
submit  to  the  authority  of  the  mother  country.  To  this  the  prudent  Washington  replied 
that  since  no  ofiFeuce  had  been  committed,  no  pardon  was  required. 

BATTLE  OF  LONG  ISLAND. 

With  the  breaking  off  of  these  inane  negotiations  Lord  Howe  and  his  brother  at  once 
began  hostilities.  On  the  22d  of  August  the  British  to  the  number  of  ten  thousand  crossed 
over  to  Long  Island.  The  Americans  at  this  time,  to  the  number  of  seven  or  eight  thou- 
sand, lay  in  the  vicinity  of  Brooklyn.     The  British  at  once  began  an  advance  along  several 


of   the    27th  General  Grant's 


roads  in  the  direction  of  that  city  and  on  the 
division  of  the  British  army  reached  the  position  now  occupied  by  the  southwestern  out- 
skirts of  Greenwood  cemetery-.  Here  he  was  met  by  General  Lord  Stirling  of  the  patriot 
anny  with  a  division  of  fifteen  hundred  men.  The  battle  at  once  began,  but  in  this  part 
of  the  field  there  was  no  decisive  result.  In  the  meantime  General  Von  Heister,  who 
commanded  the  British  centre  advanced  beyond  Flatbush  and  engaged  the  American  centre 

under  General  Sullivan.  Here  the  Hessians,  who  com- 
posed the  larger  part  of  Von  Heister" s  di\'ision  gained 
little  or  no  ground,  until  Sullivan  was  suddenly  alarmed 
by  the  noise  of  battle  on  his  left  and  rear. 

The  American  left  had  been  assigned  to  General  Put- 
nam; but  that  officer  had  neglected  to  guard  the  passes  in 
the  direction  of  Bedford  and  the  sequel  showed  that  this 
neglect  was  fatal,  for  during  the  night  General  Sir 
Henr>-  Clinton  had  made  a  detour  from  the  British  right 
and  had  occupied  the  heights  to  the  cast  and  north  of  the 
Jamaica  road.  It  was  his  division  that  now  came  down 
by  way  of  Bedford  and  fell  upon  the  unsuspecting  left  of 
the  American  army.  Sullivan  in  the  centre  found  him- 
self thus  surrounded  and  cut  off;  for  Putnam's  division 
on  the  left  had  been  bn)ken  to  pieces  by  the  onset  of  the 
British.  The  patriots  in  the  other  parts  of  the  line  fought  bravely  and  many  broke 
through  the  closing  ranks  of  the  British  and  escaped;  but  the  rest  were  scattered,  killed  or 
taken  prisoners. 

In  the  meantime  Cornwallis  had  attempted  to  cut  off  General  Stirling's  retreat,  but 
was  for  the  moment  repulsed.  Stirling's  division,  however,  was  in  the  greatest  peril. 
Most  of  the  men  threw  themselves  into  the  rising  waters  at  the  head  of  a  narrow  inlet  called 
Gowanus  Bay,  struggled  across  and  .saved  themselves  by  joining  the  .\merican  lines  at 
Brooklyn.  The  three  generals,  Stirling,  Sullivan  and  Woodhull,  were  taken  prisoners. 
Nearly  a  thousand  patriots  were  killed  and  missing.  The  British  losses  were  but  slight.  It 
seemed  an  easy  thing  for  Clinton  and  Howe  to  clo.se  in  on  Brooklyn  and  complete  their 
work  by  capturing  the  remainder  of  tlie  .Vmerican  army.  But  this  they  neglected  to  do. 
Washington  from  his  headquarters  in  New  York  heard  the  news  with  as  much  dismay  as 
his  strong  nature  was  capable  of  manifesting.  He  hurried  across  to  Brooklyn  and  made 
the  most  unwearied  efforts  to  save  his  army  from  further  disaster.  Perceiving  that  he  could 
not  hold  his  position  he  resolved  to  withdraw  to  New  York.  The  enterprise  was  extremely 
hazardous.      At   eight  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  29th  of  August  the  embarkation  of 


PLAN    OF  THE    BATTLE   OP   LONG 
ISLAND. 


478 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  troops  was  begun.  All  night  with  muffled  oars  the  boatmen  rowed  silently  back  and 
forth,  and  at  davlight  on  the  morning  of  the  30th  the  last  detachment  had  taken  to  the 
boats.  With  sunrise  tlie  British  discovered  the  movement  of  the  Americans  and  rushed 
forward  over  the  defences  only  to  find  them  abandoned.  Nothing  but  a  few  worthless  guns 
remained.  The  courage  and  sagacity  of  the  American  commander  had  sufficed  to  extricate 
his  army  from  the  extremity  of  peril,  and  the  British  were  for  the  time  baffled  in  pursuit. 

DARK  PROSPECTS  FOLLOWING  DEFEAT. 

But  the  defeat  on  L,ong  Island  proved  to  be  most  disastrous  to  the  American  cause. 
The  patriot  losses  had  been  severe.  At  this  time  the  terms  of  enlistment  of  many  of  the 
troops  expired,  and  instead  of  again  entering  the  ranks  they  returned  to  their  homes. 
There  were  evidences  of  disintegration,  and  it  was  only  by  the  constant  e.xertion  of  Wash- 
ington that  the  remainder  of  his  army  was  kept  from  disbanding. 

The  British  fleet  now  moved  up  the  bay,  and  anchored  withing  cannon  shot  of  New 
York  cit}'.  The  place  became  untenable,  and  Washington  was  obliged  to  retire  to  the 
Heights  of  Harlem.  On  the  15th  of  September,  the  British 
effected  a  landing  three  miles  above  New  York — for  the  city 
then  occupied  only  the  lower  part  of  the  island — and  extended 
their  lines  across  Manhattan.  By  this  means  they  gained  pos- 
session of  the  city.  On  the  i6th  of  the  month,  there  was  a 
skirmish  between  advanced  parties  of  the  two  armies,  in  which 
the  British  were  worsted  and  lost  nearly  a  hundred  men. 

A  month  later  Howe  embarked  his  forces,  passed  into  Long 
Island  sound,  and  landed  in  the  vicinity  of  Westchester.  His 
object  was  to  get  upon  the  American  left  flank  and  cut  off"  Wash- 
ington's communications  with  the  eastern  States ;  but  the 
American  general  detected  the  movement  and  faced  the  enemy 
east  of  Harlem  river.  On  the  28th  a  battle  of  some  severit}'  was 
brought  on  at  White  Plains.  Howe  began  the  engagement  with 
a  brisk  cannonade,  which  was  answered  with  equal  spirit  by  the 
Americans.  The  latter,  however,  lost  one  position,  but  im- 
mediately intrenched  themselves  in  another.  Night  came  on,  and 
Washington  deemed  it  prudent  to  withdraw  to  the  Heights  of  Northcastle.  General  Howe 
remained  for  a  few  days  at  White  Plains,  and  then  returned  with  his  forces  to  New  York. 

Soon  afterwards  the  American  army  gave  up  Manhattan  Island  and  crossed  to  the  west 
bank  of  the  Hudson,  taking  post  at  Fort  Lee.  Four  thousand  men  were  left  for  the  time  at 
Northcastle,  under  command  of  General  Lee.  Fort  Washington,  on  Manhattan  Island, 
was  also  held  for  the  time  by  three  thousand  men,  under  Colonel  Magaw.  The  skilful  con- 
struction of  this  fort  had  attracted  the  attention  of  Washington  and  led  to  an  acquaintance 
with  the  engineer,  Alexander  Hamilton,  then  a  stripling  but  twenty  3'ears  of  age. 

A  series  of  disasters  now  ensued  very  disheartening  to  the  American  cause.  On  the 
1 5th  of  November,  Fort  Washington  was  captured  by  the  British.  The  garrison  were  made 
prisoners  of  war  and  were  ciowded  into  the  jails  of  New  York.  Two  days  afterwards  Fort  Lee 
also  was  taken  by  Lord  Cornwallis.  By  these  ruinous  captures  Washington's  army  was  re- 
dviced  to  about  three  thousand  men,  and  with  these  he  began  to  retreat  from  the  Hudson  to 
Newark.  Cornwallis  and  Knyphausen  pressed  hard  after  the  fugitives.  The  patriots  con- 
tinued their  flight  to  Princeton,  and  finally  to  Trenton  on  the  Delaware.  Nothing  but  the 
skill  of  the  commander  saved  the  remnant  of  his  forces  from  dispersion  and  capture. 


SCENE  OF  OPERATIONS  ABOUT 
NEW  YORK,    1776. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  479 

It  was  on  the  8th  of  Uecemljc-r  tliat  Washington  finally  sncceeded  in  putting  the  Dela- 
ware between  himself  and  the  pursuing  foe.  Cornwallis  liaving  no  boats  was  obliged  to 
wait  for  the  freezing  of  the  river  before  continuing  the  pursuit.  In  the  interim  the  British 
army  was  stationed  in  the  towns  and  villages  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  Of  these 
stations  Trenton  was  the  most  important.  The  place  was  held  by  about  two  thou- 
sand Hessians,  under  Colonel  Rahl.  It  was  the  design  of  the  British  as  soon  as  tlie  river 
should  be  frozen  to  march  on  Philadelphia,  capture  that  cit}-,  scatter  the  remnants  of  the 
American  army  and  restore  the  authority  of  Great  Britain.  Such  a  result  was  greatly 
feared  by  prudent  Americans,  and  it  was  deemed  expedient  as  a  precautionar)-  measure  that 
Congress  should  be  adjourned  from  Philadelphia  to  Baltimore. 

DISCOURAGEMENTS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  CAUSE. 

In  the  meantime  the  fleet  of  .Vduiiral  Parker  which  liad  been  engaged  in  the  attack  on 
Charleston  bore  down  upon  the  coast  of  New  England.  On  the  same  day  that  Washington 
crossed  the  Delaware  the  islands  of  Rhode  Island  and  Conanicut  were  taken  b\-  the  British 
squadron.  The  American  fleet,  under  Commander  Hopkins,  was  blockaded  in  the  month 
of  the  Blackstone  River.  During  all  these  movements  General  Charles  Lee,  with  a  large 
division  of  the  American  forces,  had  remained  at  Northcastle.  To  him  Washington  sent 
one  despatch  after  another  to  abandon  the  place  and  repair  with  his  troops  to  the  west  bank 
of  the  Delaware,  where  all  might  be  concentrated  under  the  commander-in-chief.  Lee 
marched  with  his  division  as  far  as  Morristown,  and  established  his  own  quarters  at  a  place 
called  Basking  Ridge.  Here  on  the  13th  of  December  a  squad  of  British  cavalry  suddenly 
appeared,  captured  Lee  and  hurried  him  off  to  New  York.  General  Sullivan  took  com- 
mand of  the  division  and  hastened  to  join  Washington  beyond  the  Delaware.  The  entire 
American  forces  were  thus  augmented  to  a  little  more  than  six  thousand  men. 

But  it  was  the  midnight  of  the  patriot  cause.  It  appeared  that  the  hope  of  Indepen- 
dence flickered  to  the  socket.  Tiie  forces  at  the  command  of  Wa.shington  were  imable  to 
cope  with  the  enemy,  and  the  whole  country  was  greatly  dispirited.  It  was  emergency 
such  as  this,  however,  that  ser\'ed  to  bring  out  the  grandeur  and  strength  of  Washington. 
With  him  there  was  no  thought  of  yielding.  He  saw  in  the  present  ebb  of  fortune  that 
extreme  of  affairs  from  which  a  reaction  must  necessarily  arise.  He  perceived  in  the  dis- 
position of  the  British  forces  an  opportunity  to  strike  a  blow  for  his  countr>'.  It  was 
evident  that  the  leaders  of  the  enemy  were  off  their  giiard.  The  Hessians  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river  were  scattered  in  their  quarters  from  Trenton  to  Burlington.  Washington 
conceived  the  bold  design  of  crossing  the  Delaware  and  striking  the  detachment  at  Trenton 
before  a  concentration  of  the  enemy's  forces  could  be  effected.  This  design  he  now  pro- 
ceeded to  carrs'  into  execution. 

The  American  army  was  arranged  in  three  divisions.  The  first,  under  General  John 
Cadwallader,  was  ordered  to  cross  the  river  at  Bristol  and  attack  the  enemy  encamped  in 
that  neighborhood.  General  liwiug  was  directed  to  pass  over  a  little  below  Trenton,  in 
order  to  intercept  the  possible  retreat  of  the  enemy.  Washington  liim.self,  with  twenty-four 
hundred  men  under  immediate  command  of  Sullivan  and  Greene,  was  to  cross  tlie  Delaware 
nine  miles  above  Trenton  and  march  down  the  river  to  surprise  and  capture  the  town.  For 
all  these  movements  the  night  of  Christmas  was  selected  as  furnishing  the  best  opportunity 
of  success. 

Cold  weather  had  now  super\'ened  and  the  Delaware  was  already  filled  with  floating 
ice.  Generals  Ewing  and  Cadwallader  were  both  baffled  in  their  efforts  to  cross  the  river, 
as  was  also  General  Putnam,  who  had  been  ordered  to  effect  a  crossing  at  Philadeljjhia  and 


480 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


_l^L- 


i? 


PLAN   OF  BATTLES    OF 

PRINCETON    AND 

TRENTON. 


make  a  feint  against  the  British  in  that  quarter.  Washington,  however,  succeeded  in 
getting  over  at  the  place  now  called  Taylorsville.  But  the  crossing  was  attended  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  and  liazard. 

WASHINGTON'S  CAPTURE  OF  THE  HESSIANS. 

The  commander  once  on  the  Jersey  shore  divided  his  army  into  two  columns  and 
pressed  forward  by  two  different  roads,  one  of  which  entered-  Trenton  on  the  west  side  next 
the  river  and  the  other  from  the  east  The  crossing  was  greatly  delayed,  and  it  was  already 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  26th  before  the  Americans  came  in  sight  of  the  prize. 
But  their  courage  rose  to  the  occasion.  It  had  been  correctly-  divined  by  Washington  that 
the  Hessian  soldiers  and  their  of&cers  would  spend  the  Christmas  day 
in  holiday-  and  rioting.  They  were  still  in  their  quarters,  or  onh- 
beginning  to  stir  in  the  early  morning,  when  the  Americans  from  two 
directions  burst  into  the  town. 

The  Hessians  sprang  from  their  quarters  and  attempted  to  form  in 
line.  The  American  cannon  began  to  roar  and  flashes  of  musketr}- 
sent  deadh-  volle}-s  whistling  along  the  streets.  Colonel  Rahl  was 
mortally  wounded  at  the  first  onset.  There  was  momentary  confusion, 
and  then  nearly  a  thousand  of  the  Hessians  threw  down  their  arms 
and  surrendered  at  discretion.  Only  about  six  hundred,  principally  a 
body  of  light-horse,  succeeded  in  making  their  escape  in  the  direction 
of  Princeton.  Washington  at  once  drew  off  with  his  prisoners  and 
captured  munitions  and  supplies.  Before  nightfall  he  was  safe  with 
his  arni%-  on  the  other  side  of  the  Delaware. 

The  trophies  of  the  battle  were  not  inconsiderable.  The  Americans  for  their  part  lost 
not  a  man  in  the  engagement,  which  had  continued  hotly  for  thirty-five  minutes.  The 
enemy  lost  seventeen  killed  and  seventy-eight  wounded.  The  number  of  prisoners  taken 
was  nine  hundred  and  forty-six,  nearh-  all  of  them  the  mercenaries  from  Hesse.  Of  anus 
the  patriots  captured  twelve  hundred  British  nniskets,  six  brass  cannon,  two  of  them  being 
i2-pounders,  and  all  the  flags  and  standards  of  the  brigade.  It  was  with  good  reason  that 
Lord  George  Germain,  the  British  Secretar>-  for  the  Colonies,  wrote,  "All  our  hopes  were 
blasted  by  the  luihappy  affair  at  Trenton. ' ' 

The  British,  with  good  reason  surprised  at  these  movements  of  a  foe  whom  they  had 
supposed  to  be  \-irtualh-  vanquished,  began  to  fall  back  from  their  outposts  and  concentrated 
at  Princeton.  Lord  Cornwallis,  earlier  in  the  season  believing  the  war  to  be  over,  had  gone 
to  New  York  and  prepared  to  return  to  Europe.  Now  he  must  hasten  back  to  his  imperiled 
forces.  Reaching  Princeton  he  resumed  command  and  began  at  once  to  devise  plans  for 
recovering  the  ground  v/hich  had  been  lost  by  the  unexpected  successes  of  the  Americans. 

So  closed  the  year  1776 — the  year  of  Independence.  Only  ten  days  previously  General 
Howe  had  waited  only  for  the  freezing  of  the  Delaware  before  taking  up  his  quarters  in 
Philadelphia.  That  done,  already  in  anticipation  he  busied  himself  with  the  restoration  of 
British  authority  and  the  final  extinction  of  local  resistance  here  and  there.  Already  in 
imagination  he  saw  the  banner  of  St.  George  floating  peacefully  over  ever>-  colonial  capital 
and  already  received  the  thanks  of  his  gracious  sovereign,  George  III.,  of  England.  Now 
all  this  dream  was  suddenly  dissipated.  Now  all  the  conditions  of  the  conflict  were  reversed. 
Now  the  question  was  whether  he  and  his  army  would  be  able  to  hold  a  single  town  in  New 
Jersey  against  the  onsets  of  reviving  patriotism. 


»  vM,  4^ 


CHAPTKR  XV. 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 


NEW  YEAR'S  sun  of  1777  saw  the  anny  of  Washing- 
ton about  five  thousand  stroncj  encamped  at  Trenton. 
Lord  Cornwallis  was  by  no  means  disposed  to  vield  the 
field  to  his  enemy  without  battle.  Arriving  at  Prince- 
ton he  gathered  together  his  forces  and  proceeded  at 
once  against  the  Americans.  The  Rritisli  were  much 
superior  in  numerical  strength  and  equipment.  Corn- 
wallis readied  Trenton  on  the  afternoon  of  the  ist  and 
a  severe  skirmish  occurred  in  the  outskirts  of  'Jie 
town. 
The  position  of  Washington  was  critical  in  the  last  degree.  Should  he  be  defeated 
in  the  approaching  battle  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  retreat  to  a  place  of  .safety. 
In  the  emergency  he  deemed  it  pnident  to  withdraw  from  Trenton  and  take  a  more 
defensible  position  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Assanpink  Creek.  The  British  took  possession 
(if  the  town  and  in  the  afternoon  attempted  to  force  a  passage  of  the  stream,  but  were  driven 
back.  Night  was  approaching  and  Cornwallis  deferred  his  principal  attack  till  to-morrow. 
With  the  coming  of  nightfall  Washington  called  a  council  and  it  was  determined  to 
leave  the  camp,  pass  the  British  left  and  march  upon  the  enemy  at  Princeton,  about  thirteen 
miles  away.  There  Cornwallis  had  left  one  division  of  his  forces.  Washington  caught  at 
the  opportunity  thus  afforded  to  strike  the  enemy  in  detail.  He  accordingly  removed  his 
baggage  to  Burlington,  on  the  Delaware.  The  campfires  were  brightly  kindled  and  kept 
burning  through  the  night  Then  the  anny  was  put  in  motion  in  the  direction  of  Prince- 
ton. Everything  was  done  in  silence;  the  movement  was  undiscovered  by  the  enemy  and 
the  morning  light  showed  the  British  sentries  on  the  Assanpink  a  deserted  camp. 

At  the  very  time  when  Cornwallis' s  pickets  discovered  the  withdrawal  of  the  Americans 
Washington  was  entering  Princeton.  At  sunrise  Cornwallis  heard  the  dull  roar  of  the 
American  guns  in  battle.  The  event  showed  that  the  British  division  at  Princeton  had  been 
ordered  the  day  before  to  withdraw  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  and  proceed  to  Trenton. 
This  order  they  were  beginning  to  obey  when  Washington  reached  the  town.  The  .\meri- 
cans  met  them  on  the  outskirts  of  Princeton  and  the  battle  at  once  began.  .-\t  tiie  first 
charge  of  the  British  regulars  the  raw  militia  gave  away  in  confusion,  bu*^  they  were  rallied 
and  brought  into  line  again  by  Washington.  The  Pennsylvania  regulars,  under  lead  of  the 
commandcr-in-chirf,  held  their  ground  until  the  rally  was  effected.  The  tide  of  battle 
turned  and  the  British  were  routed  with  a  loss  of  four  hundred  and  thirty  men  in  killed, 
wounded  and  missing.  On  the  .\mcrican  side  the  brave  (xcneral  Mercer  was  mortally 
wounded  at  the  beginning  of  the  engagement.  Struck  down  by  a  blow  from  the  butt  of  a 
musket,  he  refused  to  surrender  and  was  bayonetted  to  death.  The  .\merican  loss  from  the 
rank  and  file  was  not  nearly  so  great  as  that  of  the  enemy. 
31  (4S1) 


482 


COLU^IBUS   AND   COLUAIBIA. 


Washington,  though  \ictorious,  was  in  peril  of  the  powerful  Cornwallis,  who  came  on 
hastily  from  Trenton,  but  was  not  in  time  to  save  his  division  from  defeat.     The  American 

commander     at 


once 
withdrew  and  on  the 
Stli  of  Jannar\-  found 
a  defensible  position 
at  JMorristown.  Corn- 
wallis for  his  part 
retired  to  New  Bruns- 
wick. This  was  clearly 
a  retreat.  The  New 
Jerse\-  provincials  per- 
ceived that  in  the  last 
ten  days  conditions 
had  been  reversed  and 
that  the  enemy  was 
worsted.      The  greater 

THE   DE.A.TH   OF   GENER.\t,   MERCER.  part    of     tllC      State    WaS 

soon    recovered    by    the    patriots.       Cornwallis    continued    to    contract 

his  line  until  all  his  forces  were  concentrated  at  New  Brunswick  and 

.\mboy. 

A  SERIES  OF  ENGAGEMENTS. 

Thus  passed  the  winter  of  1776-77.      The  first  movement  of  tlie 

following   spring  was  a  success    for   the    British.      They  marched    against  the    American 

force  at   Peekskill  and  destroyed  the  patriot  stores  collected  at  that  place.      On  the  13th 

of  April    Cornwallis    in    person    attacked    General    Lincoln,    wlio   was    stationed    on    the 

Raritan;  but  the  latter  being  inferior  in  numbers  made  good  his  retreat. 

TRYON'S  INVASION  OF  CONNECTICUT. 

On  the  25th  of  April,  General  Trjon  made  an  invasion  of  Connecticut  and  his  opera- 
tions were  characterized  by  a  savagery  which  General  Howe  heartily  condemned  as  dis- 
graceful to  the  name  of  Briton.  Tr}-on  not  onl)-  wantonly  destroyed  Danbury,  Norwalk 
and  Fairfield,  but  he  massacred  a  part  of  Baylor's  corps  at  Tappan  a-nd  destroyed  with  the 
same  merciless  slaughter  a  detachment  of  Wayne's  troops  at  Paoli,  refusing  to  receive 
their  oflfers  of  capitulation.  It  was  during  this  incendiary  and  murderous  riot  that  Bene- 
dict Arnold  displayed  for  the  first  time  his  matchless  heroism,  and  made  good  his  escape 
through  such  fortune  as  grave  to  the  incident  a  color  of  miracle. 

After  burning  a  large  number  of  houses,  both  public  and  private,  and  visiting  all 
manner  of  insults  upon  the  helpless  people,  Tn,-on  designed  to  complete  the  plunder  and 
destruction  of  all  the  considerable  places  in  Connecticut.  Report  of  his  marauding  excur- 
sions, however,  soon  brought  out  a  force  of  six  hundred  militia,  under  General  David 
Wooster  and  Benedict  Arnold,  who  by  forced  marches  attempted  to  intercept  Tryon  at 
Danbury.  Being  apprised  of  their  approach  he  retreated  towards  Ridgefield,  but  was 
followed  so  rapidly  that  Wooster  at  the  head  of  his  divided  corps,  with  four  hundred  men 
struck  Tryon' s  rear,  capturing  forty  prisoners  after  a  brief  skirmish.  Tr}'on,  whose  force 
was  fully  two  thousand  men  was  too  cowardly  to  risk  a  battle,  but  continued  his  retreat 
until  Arnold  made  a  circuit  and  came  up  in  front  of    the  fleeing  English  and  threw  up  a 


COLl'MIU'S    AXI)   COLUMBIA. 


•183 


barricade  of  logs,  stone  and  earth,  intending  to  intercept  the  enenn  and  force  an  engage- 
ment  regardless  of  his  vastly   inferior   force.      \Vh>.n    Tryon   came   in    sight  of  Arnold's 


EXPLOIT  OF    BKNKDICT  ARNOLD. 


fortified  position  and  realized  that  his  retreat  \va.s  cnt  off  either  wa\-,   he  ordered  General 
Agnew  to  advance  in  solid  column  with  the  main  body  while  detachments  were  sent  to 


484  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

outflank  Arnold  and  gain  his  rear.  Tlie  position  of  Arnold  was  by  this  movement 
rendered  perilous  in  the  extreme.  Wooster  still  hung  with  tenacity  on  the  enemy's  rear, 
but  very  soon  after  the  engagement  opened  he  was  struck  by  a  musket  ball  and  knocked 
from  his  horse.  Though  not  instantly  killed  he  died  two  days  later,  having  survived  for 
that  length  of  time  a  broken  back,  the  bone  of  which  was  shattered  by  the  ball.  Upon 
Arnold  now  devolved  the  chief  command  and  right  bravely  he  assumed  the  responsibility. 
Instead  of  seeking  an  escape  he  heroically  confronted  the  enemy  and  easily  held  his  posi- 
tion against  the  heavy  odds  until  Agnew  succeeded  in  gaining  a  ledge  of  rocks  from  which 
he  poured  a  concentrated  fire  upon  the  Americans.  A  panic  followed  this  slaughter,  but 
Arnold  stood  defiant  amid  the  dreadful  hail-storm  of  bullets.  It  is  said  a  whole  platoon 
of  British  fired  at  him  at  a  distance  of  not  more  than  thirty  yards  but  not  a  bullet  struck 
him  ;  his  horse,  however,  fell  pierced  by  several  balls  and  for  a  moment  the  foot  of  Arnold 

was  held  fast  in  a  stirrup.  At  this  juncture  a  Tory 
rushed  forward  with  musket  and  bayonet  shouting,  "You 
are  my  prisoner!"  Drawing  a  pistol  Arnold  shot  the 
Tory  dead  and  in  a  trice  he  had  liberated  his  foot  and 
bounded  into  a  neighboring  thicket  pursued  by  a  shower 
of  bullets.  Arnold's  escape  appeared  so  remarkable  to 
the  British  that  no  further  effort  was  made  to  catch  him, 
while  both  sides  had  suffered  so  severely  in  the  engage- 
"  "'''""    •''"■"-■''.•XCiS.'      ment  that  neither  desired  its  renewal.      A  few  days  later, 

PLACE   OF  THE  BARRICADE.  ,  ^  -NT  11        1,         1  '    J      .-1      i. 

however,  as  1  lyon  was  near  Norwalk  he  learned  that 
Arnold  had  turned  again  to  pursue  him,  having  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  five 
hundred  men  and  formed  a  junction  at  Sangatuck  with  Colonel  Huntington  with  as 
many  more.  Several  sharp  skirmishes  now  followed  with  the  retreating  enemy  and  always 
to  the  advantage  of  the  Americans,  but  the  British  finally  succeeded  in  making  their 
escape,  though  not  until  they  had  lost  three  hundred  men  and  nearly  all  their  munitions. 

On  the  American  side  there  were  a  few  successful  movements.  On  the  evening  of  the 
22d  of  May,  Colonel  Meigs,  of  Connecticut,  embarked  two  hundred  men  in  whaleboats, 
crossed  Long  Island  Sound,  and  attacked  Sag  Harbor.  The  British  garrison  at  that  place 
was  overpowered  ;  only  four  of  the  number  escaped,  five  or  six  were  killed,  and  the  remain- 
ing ninety  taken  prisoners.  The  British  stores  were  destroyed  by  the  patriots,  who  without 
the  loss  of  a  man  returned  to  Guilford.  The  exploit  was  famous  in  the  tradition  of  the 
year,  and  Colonel  Meigs  was  rewarded  by  Congress  with  an  elegant  sword. 

With  the  opening  of  the  new  year  it  was  the  policy  of  Washington  to  concentrate  his 
forces  on  the  Hudson.  At  the  same  time  a  camp  of  instruction  and  discipline  was  laid  out 
on  the  Delaware  and  placed  under  charge  of  Arnold.  In  the  latter  part  of  May,  the  com- 
mander-in-chief left  his  winter-quarters  and  advanced  to  a  position  within  ten  miles  of  the 
British  camp.  General  Howe  crossed  over  from  New  York  and  threatened  an  attack  on  the 
American  lines,  but  no  serious  onset  was  made.  For  a  month  the  two  armies  counter- 
marched and  skirmished  with  no  decisive  result  to  either.  Finally  the  British  began  to 
fall  back,  and  retired  at  length  to  Amboy.  On  the  30th  of  June,  they  finally  abandoned 
New  Jersey,  and  crossed  over  to  Staten  Island. ' 

The  American  Congress  had  in  the  meantime  recovered  its  equanimity  with  the 
expulsion  of  the  Bi'itish  from  New  Jersey,  and  had  returned  from  Baltimore  to  Philadel- 
phia. A  spirit  of  confidence  was  restored  throughout  the  country.  The  retirement  of  the 
enemy  served  a  better  purpose  than  a  great  victory  in  the  field.      The  patriots  rallied  and 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLl^MBIA. 


485 


the  time-sen-ers  were  tlirown  into  coiifusiou.  In  Philadelphia  Totyisin  had  been  rampant. 
Only  two  months  before  the  retreat  of  the  British,  prayers  had  been  pnblicly  read  for  tht 
King!  Now  all  that  was  ended,  and  the  first  anniversary-  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence was  proudly  celebrated  in  the  (.iiy. 

THE  SYMPATHY  OF  FRANCE  IS  MANIFESTED  FOR  THE  NEW  UNION. 

Now  it  was  that  the  question  of  international  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
other  nations  arose  upon  the  attention  of  the  American  Congress  and  of  several  foreign  gov- 
emuieuts.  More  than  two  years  had  elapsed  since  the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  More  than 
one  year  had  gone  by  since  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  and  the  Aiiiericans  were  by 
no  merjis  subdued.  Aye,  more,  they  presented  a  bold  front  to  the  British,  and  had  actually 
succeeded  in  expelling  the  armies  of  the  mother  countr\-  from  at  least  one  State  of  tlie 
new  Union. 

These  circumstances  were  calculated  to  excite  the  interest  and  sjmpathy  of  foreign  na- 
tions. From  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  people  of  France  had  been  most  friendly  to  the 
American  cause.  England  and  France  were  at  peace;  Imt  tlv  -~\  !ii]>:ithy  of  the  French 
court  for  the  new  American  Republic  could  hardly 
be  concealed.  The  ministers  of  Louis  XVI.  were 
not  read)-  openh-  to  provoke  a  war  with  Great 
Britain,  but  they  secretly  applauded  the  American 
colonists  and  rejoiced  at  every  British  misfortune. 
At  length  this  sympathy  was  more  outspoken.  The 
Americans  came  to  understand  that  if  money  was 
required  France  would  lend  it ;  if  arms  were  to  be 
purchased,  France  had  arms  to  sell.  During  the 
year  1777  the  French  people  in  ptiblic  and  private 
capacit}-,  b\-  intrigue  or  direct  merchandise,  suc- 
ceeded in  supplying  the  colonies  with  twenty 
thousand  muskets  and  a  thousand  barrels  of  pow-der. 

The  student  of  general  history  knows  that  at 
this  epoch  republicanism  as  a  form  of  political 
thought  and  a  dream  of  enthusiasm  began  to  w-ann 
the  mind  of  France,  premonitory  of  the  great  Re- 
volution. French  Republicans  and  Idealists  began  to  speak  for  the  American  cause 
and  presently  to  embark  under  the  wannth  of  their  enthusiasm  for  the  American 
shore.  Foremost  of  all  came  Gilbert  Motier,  that  young  Marquis  of  Lafayette 
whose  name  was  destined  to  be  immortally  associated  with  our  struggle  fot  Independence. 
Fitting  a  vessel  at  his  own  expense,  he  eluded  the  officers  of  the  French  ports — for  he  had 
been  forbidden  to  sail — and  with  the  brave  Baron  de  Kalb  and  a  small  company  of  followers 
reached  South  Carolina  in  April  of  1777.  He  entered  the  Continental  ann\-  as  a  volunteer 
and  private,  but  was  rapidly  promoted,  and  in  July  of  this  year  was  connnissioned  a  major- 
general. 

From  a  military- point  of  view  the  British  now  began  to  beat  about  as  though  they 
would  find  a  more  advantageous  method  of  attack.  In  considering  the  field  of  operations 
they  set  their  eye  on  Canada.  That  province  having  remained  loyal  to  liie  crown  afforded 
by  way  of  the  St.  Lawrence  an  easy  avenue  of  entrance  by  which  an  anny  might  be  carried 
far  into  the  interior  of  our  continent  and  be  brought,  so  to  speak,  upon  the  flank  of  the 
colonies,  now  the  United  States. 


MAR(n-IS    OF   I.AI-.WKTTU. 


48G 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


These  considerations  led  to  the  planning  of  a  great  campaign  for  the  year  1777.  The 
expedition  was  entrusted  to  General  John  Burgoyne,  who  superseded  Sir  Guy  Careton  in 
command  of  all  the  British  forces  in  Canada.  Burgoyne  spent  the  spring  in  organizing  an 
army  of  ten  thousand  men  for  the  invasiou  of  New  York  from  the  north.  The  forces  con- 
sistect  of  British,  Hessians  and  Canadians  with  a  considerable  contingent  of  Indian  allies. 
The  plan  of  the  invasion  embraced  a  descent  upon  Albany  and  New  York  Cit\'  and  the 
cutting- off  of  New  England  from  the  middle  and  southern  colonies. 

By  the  first  of  June  the  expedition  proceeded  as  far  as  Lake  Champlain  and  on  the  i6tli 
of  that  month  Crown  Point  was  taken.  Here  there  was  a  pauSe,  but  on  the  5th  of  July 
Ticonderoga,  which  was  held  by  General  Arthur  St.  Clair  with  three  thousand  men  was 
captured.  The  garrison,  however,  escaped  and  retreated  to  Hubbardton,  Vermont.  The 
retreating  force  was  pursued  and  overtaken  near  that  place,  but  the  Americans  turning 
-.  upon   the    British  fought 

so  stubboml}'  as  to  check 
the  pursuit.  On  the 
following  day  the  British 
succeeded  in  capturing 
White  Hall  with  a  large 
quantity  of  stores  which 
the  patriots  had  collected 
at  that  place. 

While  affairs  were 
thus  somewhat  favorable 
to  the  British  in  the  ex- 
treme northwest,  though 
they  had  lost  Ticonde- 
roga, the  patriots  in  other 
sections  were  making 
themselves  felt  by  deliver- 
ing effective  blows  upon 
the  enemy.      Oi:  July  10, 


CAPllKh    ub    I   )  M  K\I     PRtSCOlT. 

1777,  Colonel  William  Barton  planned  a  bold  stratagem 
to  capture  General  Prescott,  commander-in-chief  of 
the  British  forces  in  Rhode  Island.  Prescott  had  his 
quarters  in  a  fann-house  near  Newport,  and  as  affairs 
were  quiet  in  that  vicinity  he  failed  to  take  any  pre- 
cautions to  ensure  his  safety.  Learning  the  situation, 
Colonel  Barton  with  forty  militiamen  in  boats  rowed 
-     "  _     .'■  across  Narragansett  Bay  at  night  and  landed  in  a    cove 

ms^-         "  '  less  than  one    hundred    yards  from   the   house  in  which 

unconscious    of    danger,   was     sleeping.       Noiselessly    Barton  ascended  the 
company  and  surrounded  the  house  before  his  presence  was  detected.      At 


Prescott,    all 

hill  with  his 

the  instant  of  alarm   the  half-sleeping  sentinel  who  guarded   the   door  was  seized  and  in 

another  moment  the  militiamen  forced  their  wa>-  into  the  house,  compelling  a  negro  servant 

to  show  them  the  general's  room.    They  captured  him  in  his  rode  dc  chamhrc  and  then  rushed 

their  prisoner  off  to  the  waiting  boats.      So  quietly  was  the  capture  effected  that  Barton  sue- 


COLU.MBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


4R7 


ceeded  in  passing  nnder  the  very  stern  of  an  ICnglisli  man-of-war  witlmnt  his  presence  being 
discovered  and  escaped  with  his  distinguished  prisoner  to  Providence,  for  wliicli  gallant  ser- 
vice Congress  presented  him  with  a  sword. 

BATTLE  OF  BENNINGTON. 

The  American  army  of  the  iiurth  at  this  time  nnnihered  no  more  than  four  or  five  thou- 
sand men.  It  was  under  command  of  General  Philip  Schuyler  ami  was  posted  at  Fort 
Edward.  On  came  the  British  to  this  place  and  the 
Americans  were  obliged  to  retreat  down  the  Hudson.  F'ort 
Edward  was  taken  on  the  30tli  of  July,  but  by  this  time 
the  supplies  of  Bnrgoyne's  army  began  to  fail  and  he  made 
a  pause,  sending  out  Colonels  Baum  and  Breyniann  with 
strong  detachments  to  seize  the  American  stores  at  Ben- 
nington, Vennont.  But  Colonel  John  Stark  rallied  the 
New  Hampshire  militia  and  confronted  the  enemy.  On  the 
T 5th  of  August  he  met  the  British    near    the  village  of  BEN-siNCToMivi n.i.  ..k. 

Bennington  and  on  the  following  morning  there  was  a  furious  battle.  The  Green 
Mountain  bo\s  fought  in  a  manner  to  remind  the  enemy  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill. 
Colonel  Baum's  force  instead  of  gathering  supplies  was  utterly  routed,  the  British  losing 
in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners  more  than  eight  hundred  men.  It  was  really  a  stagger- 
ing blow  to  the  invasion  and  the  country  was  thrilled  with  the  news  of  the  victor\'. 

In  the  meantime  a  still  greater  reverse  to  Burgoyne  had  occurred  in  another  part  of  the 
field.     At  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  a  large  force  of  Canadians  and   Indians  had  been 

sent  under  General  St. 
Leger  against  Fort 
Schuyler,  on  the  Mo- 
hawk. On  the  3d  of 
August  (1777)  St.  Leger 
reached  his  destination 
and  invested  the  fort 
General  Herkimer  on  the 
other  side  rallied  the 
militia  of  the  country, 
but  was  defeated  with  the 
loss  of  a  hundred  and 
si.xty  men.  About  the 
_  __^___,___..      ._,  ^_^^__^.    same  time  the  audacious 

""Y^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^if'^^^-^i^^-     ^'     Aniold  had  led  a  detach- 
<^      ,i.  '^'^^t^^^^^'^^iM^ ^^i J^'^^k^^-^^^ff^^^^^^'  ment  from    the    Hudson 

for  the  relief  of  Fort 
Schuyler,  but  he  employ- 
ed a  singular  stratagem 
to  give  the  enemy  an  exaggerated  idea  of  his  forces.  A  half-witted  boy  was  captured  and 
holes  being  cut  in  his  clothes  similar  to  the  marks  of  bullets  he  was  promised  his  freedom 
if  he  would  go  into  the  camp  of  St.  Le:!:cr  and  there  exhibit  the  rents  in  his  coat  in  proof 
of  the  narrowness  of  his  escape  and  represent  the  .\mericans  as  leaves  for  number.  This 
the  boy  did  with  such  dramatic  effect  that  the  Indian  allies  of  St.  I^egcr  broke  and  fled. 
The  British  commauler,  dismayed  at  their  treachery  and  cowardice,  raised  the  siege  and 
retreated.    This  news  also  was  borne  to  Burgo\iic  at  Fort  K  Iward. 


THE    ALARM    AT   FORT   SCHrVI.KR. 


488 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


BURGOVNl.'S    (_AMr    ON    THE    HUDSON. 


Having  failed  in  these  two  efforts  to  gather  supplies  from  the  invaded  country  Burgoyue 
was  now  obliged  to  halt  for  a  month  while  military  stores  and  provisions  were  brought  down 
from  Canada.  Reports  from  every  field  of  action  being  favorable  the  patriots  gathered 
courage  with  each  day  and  rallied  to  the  standard  of  General  Schuyler,  until  his  force  num- 
bered nine  thousand  men,  thus  equalling  the  strength  of  the  enemy.  General  Lincoln 
arrived  with  the  militia  of  New  England.  Washington  sent  to  the  north  several  detach- 
ments from  the  regular  army.  Colonel  Daniel  Morgan  came  witli  his  division  of  riflemen 
from  the  South — verj'  dangerous  men  in  battle.     General  Horatio  Gates  superseded  Schuyler 

in  command  of  the  northern  army.  By  the  beginning  of 
fall  the  Americans  were  able  to  assume  the  offensive  and 
on  the  8th  of  September  Gates's  headquarters  were 
advanced  as  far  as  Stillwater.  At  Bemis's  Heights,  a 
short  distance  north  of  this  place,  a  camp  was  laid  out 
and  fortified  under  direction  of  the  noted  Polish  engineer 
and  patriot,  Thaddeus  Kosciusko. 

THE   DEFEAT  AND  CAPTURE   OF    BURGOYNE. 

Already  Burgoyne  perceived  before  him  a  pathway 
of  hazardous  battles;  but  he  must  advance  or  ingloriously 
recede.  On  the  14th  of  September  he  crossed  the  Hudson  and  took  post  at  Saratoga. 
Now  the  two  annies  came  face  to  face.  On  the  19th  a  general  battle  ensued,  continuing 
until  nightfall.  The  conflict  though  severe  was  indecisive;  but  indecision  with  the 
Americans  was  victor}-.  The  latter  retired  within  their  lines  and  the  British  slept  on  the 
neld.  The  condition  of  Burgoyne  momentarily  grew  more  critical.  His  supplies  failed. 
His  Canadian  and  Indian  allies  deserted  his  standard.  His  forces  wasted  away  while  those 
of  his  antagonist  constantly  increased. 

By  this  time  it  became  known  at  New  York  that  the  British  anny  of  tlie  north  was 
imperiled.  General  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  the  commander-in-chief,  made  most  unwearied 
efforts  to  save  Burgoyne  from  impending  disaster.  He  organized  an 
expedition,  sailed  up  the  Hudson  and  captured  Forts  Clinton  and 
Montgomery ;  but  nothing  further  could  be  accomplished.  The 
diversion  failed  and  Burgoyne  became  desperate.  On  the  7th  of 
October  he  hazarded  another  battle  in  which  he  lost  several  of  his 
bravest  officers  and  nearly  se\-en  hundred  privates.  The  accom- 
plished British  General  Frasier,  who  commanded  the  right  wing  of 
Burgoyne' s  army,  was  killed  on  the  field.  His  men  disheartened  at  his 
fall,  turned  and  fled.  On  the  American  side  General  Arnold  was 
the  inspiring  genius  of  the  battle.  The  result  of  the  engagement 
was   a   complete   victory  for  the  Americans. 

Burgoyne  must  now  retreat.  He  began  a  retro^ade  movement 
and  two  days  after  the  battle  reached  Saratoga.  Here  he  was 
intercepted  by  Gates  and  Lincoln  and  the  game  was  up.  Nothing 
remained  but  capitulation  or  destruction.  On  the  17th  of  the  month  the  tenns  offered 
by  General  Gates  were  accepted  by  Burgoyne,  and  the  whole  British  arm\-,  numbering  five 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-one  men,  became  prisoners  of  war.  Among  the 
captives  were  six  members  of  the  British  Parliament!  Forty-two  pieces  of  brass 
artillery,    five  thousand    muskets    and     an    immense    quantity-  of  stores  were    the   added 


SCENE  OF  BURGOYNE'S 
INVASION. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBL\. 


IS'.l 


fruits  of    the    victon-.       The    o^eat  invasion  had   ended  in  disaster    to  tiie  British  canse, 
overwhelming,  total  and  final. 

After  the  surrender,  with  rare  magnanimity  General  Gates  invited  Burgoyne  and  the 
otlter  captive  officers  to  join  him  at  his  head- 
quarters, which  was  a  modest  farm-house  of 
inconsiderable  size  and  accept  his  hospitalities. 
The  scene  which  followed  has  few  examples 
in  histor)'.  A  magnificent  dinner  was  pre- 
pared at  which  Gates  acted  as  host,  and  re- 
garding the  English  officers  as  his  guest,  he 


SrRRKNDKR   OI"    BirRGOVNE. 


treated  them  with 
the  most  profuse 
cordiality,  w  h  i  c  h 
mitigated  the  humi- 
liation of  their  de- 
feat so  far  that  they 
drank  several  hcart\' 


bumpers  to  the  health  alike  of  their  host  and  magnauim<ju>  victor. 

Jn  another  part  of  the  field,  however,  affairs  had  not  gone  well  for  the  Americans. 


la 


490 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


GATES'S  HEADQUARTERS,  WHERE  HE  BANQUETED 
BURGOYNE  AFTER   HIS  SURRENDER. 


the  south  a  great  campaign  had  been  in  progress  during  the  summer  and  the  patriots 
were  sorely  pressed.  On  the  23d  of  July  (1777)  General  Howe  with  eigliteen  thousand  men 
had  sailed  from  New  York  for  an  attack  on  Philadelphia.  The  plan  of  a  land  campaign 
across  New  Jersey  was  now  abandoned  for  an  expedition  by  .sea  and  up  the  Ba\-  of  Dela- 
ware. The  Americans,  however,  had  obstructed  that  water  and  the  British  General,  chano-- 
ing  his  plan,  entered  the  Chesapeake  with  the  design  of  reaching  the  head  of  the  bay  and 
from  that  point  making  the  attack  by  land. 

In  order  to  meet  this  danger  Washington  advanced  his  headquarters  from  Philadelphia 
to  Wilmington.      At  that  place  he  drew  in  the  detachments  of  his  arnn-  to  the  number  of 

nearly  twelve  thousand  men.  The  forces  of 
General  Howe  were  vastly  superior,  but  Washing- 
ton was  not  without  hope  that  he  might  be  able 
to  beat  back  the  invaders  and  save  the  capital. 
BATTLE  OF  THE  BRANDYWINE. 
The  British  squadron  made  its  way  into  the 
Chesapeake  to  the  headwaters  of  the  bay  and  the 
troops  were  landed  at  Elk  River  in  Maryland. 
PVom  that  point  the  invasion  was  begun  overland 
in  the  direction  of  Philadelphia.  Washington 
placed  himself  in  the  path  of  the  enemy  and  selected 
the  small  river  Brandywine  as  his  line  of  defence. 
He  stationed  the  left  wing  of  his  arnu-  at  a  crossine 
called  Chadd's  Ford,  while  the  right,  under  General  Sullivan,  was  extended  for  some 
distance  up  the  river,  for  Washington  could  not  discover  with  certainty  at  what  point 
the  enemy  would  attempt  to  cross.  On  the  nth  of  September  the  British  reached 
the  Brandywine  and  a  battle  was  begun.  The  Hessians,  under  command  of  Knyphausen, 
attacked  the  American  left  at  the  ford  ;  but  the  main  division  of  the  British,  led  by 
Cornwallis  and  Howe,  marched  up  the  right  bank  of  the  Brandywine  and  crossed 
at  a  point  be\-ond  the  American  right.  General  Sullivan  was  thus  outflanked.  Wash- 
ington was  misled  by  false  information  ;  the  right  wing  was  broken  in  by  a  charge  of 
Cornwallis,  and  the  day  was  hopelessly  lost.  A  retreat  ensued  during  the  night  and  the 
Americans  drew  off  in  tolerable  order  to  West  Chester. 

The  loss  of  the  ,\mericans  in  the  battle  of  the  Brandywine  amounted  to  a  thousand 
men  ;  that  of  the  British  to  five  hundred  and  eighty-four.  General  Lafayette  was  severely 
wounded.  Count  Pulaski  so  distinguished  himself  in  this  engagement  that  Congress 
honored  him  with  the  rank  of  Brigadier.  Washington  continued  his  retreat  from  West 
Chester  across  the  Schuylkill  to  Germantown.  On  the  15th  of  September,  however,  he 
recrossed  the  river  and  joined  battle  with  Howe  at  Warren's  tavern.  The  engagement 
opened  with  a  spirited  skirmish  and  it  was  believed  by  both  commanders  that  a  decisive  action 
was  at  hand  ;  but  jnst  at  the  beginning  of  the  conflict  a  violent  tempest  of  wind  and 
rain  swept  over  the  field  and  the  combatants  were  deluged.  Their  cartridges  were 
soaked  and  fighting  was  made  impossible.  Washington,  however,  still  attempted  to  keep 
between  the  British  and  the  cit\-  ;  but  General  Howe  succeeded  in  crossing  the  Sclunlkill 
and  hastened  onward  to  Philadeljjhia.  On  the  26th  of  September  the  cit>-  was  taken  with- 
out resistance  and  the  main  division  of  the  British  arm\-  was  quartered  at  Germantown. 

THE  FIGHT  FOR  GERMANTOWN. 
Tlie  loss  of  Philadelphia  again   made  it  necessary  for  Congress  to  remove  its  sittings. 
That  body  adjourned  first  to  Lancaster  and  afterwards  to   York,   where  it  continued    to 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


4!tl 


hold  its  sessions  until  the  next  snnuner.  The  American  headqnarters  were  established  on 
Skippack  creek,  abont  twenty  miles  from  the  city.  Thongh  the  British  had  possession  of 
Philadelphia,  Washington,  after  his  manner,  was  on  the  alert  to  strike  a  blow  that  might 
again,  as  in  the  case  of  Trenton  and  Princeton,  reverse  the  condition  of  the  contending 
parties.  This  he  attempted  to  do  on  the  night  of  the  3d  of  October,  at  (iennantown,  a 
snburb  on  the  uortli  of  Philadelphia. 

The  movement,  however,  was  impeded  by  tlie  ronghness  of  the  roads.  The  advancing 
colnmns  reached  their  destination  at  irregnlar  intervals  and  the  British  ontposts  were  thus 
able  to  concentrate  and  offer  battle.  The  surprise  was  a  failure  ;  but  there  was  much  severe 
fighting  and  at  one  time  it  seemed  that  the  British  would  be  overwhelmed.  In  the  crisis 
of  the  battle,  however,  the\-  gained  possession  of  a  large  stone  mansion,  the  residence  of 
Judge  Chew,  and  could 
not  be  dislodged.  The 
Americans  fought 
valiantly  in  their  attempt 
to  storm  this  position,  but 
the  tide  of  battle  turned 
against  them  and  the 
day  was  lost.  Of  the 
Americans  about  a  thou- 
sand were  killed,  wounded 
and  missing,  while  the 
total  British  loss  was  br.t 
five  hundred  and  thirt>  - 
five.   • 

Thus  far,  though  ihu 
British  held  the  capital, 
their  position  was  pre- 
carious, or  at  least  uncomfortable,  from  the  fact  that  the  Americans  held  control  of  the 
river  Delaware.  Two  forts,  Mercer  and  Mifflin,  below  Philadelphia,  were  garrisoned  by  the 
Americans,  and  the  guns  of  the  bastions  were  sufficient  to  connnand  the  river.  On  the 
22d  of  October  Fort  Mercer  was  attacked  by  a  Hessian  force  twelve  hundred  strong,  led 
by  Count  Dunop  ;  but  the  assault  was  unsuccessful.  Nearly  one-third  of  those  engaged 
in  it  fell  before  the  .\nierican  entrenchments.  Coincidenth-  with  this  affair  the  British 
fleet  made  an  attack  on  Fort  Mifflin,  on  Mud  Island.  This  place  they  besieged  until 
the  15th  of  November,  when  the  fortress  becoming  untenable  was  set  on  fire  and  thc 
garrison  escaped  to  Fort  Mercer.  On  the  20th  of  the  month  this  place  also  was  aban- 
doned to  the  British,  and  General   Howe  at  last  obtained  full  control  of  the  Delaware. 

.\fter  the  unsuccessful  attack  on  Germantown  Washington  withdrew  beyond  the 
Schuylkill  to  a  place  called  White  Marsh  and  there  established  his  headquarters.  The 
patriots  began  at  this  time  to  .suffer  for  both  food  and  clothing.  The  colonies  failed  to 
send  forward  the  requisite  supplies  for  the  snjjport  of  the  army.  Meanwhile  the  British, 
thongh  winter  had  set  in,  laid  a  plan  to  surprise  Washington  in  his  camp  and  over- 
whelm him  and  his  forces.  General  Howe  held  a  council  of  war  on  the  evening  of  the 
2d  of  December  at  the  house  of  Lydia  Darrah,  in  Phihuklphia,  and  there  the  arrange- 
ments were  made  to  march  out  and  attack  the  Americans.  But  Mrs.  Darrah,  who 
overheard  the  plans  of   Howe,   left    the  city  on    pretence  of  going    to  the  mill,    rode  to 


BATTLE   OF   CKRMANTOWN — ATTACK   ON   CHEW'S    HOUSE. 


492 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  American  lines  and  gave  the  alarm.  When,  on  the  morning  of  the  4th,  the  British 
approached  the  American  camp  at  White  Marsh  they  found  the  cannon  mounted  and 
the  patriots  in  order  of  battle.  The  preparation  was  so  complete  that  Howe  did  not 
dare  to  make  the  attack.  For  four  days  he  manoeuvred  in  the  hope  of  striking  a  blow, 
but  was  then  obliged  to  march  back  without  an  action  to  Philadelphia. 
SUFFERINGS  OF  WASHINGTON'S  ARMY  AT  VALLEY  FORGE. 
Winter  now  set  in  severely,  and  Washington  established  his  quarters  at  a  place  called 
Valley  Forge,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Schuylkill.  But  the  situation  was  desperate.  The 
supplies  were  short.  Thousands  of  the  soldiers  had  no  shoes,  and  in  man)'  cases  the  frozen 
ground  was  marked  with  their  bloody  footprints.  Log  cabins  were  hastih'  built  for  pro- 
tection, and  everything  was  done  that  could  be  done  to  secure  the  comfort  of  the  suffering 
patriots  ;  but  it  was  a  long,  dreary  winter.  These  were  perhaps  the  darkest  days  of  Wash- 
ington's life.  There  was  a  reaction  in  the  public  mind  against  him  and  his  management 
of  the  patriot  cause.  This  unjust  sentiment  found  its  way  into  Congress,  and  that  body  in 
a  measure  abandoned  him.  The  success  of  the  Army  of  the  North  under  Gates  was 
invidiously  compared  with  the  reverses  of  the  Arm\-  of  the  South.      Many  men  high  in 

militar\'  and  civil  station  left  the  great  leader  unsupported  ; 
but  the  army  remained  true  in  its  allegiance.  The  clouds  at 
length  began  to  break  and  the  nation's  confidence  in  the  chief- 
tain became  stronger  than  ever.  At  the  close  of  the  year, 
however,  the  cause  of  independence  was  still  obscured  with 
clouds  and  thick  darkness. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  friendliness  of 
France  to  the  new  republic.  Never  were  sympathy  and  sup- 
encampment  at  valley  forge,  port  more  needed.  From  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  Ameri- 
cans, knowing  the  traditional  enmity  existing  between  the  French  and  the  English,  had 
hoped  for  an  alliance  with  the  former  against  the  latter.  As  early  as  November,  1776, 
Silas  Deane,  of  Connecticut,  had  been  appointed  commissioner  of  the  United  States  to 
the  court  of  Louis  XVI.  The  French  King  was  then  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign  ; 
it  was  known  that  he  desired  the  success  of  the  American  cause,  and  was  willing, 
at  least  by  indirection,  to  contribute  to  that  result.  On  the  arrival  of  Deane  at  Ver- 
sailles he  succeeded  in  making  a  secret  arrangement  with  the  French  ministry-  for  the 
supply  of  the  Americans  with  materials  for  carrying  on  the  war.  In  the  autumn  of 
1777  a  ship  laden  with  two  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  anns,  ammunition  and 
specie  was  sent  to  America.  Almost  as  valuable  as  this  large  contribution  to  the 
military'  resources  of  the  patriots  was  the  Baron  Frederick  William  of  Steuben,  who 
came  in  the  same  ship  with  the  French  supplies,  and  was  soon  afterwards  commiss- 
ioned by  Congress  as  inspector-general  of  the  army.  In  this  relation  he  was  of  the 
greatest  ser\'ice  to  the  cause,  for  he  was  a  man  not  only  of  great  abilities,  but  of  wide 
experience  in  the  management  and  supply  of  military-  forces. 

Soon  after  the  departure  of  Deane,  Arthur  Lee  and  Benjamin  Franklin  were  appointed 
by  Congress  to  go  to  Paris,  and  if  possible  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  the  French 
King.  They  reached  their  destination  in  December  of  1776  ;  but  the  reader  will  recall  the 
low  ebb  of  fortune  to  which  the  American  cause  at  that  time  had  fallen.  For  this  rr.son 
Louis  XVI.  and  his  ministers  were  wary-  of  making  a  treaty  with  what  appeared  to  be  a 
sinking  State.  Nevertheless,  on  account  of  their  hatred  of  Great  Britain  they  continued 
to  give  .secret  encouragement  to  the  colonies.      .\n   open  treah"  with  the  Americans  would 


COLUiMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


403 


be  equivalent  to  a  war  with  England,  and  that  the  French  court  was  at  this  time  slow  to 
undertake  ;  but  private  sympathy  and  secret  aid  to  the  Americans  could  be  given  without 
imperiling  the  general  peace  of  Western  Europe. 

FRANKLIN  NEGOTIATES  AN  ALLIANCE  WITH  FRANCE. 
It  was  in  this  peculiar  juncture  of  affairs  and  condition  of  opinion  and  policy  that  the 
genius  of  Dr.  Franklin  shone  with  a  peculiar  lustre.  At  the  gay  court  of  Louis  XVI.  lie 
appeared  as  the  representative  of  his  countr>-.  His  gigantic  intellect,  his  reputation  in 
science  and  his  personal  manners  soon  won  for  him  at  the  French  capital  an  immense 
reputation.  His  wit  and  genial  humor  made  him  admired  ;  his  humanit>-  and  courteous 
bearing  commanded  universal  respect  ;  his  patience  and  perseverance  gave  him  final 
success.  He  became  at  length  the  idol  of  the  French  people.  During  the  whole  of  1777 
he  remained  at  Paris  and  Versailles,  leaving  nothing  undone  that  might  conduce  to  the 
cause  of  his  country'. 

At  last  came  the  news  of  Burgoyne's  surrender.  Franklin  was  enabled  to  infonn  the 
French  ministers  that  a  powerful   British  anny  had  been  conquered  and  captured  b\-  the 

colonists  without  aid 
from  abroad.  This 
marked  success  of  the 
American  anns  and 
the  influence  of  the 
French  minister  of 
finance,  Beaumarchais, 
who  for  several  years 
had  been  in  corre- 
spondence with  the 
American  agents 
abroad,  induced  the 
King  to  accept  the 
proposed  alliance  with 
the  colonies.  On  the 
6th  of  Febniar>-,  .1778, 
a  treaty  was  c  o  n  - 
eluded.  France  acknowledged  the  independence  of 
the  United  States,  and  entered  into  relations  of  friend- 
ship with  the  new  nation.  The  event  was  of  vast 
moment,  for  it  presaged  the  final  success  of  the 
.\inerican  cause.  It  was  perceived  at  a  glance  through- 
out the  civilized  world  that  France  had  virtually  token  up  the  gauntlet,  and  that  Great 
Britain,  in  the  multitude  of  her  enemies,  must  ultimately  vield,  at  lca.st  to  the  extent 
of  acknowledging  the  independence  of  the  .\merican  States. 

This  work,  so  far  as  human  agency  was  concerned,  was  attributable  to  Benjamin 
Franklin.  He  was  the  author  of  the  treaty— first  compact  between  the  new  United  States 
and  a  foreign  nation.  Franklin  was  at  this  time  already  an  old  man.  according  to  the  law 
of  nature.  He  was  in  his  seventy-third  year,  having  been  boni  in  Boston  on  the  17th  of 
Tannar>-,  1706.  His  father  was  a  manufacturer  of  soap  and  candles.  At  the  age  of  twelve 
the  boy  Benjamin  was  apprenticed  to  his  elder  brother  to  learn  the  art  of  printing.  In 
1723  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  entered  a  printing  office,  and  soon  rase  to  distinction.      He 


IN  CAMP   AT  VALLEY    FORGE. 


494  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

visited  England,  resided  a  while  in  London,  returned  to  Philadelphia,  founded  the  first 
circulating  librar\-  in  America,  edited  Poor  Richard's  A/»iaiiac — wisest  book  of  proverbs 
since  the  days  of  Solomon  ;  became  a  man  of  science  ;  discovered  the  identit}-  of  electricity 
and  lightning  ;  prepared  a  constitution  for  the  united  colonies  as  early  as  1755  ;  espoused 
the  patriot  cause  ;  became  the  greatest  representative  of  his  country-  abroad,  and  devoted 
his  old  age  to  perfecting  the  American  Union.  To  the  end  of  days  Benjamin  Franklin 
w'ill  perhaps  remain  the  most  tjpical  American  of  all  his  countrj-men.  Yet  great  as  he  was, 
his  grave  in  Philadelphia  is  marked  by  nothing  more  than  a  simple  slab  of  stone,  from 
which  the  inscription  is  almost  effaced. 

Congress  made  haste  to  ratif}-  the  advantageous  treaty  with  France.  Already-  a  month 
previously,  namely,  in  April,  1778,  a  French  fleet  under  Count  d'Estaing  had  been 
despatched  to  America.  Both  France  and  Great  Britain  immediately  prepared  for  war  on 
an  extended  scale.  At  this  juncture  Great  Britain  would  gladly  have  made  peace  with  the 
Americans  on  any  tenns  consistent  with  their  return  to  allegiance  and  loyalty  to  the  English 
ciown.  The  King  himself  became  willing  to  treat  with  his  American  subjects.  Lord 
North,  now  at  the  head  of  the  ministr}-,  brought  forward  two  bills  in  which  ever\-thing 
which  the  colonists  had  claimed  was  conceded.  The  bills  were  passed  b}-  Parliament 
and  the  King  gave  his  assent.  Commissioners  were  sent  to  America,  but  Congress 
courageously  informed  them  that  an  acknowledgment  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  was  a  necessary  preliminary^  to  negotiations.  Nothing  short  of  that  would  now  be 
accepted  by  the  new  Republic.  It  thus  happened  that  the  obstinac\-  of  George  III.  and 
his  ministers  during  the  last  four  years  had  conduced  to  the  ultimate  success  of  the 
American  struggle  for  independence  and  to  the  enlargement  of  the  civil  liberties  of  mankind. 

IN   HOT  PURSUIT  OF  THE  BRITISH. 

Owing  to  these  attempted  negotiations,  military  operations  were  not  oi^ened  with 
alacrity  in  the  spring  of  1778.  The  British  army  remained  at  Philadelphia  until  the  month 
of  June.  The  fleet  of  Admiral  Howe  lay  in  the  Delaware.  When  it  was  learned,  however, 
that  the  squadron  of  Count  d'Estaing  had  sailed  for  America,  Admiral  Howe  withdrew 
from  his  position  in  support  of  his  brother  in  Philadelphia  and  sailed  for  New  York.  It 
was  deemed  more  important  that  the  latter  city  should  be  held  against  a  possible  attack  of 
the  French,  but  general  Howe  was  unwilling  to  remain  in  Philadelphia  without  the  support 
of  his  fleet.  Accordingly,  on  the  iSth  of  June,  he  evacuated  the  cit}-  and  began  to  make 
his  way  across  New  Jersey.  Washington  at  once  marched  into  the  metropolis  and  then 
followed  the  retiring  British. 

At  IMonmouth  the  enemy  was  overtaken  on  the  27th  of  June.  On  the  following 
morning  General  Lee  was  ordered  to  make  the  attack.  The  American  cavalry,  under 
Lafayette,  leading  the  charge,  was  at  first  driven  back  by  Cornwallis.  General  Lee,  instead  of 
supporting  Lafayette,  ordered  his  line  to  retire  to  a  stronger  position.  It  appears  that  Lee's 
troops  mistook  the  nature  of  the  order  and  began  a  confused  retreat.  \\'ashington  was  by 
this  time  at  hand  in  person.  He  met  the  fugitives,  rallied  them  and  administered  a  severe 
rebuke  to  Lee.  The  battle  then  continued  in  a  desultory  and  indecisive  manner  till  night- 
fall. Such  was  the  extreme  heat  that  almost  as  many  soldiers  were  prostrated  thereb)-  as 
fell  in  the  fight.  But  Washington  anxiously  waited  for  the  morning,  still  hoping  for  a 
decisive  victory-.  During  the  night,  however,  the  British  forces  under  direction  of  Sir 
Henr\-  Clinton  were  withdrawn  and  escaped  unperceived  from  the  American  front. 

The  loss  of  the  Americans  in  the  battle  of  Monmouth  was  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  ;  that  of  the  enemy  much  greater.     The  British  left  nearly  three  hundred  dead  on 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


495 


the  field.  On  the  (la\  after  tlie  l)altle  W'ashinjrton  received  an  insulting  letter  from  General 
Lee  deniandinij  an  apoloy;y.  \\'ashinn;ton  replied  severely  that  his  lanj^naj^e  had  been 
warranted  by  the  circunistance.s.  I^e  answered  in  a  still  more  offensive  manner  and 
was  thereupon  arrested.  He  was  tried  b\-  court-martial  and  dismissed  under  reprimand  for 
one  year.  He  never  reentered  the  service  and  did  not  live  to  witness  the  achievement  of 
independence.  A  thrilling  and  heroic  incident  of  this  battle  may  be  thus  briefl\-  told, 
to  the  glor\'  of  American  womanhood.  A  brave  woman  named  Mary  Pitcher  had  accom- 
panied her  husband,  a  young  artilleryman,  through  the  many  privations  of  several  cam- 
paigns and  had  distinguished  herself  at  Fort  Clinton.  During  the  engagement  at 
Monuiouth  she  employed  her  services  in  bringing  water  from  a  spring  near  the  place 
where  the  batter\-  was  planted,  and  in  refreshing  with  cool  draughts  the  powder-blackened 
men  who  W(  ■ 
handling  li 
field  guns. 
While  retuT^:.- 
i  n  g  wit  li  ,. 
bucket  filled 
with  water  she 
saw  her  hus- 
band fall  dead 
as  he  was  charg- 
ing a  giin.  In 
another  instant, 
tired  with  a  pa- 
triotic enthusi- 
asm that  repres- 
sed her  grief, 
she  .seized  the 
rammer  and 
discharged  with  ^ 
ability  and 
delity  the  duties 
which  her  hus- 
band had  per- 
formed ;  and  in 
this  station  she 

resolutel\'  re-  the  American  cavalry  charge  at  monmouth. 

mained  until  the  close  of  the  battle.      She  was  presented  to  Washington,  who  rewarded  her 
with  a  sergeant's  commi.ssion,  and  she  was  then  retired  on  half  pay  for  life. 

After  Monmouth  the  British  forces  made  their  way  to  New  York.  Washington  followed, 
and  took  up  his  headquarters  at  White  Plains.  Meanwhile  the  fleet  of  Coinit  d'Estaing 
arrived,  and  attempted  to  attack  the  Hritish  squadron  in  N'ew  York  harbor.  Hut  the  bar 
at  the  entrance  prevented  the  passage  of  his  vessels.  D'Estaing  hereupon  withdrew  and 
made  a  descent  on  Rhfxle  Lsland.  (ieneral  Sullivan  was  sent  to  cooperate  with  D'Estaing 
ill  an  attack  on  Newport.  The  American  forces  were  brought  into  position,  and  on  the 
9tli  of  August  Sullivan  informed  his  ally  of  his  readiness  for  battle  on  the  next  day.  On 
that  morning,  however,  the  fleet  of  Admiral  Howe  came  in  sight  and  D'Estaing  .sailed  out 


496  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

to  give  battle  to  that  enemy  on  his  own  element.  But  just  as  the  two  sqtiadrons  were 
about  to  begin  a  naval  battle  a  ^torni  arose  by  which  the  fleets  were  parted  and  both  greatly- 
damaged.      D'Estaing  sailed  for  Boston  for  repairs  and  Howe  returned  to  New  York. 

As  for  General  Sullivan,  he  undertook  a  siege  of  Newport  without  the  cooperation 
of  the  French  fleet,  but  was  soon  obliged  to  withdraw.  The  British  followed  in  pursuit 
and  a  battle  was  fought  in  which  the  enemy  was  worsted,  with  a  loss  of  two  hundred  and 
sixty  men.  On  the  following  night  Sullivan  made  good  his  withdrawal  from  the  island 
and  General  Clinton  returned  to  New  York. 

OUTRAGES   BY  GUERRILLAS  AND  INDIANS. 

At  this  time  the  command  of  all  the  British  naval  forces  operating  on  the  American 
coasts  was  given  to  Admiral  Byron.  The  year  1778  was  noted  for  many  irregular  and 
desultory  episodes  of  warfare  not  very  creditable  to  those  engaged,  and  having  but  little 
general  effect  upon  the  progress  of  the  Revolution.  Early  in  October  a  band  of  guerrillas 
led  by  Colonel  Ferguson  burned  the  American  ships  at  Little  Egg  Harbor.  Already  in 
the  preceeding  July  the  Tory,  Major  John  Butler,  commanding  sixteen  hundred  loyalists, 
Canadians  and  Indians  marched  into  the  Valley  of  Wyoming,  Pennsylvania.  The  settle- 
ment was  defenceless.  On  the  approach  of  the  Tories  and  savages,  a  few  militia,  old  men 
and  boys,  rallied  to  protect  their  homes.  A  battle  was  fought,  and  the  patriots  without 
discipline  or  efficient  command  were  routed.  The  fugitives  fled  into  a  rude  fort  which 
they  had  erected  and  which  was  soon  crowded  not  only  with  the  militia,  but  with  the 
women  and  children  of  the  settlement.  Honorable  terras  were  promised  by  Butler,  and 
the  garrison  capitulated.  On  the  5th  of  July  the  gates  were  opened  and  the  Canadians 
entered  followed  by  the  Indians.  The  latter  and  some  of  the  former  immediately  began  to 
plunder  and  kill.  The  passion  of  butchery  rose  with  the  work  and  nearly  all  the  prisoners 
fell  under  the  hatchet  and  the  scalping-knife. 

Four  months  later  a  similar  massacre  occurred  at  Cherry  Valley,  New  York.  The 
invaders  in  this  instance  were  led  by  the  celebrated  Joseph  Brandt,  the  half-breed  chief  of 
the  Mohawks,  and  by  Walter  Butler,  a  son  of  Mayor  John  Butler.  The  people  of  Cherry 
Valley  were  driven  from  their  homes  without  mercy.  Women  and  children  were  toma- 
hawked and  scalped,  and  forty  prisoners  carried  into  captivity  by  the  Indians.  To  avenge 
these  outrages  an  expedition  was  organized  and  sent  against  the  savages  on  the  Susque- 
hanna; these  in  their  turn  were  made  to  feel  the  terrors  of  lawless  war. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  preceding  spring,  Major  George  Rogers  Clarke  had  marched  against 
the  Indians  west  of  the  AUeghanies.  The  expedition  descended  the  Ohio  nearly  to  the 
juncture  of  that  stream  with  the  Mississippi.  On  the  4th  of  July,  Clarke,  having 
marched  with  his  command  across  the  lower  Illinois,  captured  Kaskaskia.  Other  important 
posts  were  taken,  and  on  the  24th  of  February,  1779,  Vincennes,  the  last  stronghold  of  the 
British  in  the  country  of  the  Wabash  was  forced  to  capitulate. 

The  year  was  marked  by  more  than  a  score  of  thrilling  episodes  in  which  brave  fron- 
tiersmen either  perished  in  defence  of  their  homes  or  exhibited  extraordinary  courage  in 
successful  efforts  to  beat  back  the  savages.  Among  the  more  distinguished  heroes  of  this 
period  were  the  Bradys  and  Wetzels,  whose  valorous  deeds  have  served  to  perpetuate  their 
names  until  the  annals  that  describe  the  redemption  of  America  from  barbarism  are  no 
longer  printed.  The  Bradys  were  singularly  marked  as  victims  of  Indian  savagery.  Cap- 
tain John  Brady,  a  brave  pioneer,  was  assassinated  by  three  Indians  as  he  was  riding  along 
a  highway.     James,  the  son  of  John  Brady,  with  three  companions,  was  set  upon  by  a  com- 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


407 


pany  of  Indians;  his  comrades  deserted  at  tlie  first  signs  of  dangler,  bnt  he  stood  his 
ground  and  disdaining  all  overtures  for  surrender,  fought  with  his  back  to  a  tree  until  ten 
bullets  from  guns  of  his  enemies  extinguished  his  brave  life. 

An  elder  brother,  named  Samuel,  swore  to  avenge  the  death  of  James  and  thereafter 
devoted  many  years  to  satisfying  his  vengeance,  in  which  service  he  rose  to  the  vcr\-  pinna- 
cle of  fame  as  a  scout  of  unexampled  daring,  who  passed  through  perils  greater  and  more 
numerous  perhaps  than  beset  any  other  pioneer. 

HEROISM  OF  THE  WETZELS. 

Equally  famous  as  the  Brad>s  were  the  Wetzel  brothers,  whose  dashing  daring  has 
been  made  the  subject  of  many  a  thrilling  UiK of  a  Iventure  with  Indians.  The  father, 
John  Wetzel,  an  honest  plodding 
Dutchman,  built  a  cabin  in  the 
Ohio  valley,  but  he  had  scarcely 
become  settled  and  began  clear- 
ing some  of  his  ground  wlien 
one  day  while  working  in  tli. 
woods  he  was  pitilessly  murdered 
by  lurking  savages.  Though  a 
man  indisposed  to  strife  him- 
self he  was  father  to  five  sons 
who  became  desperadoes  in 
their  unappeasable  thirst  for 
a  bloody  vengeance.  The  eldest 
of  these,  named  Martin,  was 
soon  after  made  captive  by  a 
band  of  Indians  to  whose  life  he 
adapted  himself  in  order  the 
more  effectually  to  satisfy  his  de- 
sire for  vengeance.  While  thus 
living  on  apparently  aniiabU 
tenns  with  the  tribe  into  which 
he  was  adopted  he  contrived  to 
kill  no  less  than  twentj-  beforr 
his  criminal  intents  were  dis- 
covered, and  by  this  time  he  hai 
retreated  and  was  a  leader  of 
the  settlers.  Each  of  the 
brothers  in  turn  became  a 
sleuth-hound  upon  the  tracks 
of  the  Indians,  slaying  at  every 
opportunity  and   ever  demand- 


THE  DEATH   OF  JAMES   BRADY. 


ing  the  blood  of  atonement  for  their  father's  slaughter. 

The  youngest  of  the  Wetzels  was  Lewis  and  he  was  the  most  implacable  oi  the 
five.  So  great  was  his  thirst  for  vengeance  that  when  in  1787-SS  efTurls  were  made  by 
General  Hannar  to  make  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Indians,  Lewis  opposed  such  temporiz- 
ing measures  and  with  many  other  settlers  preferred  to  have  the  war  go  on  until  the  .savages 
were  exterminated.  When,  therefore,  a  council  was  called  at  Fort  Harmar,  Wetzel  waylaid 
32 


498 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


and  shot  an  Indian  who  was  on  the  way  to  the  treat}-  ground.  This  act  created  such  intense 
indignation  that  General  Harniar  set  a  price  ujDon  Wetzel's  head,  which  incentive  prompted 
a  company  of  soldiers  to  set  out  upon  his  tracks  and  after  a  week's  pursuit  the}- arrested 
him  while  he  was  sleeping  in  the  house  of  a  friend.  Securing  him  with  heavy  manacles 
they  carried  the  desperate  Indian  hunter  back  to  tlie  fort,  where  he  was  kept  under  a  close 
guard  for  some  weeks.  At  length  relaxing  somewhat  his  severity  under  specious  promises 
of  the  prisoner  General  Harmar  permitted  Lewis  to  exercise  about  the  fort,  but  always  under 
strict  surveillance  of  two  or  more  guards  and  never  without  handcuffs  upon   his  wrist.      On 

one  occasion,  however,  Wetzel 


seized  the  small  opportunity 
offered  for  his  escape  and  made 
a  surprising  dash  for  liberty. 
The  guards  were  quick  to 
detect  his  bold  manoeuvre  and 
each  fired  at  the  fugitive  but 
without  effect.  Running  like 
a  deer  Wetzel  plunged  into  a 
thicket,  baffled  all  pursuit  and 
managed  to  cross  the  Ohio, 
where  he  met  a  friend  who 
relieved  him  of  his  fetters  and 
he  returned  to  his  old  vocation 
of  killing  Indians.  Subse- 
quently he  was  again  arrested, 
but  the  settlers  rallied  to  his 
defence  and  threatened  an  in- 
surrection if  he  was  not  re- 
leased. Under  this  pressure 
the  court  granted  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  and  again  he 
was  free.  He  was  the  hero  of 
m  a  n  v  escapades  thereafter 
which  were  by  no  means 
J  creditable  to  his  reputation  as 
an  Indian  fighter,  iDut  desper- 
ado as  he  was,  Lewis  Wetzel 
died  a  natural  death  at  Wheel- 
ing in  the  summer  of  1 808. 
Bv  the  autumn  of  the 
year  1779  the  naval  contest  had  drifted  somewhat  abroad.  On  the  3d  of  November, 
Count  D'Estaing's  fleet  sailed  for  the  West  Indies.  In  December,  Admiral  Byron 
finding  little  to  occupy  his  restless  fancy  and  ambitions  at  New  York,  sailed  away 
to  try  the  fortunes  of  war  on  the  high  seas.  As  to  movements  by  land.  Colonel 
Campbell,  with  two  thousand  men,  was  sent  by  General  Clinton  for  the  conquest  of  Georgia. 
On  the  29th  of  December  the  expedition  reached  Savannah.  Georgia  was  by  much  the 
weakest  of  all  the  colonies.  Savannah  was  defended  by  a  garrison  of  eight  hundred  men  under 
command  of  General  Robert  Howe.     The  British  attacked  it  and  the  Americans  were  soon 


THE  ESCAPE  OF  LEWIS  WElZEIv 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  499 

driven  out  of  the  city.  The  patriots  retreated  into  South  Carolina,  and  found  refuge  at 
Charleston.  This,  however,  proved  to  be  the  onl\-  real  conquest  made  by  the  British  during 
the  year — a  conquest  sufBciently  insignificant. 

REVERSES    TO  THE  AMERICAN   CAUSE. 

The  American  Army  Went  into  winlcr-qiuuur.-.  lur  1 778-' 79  at  Middle  Brook,  New 
Jersey.  There  was  much  discouragement,  much  discontent  among  the  patriot  soldiers,  for 
they  were  neither  paid  nor  fed.  Time  and  again  the  personal  influence  of  Washington  was 
required  to  prevent  a  general  mutiu\-.  In  February  of  1779  Go\-ernoi  Tryon,  of  Xew  York, 
a  Tory  of  the  Tories,  marched  with  fifteen  hundred  men  against  the  salt-works  at  Horse 
Neck,  Connecticut.  Old  General  Putnan  rallied  the  militia  of  the  countr\',  and  made  a 
brave  defence;  but  the  Americans  were  outflanked  b>-  the  enemy  and  obliged  to  fly.  It  was 
here  that  General  Putnam,  when  about  to  be  overtaken,  spurred  his  horse  down  a  precipice 
and  escaped. 

With  the  opening  of  spring  General  Sir  Henry  Clinton  looked  around  for  a  field  of 
operations.  In  the  latter  part  of  j\Iay  he  sent  an  army  up  the  Hudson  to  Stony  Point,  a 
fortress  commanding  the  river.  The  garrison,  unable  to  resist  the  overwhelming  forces  of 
the  British,  made  good  their  escape  from  the  fortifications.  On  the  ist  of  June,  the  British 
also  captured  Verplancks  Point,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Hudson.  In  July,  Governor 
Tryon,  with  twenty-six  hundred  Hessians  and  Tories,  made  a  sudden  descent  on  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  and  compelled  a  surrender.  The  towns  of  East  Haven  and  Fairfield 
were  set  on  fire  and  burned  to  ashes.  One  of  the  traditions  of  the  day  runs  to  the  effect 
that,  at  Norwalk,  Tr)on  having  ordered  the  burning  of  the  village,  sat  in  a  rocking-chair  on 
a  neighboring  hill  and  laughed  heartily  at  the  scene. 

It  was  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Americans  that  Stony  Point,  commanding  the 
central  Hudson,  should  be  held  by  the  British.  Washington  accordingly  planned  its  recap- 
ture from  the  enem>-.  To  this  work  he  assigned  General  Anthony  Wajne.  That  officer  on 
the  15th  of  July,  1779,  marched  against  the  stronghold,  and  in  the  evening  halted  near  the 
fort  His  movements  had  not  been  discovered  by  the  British.  Wayne  was  enabled  to  make 
his  plan  of  assault  and  issue  his  orders  without  attracting  the  attention  of  the  enemv's 
pickets,  who  were  presentlj-  caught  and  gagged  in  the  darkness.  Everything  was  conducted 
in  silence.  The  muskets  of  the  Americans  were  unloaded  and  the  bayonets  fixed.  Not  a 
gun  was  to  be  fired.  Wayne  waited  until  a  little  after  midnight  before  ordering  the  assault 
The  patriots  made  the  charge  with  great  spirit,  and  scaled  the  ramparts.  The  British  find- 
ing themselves  between  two  lines  of  closing  bayonets,  cried  out  for  quarter.  Sixty-three  of 
the  enemy  fell.  The  remaining  five  hundred  and  forty-three  were  taken  prisoners.  Of  the 
Americans  only  fifteen  were  killed  and  eighty-three  wounded.  General  Wayne,  having 
secured  the  ordnance  and  stores,  destroyed    the  fort  and  marched  off"  with  his  prisoners. 

On  the  1 8th  of  July,  Major  Lee  with  a  detachment  of  patriots  captured  the  British  gar- 
rison at  Jersey  City.  On  the  25th  of  the  month  a  fleet  was  sent  to  attack  a  post  which  the 
enemy  had  established  at  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot  The  squadron  reached  its  destina- 
tion, blockaded  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  began  a  siege.  On  the  13th  of  August,  how- 
ever, a  British  squadron  appeared,  superior  in  number  of  vessels  and  equipment,  and  falling 
upon  the  American  fleet  destroyed  or  captured  the  whole. 

SUCCESSES  AND  REVERSES. 

In  the  same  summer  it  was  found  necessary  to  organize  a  campaign  against  the  Indians 
in  the  countr\-  of  the  Susquehanna.  An  expedition  of  six  hundred  men  was  cquipjied  and 
placed  under  command  of   fienerals  Sullivan   and  James  Clinton.      The   American    force 


500 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


marched  first  against  the  savages  and  Tories  who  had  fortified  themselves  at  Ehnira.  This 
place  was  besieged,  and  on  the  29th  of  August  the  enemy  was  routed  from  his  stronghold 
and  scattered  in  all  directions.  The  country  between  the  upper  Susquehanna  and  the 
Genesee  was  then  laid  waste  by  the  patriots,  who  destroyed  forty  Indian  towns  and  villages 
before  the  campaign  was  ended. 

On  the  part  of  the  enemy  some  successes  were  achieved.  On  the  9th  of  Januarj-,  1779, 
a  British  force  under  General  Prevost  attacked  and  captured  Fort  Sunbury,  on  St.  Cathe- 
rine's Sound.  Prevost  was  then  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  British  anny  in  the  south. 
A  force  of  two  thousand  regulars  and  loyalists  was  despatched  from  Savannah  for  the  cap- 
ture of  Augusta.  On  the  29th  of  January,  the  latter  city  was  taken  with  but  little  resist- 
ance. In  these  days  the  southern  colonies  were  greatly  plagued  by  the  Tor>'  partisans  of 
Great  Britain,  who  organized  in  guerilla  bands  against  their  own  countrymen.  One  of 
these  companies  under  Colonel    Boyd,   advancing  from  the  country-  districts  to  join   the 

British  at  Augusta,  was  attacked 


and  routed  by  patriots  iinder 
Colonel  Anderson.  On  the  14th 
of  February,  the  same  body  was 
again  defeated  by  Colonel  Andrew 
Pickens.  Boyd  and  several  of 
his  men  were  killed,  seventy-five 
others  were  captured,  and  five  of 
the  leading  Tories  hanged. 

In  this  manner  the  western 
half  of  Georgia  was  quickly 
recovered  by  the  patriots.  Mean- 
while a  regular  expedition  under 
General  Ashe  had  been  sent  out 
from  Charleston  to  intercept  the 
enemy.  On  the  25th  of  February, 
the  Americans  crossed  the  Savannah  and  began 
pursuit  of  the  British  Colonel  Campbell  and  his 
band  as  far  as  Brier  Creek.  At  this  stream  the 
patriots  halted,  and,  encamping  with  incaution, 
were  surrounded  by  the  British  under  General 
Prevost.  A  battle  was  fought  on  the  3d  of  March,  and  the  Americans  in  total  rout  were 
driven  in  scattered  bands  into  the  swamps.  By  this  victory  of  the  British,  Georgia  was 
again  prostrated  and  a  royal  government  was  established  over  the  State. 

The  defeat  of  General  Ashe  was  the  dispersion,  not  the  capture,  of  his  division.  The 
Americans  soon  rallied,  and  within  a  mouth  General  Lincoln,  commandant  of  Charleston, 
was  able  to  take  the  field  with  five  thousand  men.  He  proceeded  up  the  Savannah  River 
in  the  direction  of  Augusta  ;  but  at  the  same  time  his  antagonist,  General  Prevost,  crossed 
that  stream  and  marched  rapidly  against  Charleston.  General  Lincoln  was  obliged  to  turn 
back,  and  the  British  soon  made  a  hasty  retreat.  The  Americans  followed,  overtook  the 
enemy  at  a  place  called  Stone  Ferr}',  ten  miles  west  of  Charleston,  and  attacked  but  were 
repulsed  with  considerable  losses.  Prevost,  however,  avoided  battle,  and  fell  back  to 
Savannah.  From  June  until  September  military  operations  were  suspended,  for  the  season 
was  one  of  intense  heat,  and  neither  General  chose  to  follow  or  engage  the  other. 


DEFEAT   OF   THE   AMERICANS   AT  BRIER  CREEK. 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


oUl 


UNSUCCESSFUL  ATTACK  ON  SAVANNAH. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  of  affairs  that  Count  D'Estaing,  who  had  been  cruising  with  the 
French  fleet  in  the  West  Indies,  arrived  at  Charleston  to  cooperate  with  General  Lincohi  in 
the  reduction  of  Savannah.  Discovering  the  intent  of  the  Americans,  Prevost  withdrew 
his  forces  within  the  defences  of  that  city  and  stood  at  bay.  On  the  i2th  of  Stpteinbcr  the 
French,  numbering  si.x  thousand,  effected  a  landing  near  Savannah  and  advanced  to  the 
siege.  General  Lincoln,  however,  was  slow  in  arriving  before  the  city.  On  the  i6th 
D'Estaing,  acting  without  the  assistance  of  the  Americans,  fU-inandrcl  a  ^tirrtndcr  :  but 
Pre\-ost  answered  with  defiance.  A  siege  was  begun  and 
pressed  with  vigor.  The  city  was  constantly  bombarded, 
but  the  defences  were  strong  and  were  little  injured.  On 
the  23d  of  September  Lincoln  arrived,  and  D'Estaing 
entered  into  cooperation  for  the  reduction  of  the  city. 
At  length  he  notified  the  American  connnander  that  the 
place  nuist  be  taken  by  assault,  and  the  morning  of  the  9th 
of  October  was  named  as  the  time  for  the  hazardous  attack. 

Before  sunrise  on 
that  morning  the  allied 
French  and  Americans 
mo\-ed  forward  against 
the  British  redoubts.  At 
one  time  it  seemed  that 
the  works  would  be 
carried,  for  the  attack 
was  made  with  great 
spirit  and  determination. 
The  flags  of  Carolina  and 
France  were  planted  on 
the  parapet,  but  the}- 
were  soon  hurled  down 
by  the  British.  It  was 
in  the  melee  along  the 
walls  that  Sergeant  Ja'^- 
per,  the  hero  of  Fort 
Moultrie,  was  killed. 
The  allied  columns  were 
driven  back  with  fearful 
losses.      Count   Pulaski  was  stnick  with  a 


lilNi;    Till-;    SlCKAl'lS. 


grapeshot  and  borne  dying  from  the  field. 
D'Estaing  retired  on  board  the  fleet;  Lincoln  retreated  to  Charleston;  and  Savannah 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  British. 

THE  HEROISM   OF   PAUL  JONES. 

It  was  on  the  23d  of  September  in  this  year  that  Commodore  John  Paul  Jones,  cruis- 
ing off  the  coast  of  Scotland  with  a  fleet  of  French  and  .\merican  vcs.scls,  fell  in  with  a 
British  squadron,  and  a  bloody  and  famous  battle  ensued.  The  Serapis,  a  British  frigate 
of  forty-four  guns,  engaged  the  Bon  Homme  Richard,  the  flag-ship  of  Paul  Jones,  in  a 
deadly  encounter.  After  a  terrific  cannonade  the  two  ships  came  within  musket-sliot,  and 
each  was  riddled  bv  the  fire  of  the  other.     .\t  last  the  ships  were  lashed  together.     The 


502 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


Americans,  or  rather  the  crew  of  the  Bon  Homme  Richard  (for  that  crew  was  made  up  of 
many  nationalities)  boarded  the  Scrapis^  and  the  latter  was  obliged  in  blood  and  fire  and 
ruin  to  strike  her  colors.  Alread}',  however,  the  Bon  Homme  Richard  had  become 
unmanageable  and  was  in  a  sinking  condition.  Jones  hastily  transferred  his  men  to  the 
conquered  vessel,  and  his  own  ship  went  down.  Of  the  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
men  who  composed  Paul  Jones's  crew  three  hundred  were  either  killed  or  wounded. 

Thus  indecisively  and  with  certain  heroic  episodes  ended  the  year  1779.  The  colonies 
had  not  yet  won  their  independence.      The   French   alliance,  sad  to  say,  had  brought  but 

little  seeming  benefit.      The    national   treasurj-  was 

bankrupt.      The  patriots  of   the  anny  were    poorly 

fed  and  were    paid   for   the   most    part  with  unkept 

promises.    Nor  was  there  any  weakening  on  the  part 

of  the    enemy.     Great   Britain   still    supported  the 

war  with  unabated  vigor.      Tnie,  her  anger  had  now 

been  diverted   somewhat  from  the    colonies  to   her 

ancient  rival  France  ;  but  Parliament  and  the  King 

were  still  for  war  and  the  subjugation  of  America. 

,  ^  jsr isi^itii^       ,^^^a  ^^^^  ^^^y  °^  sailors  and  soldiers  now  made  amounted 

^-.^  _         .         -~j|p^^^^^^^5~.;--'a^^^^  to  a  hundred   and  twent}'  thousand,    while   the   ex- 

wASHiNGTON's  HEADQUARTERS  AT  pcuscs  of  thc  War  department  were  raised  to  twenty 

MORRisTowN.  uiilliou  pouuds  sterling.      The  cloud  of  war  rested 

ominously  over  our  thirteen   struggling  States  and  the  day  of  independence   still  seemed 

far  away. 

The  winter  of  1779-80  Washington  passed  at  his  headquarters  near  Morristown  while 
the  main  body  of  his  army  lay  encamped  on  the  southern  slope  of  Kemball  mountain, 
sufficiently  near  to  be  called  into  immediate  service  in  case  of  necessity.  The  winter  was 
so  excessively  severe  as  to  retard  operations,  and  was  spent  in  no  greater  activity  than 
watching  the  British  on  Staten  Island  and  in  foraging  for  provisions,  for  the  anny  was  so 
inadequately  provided  that  self-preser\-ation  compelled  a  resort  to  marauding  levies  upon 
surrounding  barnyards.  The  cold  and  privations  were  so  great  that  the  scenes  at  Valley 
Forge  were  reenacted,  and  but  for  the  influence  which  Washington  exerted  his  army  would 
no  doubt  have  mutinied,  as  it  was  more  than  once  upon  the  eve  of  doing. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


AMERICA  WINS  THE  BATTLE. 

THOUGHTFUL  reader  of  the  liistor}'  of  the  American 
Revohitioii  can  discern  one  significant  fact,  and  that 
is  that  tlie  British  armies  in  America  did  not  make 
war  upon  our  fathers  witli  their  accustomed  vigor. 
Was  it  possible  that  a  Uirking  desire  had  pervaded 
these  armies  of  England  that  the  Americans  might 
win  the  contest  and  go  free?  Certain  it  is  that  in 
man)'  instances  the  war  was  waged  in  an  eas)-going 
and  perfunctory-  way  that  might  create  the  suspicion 
of  an  underlying  and  half-donnant  sympathy  of  the 
British  for  the  American  cause.  At  any  rate,  there 
were  seasons  when  the  war  almost  ceased.  This  was 
true  in  the  north  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year 
1780.  Little  was  done  on  either  side  until  midsummer.  Early  in  July  Admiral  de 
Teniay,  of  the  French  navy,  arrived  at  Newport  with  a  large  fleet  and  six  thousand  infantry 
under  Count  Rochambeau. 

The  Americans  were  greatly  elated  at  the  coming  of  their  allies.  By  this  event  the 
conflict  suddenly  loomed  up  to  vaster  proportions  than  ever,  and  this  fact  greatly  strength- 
ened the  faith  of  the  patriots  in  their  ultimate  success.  In  September  General  Washington 
went  to  Dobb's  Ferrj-,  on  the  Hudson  ;  was  there  met  in  conference  by  Count  Rochambeau, 
and  the  plans  of  future  campaig^is  were  determined.  These  events,  however,  were  all  of 
importance  that  occurred  in  the  north  during  the  year  1780. 

In  the  south,  however,  there  was  much  desultor}-  activity  and  the  patriots  suffered 
many  and  serious  reverses.  The  southern  colonies  were  weak.  As  we  have  said  before 
they  were  also  troubled  with  many  nests  of  Tories,  who  for  some  reason  not  easily  dis- 
coverable had  chosen  to  turn  upon  their  fellow-countn-men  in  a  manner  not  ver>-  different 
from  treason.  During  the  year  South  Carolina  was  at  one  time  completely  overrun  by 
the  enemy.  Admiral  Arbuthnot  came  with  a  fleet  of  British  ships  and  on  the  nth  of 
Febnian."  anchored  before  Charleston.  He  had  on  board  Sir  Henr}-  Clinton  and  an  anny 
of  five  thousand  men.  The  city  was  feebly  defended.  General  Lincoln,  the  connnandant, 
had  an  effective  force  of  no  more  than  fourteen  hundred.  The  British  easily  effected  a 
landing  and  marched  up  the  right  bank  of  .\shley  River  to  a  position  from  whicli  they 
might  advantageously  attack  the  city.  On  the  7th  of  April  General  Lincoln  was  reinforced 
by  a  brigade  of  seven  hundred  Virginians.  Two  days  afterwards  Arbuthnot  succeeded  in 
passing  the  g^ns  of  Fort  Moultrie  and  came  within  cannon  shot  of  the  city. 

THE  SIEGE  OF  CHARLESTON. 

The  siege  of  Charleston  was  now  begun  by  land  and  water.  General  Lincoln  sent  out 
a  regiment  of  three  hundred  men  under  General  .\uger  to  scour  the  country  and  keep  open 

^503) 


604 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Halifax  o^ 


communications  through  the  district  north  of  Cooper  River.  Apprised  of  this  movement, 
Colonel  Tarleton,  commanding  the  British  cavalry,  fell  upon  Auger's  forces  at  a  place 
called  IMonk's  Comer  and  dispersed  or  captured  the  whole  company.  The  city  was  thus 
hemmed  in.  Such  was  the  disparity  between  the  contending  forces  that  from  the  first  the 
defence  seemed  hopeless.  In  a  short  time  the  fortifications  crumbled  under  the  cannonade 
of  the  British  batteries  and  General  Lincoln,  perceiving   that  the  city  would  be  carried  by 

assault,  agreed  to  a  capitulation.  On  the  12th  of 
]\Iay  Charleston  was  surrendered  to  the  enemy  and 
General  Lincoln  and  his  forces  became  prisoners 
of  war. 

Meanwhile  Colonel  Tarleton  had  continued 
his  ravages  in  the  open  countr}-.  A  few  days 
before  the  surrender  he  surprised  and  dispersed 
a  body  of  militia  which  had  been  gathered  on  the 
San  tee.  After  the  capture  of  Charleston  three 
expeditions  were  sent  into  different  parts  of  the 
State.  The  first  of  these  was  against  the  American 
post  at  the  place  called  Ninet}'-Six.  This  station 
was  captured  b}"  the  enemy.  A  second  detachment 
of  British  invaded  the  country  of  the  Savannah. 
A  third  under  Comwallis  crossed  the  Santee  and 
captured  Georgetown.  Tarleton  continued  his 
depredations.  At  the  head  of  seven  hundred 
cavalry  he  fell  upon  the  Americans  under  Colonel 
Buford  and   on  the  Waxhaw  charged  upon  and  dispersed  them  in  all  directions. 

By  these  successes  the  authority  of  Great  Britain  was  nominally  restored  in  South 
Carolina.  For  the  present  resistance  seemed  at  an  end.  The  patriots  were  beaten  down 
and  for  the  day  remained  in  silence.  Sir  Henry  Clinton  and  Arbuthnot,  flattering  themselves 
with  the  complete  success  of  their  expedition,  now  returned  to  New  York,  leaving  Lords 
Cornwallis  and  Rawdon  with  a  part  of  the  British  army  to  hold  the  conquered  territor}'. 

THE  BRAVERY  OF   FRANCIS  MARION. 

It  was  soon  seen,  however,  that  the  spirit  of  patriotism  was  not  extinguished.  A  number 
of  popular  military  heroes  appeared  on  the  scene  and  gained  for  themselves  an  imperishable 
fame  as  the  champions  of  the  people.  Such  in  particular  were  Thomas  Sumter  and  Francis 
Marion.  These  brave  men  came  as  the  protectors  of  the  State.  The>'  rallied  the  militia 
here  and  there  and  began  an  audacious  partisan  warfare.  Exposed  detachments  of  the 
British  were  suddenj>-  attacked  and  swept  off  here  and  there  as  though  an  enemy  had 
swooped  upon  them  from  the  clouds.  At  a  place  called  Rocky  Mount,  Colonel  Sumter  burst 
upon  a  party  of  British  dragoons  who  were  glad  to  save  themselves  by  flight.  On  the  6th 
of  August  he  attacked  another  detachment  of  the  enemy  at  Hanging  Rock,  defeated  them 
and  made  good  his  retreat.  It  was  in  this  battle  that  young  Andrew  Jackson,  then  but 
thirteen  years  of  age,  began  his  career  as  a  soldier. 

Marion's  band  consisted  at  first  of  twenty  men  and  boys,  white  and  black,  half-clad, 
and  poorly  armed  ;  but  the  number  increased  and  it  was  not  long  until  the  "Ragged  Regi- 
ment ' '  became  a  terror  to  the  enemy.  It  was  the  policy  of  Marion  and  Sumter  to  keep 
their  headquarters  and  places  of  refuge  in  almost  inaccessible  swamps.     From  these  coverts 


SCENE  OF  OPERATIONS  IN  THE  .SOUTH,    I780-I. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


505 


i 


they  would  suddenly  issue  forth  by  night  or  day  and  dart  upon  the  enemy  with  such  fur)'  as 
to  sweep  all  before  them.  There  was  no  telling  when  or  where  the  swords  of  these  fearless 
leaders  would  fall.  During  the  whole  summer  and  autumn  of  1780  Colonel  Marion  con- 
tinued to  sweep  around  Coniwallis's  positions,  cutting  his  lines  of  communication  and 
making  incessant  onsets  upon  exposed  parties  of  the  l?ritish. 

DEATH   OF   BARON    DE   KALB. 

Washington  now  sent  forward  General  Gates  into  the  Carolinas  with  the  hope  of  pro- 
tecting the  old  North  State  and  perhaps  recovering  the  South.  Learning  of  his  advance, 
Cornwallis  threw  forward  a  large  division  of  his  forces  under  Lord  Rawdon  to  Camden. 
Coniwallis  himself  followed  with  reinforcements,  while  the  Americans  concentrated  at 
Clennont  not  far  away.  The  sequel  showed  that  both  Cornwallis  and  Gates  had  formed 
the  design  of  attacking  each  other  in  the  night.  Each 
selected  the  evening  of  the  15th  of  August  for  the  forward 
mo\emenL  Both  accordingly  broke  up  their  camps,  and 
the  two  annies  met  midway  on  Sander's  Creek.  Here  a 
severe  battle  was  fought,  and  the  Americans  were  defeated 
with  a  loss  of  more  than  a  thousand  men.  Here  it  was 
that  the  distinguished  Baron  de  Kalb  received  his  mortal  t. 
wound.  A  review  of  the 
battle  showed  that  the 
American  forces  had  not 
been  managed  with  either 
ability  or  courage.  The 
reputation  of  Gates  as  a 
commander  was  blown 
away  like  chaff,  and  he 
was  superseded  by  General 
Greene. 

In  another  part  of  the 
field  the  brave  and  dash- 
ing Carleton  had  avenged 
himself  and  the  British 
cause  by  overtaking  and 
routing  the  corps  of 
Colonel  Sumter  at  Fishing 
Creek.  Sumter's  division 
was  put  /tors  die  combat  by 
this  defeat;  but  Marion  still  remained  abroad  leading  the  patriot  partisans  and  greatly 
harassing  the  enemy.  On  the  8th  of  September  the  British  advanced  into  North  Carolina 
and  on  the  25th  reached  Charlotte  without  molestation.  From  this  station  Cornwallis 
sent  out  Colonel  Ferguson  with  a  mounted  division  of  eleven  hundred  regulars  and 
Tories  to  scour  the  country  west  of  the  River  Catawba  and  to  organize  the  loyalists  of 
that  section. 

Ferguson  reached  King's  Mountain,  where  he  encamped  at  his  ease;  but  on  the  7th 
of  October  he  was  suddenly  attacked  by  a  thousand  riflemen  led  by  the  daring  Colonel 
Campbell.  A  desperate  fight  here  ensued.  Ferguson  was  slain  and  three  hundred  of  his 
men  were  killed  or  wounded.     The  remaining  eight  hundred  were  forced  into  such  close 


i^^S^i^?"^ 


RENDEZVOrS   OF   MARION   AND   HIS   MEN. 


506 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


quarters  tliat  they  threw  down  their  arms  and  surrendered  at  discretion.  Quarter  was 
granted  freely  to  the  British;  but  the  patriot  blood  was  hot,  and  ten  of  the  leading  Tor>' 
prisoners  were  condemned  b}-  a  court-martial  and  hanged. 

After  this  brief  account  of  affairs  in  the  South  we  may  pause  to  notice  the  civil  con- 
dition of  the  American  people  at  this  juncture.  The  credit  of  the  nation  was  rapidly 
sinking  to  the  lowest  ebb.  Congress  was  obliged  to  resort  to  the  free  issuance  of  paper 
money.  At  first  the  Continental  bills  were  received  at  par;  but  their  value  rapidly  fell  off 
until  by  the  middle  of  1780  they  were  scarcely  worth  two  cents  to  the  dollar.  Business 
was  paralyzed  for  the  want  of  an  efficient  currency.  In  the  midst  of  the  financial  distress 
of  the  times  Robert  Morris  and  a  few  other  wealthy  patriots,  putting  their  all  on  the  cast 
of  the  die,  came  forward  with  their  private  fortunes  and  saved  the  colonies  from  impend- 
ing ruin.  The  mothers  of  America  also  lent  a  helping  hand  by  the  preparation  and  free 
contribution  of  clothing  and  supplies  for  the  army.  A  large  part  of  the  food  and  clothes 
of  the  patriot  soldiers  was  at  this  time  furnished  as  a  gift  from  women  who,  equally  with 
their  husbands  and  brothers  and  fathers,  had  adopted  the  motto  of  Independence  or  Death. 

TREASON  OF  ARNOLD. 
The  autumn  of  1780  was  a  period  of  gloom,  and  in  the  midst  of  it  the  country  was 
shocked  b\-  the  news  that  General  Benedict  Arnold  had  turned  traitor  to  his  country! 
Arnold  had  been  in  the  early  years  of  the  war  one  of  the  bravest  of  the  brave.  After  the 
battle  of  Bemis's  Heights  in  the  fall  of  1777,  he  had  been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  ]\Iajor- 
General  and  made  commandant  of  Philadelphia;  for  the  severe  wound  which  he  had 
received  precluded  him  for  a  season  from  the  service  of  the  field.  While  living  at  Phila- 
delphia he  married  the  daughter  of  a  loyalist,  came  thus  into  high  society  and  entered 
upon  a  career  of  extravagance  which  soon  overwhelmed  him  with  debt.  Having  come 
financially  into  a  strait  place  he  stooped  to  the  commission  of  certain  frauds  on  the  supply 

department  of  the  array.  This  discovered,  charges  were  preferred 
against  him  by  Congress,  and  he  was  convicted  by  a  court-martial. 
Seeming  to  forget  his  disgrace,  however,  Arnold  soon  after- 
wards obtained  command  of  the  fortress  of  West  Point,  on  the 
Hudson.  On  the  last  day  of  July,  1780,  he  assumed  control  of 
the  important  arsenal  and  depot  of  stores  at  that  place.  It 
would  appear  that  from  the  date  of  his  trial  and  disgrace  he 
began  to  entertain  the  design  of  avenging  himself  on  his  countr}'- 
and  countrj^men.  At  all  events,  after  arriving  at  West  Point  he 
presently  entered  into  a  secret  correspondence  with  Sir  Henr}' 
Clinton  at  New  York,  and  finally  offered,  or  at  least  accepted 
an  offer,  to  betra}-  his  country-  for  British  gold.  It  was  agreed 
that  the  British  fleet  should  ascend  the  Hudson  and  that  the 
earrison  and  fortress  of  West  Point  should  be  surrendered  to  the 
enemy  without  a  struggle. 

As  his  representative  General  Clinton  had  chosen  Alajor 
John  Andre,  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  British  army,  to  go  in  person  and  hold  a  con- 
ference with  Arnold.  The  fonner  was  sent  up  the  Hudson  on  the  21st  of  September 
and  was  directed  to  complete  the  arrangements  with  the  traitor  for  the  delivery  of  the 
fortress.  Andre  went  in  full  unifonn  and  the  meeting  was  held  outside  of  the  American 
lines;  for  Clinton  had  directed  his  subordinate  not  to  incur  the  danger  which  would  follow 
his  entering  within  the  pickets  of  the  American  forces. 


SCENE  OF  ARNOI.D'S  TREASON, 
1780. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


-)(>/ 


*« 

^^■■^5*  ^ 


About  midnipjht  of  the  21st  Andre  reached  tlie  desi},niated  spot,  went  ashore  from 
the  ship  /  '/i/Zurr,  and  met  Arnold  in  the  thicket.  Daydawn  approaclied  before  the  nefarious 
business  was  done  and  the  conspirators  entered  the  American  lines.  .-\ndre  was  obliged 
by  this  contingency  to  disg^iise  himself,  and  by  so  doing  he  assumed  the  character  of 
a  spy. 

The  two  ill-starred  men  spent  the  next  day  at  a  house  near  by  and  there  the  business 
was  completed.  Arnold  agreed  to  surrender  West  Point  for  ten  thousand  pounds  and  a 
commission  as  Brigadier  in  the  British  army.  Andre  for  his  part  received  papers  contain- 
a  description  of  West  Point,  its  resources  in  men  and  stores,  its  defences  and  the  best 
method  of  attack.  Meanwhile,  the  /  'ultiirc  lying  at  anchor  in  the  Hudson  had  been  dis- 
covered by  some  American  artillery-men,  who  planted  a  batter>'  and  drove  the  ship  down 
the  river. 

CAPTURE  AND    EXECUTION   OF  ANDRE. 

When  Andre  finished  his  business  with  Arnold  and  would  return  to  his  ship  he  found 
the  vessel  gone.  For  this  reason  he  was  obliged  to  cross  to  the  other  side  of  the  river  and 
return  to  New  York  by  land.  He  passed  the  .\merican  outposts  in  safety  bearing  Arnold's 
passport  and  giving  the 
name  of  John  Anderson. 
At  Tarr>town,  however, 
he  was  confronted  b)' 
three  militiamen,  John 
Paulding,  Da\'id 
Williams  and  Isaac  Van 
Wart,  who  arrested  his 
progress,  stripped  him, 
found  his  papers  and 
delivered  him  to  Colonel 
Jameson  at  Xorthcastle. 
Through  that  officer's 
amazing  stupidity 
Arnold  was  at  once  noti- 
fied that  "John  Ander- 
son ' '  had  been  taken 
with  his  passport  and 
some  papers  "  of  a  very 
dangerous  tendency! " 

Arnold  on  hearing  the  news  sprang  up  from  his  breakfast,  exchanged  a  few  hurried 
words  with  his  wife,  fled  to  the  river,  took  a  boat  and  succeeded  in  reaching  the  /  'ullitrc. 
The  unfortunate  .\ndre  was  thus  left  to  his  fate.  He  was  tried  by  a  court-martial  at  Tappan 
and  condemned  to  death  as  a  spy.  On  the  2d  of  October  he  was  led  to  the  gallows  and 
under  the  stern  code  of  war — thougli  he  pleaded  vainly  to  lie  shot  as  a  soldier — was  hanged. 
Though  dying  the  death  of  a  felon  he  met  his  doom  as  tlie  brave  man  goes  to  death,  and 
aftertimes  have  not  failed  to  commiserate  his  deplorable  fate.  Arnold  for  his  part  received 
\\\'>  pay  ! 

Thus  drew  to  a  close  the  year  1780.  It  did  not  appear  that  independence  was  nearer 
or  surer  than  it  had  been  at  the  beginning.  In  the  dark  days  of  December,  however,  there 
came  a  ray  of  light  from  Europe.     For  several  years  the  people  of  Holland,  like  the  Freuch, 


CAPTURE   OF   MAJOR    ANDRE. 


^^B^^. 


508  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

had  secretly  sympathized  with  the  Americans  and  the  government  extended  silent  help  and 
support  to  the  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  alliance  with 
France  negotiations  were  opened  with  the  Dutch  for  a  commercial  treaty  similar  to  that 
which  had  been  obtained  by  Franklin  from  the  French  court.  The  agents  of  Great  Britain 
discovered  the  purpose  of  the  Dutch  government,  but  the  latter  was  not  to  be  turned  from 
its  intent.  At  first  the  British  agents  angrily  remonstrated,  and  then  on  the  20th  of  Decem- 
ber there  was  an  open  declaration  of  war.  Thus  the  Netherlands  were  added  to  the  alliance 
against  Great  Britain.  It  seemed  that  the  King  of  England  and  his  ministers  would  have 
enough  to  do  without  further  efforts  to  enforce  a  Stamp  Act  on  the  Americans  or  to  levy  a 
tax  on  their  imported  tea. 

Notwithstanding  the  advantage  gained  by  the  accession  of  Holland  the  year  1781 
opened  gloomily  for  the  patriot  cause.  The  condition  of  the  army  at  times  became  desper- 
ate; no  food,  no  pay,  no  clothing.  In  their  distress  the  soldiers  once  and  again  became 
mutinous.  The  whole  Pennsylvania  line  on  New  Year's  Day  broke  from  their  barracks 
and  marched  on  Philadelphia.  At  Princeton  they  were  met  by  emissaries  from  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  who  tempted  them  with  offers  of  money  and  clothing  if  they  would  desert  the 
standard  of  their  country.  The  mutinous  patriots,  however,  were  not  of  that  mettle.  They 
made  answer  by  seizing  the  British  agents  and  delivering  them  to  General  Wayne  to  be 
hanged  as  spies.  For  this  deed  the  commissioners  of  Congress,  who  now  arrived  at  the 
American  camp,  offered  the  insurgents  a  large  reward,  but  this  also  was  against  the  temper 
of  the  angry  patriots,  who  though  mutinous  scornfully  rejected  the  overtures  of  both  friends 
and  enemies.  Washington  knowing  how  shamefully  the  army  had  been  neglected  by  Con- 
gress was  not  unwilling  that  the  insurrection  should  take  its  own  course.  The  Congres- 
sional agents  were  therefore  left  to  adjust  the  difficulty  as  best  they  could  with  the  rebellious 
troops. 

EXECUTION   OF  MUTINEERS. 

The  success  of  the  mutineers  in  obtaining  their  rights  furnished  a  bad  example  to 
others  who  were  discontented  for  less  valid  reasons.  About  the  middle  of  Januan,'  the  New 
Jersey  brigade  stationed  at  Pompton  revolted.  This  movement  Washington  deemed  it 
necessary  to  put  down  by  force.  •  General  Robert  Howe  was  sent  with  five  hundred  regulars 
against  the  camp  of  the  insurgents  and  they  were  obliged  to  submit  to  severe  discipline. 
Twelve  of  the  ringleaders  were  taken  and  obliged  to  execute  two  of  their  own  number  as  a 
warning  to  the  army.  From  that  day  to  the  close  of  the  Revolution  order  was  completely 
restored. 

These  insurrections  had  on  the  whole  a  good  rather  than  a  bad  effect;  Congress  was 
thoroughly  alarmed  and  immediate  provisions  were  made  for  the  better  support  of  the  army. 
Washington  himself  after  having  enforced  order  and  discipline  in  the  ranks  wrote  indignant 
letters  to  Congress  in  behalf  of  his  suffering  soldiery  and  that  body  was  thus  lashed  into 
doing  something  for  the  better  support  and  greater  comfort  of  the  men  who  were  fighting 
the  battle  for  independence.  An  agent  of  the  government  in  the  days  of  this  emergency 
was  sent  to  France  to  obtain  a  further  loan  of  money.  Robert  Morris  was  appointed  Secre- 
tary of  Finance,  and  the  Bank  of  North  America  was  organized  as  the  nucleus  of  a  new 
monetary  system  for  the  country.  Although  the  outstanding  debts  of  the  United  States 
could  not  for  the  present  be  paid,  yet  all  future  obligations  were  promptly  met.  Morris 
and  his  friends  pledged  their  private  fortunes  to  the  maintenance  of  the  financial  credit  of 
the  nation. 

As  to  military  operations  the  same  were  begun  in  the  north  by  an  expedition  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


oOU 


SERGKANT  CHAMPE'S   DEPARTURE. 


Arnold.  That  maligri  genius,  after  his  treason,  had  succeeded  in  reaching  New  York,  had 
received  the  promised  compensation  and  accompanying  commission  as  Ijrigadier-gcneral  in 
the  British  army. 
Before  the  setting-in 
of  winter,  namely,  in 
November  of  1780, 
Washington  and  Major 
Henry  Lee,  or  rather 
the  latter,  with  the 
consent  of  the  fonner, 
had  fonned  a  plan  to 
take  Arnold  prisoner. 
Sergeant  John  Champe 
was  appointed  to  un- 
dertake the  daring  en- 
terprise. The  sergeant 
made  a  mock  desertion 
from  the  arm}',  fled  to 
the  enemy,  entered 
New  York,  and  witli 
two  assistants  joined 
Arnold's  company. 
These  three  concerted 
measures  to  abduct  the 

traitor  from  the  city  and  convey  him  to  the  American  camp.  The  scheme  had  almost 
proved  successful,  but  Arnold  chanced  to  move  his  quarters  to  another  part  of  the  city 
and  the  plan  was  defeated.  A  month  afterward  he  was  given  command  of  a  fleet  and  a 
land-force  of  si.xteen  hundred  men,  and  on  tlie  i6th  of  December  he  left  New  York  to 
make  a  descent  on  the  coasts  of  \'irginia. 

CAREER    OF  ARNOLD  AS   A   BRITISH   OFFICER. 

The  expedition  readied  its  destination  in  the  James  River  valley  in  January,  1781. 
There  Arnold  began  his  war  on  his  countrymen.  His  expedition  was  a  foray  rather  than  a 
campaign,  and  his  march  was  marked  with  many  ferocious  and  vindictive  deeds.  It  might 
be  discerned,  however,  tint  the  daring  and  ability  which  had  characterized  his  former 
exploits  were  henceforth  wanting.  He  was  a  ruined  man.  He  had  sold  himself  instead 
of  his  country-.  Weakness  had  come  with  crime,  and  the  havoc  of  conscience  and  remorse 
were  in  him  and  around  him.  His  command  succeeded  in  destroying  a  large  amount  of 
public  and  private  property  in  the  vicinity  of  Richmond.  Tlie  conntn.-  along  the  James 
was  laid  waste  until  there  was  little  left  to  excite  the  cupidity  or  gratify  the  revenge  of  the 
traitor  and  his  followers.  Arnold  then  took  up  his  headquarters  in  Portsmouth,  a  few  miles 
south  of  Hampton  Roads. 

The  success  of  the  expedition  as  a  destroying  force  had  been  such  as  to  induce  Sir 
Henr\-  Clinton  to  support  the  movement,  .\bout  the  middle  of  April  he  sent  General 
Phillips  to  Portsmoutli  with  a  force  of  two  thousand  men.  These  were  joined  with  Arnold's 
men  and  Phillips  assumed  command  of  the  whole.  A  second  time  the  expedition  was 
directed  through  the  fertile  districts  of  lower  Virginia,  and  pillage  and  devastation  and  fire 
marked  the  pathway  of  the  invaders.     Arnold  had  been  humiliated  by  the  fact  that  Phillips 


510 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


was  placed  over  him  in  command,   for  Clinton  never  gave  his  confidence  to  the  man  who 
had  betrayed  his  country. 

In  a  short  time,  however,  death  assisted  the  anil^itions  of  the  traitor  b}-  clntching 
General  Phillips  and  sending  him  to  the  grave.  This  devolved  the  command  on  Arnold, 
and  for  the  short  space  of  seven  days  he 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  British  forces  in 
Virginia.  That,  however,  was  the 
height  of  his  treasonable  glory.  On  the 
20th  of  May  Lord  Cornwallis  arrived  at 
Petersburg    and   ordered    him     begone. 


,ifei- 


'-^'^ 


A    FRENZfED   GIRL'S  ATTEMPT   UPON   THE 
LIFE  OF  ARNOLD. 

Returning   to  New  York,  he  received 
from    Clinton  a   second    detachment. 


with  which  he  entered  Long  Island  Sound,  landed  at  New  London  in  his  new  native 
State,  and  captured  the  town.  Fort  Griswold,  which  was  defended  by  Colonel  Led- 
yard,    was    taken   by  assault,  but   when    the    commandant   surrendered,   he    and    seventy- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  oil 

three  of  his  garrison  were  murdered  in  cold  blood.  The  town  was  then  set  on  fire 
and  nearly  every  house  of  importance,  including  the  custom-house,  court-house,  jail, 
market  and  churches,  was  consumed.  It  is  a  tradition  that  Arnold  took  his  position 
in  the  belfry  of  a  church  and  watched  the  destruction  of  the  city.  During  this  riot  of 
massacre  and  holocaust  Arnold  rode  through  the  streets  and  stimulated  his  soldiers  in  their 
work  of  murder  and  demolition,  as  if  his  savager>-  could  never  be  glutted.  It  is  related 
that  a  young  woman,  frenzied  by  the  murder  of  her  father  atrd  the  ruin  of  her  home,  seized 
a  loaded  musket  and  in  her  desperation  attempted  the  life  of  the  traitor,  a  purpose  in  which 
she  was  only  prevented  by  the  gun  missing  fire.  Moved  by  her  bravery,  no  less  than  bv 
her  great  sorrow,  Arnold  refused  to  punish  the  girl  for  attempting  his  life,  leaving  her  amid 
the  wreckage  and  slaughter  that  he  had  wrought. 

BATTLE  OF  COWPENS. 

We  have  already  noted  the  change  in  commanders  at  the  south.  The  American  army, 
after  its  defeat  at  Sander's  Creek,  had  concentrated  at  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  and  passed 
under  command  of  General  Greene.  By  this  time  General  Daniel  Morgan  had  risen  to 
great  reputation  in  the  south,  and  was  trusted  by  Greene  as  one  of  his  principal  supporters. 
Early  in  January'  Morgan  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  body  of  troops  was  sent  into  the 
Spartanburg  district  of  South  Carolina  to  repress  the  Tories.  Thither  he  was  followed  by 
the  able  and  daring  Colonel  Tarleton  with  the  British  cavalr\-.  The  Americans  took 
position  at  a  place  called  the  Cowpens  where,  on  the  17th  of  January,  they  were  attacked  by 
the  enemy.  Tarleton  made  the  onset  with  his  usual  impetuosity,  but  Morgan's  men  bravely 
held  their  ground.  After  some  hard  fighting  the  American  horse,  under  Colonel  William 
Washington,  made  a  charge  and  scattered  the  Britisli  dragoons  in  all  directions.  Ten 
of  the  enemy's  officers  and  ninety  privates  were  killed  in  the  battle.  The  victor}-  was 
decisive  and  Tarleton's  force  was  for  the  time  dispersed. 

The  intelligence  of  the  fight  at  Cowpens  astonished  Cornwallis,  but  he  hastilv  marched 
up  the  river  in  the  hope  of  cutting  off  Morgan's  retreat.  General  Greene,  however,  reached 
Morgan's  camp  and  took  command  in  person.  Then  began  a  long  retreat  of  the  Americans 
and  pursuit  by  the  British.  On  the  28tli  of  January,  1782,  the  former  reached  the  Catawba 
and  crossed  safely  to  the  northern  bank.  Within  two  hours  the  British  reached  the  ford 
with  full  e.xpectation  of  continuing  the  pursuit  in  the  morning,  but  during  the  night  the 
rain  poured  down  in  torrents,  the  river  was  swollen  to  a  flood,  and  it  was  manv  days  before 
the  British  could  cross. 

Then  began  a  race  for  the  Yadkin.  The  distance  between  the  two  rivers  was  sixty 
miles,  but  in  two  days  the  Americans  arrived  at  the  Yadkin  and  had  nearly  completed  the 
crossing  when  the  British  came  in  sight.  That  night  the  Yadkin  also  was  made  impass- 
able by  auspicious  rains  and  Cornwallis  suffered  a  second  delay,  l^ot  until  the  9th  of 
Februan.-  did  he  succeed  in  crossing  to  the  northern  bank.  From  this  position  the  lines  of 
retreat  and  pursuit  lay  nearly  parallel  to  the  north.  .\  third  time  the  race  began,  and  for 
the  third  time  the  Americans  won.  On  the  13th  of  the  month  Greene,  with  the  main 
division  of  the  army,  safely  crossed  the  Dan  into  Virginia. 

DEFEAT  AT  GUILFORD  COURT-HOUSE. 

But  it  was  not  his  purpose  to  continue  rdrculing  or  lu  remain  inactive  at  the  end  of  the 
race.  On  the  22d  of  Febrnan,-,  he  returned  to  North  Carolina.  Meanwhile,  Tarleton  had 
been  sent  by  Cornwallis  into  the  region  between  the  Haw  and  Deep  rivers,  to  encourage  a 
rising  of  the  Tories.     They  came  at  his  call,  and  about  three  hundred  loyalist  recruits  rose 


512  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

to  him;  but  while  they  were  marching  to  Tarleton's  camp  they  were  intercepted,  cut  ofiF, 
and  the  whole  company  scattered  by  the  patriot  Colonel  Lee. 

Greene's  army  now  numbered  more  than  four  thousand  men,  and  the  enem}-  under 
Cornwallis  were  of  about  equal  strength.  The  American  general  decided  to  avoid  battle  no 
longer,  and  breaking  his  camp  marched  to  Guilford  Court-House.  The  British  came  on  in 
the  same  direction,  and  on  the  15th  of  ]\Iarch,  the  two  armies  met  and  joined  battle.  The 
action  was  severe  but  indecisive.  The  Americans  lost  the  field,  and  were  indeed  repelled 
for  several  miles;  but  in  killed  and  wounded  the  British  suffered  the  greater  losses. 

After  the  battle  of  Guilford,  Cornwallis  decided  to  withdraw  from  the  south  in  the 
direction  of  Virginia.  His  retreat  was  first  to  Wilmington,  and  then  before  the  end  of  April, 
to  his  destination.  The  British  forces  in  the  south  remained  under  command  of  Lord  Raw- 
don.  Greene  did  not  at  the  first  follow  Cornwallis,  but  advanced  into  South  Carolina,  and 
captured  Fort  Watson  on  the  Santee.  He  then  took  post  at  Hobkirk's  Hill,  near  Camden. 
Here  on  the  25th  of  April,  he  was  attacked  by  the  British  under  Rawdon,  and  a  severe  bat- 
tle was  fought  in  which  for  a  while  victor}'  strongly  inclined  to  the  American  side.  But 
Greene's  centre,  through  some  mismovement,  gave  way,  and  the  day  was  lost 

After  this  engagement  Lord  Rawdon  retired  with  his  command  to  Eutaw  Springs.  It 
had  now  been  discovered  by  the  British  that  their  various  conquests  in  the  thinly  populated 
districts  of  the  Carolinas  brought  them  nothing  but  vacuity.  Neither  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  were  changed  nor  was  their  ultimate  ability  to  continue  the  war  seriously  aflfected  by 
the  British  successes.  The  forces  of  the  enemy  after  a  victor}-  would  find  themseh'es  in  an 
open  countr}-  surrounded  by  a  hostile  population  whom  they  could  not  strike,  and  it  gener- 
ally happened  that  the  enemy  was  satisfied  to  return  to  some  town  or  city  where  greater  com- 
fort might  be  found.  After  the  retreat  of  Rawdon  to  Eutaw  Springs  the  British  posts  at 
Orangeburg  and  Augusta  were  retaken  by  the  patriots.  The  place  called  Ninet}--Six  was 
besieged  by  Greene,  and  was  about  to  succumb  when  Rawdon  turned  back  for  battle,  and  the 
American  commander  deemed  it  prudent  to  retire,  during  the  sickly  months  of  summer,  to 
the  woody  hill-countr}'  of  the  Santee. 

In  the  interval  that  followed,  Sumter,  Lee  and  Marion  with  their  partisan  bands  became 
more  active  than  ever.  These  patriot  leaders  were  constantly  abroad  in  the  saddle  and 
smote  the  Tories  right  and  left.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Lord  Rawdon  went  to  Charles- 
ton and  there  became  a  principal  actor  in  one  of  the  most  shameful  scenes  of  the  ^Revolu- 
tion.  Colonel  Isaac  Hayne,  a  patriot  officer  who  had  formerly  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  King,  was  caught  in  command  of  a  troop  of  American  cavalry.  His  justification 
was  that  the  oath  which  had  been  imposed  on  him  by  the  conquest  of  the  State  by  the  Brit- 
ish had  been  annulled  by  the  reconquest  of  Carolina  by  the  Americans;  but  this  claim  was 
treated  with  derision  by  a  court-martial  which  was  organized  under  Colonel  Balfour,  com- 
mandant of  Charleston.      Colonel  Hayne  was  tried,  condemned  and  under  the  sanction   of 

Lord  Rawdon  was  hanged. 

BATTLE  OF  EUTAW  SPRINGS. 

With  the  subsidence  of  the  heated  season  General   Greene,  on  the   2 2d  of  August, 

marched  towards  Orangebhrg.      Rawdon  hereupon  fell  back  to  Eutaw  Springs,  where  he 

was  overtaken  by  the  Americans  on  the  SJi  of  September.     One  of  the  fiercest  battles  of 

the  war  ensued,  and  General  Greene  was  denied  the  decisive  victory  only  by  the  unexpected 

bad  conduct  of  som.;  of  his  troops.      He  was  obliged  after  a  loss  of  five  hundred  and  fifty 

men  to  give  over  tl'e  struggle,  but  not  until  he  had  inflicted  on  the  British  a  loss  in  killed 

and  wounded  of  nearly  seven  hundred.     General  Stuart,  who  commanded  the  British  on 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


513 


this  field,  now  retreated  to  Monk's  Corner,  whither  he  was  followed  by  Greene,  (iiadnully 
the  British  outposts  were  drawn  in,  the  country  was  given  up,  and  after  two  months  of 
mancEU\Ting  the  entire  force  of  the  enemy  was  driven  into  Cliarleston. 

In  the  whole  south  only  this  city  and  Savannali  now  remained  in  the  power  of  the 
King's  army  ;  aud  there  were  already  premonitions  that  both  of  these  would  be  abandoned. 
On  the  nth  of  July,  17S1,  Savannah  was  actually  evacuated,  but  Cliarleston  remained  in 
the  occupation  of  the  British  until  the  14th  of  December,  1782.  Such  wiis  the  close  of  the 
Revolution  in  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia.  The  southern  States  had  suffered  most  of  all  by 
the  ravages  of  the  enemy,  and  had  been  least  able  to  bear  such  devastation.  But  with  the 
recover}.-  of  independence  there  was  an  immediate  revival,  and  the  traces  of  war  and  disaster 
were  soon  obliterated. 

The  movement  of  Lord  Cornwallis  towards  \'irginia  has  already-  been  noted.  That  General 
reached  the  Old  Dominion   in  the  early  part  of  May,  1781,  and  took  immediate  command 


CHARGE  OK  THE  AMKK1C.\NS  UNDER  GREENE. 


of  the  Briti.sh  army.  Like  his  predecessors,  Arnold  and  Phillips,  he  conducted  in  the  first 
place  a  desolating  expedition  in  the  valley  of  the  James.  The  country  was  ravaged  and 
property,  jniblic  aud  private,  destroyed  to  the  value  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  Wash- 
ington had  entrusted  the  defence  of  Virginia  to  the  Marquis  of  Lafayette  ;  but  that  brave 
young  officer  had  an  inadequate  force  under  his  command,  and  was  unable  to  meet  Corn- 
wallis in  the  field. 

The  British  General  proceeded  to  the  vicinity  of  Richmond  without  serious  opposition,, 
and  sent  out  thence  a  detachment  under  Tarleton  to  Charlottesville,  where  the  \'irginia 
government  had  its  seat.  Tarleton  moved  with  his  accustomed  rapiuit\-,  surprised  the  town 
and  captured  seven  members  of  the  legislature.  Governor  Thomas  Jefferson  barely  saved 
himself  by  flight,  escaping  into  the  mountains. 

The  6th  of  July  was  marked  by  an  audacious  episode  in  the  campaigns  of  this  year. 
General    .\nthony  Wayne,   leading   Lafayette's  advance,   came  suddenly   upon   tlie   whole 

33 


514 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


British  arin\'  at  a  place  called  Green's  Springs,  on  the  James.  Perceiving  the  peril  into 
which  he  had  thrown  himself  by  incaution,  Wayne  made  an  audacious  attack,  at  which 
Comwallis  was  so  much  surprised  that  the  American  commander  was  able  to  fall  back  and 
save  himself  b\-  a  hast}-  retreat.  No  pursuit  was  attempted,  and  the  Americans  got  away 
after  inflicting  an  equal  loss  upon  the  enemy. 

'  Comwallis  now  crossing  the  James  marched  to  Portsmouth,  where  Arnold  had  made 
his  quarters  in  the  previous  spring.  It  is  believed  that  the  able  British  general  had  now 
divined  the  probable  success  of  the  American  cause  and  would  fain  have  fortified  himself  in 
a  secure  position  at  Portsmouth,  but  Sir  Henr}-  Clinton,  the  commander-in-chief,  ordered 
otherwise  ;  and  in  the  early  part  of  August  the  British  anny  was  embarked  and  convejed 
to  Yorktown,  on  the  southern  bank  of  York  River  a  few  miles  above  the  confluence  of  that 
stream  with  the  Chesapeake.  Destiny  had  reser\'ed  this  obscure  place  as  the  concluding 
scene  of  the  most  important  war  of  the  eighteenth  centur\'. 

CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  CORNWALLIS. 
The  courageous  Lafayette  quickly  advanced  into  the  peninsula  between  the  York  and 
the  James,  and  took  post  only  eight  miles  distant  from  the  British.  From  this  position  he 
sent  urgent  despatches  to  Washington  beseeching  him  to  come  to  Virginia  and  direct  in 
striking  the  enemy  a  fatal  blow.  A  powerful  French  annament  commanded  by  the  Coimt 
de  Grasse  was  hourly  expected  in  the  Chesapeake,  and  the  eager  Lafa}-ette  saw  at  a  glance 
that  if  a  friendly  fleet  could  be  anchored  in  the  mouth  of  the  York  River  and  a  suitable 
land-force  brought  to  bear  iipon  Comwallis,  the  doom  of  that  able  General  and  his  whole 
command  would  be  sealed. 

Washington  also  divined  the  situation,  and  from  his  camp  on  the  Hudson  kept  looking 
wistfully  to  the  south.  During  the  months  of  July  and  August  his  mind  was  greatly  exer- 
cised with  the  prospect.  Thus  far  the  militar}-  situation  had  demanded  that  he  should 
remain  in  the  north  confronting  Sir  Henr}-  Clinton  and  watching  his  opportunity  to  recover 
New  York  City  from  the  British.  But  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Virginia  was  such  as  to 
lure  him  thither,  and  he  determined  to  direct  a  campaign  against  Comwallis.      He-  took  the 

precaution,  however,  to  mislead  Sir  Henrj-  Clinton 
b}-  confirming  him  in  the  belief  that  a  descent  was 
about  to  be  made  on  New  York.  The  Americans 
and  French  would  immediately  begin  a  siege  of 
that  cit\\  Such  was  the  tenor  of  the  delusive 
despatches  which  Washington  wrote  w^th  the  in- 
tention that  they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  The  ruse  was  successful  and  Clinton  made 
ready  for  the  expected  attack  on  New  York.  E\-en 
when,  in  the  last  days  of  August,  information  was 
borne  to  Clinton  that  the  American  army  had 
broken  camp  and  was  on  the  march  across  New 
Jersey  to  the  south  he  would  not  believe  it,  but 
on  the  contrar)-  went  ahead  preparing  for  the  antici- 
pated assault  on  himself 

In  the  meantime  Washington  pressed  rapidly 
forward  and  soon  entered  Virginia.  He  paused  two  days  at  Mount  Vernon,  where  he  had 
not  been  for  six  years.  At  Williamsburg  he  met  Lafayette  and  received  from  him  an 
account  of  the  situation  in  Lower  Virginia.     There  he  learned  that  on  the  30th  of  August 


Adj.Gener*!^     '■  j?'*.  Md.  Pen 
-,ntB*  J  /?-       Aft. 


Go?Nel3on^ 


Rt^'j 


^1 


SIEGE  OF  YORKTOWN. 


COLUMBUS   AXl)   COLUMBL\. 


.515 


Count  de  Grasse's  fleet,  uumberinij  twenty-eight  ships  of  the  line  with  nearly  four  thousand 
infiintry  on  board,  had  reached  the  Chesapeake  and  come  to  safe  anchor  in  the  mouth  of 
York   River.      Alreadx  Cornwallis  was  secureh'  blockaded  hotli   by  sea  and  land. 

THE  SIEGE  AND  SURRENDER  OF  YORKTOWN. 
The  sequel  showed  that  the  French  navy  in  its  several  parts  was  acting  in  concert. 
Just  after  the  arrival  of  Count  de  Grassc  came  also  Count  de  Barras,  who  cominaiukd  tlf 
French  flotilla  at  Newport. 
He  brought  with  liim  into 
the  Chesapeake  eight  addi- 
tional ships  of  the  line  and 
ten  transports  ;  also  cannon 
for  the  siege  of  Yorktown. 
By  the  beginning  of  Septem- 
ber York  River  was  effectu- 
ally closed  at  the  mouth  and 
the  Americans  and  the 
French  began  to  strengthen 
their  lines  by  land.  On  the 
5tli  of  the  month  the  English 
Admiral  Graves  appeared  in 
the  bay  with  his  squadron, 
and  a  naval  battle  ensued 
in  which  the  British  ships 
were  so  roughly  handled 
that  thev  were  o'lad  to  draw  amkricans  captlring  a  redoubt  at  yorktown. 

off"  and  return  to  New  York.  On  the  28th  of  September  the  allied  annies,  now  greath 
superior  in  numbers  to  the  enemy  and  confident  of  success,  encamped  closely  around  York- 
town,  and  the  siege  was 
regularly  begun.  The 
inve.stnient  was  destined 
to  be  of  short  duration. 
Tarleton,  who  occupied 
Gloucester  Point  on  the 
opposite  side  of  York 
River,  made  one  spirited 
sally  but  was  driven  back 
with  severe  losses. 

By  the  6th  of  October 
the  trenches  had  been 
contracted  to  a  distance 
of  only  six  hundred 
yards  from  the  British 
works.  From  this  posi- 
tion the  c  a  n  n  o  n  a  d  e 
became  constant  and 
effective.  On  the  nth  of  the  month  the  allies  secured  a  second  parallel  only  three  hundred 
yards  distant  from  the  redoubts  of  Cornwallis.     Three  days  afterwards,  in  the   night,  the 


SIRRKNDRR   OF   CORNWALLIS   AT    YORKTOWN. 


516  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Americans  made  an  assault,  and  the  outer  works  of  the  British  were  carried  by  storm.  At 
daydawn  on  the  i6th  the  British  made  a  sortie  from  their  intrenchments,  but  were  wholly 
unsuccessful.  They  could  neither  loosen  the  grip  of  the  allies  nor  break  through  the 
closing  lines. 

On  the  17th  of  the  month  Cornwallis  proposed  to  surrender,  and  on  the  i8th  terms  of 
capitulation  were  drawn  up  and  signed.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  19th  Major 
General  O'Hara  led  out  the  whole  British  army  from  the  trenches  into  the  open  field,  where 
in  the  presence  of  the  allied  ranks  of  France  and  America  seven  thousand  two  hundred  and 
forty-seven  English  and  Hessian  soldiers  laid  down  their  arms,  delivered  their  standards 
and  became  prisoners  of  war.  Lord  Cornwallis,  sick  in  his  tent — or  feigning  sickness,  as 
the  tradition  of  the  times  asserted — did  not  go  forth  to  witness  the  humiliation  of  his  army. 
Washington  for  his  part  designated  General  Lincoln  who  was  of  equal  rank  with  0'Har.i, 
to  receive  his  sword  and  represent  the  commander-in-chief.  British  marines  to  the  number  of 
eight  hundred  and  forty  were  also  surrendered.  Seventy-five  brass  and  thirty-one  iron  guns, 
together  with  all  the  accoutrements  of  Cornwallis's  army,  were  the  added  fruits  of  victory. 
DEMONSTRATIONS  OF   JOY  AND  PUBLIC  THANKSGIVING. 

Great  was  the  enthusiasm  of  the  country  on  the  spread  of  this  triumphant  intelligence. 
A  swift  courier  was  sent  with  the  news  to  Congress.  On  the  evening  of  the  23d  of  October 
the  messenger  rode  unannounced  into  Philadelphia.  Wlien  the  sentinels  of  the  cit\-  called 
the  hour  of  ten  o'clock  that  night  their  cry  was  this  :  "  Ten  o'clock,  starlight  night,  and 
Cornwallis  is  taken !  "  It  was  a  fitting  thing  that  the  glorious  proclamation  of  victory  should 
thus  be  made  under  the  benignant  stars  in  the  streets  of  that  old  town  which  first  among  the 
cities  built  by  men  had  heard  and  attested  the  declaration  that  all  men  are  created  equal! 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  October,  Congress  joyfully  assembled.  Never  before 
had  that  body  come  together,  not  even  on  the  day  of  Independence,  with  so  great  alacrity 
and  enthusiasm.  Before  the  august  assembly  the  modest  despatches  of  Washington  were  read 
announcing  the  complete  success  of  the  allied  campaign  of  Virginia  and  the  capture  of 
Cornwallis  and  his  army.  The  members  exulting  and  many  weeping  for  gladness  adjourned 
and  went  in  concourse  with  the  citizens  to  the  Dutch  Lutheran  church,  where  the  afternoon 
was  turned  into  Thanksgiving  day.  The  note  of  rejoicing  sounded  through  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land.  Even  the  humblest  took  up  the  shout  of  emancipation  and  civil 
libertv  ;  for  it  was  seen  that  the  dominion  of  Great  Britain  in  America  was  forever  broken. 

The  surrendered  armv  of  Cornwallis  was  marched  under  guard  to  the  militar)-  barracks 
at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  there  to  await  exchange  or  a  treaty  of  peace.  Washington 
with  the  victorious  allies  returned  to  his  camps  in  New  Jersey  and  on  the  Hudson.  Not 
onlv  in  America,  but  on  the  continent  of  Europe  as  well,  the  news  of  the  capture  of  Corn- 
wallis was  received  with  every  demonstration  of  gladness.  But  in  England  the  King  and 
his  ministers  heard  the  tidings  with  mortification  and  rage.  The  chagrin  and  anger  of  the 
government  was  intensified  by  the  fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  English  people  were  either 
secretly  or  openly  pleased  with  the  success  of  the  American  cause. 

The  popular  feeling  in  Great  Britain  soon  expressed  itself  in  Parliament.  During  the 
fall  and  winter  of  1781  the  ministerial  majority  in  that  body  fell  off  rapidly.  The  existent 
government  tottered  to  its  fall,  and  on  the  20th  of  March,  1782,  Lord  North  and  his  friends, 
unable  longer  to  command  the  support  of  Parliament,  resigned  their  oflices.  A  new  min- 
istry was  immediately  formed,  favorable  to  America,  favorable  to  freedom,  favorable  to 
peace.  It  became  apparent  to  all  men  that  the  independence  of  the  United  States  was 
virtually  achieved. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  517 

In  the  bej^iiniuf;^  of  May  the  command  of  the  British  forces  in  the  United  States 
was  transferred  from  Sir  Henry  Clinton  to  Sir  CtU>-  Carleton.  Tlie  latter  was  known 
to  be  friendly  to  the  canse  of  the  Americans,  and  he  accepted  his  appointment  as  the 
beginnin.ii^  of  the  end.  Meanwhile  the  hostile  demonstrations  of  the  enemy,  who  were  now 
confined  to  New  York  and  Charleston,  ceased,  and  the  prndent  Washington,  discerning  the 
advantages  of  moderation,  made  no  efforts  to  dislodge  the  foe,  for  the  war  had  virtually 
come  to  an  end. 

ENGUND  ACKNOWLEDGES  AMERICAN   INDEPENDENCE. 

Congress  now  became  active  in  the  work  of  securing  a  treaty  of  peace.  In  the  summer 
of  1782  Richard  Oswald  was  sent  by  Parliament  to  Paris — a  favorable  omen  ;  for  the  object 
of  his  mission  was  to  confer  with  Franklin  and  Jay,  the  ambassadors  of  the  United  States, 
in  regard  to  the  terms  of  an  international  settlement.  Before  the  discussions  were  ended 
John  Adams,  arriving  from  Amsterdam — for  he  was  American  minister  to  Holland — and 
Henry  Laurens,  from  London,  came  to  Paris  and  were  joined  with  Franklin  and  Jay  in  the 
negotiations.  The  commissioners  became  assiduous  in  their  work,  and  on  the  30th  of 
November,  1 782,  preliminarA-  articles  of  peace  were  agreed  to  and  signed  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain  by  Oswald  and  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  by  Franklin,  Adams,  Jay  and 
Laurens.  In  the  following  April  the  terms  were  ratified  by  Congress,  but  the  proclamation 
of  peace  was  for  a  considerable  season  deferred. 

This  postponement  of  a  public  peace  between  the  United  States  and  the  mother 
country-  was  occasioned  by  the  existing  international  complications.  As  soon  as  Great 
Britain  discerned  that  American  independence  was  a  foregone  conclusion  she  conceived  the 
design  of  interposing  herself  between  the  new  republic  and  France.  It  was  clearly  perceived 
that  F''rance,  by  her  ready  alliance  with  the  Americans  and  her  practical  and  successful 
support  of  their  cause,  had  gained  a  great  and  perhaps  permanent  advantage  in  the  affec- 
tions of  the  new  nation,  and  this  circumstance  was  well  calculated  to  arouse  the  extreme 
jealousy  of  the  British  nation  and  people. 

England  felt  herself  to  be  the  parental  State.  True,  there  had  been  a  war,  but  the 
war  was  now  at  an  end.  Could  she  not,  therefore,  reingratiate  herself  with  her  late  colonies, 
recover  her  standing  with  them,  resume  her  sway  over  their  commerce  and  continue  to  gain 
as  hitherto  by  the  industries  and  products  of  the  English-speaking  race  in  the  Xew  World  ? 

The  condition  was  such  as  to  test  the  fidelity  of  the  Americans  to  their  allies.  The 
event  showed,  however,  that  a  profound  alienation  had  been  produced  in  the  hearts  of  the 
American  people  towards  the  mother  country.  They  had  suffered  too  much  of  wrong  and 
oppression,  of  persecution  and  outpouring  of  life  and  scanty  treasure  to  get  over  the  wound 
and  return  with  good-will  to  the  embrace  of  the  ancestral  islands.  Peace  was,  therefore, 
postponed,  for  France  and  England  were  still  at  war.  It  was  not  until  the  3d  of  Septeinber, 
1783,  that  a  final  treaty  was  effected  between  all  the  nations  that  had  been  in  the  conflict. 
On  that  day  the  ambassadors  of  Holland,  Spain,  England,  France  and  the  United  States, 
in  a  solenni  conference  at  Paris,  agreed  to  and  signed  the  articles  of  a  permanent  and 
definitive  treaty  of  peace.  Then  it  was  that  the  American  people  might  for  the  first  time 
break  forth  into  universal  rejoicing  over  the  achievement  of  national  independence. 

RETURN    OF  PEACE. 

The  treaty  of  17S3  was  full,  fair  and  sufficient  fur  the  new  republic.  The  terms  of  the 
compact  were  briefly  the.se  :  .V  full  and  complete  recognition  of  the  independence,  sov- 
ereignty and  equality  of  the  United  vStates  of  .\merica  ;  the  recession  by  Great  Britain  of 
Florida  to  Spain  ;  the  surrender  of  all  the  remaining  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  and 


518 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUAIBIA. 


south  of  the  great  Lakes  to  the  United  States  ;  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  and 
the  Lakes  by  American  vessels  ;  the  concession  of  mutual  rights  in  the  Newfoundland 
fisheries  ;  and  the  retention  by  Great  Britain  of  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia,  with  the  exclusive 
control  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

We  may  here  note  in  a  few  words  the  final  withdrawal  from  our  shores  of  the  militar}' 
forces  of  the  enemy.  Early  in  August  of  1783  Sir  Guy  Carleton  received  instructions  to 
evacuate  New  York  City.  It  was  some  time,  however,  before  this  could  be  conveniently 
accomplished.  Three  months  were  spent  by  the  British  officers  in  making  arrangements 
for  this  important  event.  Finally,  on  the  25th  of  November,  ever}-thing  was  in  readiness 
and  the  British  army  was  embarked  on  board  the  fleet  Then  the  sails  were  spread  ;  the 
ships  stood  out  to  sea  ;  dwindled  to  white  specks  on  the  horizon  ;  disappeared.  The  Briton 
was  gone.  With  what  sentiments  must  the  American  patriots  from  the  whar\-es,  the 
windows,  the  housetops  of  old  New  York  have  watched  that  receding  squadron  bearing 
away  forever  from  the  American  coast  that  hateful  force  which  had  so  long  impeded  the 
independence,  the  liberty,  the  nationality  of  the  new  United  States  !  Shall  we  say  that  the 
American  of  1783,  as  he  gazed  on  that  November  day  adown  the  harbor  of  New  York  at 
the  British  fleet  sinking  behind  the  waters,  exulted  with  mingled  joy  and  hatred  over  the 
disappearance  of  his  mortal  foe  ?  Shall  we  believe  that  rather  he  remembered  with  anger 
and  feelings  of  malevolent  triumph  his  victor}'  over  the  British  King  and  ministr}-,  and  that 
his  feelings  towards  the  visible  enemy,  now  becoming  invisible  across  the  sea,  were  those 
of  a  half-kindly  regret  and  sympathy  as  for  fellow-countrsinen  of  a  common  race  and 
tongue  ? 

However  this  may  be,  the  conflict  was  over  and  the  victor}-  won.  After  the  struggles 
and  sacrifices  of  an  eight  years'  war  the  old  Continental  patriots  had  achieved  the  inde- 
pendence of  their  country.  The  United 
States  of  America 
reign,    and    might 

station  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
As  for  Charleston,  that  city  had  already 
been    evacuated    by  the   British    on  th 
14th  of  December,  1782.    Thus  at 
last   were  the    American    coasts, 
from  the  borders  of  Florida  to  the 
Penobscot,  freed  from  the  presence 
of  the  unnatural  foe  which  had  so 
long   struggled    with    sword    and 
intrigue  and  invasion    to  reduce 
the  people  of  the  colonies  to  sub- 
jection and  political  servitude. 


AFFECTING  SCENES. 

The  concluding  scenes  of  the 
Revolution  now  passed  rapidly, 
like  the  final  acts  of  a  drama. 
On  the  4th  of  December  there  was  a  most  affecting  scene  in  New  York  City.  Wash- 
ington assembled  his  officers  and  bade  them  a  final  adieu.  When  they  were  met  the 
chieftain  arose  and  spoke  a  few  affectionate  words  to  his  tried  comrades  in  arms.  Washing- 
ton was  now  in  his  fifty-second  year,  and  had  aged  perceptibly  under  the  arduous  trials  and 


had  become  a  sove- 
now    take    an    equal 


WASHINGTON    BIDDING    FAREWELL    TO    HIS    GENERALS 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


519 


responsibilities  of  the  long-continued  war.  His  fidelity  to  the  cause  had  led  him  to  suffer 
much.  We  have  already  noted  the  fact  that  for  six  years  after  taking  command  of  the 
army  at  Cambridge  he  never  once  revisited  his  home  at  ]Mount  Vernon. 

On  the  day  of  the  separation,  when  he  had  ended  liis  remarks  he  requested  each  of 
his  officers  to  come  forward  in  turn  and  take  his  hand.  This  they  did,  and  with  tears  and 
sobs  which  they  no  longer  cared  to  conceal  the  veterans  bade  him  farewell.  Washington 
then  went  on  foot  to  Whitehall,  followed  by  a  vast  concourse  of  citizens  and  soldiers,  and 
thence  departed  en  route  for  Annapolis,  where  Congress  was  in  session.  He  paused  on  his 
way  at  Philadelphia  and  made  to  the  proper  officers  a  report  of  his  expenses  during  the 
war.  The  account  was  in  his  own  handwriting,  and  covered  a  total  expenditure  of  seventy- 
four  thousand  four  himdred  and  eighty-five  dollars — all  correct  to  a  cent.  The  route  of  the 
chief  from  Pallus's  Hook  to  Annapolis  was  a  continuous  triumph.  The  people  by  hundreds 
and  thousands  flocked  to  the  villages  and  roadsides  to  see  him  pass.  Gray-haired  statesmen 
came  to  speak  words  of  praise  ;  young  men  to  shout  with  enthusiasm  ;  maidens  to  strew  his 
way  with  flowers. 

On  the  23d  of  December,  Washington  reached  Annapolis  and  was  introduced  to  Con- 
gress. To  that  body  of  patriots  and  sages  he  delivered  an  address  full  of  feeling,  wisdom 
and  modesty.  Then  with  that  dignity  which  always  marked  his  conduct  he  surrendered 
his  commission  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  anny.  General  Mifflin,  at  that 
time  President  of  Congress,  responded  in  an  eloquent  manner,  and  then  the  hero  retired  to 
his  home  at  Mount  Vernon.  It  was  evident  to  his  countrymen  and  to  all  the  world  that  he 
gladly  relinquished  the  honors  of  command,  the  excitements  and  ambitions  of  war  for  the 
quiet  and  seclusion  of  his  own  home.  The  man  whom  only  a  year  before  some  disaffected 
soldiers  and  ill-advised  citizens  were  going  to  make  king  of  America  now  by  his  own  act 
became  a  citizen  of  the  new  republic  which  by  his  genius  and  sword  had  become  a 
possibilit}'. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 
THE   CONFEDERATION. 


READER  will  remember  that  at  the  time  of  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  a  committee 
had  been  appointed  to  prepare  a  frame  of  government 
for  the  United  States.  This  committee  had  upon  its 
hands  a  serious  and  difficult  task.  The  sword  of  Great 
Britain  suspended  over  the  colonies  made  union  neces- 
sary ;  but  the  long-standing  independence  of  each 
tended  to  obstnict  and  hinder  the  needed  consolida- 
tion. The  Committee  on  Confederation  reported  their 
work  to  Congress  in  July  of  1776.  A  month  was 
spent  in  fniitless  debates,  and  then  the  question  of 
adopting  the  articles  of  union  prepared  b\'  the  com- 
mittee was  laid  over  until  the  following  spring. 

In  April  of  1777  the  report  on  the  Confederation 
of  the  States  was  taken  up  and  continued  through  the  summer.  The  war  was  now  on  in 
earnest.  The  power  of  Great  Britain  was  overthrown  in  all  the  States,  and  each  adopted  a 
republican  form  of  government  for  itself.  The  sentiment  for  national  union  made  some 
headway  ;  but  there  was  on  the  part  of  many  a  covert  purpose  to  win  independence  for  the 
States  severally  instead  of  collectiveh',  thus  leaving  each  at  the  end  of  a  successful  war  to 
pursue  its  own  course  in  accordance  with  its  old-time  principles,  policy  and  purpose. 

ADOPTION  OF  THE  ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION. 
It  was  not  until  the  15th  of  November,  1777,  that  a  vote  was  taken  in  Congress  and 
the  Articles  of  Confederation  reported  by  the  committee  reluctanth'  approved.  The  ne.xt 
step  was  to  transmit  the  new  constitution  to  the  several  State  legislatures  for  their  adop- 
tion or  rejection.  The  time  thus  occupied  extended  to  the  month  of  June,  1778,  and  even 
then  the  new  frame  of  government  was  returned  to  Congress  with  many  amendments.  Each 
colonial  legislature  deemed  itself  able  to  improve  in  some  particulars  the  work  to  which  a 
committee  of  Congress  had  given  a  year  of  profound  consideration. 

Congress,  however,  was  constrained  by  the  nature  of  its  own  constitution  to  consider, 
and  indeed  to  adopt,  with  many  alterations  and  amendments,  the  clauses  which  had  been 
added  to  the  articles  b}-  the  colonial  assemblies.  The  most  serious  objections  of  the  peo- 
ple were  thus  removed,  and  the  Articles  of  the  Confederation  were  signed  b}-  the  delegates 
of  eight  states  on  the  9th  of  July,  1778.  Later  in  the  same  month  the  representatives  of 
two  other  states,  Georgia  and  North  Carolina,  affixed  their  signatures.  In  November 
the  delegates  of  New  Jersey  acceded  to  the  compact;  and  in  Februar\'  of  1779  the  repre- 
sentatives of  Delaware  added  the  signature  of  that  small  commonwealth.  Mar\dand, 
however,  still  held  aloof,  and  it  was  not  until  March  of  1781  that  the  consent  of  that 
State  was  finally  obtained.  It  thus  happened  that  the  war  of  the  Revolution  was  nearly 
ended  before  the  new  system  of  government  was  fully  ratified. 

(520) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  521 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  discover  in  these  circumstances  tlie  essentially  niilitan.' 
character  of  the  Revolution  of  1776.  The  civil  revolution  lagged  beiiind.  Doubtless 
the  rational  patriotism  of  the  times  was  greatly  discouraged  and  at  times  disgusted  with 
the  folly  of  the  people  acting  in  their  civil  capacity.  It  would  seem  in  the  retrospect 
that  so  easy  and  democratic  a  form  of  government  as  was  contemplated  under  the  .Articles 
of  Confederation  would  have  been  at  once  and  gladly  accepted  by  the  people,  an.xious  to 
obtain  a  more  efficient  frame  and  organ  of  civil  authority;  but  not  so.  Everywhere  there 
was  cavil,  objection,  opposition,  delay.  Meanwhile  the  Congress  of  the  Revolution,  so- 
called,  was  obliged  to  labor  on  without  the  powers  or  prerogatives  of  government.  Cer- 
tainly but  for  the  abilities,  sound  principles  and  courage  of  the  leaders  in  the  field  the 
whole  Revolutionary-  movement  must  have  ended  in  a  complete  and  dismal  failure. 

Thus  at  the  end  of  the  War  of  Independence  the  United  States  found  themselves 
under  the  .\rticles  of  Confederation.  The  government  so  instituted  was  a  sort  of  demo- 
cratic repu^blic.  It  presented  itself  under  the  form  of  a  Loose  Union  of  Independent 
Commonwealths — a  Confederacy  of  Sovereign  States.  Both  the  executive  and  legislative 
powers  of  the  government  were  \-ested  in  a  Congress.  That  bod\-  was  to  be  composed  of 
not  fewer  tnan  two  nor  more  than  seven  representatives  from  each  state.  These  representa- 
tives were  to  constitute  a  single  House — no  Senate  or  Upper  House  was  provided  for. 
Congress  could  exercise  no  other  than  delegated  powers.  The  sovereignty-  was  reserved  to 
the  States.  The  most  important  of  the  exclusive  privileges  of  Congress  were  the  right  of 
making  war  and  peace,  the  regulation  of  foreign  commerce,  the  power  to  receive  and  send 
ambassadors,  the  control  of  the  coinage,  the  settlement  of  disputed  boundaries  and  the  care 
of  the  public  domain.  There  was  no  president  or  chief  magistrate  of  the  republic;  and 
no  general  judiciary-  was  provided  for.  The  consent  of  nine  States  was  necessarj-  to  com- 
plete an  act  of  legislation.  In  voting  in  Congress,  each  State  was  by  its  delegates  to  cfast 
but  a  single  ballot.  The  union  of  the  States,  or  their  confederation,  thus  established  was 
declared  to  be  perpetual. 

TRIALS  THAT  CONFRONTED  THE    NEW  GOVERNMENT. 

Until  March  of  1781,  when  the  Articles  of  Confederation  were  finally  ratified  by 
Maryland,  the  goveniment — if  such  it  might  be  called — continued  to  be  directed  bv  the 
Continental  Congress.  On  the  day,  however,  of  the  ratification  of  the  Articles  by  Man,-- 
land  the  Congress  of  the  Revolution  adjourned,  and  on  the  following  morning  reassem- 
bled under  the  new  form  of  government.  Almost  immediately  it  became  apparent  that 
that  government  was  inadequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  times.  In  the  first  place  it  con- 
tradicted the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  was  found  that  the  power 
of  Congress  under  the  Articles  was  no  more  than  a  shadow;  that  shadow  instead  of  being 
derived  from  the  people  emanated  from  the  States  and  these  were  declared  to  be  .sovereign 
and  independent.  There  was  therefore  no  nationalil\',  and  indeed  the  movement  towards 
nationality  was  greatly  obstructed  by  the  frame  of  government  which  was  presumptively 
in  its  favor.  It  was  fortunate  indeed  that  the  War  of  the  Revolution  was  already  virtuallv 
at  an  end  before  this  alleged  new  government  was  instituted.  The  sequel  showed  that 
imder  trial  the  Articles  of  Confederation  might  have  proved  to  be  an  agent  of  miscaniage 
and  confusion  in  the  ver\'  presence  of  the  enemy. 

The  first  duty  which  was  devolved  on  the  new  government  was  to  provide  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  war  debt,  which  had  now  reached  the  sum  of  thirty-eight  million  dollars. 
Congress  could  only  recommend  to  the  .several  States  the  levying  of  a  sufficient  tax  to 
meet  the  indebtedness.      Some  of  the  States  made  the  required  levy;  others  wen-  dilatory, 


522  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

others  refused.  Thus  at  the  very  outset  the  government  was  balked  and  thwarted,  and  this 
too  in  one  of  the  most  important  essentials  of  sovereignty.  Serious  troubles  attended  the 
disbanding  of  the  army  ;  and  these  also  were  traceable  to  the  weakness  of  the  new  system. 
The  soldiers  must  be  paid;  but  how  could  Congress  pay  from  an  empty  treasury?  It  was 
rather  the  inability  than  the  indisposition  of  that  body  which  led  to  the  embarrassment  of 
the  times. 

The  princely  fortune  of  Robert  Morris  was,  at  this  crisis,  exhausted  in  the  vain  effort 
to  uphold  the  credit  of  the  country-.  He  himself  was  brought  to  poverty  and  ruin,  and 
finally  abandoned  to  his  fate  by  the  very  power  which  he  had  contributed  so  much  to  uphold. 
For  three  years  after  the  treaty  of  peace  the  public  affairs  of  the  new  nation  were  in  a  con- 
dition bordering  on  chaos.  The  imperilled  state  of  the  republic  was  viewed  with  alann  by 
the  sagacious  patriots  who  had  brought  the  Revolution  to  a  successful  issue.  It  was  seen  in 
a  very  short  time  that  unless  the  Articles  of  Confederation  could  be  replaced  with  a  better 
system,  the  nation  would  be  dissolved  into  its  original  elements. 

We  shall  not  in  this  connection  recount  the  immediate  circumstances  which  led  to  the 
abandonment  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  new  Consti- 
tution. Suffice  it  to  say  that  from  1783  to  1787  the  civil  powers  of  the  United  States 
tended  strongly  to  disintegration  and  ruin.  Washington  spoke  the  truth  when  he  said  iu 
infinite  sorrow  that  after  all  the  sacrifices  of  the  war  for  independence  the  government  of 
his  countr}-  had  become  a  thing  of  contempt  in  the  eyes  of  all  nations.  It  was  really  a 
government  of  shreds  and  patches,  and  the  conviction  forced  itself  upon  the  minds  of  the 
more  thoughtful  that  a  new  political  system  would  have  to  be  devised  or  else  the  fruits  be 
lost  of  the  heroic  struggle  in  which  the  patriots  of  1776  had  achieved  the  possibility  of 
national  existence. 

TERRITORY  OF  THE  GREAT  WEST. 

Before  concluding  the  present  chapter,  we  may  note  with  interest  two  of  the  important 
works  accomplished  by  that  go-between  system  of  government  known  as  the  confederation. 
More  properly  we  should  say  two  of  the  important  works  accomplished  b}'  some  of  the  great 
men  who,  hampered  by  the  confederative  system,  still  wrought  at  the  problem  of  nationality. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  organization  of  the  Territory-  Northwest  of  the  River  Ohio.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  the  campaigns  of  George  Rogers  Clarke,  in  the  year  1 778-' 79,  had 
wrested  from  the  British  the  vast  domain  between  the  AUeghanies  and  the  Mississippi. 
This  region  was  held  by  the  united  colonies  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  1783.  The  rule  of 
?iti posscdetis,  therefore,  prevailed;  the  parties  to  the  compact  should  "  hold  as  much  as  they 
possessed." 

Thus  the  territory  of  the  new  United  States  was  extended  westward  to  the  Father  of 
Waters.  But  how  should  this  great  domain  be  brought  under  organization  and  put  in  pro- 
cess of  development?  As  a  preliminan,^  measure,  the  vast  region  in  question  was  ceded  to 
the  United  States  by  Virginia,  New  York,  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  For  the  govern- 
ment of  the  territory'  an  ordinance  was  drawn  up  originalh'  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  and 
finally  adopted  by  Congress  on  the  13th  of  July,  1787.  By  the  fenns  of  the  ordinance  it 
was  stipulated  that  not  fewer  than  three  nor  more  than  five  States  should  be  fonned  out  of 
the  great  territory  thus  brought  within  the  possibilities  of  civilization;  that  the  States  when 
organized  should  be  admitted  on  tenns  of  equality  with  the  Old  Thirteen;  that  a  liberal 
system  of  education  should  be  assured  to  the  inhabitants  of   the  new  commonwealths;  and 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  ">23 

that  slaver)'  or  involuntar}-  servitude,  except  for  the  punisliment  of  crime,  should  be  forever 
prohibited  thereiu. 

Over  the  new  territorj-  General  Arthur  St.  Claire,  then  President  of  Congress,  was  ap- 
pointed militar>-  governor;  and  in  the  summer  of  the  following  year  he  established  his  head- 
quarters at  Marietta  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.  Out  of  the  noble  domain 
over  which  the  authority  of  the  English-speaking  race  was  thus  extended  the  five  great 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  were  destined  in  course  of  time 
to  be  organized  and  admitted  into  the  Union. 

A  second  nieasure  of  this  epoch  is  worthy  of  particular  notice,  as  it  insured  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  the  not  imimportant  advantages  of  an  easy  and  scientific  system 
of  money  and  account  Up  to  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  centur}'  the  monetary  sys- 
tems of  the  different  nations  had  been — as  they  still  are  in  many  instances — inconvenient  in 
the  last  degree.  In  the  Old  Thirteen  colonies  the  monetary  count  had  been  by  guineas, 
pounds,  shillings  and  pence,  after  the  manner  of  the  mother  country.  With  the  achieve- 
ment of  independence  some  of  the  American  statesmen  became  dissatisfied  with  the  mone- 
tarj'  system  that  had  hitherto  prevailed  and  proposed  a  newer  and  better. 

The  leader  of  this  movement,  as  in  the  case  of  the  organization  of  the  northwest  ter- 
ritor}-,  was  Thomas  Jefferson.  As  early  as  January  of  1782  he  had  turned  his  attention  to 
the  moneys  current  in  the  several  States,  and  had  urged  Robert  Morris,  the  Secretarj-  of 
Finance,  to  report  a  unifonn  system  to  Congress.  The  work  of-preparing  the  report  was  in- 
trusted by  the  Secretary  to  Gouvemeur  Morris,  who  prepared  a  system  based  on  that  of  ex- 
isting foreign  coins,  chiefly  those  of  Great  Britain. 

Against  this  report  Jefferson  objected.  He  himself  prepared  what  he  calls  in  his 
Memoirs  a  new  "system  of  money-arithmetic. "  "I  propose,"  he  said,  "to  adopt  the 
DOLL.^R  as  our  unit  of  account  payment,  and  that  its  divisions  and  subdivisions  shall  be  in 
the  decimal  ratio.''''  Hereupon  a  controversy  sprang  up  between  Jefferson  and  the  officers  of 
the  treasury-,  but  the  fonner  carried  his  measure  to  Congress  and  prevailed.  His  system 
was  adopted,  and  the  benefits,  we  might  almost  say  the  blessings,  of  decimal  coinage  and 
accounting  were  forever  secured  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

It  was  thus  that  the  independence  of  the  Thirteen  United  Colonies  of  North  America 
was  achieved.  The  work  had  been  imdertaken  with  scarcely  a  prospect  of  success.  In  the 
light  of  the  retrospect  it  were  difficult  to  conceive  by  what  agency  or  agencies  the  colo- 
nies could  succeed  in  a  war  with  the  mother  countr>-.  The  disproportion  in  resources  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  America  was  ver\-  great.  The  British  monarchy  was  already  one 
of  the  oldest  and  most  substantial  political  structures  in  the  world.  On  our  side  there  was 
no  structure  at  all.  Eventhing  as  yet  in  America  remained  not  only  local,  but  peculiar 
and  individual.  A  general  government  had  to  be  fonned  in  the  verv  front  and  teeth  of  the 
emergency.  The  sentiment  of  union  could  not  be  immediately  evoked  in  the  midst  of  such 
a  people  and  under  such  conditions.  The  colonies  were  as  weak  for  war  as  they  were  poor 
in  those  resources  with  which  every  warlike  enterprise  must  be  supplied.  On  the  other 
hand.  Great  Britain  was  in  these  particulars  as  strong  as  the  strongest.  Nevertheless,  the 
battle  went  against  the  strong  and  in  favor  of  the  weak.  It  was  an  issue  settled  by  right- 
eousness, and  fortune,  and  truth  rather  than  by  the  might  of  superior  armies. 


AMERICAN  GENERAI3  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 


(524) 


BOOK  THIRD. 


Epoch  of  Nationality. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  NEW   CONSTITUTION. 

iiREAT  was  the  distress  of  the  new  United  States  under  their 
so-called  Articles  of  Confederation.  The  Revolutionary 
tumult  had  not  died  away  until  the  more  thoughtful 
patriots  discovered  the  essential  weakness  of  their  frame 
of  government.  The  confederation  was  indeed  neither 
the  one  thing  nor  the  other.  It  was  neither  distinctly 
national  nor  clearly  local  in  its  character.  It  partook 
more  of  the  nature  of  what  the  Gennans  call  the  Statten- 
bund,  or  State-league,  than  of  the  nature  of  the  Bundes- 
staat,  or  true  imion.  It  was  clear  to  the  statesmen  of  the 
period  that  no  effectual  consolidation  of  the  States  had 
been  accomplished  by  the  confederation,  and  that  another 
movement  of  a  different  and  more  radical  character  would 
be  necessar)'  to  secure  a  real  union  of  the  United  States 
of  America. 

It  is  not  needed  in  this  connection  to  recount  the  many  and  diverse  projects  which  the 
wisdom  of  the  time  suggested  in  the  direction  of  establishing  a  better  government  for  the 
new  American  nation.  The  real  impulse  towards  the  remodelling  of  the  e.visting  system 
appears  to  have  originated  at  Mount  Vernon  and  in  the  thought  and  heart  of  \\'ashington. 
It  will  perhaps  never  be  known  precisely  to  what  extent  the  Father  of  his  Country  accepted 
and  adopted  the  thoughts  and  suggestions  of  others  respecting  the  new  frame  of  go\ern- 
ment,  and  to  what  extent  his  notions  were  excogitated  from  his  own  slow  but  capacious 
mind.  There  were  at  the  epoch  under  consideration  many  thinkers  of  larger  and  more 
active  intellectuality  than  was  Washington.  Such  personages  were  accustomed  to  cor- 
respond with  the  sage  of  Mount  Vernon,  to  visit  and  converse  witli  him  and  to  discuss  the 
civil  condition  and  political  needs  of  the  new  republic.  Perhaps  it  was  out  of  such 
elements  that  the  project  of  remodelling  the  Articles  of  Confederation  at  length  took  vital 
form. 

However  this  may  be,  Washington,  in  the  year  1 785,  in  conference  with  certain  .statesmen 
at  his  own  home,  advised  the  calling  of  a  convention  to  meet  at  .\nnapolis  in  the  following 
year  for  the  general  consideration  of  the  political  and  commercial  needs  of  the  nation.  Tlie 
proposition  was  received  with  favor,  and  in  Septcniber  of  1786  tiie  representatives  of  five 

(5*5) 


526  COLUIMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

States  assembled  at  Annapolis.  The  question  of  a  tariff  on  imports  was  discussed,  for  that 
was  the  fundamental  business  of  the  meeting,  and  then  the  attention  of  the  delegates  was 
turned  to  the  subject  of  revising  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 

Such  a  work  seemed  to  be  demanded  by  every  interest  of  public  policy.  Since,  how- 
ever, only  a  minority  of  the  States  were  represented  in  the  conference,  it  was  resolved  to 
adjourn  until  ^Nlay  of  the  following  year.  All  the  States  were  in  the  meantime  to  be 
uro-ently  requested  to  send  representatives  to  the  second  meeting.  The  interest  of  Congress 
was  awakened,  and  that  body  invited  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  to  appoint  dele- 
gates to  the  proposed  convention. 

To  this  invitation  all  the  State  assemblies  except  that  of  Rhode  Island  responded  fa\-or- 
ably.  The  motives  of  such  a  movement  were  actively  present  in  all  parts  of  the  countr}-. 
A  mined  credit,  a  bankrupt  treasury',  a  disordered  finance,  a  crazy  constitution  and  a  gov- 
ernment without  vital  energ>'  or  prerogative  all  seemed  to  appeal  to  the  patriotic  mind  as 
the  strongest  possible  incentives  to  the  movement  for  a  better  constitution.  It  was  under 
such  impulses  that  the  people  were  sufficiently  lifted  above  their  prejudices  to  give  a 
measure  of  favor  to  the  proposal  for  a  convention  ;  and  accordingly  on  the  second  IMonday 
in  May,  1787,  the  representatives  of  the  various  States  assembled  at  Philadelphia.  Such 
was  the  origin  of  the  Constitutional  Convention. 

THE  QUESTION  AT  ISSUE. 

Washington  had  lent  himself  with  zeal  to  the  project.  He  came  to  the  convention  as 
a  delegate  from  Virginia,  and  was  at  once  chosen  president  of  the  body.  It  appears  in  the 
light  of  the  retrospect  that  at  the  first  the  common  understanding  was  that  the  business  in 
hand  was  to  remodel  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  About  fifty  of  the  leading  citizens  of 
tha  United  Stales  were  present  as  delegates,  and  their  first  deliberations  looked  no  further 
than  the  modification  of  the  existing  system,  so  as  to  give  to  it  a  greater  efficiency 
and  power  of  administration.  A  few  leading  spirits  in  the  convention,  however,  such  as 
Washington,  Franklin,  Charles  Pinckney  and  jMadison,  saw  further  than  this,  and  it  was 
not  long  until  the  issue  of  making  a  new  constitution  was  sprung  upon  the  convention. 
Indeed,  with  the  progress  of  debate  it  became  more  and  more  evident  that  no  mere  revision 
of  the  old  form  of  government  would  suffice  for  the  future  of  America. 

It  was  on  the  29th  of  May  that  Edmimd  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  introduced  a  bold 
resolution  to  set  aside  the  old  Articles  of  Confederation  and  to  adopt  a  new  constitution. 
This  proposition  brought  out  a  great  and  long-continued  debate.  A  committee  was 
finally  appointed  to  revise  the  existing  frame  of  government,  but  with  large  liberty'  to 
consider  the  whole  question  at  issue.  The  committee  went  into  session,  and  it  was  not 
until  the  beginning  of  September  that  a  report  was  submitted.  The  report  was  essentially 
the  present  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  debate  thereon  was  renewed.  !\Iany 
modifications,  changes  and  amendments  were  made  in  the  report  of  the  committee,  but  a 
draught  which  finally  came  from  the  pen  of  Gouvenaeur  Morris  was  adopted.  This  in 
its  turn  was  sent  to  a  committee  of  revision,  of  which  Alexander  Hamilton  was  chair 
man,  and  he  it  was  who  gave  to  the  instrument  its  final  touches.  These  included  the 
prefixing  of  the  Preamble,  which  makes  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  proceed 
from  the  people  instead  of  from  the  States,  thereby  giving  to  it  an  air  and  expression  of 
nationality  for  which  we  should  look  in  vain  in  other  parts  of  the  instrument. 

As  soon  as  the  Constitution  was  prepared  and  adopted  by  the  convention  of  1787 
copies  of  the  instalment  were  made  out  and  forwarded  to  the  several  legislatures  for  ratifi- 
cation or  rejection.      It  was  already  known  that  the  people  of  the   States  were  far  from 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  527 

unanimous  on  the  question  of  the  proposed  new  government.  They  were  divided  in  their 
sentiments  and  opinions  first  of  all  as  to  whether  it  was  desirable  to  have  any  consolidated 
union  of  the  States,  but  more  particularly  they  were  divided  as  to  whether,  granting  the 
desirability  of  the  proposed  union,  the  Constitution  prepared  b\-  the  cou\ention  of  1787 
was  desirable  as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land. 

It  soon  appeared  indeed  that  a  great  majority  of  the  people  were,  for  the  time  at  least, 
in  the  negative  on  both  these  questions.  The  danger  from  the  oppressions  and  tyranny  of 
Great  Britain  had  now  passed  away.  Independence  had  been  secured.  Local  independence 
seemed  to  satisfy,  and  the  desirability  of  nationalitx'  and  union  was  not  strongly  felt  by  the 
average  patriot  of  17S7. 

THE  BIRTH  OF  POLITICAL   PARTIES    IN  AMERICA. 

It  was  out  of  these  conditions  that  the  first  great  political  agitation  of  our  country  was 
engendered.  Those  who  favored  the  new  frame  of  government  were  called  Federalists  ; 
those  who  opposed,  Anti-Federalists  or  Republicans.  The  leaders  of  the  former  party  were 
Washington,  Jay,  Madison  and  Hamilton,  the  latter  statesman  throwing  the  whole  force 
of  his  e.vtraordinar}-  genius  and  learning  into  the  controversy.  In  those  able  papers  called 
the  Federalist  he  and  Madison  and  Jay  successfully  answered  even.-  objection  of  the  Anti- 
Federal  party.  It  was  in  this  noble  argumentation  that  Hamilton  won  the  place  of  first 
an(f  perhaps  greatest  expounder  of  constitutional  libert}-  in  America.  To  him  the  republic 
owes  a  debt  of  perpetual  gratitude  for  his  part  in  establishing  on  a  firm  and  enduring  basis 
the  present  constitutional  system  of  the  United  States. 

The  contest  in  the  several  States  in  the  union  was  heated  and  protracted.  In  each 
State  an  election  was  held  by  the  people,  and  delegates  chosen  to  a  convention  by  which 
the  proposed  Constitution  was  to  be  adopted  or  rejected.  In  several  States  the  opposition 
had  a  majority.  It  was  found,  however,  on  the  assembling  of  the  conventions  that  the 
principles  on  which  the  opposition  rested  had  already  been  sapped  and  destroyed,  at  least  in 
their  vital  elements.  The  supporters  of  a  consolidated  union  had  everj-where  gained 
ground.  The  Federalist  had  been  scattered  into  ever>-  State,  and  its  arguments  had  pre- 
vailed over  all  except  imconqnerable  prejudice.  Nevertheless  it  was  an  open  question 
whether  the  people  would  accept  the  new  government  prepared  by  the  convention  of  1787. 

The  little  State  of  Delaware  was  the  first  to  answer,  and  her  answer  was  in  the  affinna- 
tive.  In  her  convention  on  the  3d  of  December,  1787,  the  voice  of  the  commonwealth  was 
unanimously  recorded  in  favor  of  the  new  Constitution.  Ten  days  later  Pennsylvania  gave 
her  decision  by  a  vote  of  forty-six  to  twenty-three  in  fa\or  of  ratification.  On  the  19th  of 
the  same  month  the  New  Jersey  convention  added  the  approval  of  that  State  by  a  unani- 
mous vote,  and  on  the  2d  of  December,  Georgia  followed  with  the  same  action.  Then  on 
the  9th  of  January  came  the  decision  of  the  Connecticut  convention,  rendered  with  a  vote 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty-eight  to  forty  in  favor  of  adoption. 

In  Massachusetts  the  Constitution  encountered  the  most  .serious  opposition.  Much  of 
the  ancient  Puritan  democracy  was  set  against  it.  Patriotism  was  suspicious  of  the  pro- 
posed union.  Patriotism  saw  in  the  President  provided  for  by  the  Constitution  a  new  sort 
of  king,  and  in  the  whole  system  a  new  sort  of  monarchy  to  be  substituted  for  the  heredi- 
tary monarchy  which  had  been  destroyed.  The  battle  for  adoption  was  hard  fought  and 
barely  won.  The  ballot  taken  in  the  convention  on  the  6th  of  February*,  1778,  resulted  in 
ratification  by  the  close  vote  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  seven  to  a  hundred  and  sixty-eight. 
The  decision  of  Massachusetts,  however,  virtually  decided  the  contest.  On  the  28th  of 
the  following  April  Maryland  gave  her  decision  by  the  strong  vote  of  sixty-three  to  twelve. 


528  COLUAIBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Next  came  the  convention  of  Sonth  Carolina,  in  which  the  vote  for  adoption  was  carried 
by  a  hnndred  and  forty-nine  to  seventy-three. 

In  New  Hampshire  there  was  another  hard  struggle,  as  indeed  there  was  in  all  parts 
of  New  England.  Bnt  the  vote  for  adoption  finally  prevailed  by  fifty-seven  to  forty-six, 
June  2ist,  1788.  This  was  the  nintli  State  in  the  aflirmative,  and  the  work  was  done.  For 
by  its  own  terms  the  new  government  was  to  go  into  operation  when  nine  States  should 
ratif}-.  Thus  far  the  great  commonwealth  of  Virginia  had  hesitated.  There,  too,  the 
spirit  of  democracy  and  localism  was  rampant.  Washington  and  Madison  were  for  the 
Constitution  ;  but  Jefferson  and  Henry  were  opposed.  Not  until  the  25th  of  June  did  her 
convention  declare  for  adoption,  and  then  only  by  a  vote  of  eighty-nine  to  sevent\"-nine. 

OBSTINACY  OF  CERTAIN  STATES. 

It  was  now  clear  throughout  the  countr\'  that  the  new  government  would  be  organ- 
ized, and  this  fact  was  used  as  a  powerful  argument  in  favor  of  adopting  the  Constitution  by 
the  convention  of  New  York,  at  Poughkeepsie.  The  hope  that  New  York  city  would  be  the 
seat  of  the  Federal  government  also  acted  as  a  moti\-e.  Two-thirds  of  the  convention  had 
been  chosen  on  a  platform  of  pronounced  opposition  to  the  Constitution;  but  the  minority, 
under  the  powerful  lead  of  Hamilton,  gradually  gained  in  the  debates,  until  July  27th,  1788, 
when  a  motion  to  ratify  was  finalh^  carried  by  a  fair  majoritj-. 

Only  Rhode  Island  and  North  Carolina  now  persisted  in  their  refusal.  But  in  the  latter 
state  a  new  convention  was  called,  and  on  the  13th  of  November,  1789,  the  Constitution 
was  formally  adopted.  As  to  Rhode  Island,  her  pertinacity  was  in  inverse  ratio  to  her 
importance.  At  length  Providence  and  Newport  seceded  from  the  commonwealth;  the 
question  of  dividing  the  territory  between  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  was  raised  and  a 
wholesome  alarm  produced  among  the  people.  The  little  refractory  State  at  last  yielded  by 
adopting  the  Constitution  May  29th,  1790.  The  new  government  had  alread}  been 
organized  for  thirteen  months  so  that  Rhode  Island  was  virtually  admitted  into  a  Union 
already  existent.  Then  for  the  first  time  the  English-speaking  race  in  the  New  World, 
with  the  exception  of  the  remote  Canadians,  was  united  under  a  common  government 
strong  enough  for  safety  and  liberal  enough  for  freedom. 

A  DIGEST  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

What,  then,  was  the  instrument  which  the  American  people  thus  adopted  for  the  civil 
government  of  themselves  and  their  posterity?  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
provides  that  the  governmental  powers  of  the  republic  shall  e.xist  under  three  general 
heads — Legi.slative,  Executive  and  Judicial.  The  legislative  power  is  vested  in  Congress — 
a  body  composed  of  a  Senate  and  a  House  of  Representatives.  The  members  of  the  Senate 
are  chosen  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  and  sers^e  for  a  period  of  six  \-ears. 
Each  State — whatever  may  be  its  area  and  population — is  represented  b>-  two  Senators. 
The  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are  elected  by  the  people  of  the  respective 
States;  and  each  State  is  entitled  to  a  number  of  Repiesentatives  proportionate  to  the  popu- 
lation of  that  State.  The  members  of  this  branch  are  chosen  for  a  term  of  two  }-ears. 
Congress  is  the  law-making  power  of  the  nation,  and  all  legislative  questions  of  a  general 
character  are  the  appropriate  subjects  of  Congressional  action. 

The  executive  power  of  the  United  States  is  vested  in  a  President,  who  is  chosen  for  a 
period  of  four  years  by  a  body  of  men  called  the  Electoral  College.  The  electors  compos- 
ing the  college  are  chosen  by  the  people  of  the  several  States  for  the  particular  purpose  of 
electing  a  President  and  Vice-President.     Each  state  is  entitled  to  a  number  of  electors  iu 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  .329 

the  college  equal  to  the  number  of  its  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress.  The 
duty  of  the  President  is  to  enforce  the  laws  of  Congress  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution. 
He  is  conimander-iu-chief  of  the  armies  and  navies  of  the  United  States.  Over  the  legis- 
lation of  Congress  he  has  the  power  of  veto;  but  a  two-thirds  Congressional  majority  may 
pass  a  law,  the  President's  veto  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  He  has  the  right  of 
appointing  cabiuet  officers  and  foreign  ministers;  but  all  of  his  appointments  must  be 
approved  by  the  Senate.  The  treaty-making  power  is  likewise  lodged  with  the  President; 
but  in  this  also  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate  is  necessary.  In  ca.sc  of  the  death,  resignation 
or  removal  of  the  President,  the  Vice-President  becomes  chief  magistrate,  or  Acting- Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States;  otherwise  his  duties  are  limited  to  presiding  over  the  Senate. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  is  by  the  Constitution  vested  in  a  supreme 
court  and  in  inferior  courts  established  by  Congress.  The  highest  judicial  officer  is  the 
Chief  Justice.  All  the  judges  of  the  supreme  and  inferior  courts  hold  their  offices  during 
life  or  good  behavior.  The  jurisdiction  of  these  courts  extends  to  all  causes  arising  under 
the  Constitution,  laws  and  treaties  of  the  United  States.  The  right  of  trial  by  jur\-  is 
granted  in  all  cases  except  the  impeachment  of  public  officers.  Treason  against  the  United 
States  consists  only  in  levying  war  against  them  or  in  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  their 
enemies.  Nor  can  the  charge  of  treason  be  established  against  any  person  except  on  the 
concurrent  testimony  of  two  witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act. 

The  Constitution  further  provides  that  full  faith  shall  be  given  in  all  the  States  to  the 
records  of  even.-  State;  that  the  citizens  of  any  State  shall  be  entitled  to  the  privileges  of 
citizens  in  all  the  States;  that  new  territories  may  be  organized  and  new  States  admitted 
into  the  Union  on  conditions  of  equality  with  the  old;  that  to  every  State  shall  be  guar- 
anteed a  republican  fonn  of  government;  and  that  the  Constitution  may  be  altered  and 
amended  whenever  such  alteration  or  amendment  shall  be  proposed  by  a  two-thirds  majority 
of  both  Houses  of  Congress  and  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the  legislatures  of  all  the 
States.  In  accordance  with  this  last  provision,  fifteen  amendments  have  been  made  to 
the  Constitution.  Most  important  of  these  are  the  articles  which  guarantee  religious  free- 
dom, change  the  method  of  electing  President  and  Vice-President,  abolish  slavery  and  for- 
bid the  abridgment  of  suffrage  on  account  of  race  or  color. 

A  CRITICISM  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 
It  is  a  theme  of  the  greatest  importance,  nu\v  that  more  than  a  centur}'  of  time  has 
elapsed  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  to  inquire  into  its  effectiveness,  and  more 
particularly  to  note  its  defects  in  practical  application  as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  Ameri- 
can people.  Among  the  latter  may  be  noticed  first  of  all  the  too  extensive  power  and  domi- 
nation of  the  President.  A  President  of  the  United  States,  once  elected  and  inaugurated, 
becomes  for  the  time  a  more  powerful  ruler,  a  more  absolute  monarch  we  might  say,  than  is 
the  occupant  of  any  of  the  enlightened  thrones  of  Europe.  It  is  clear  in  the  light  of  the 
retrospect  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  did  not  intend  that  the  President  should  be  a 
temporary  sovereigii  in  the  sense  that  he  has  become  in  practice.  A  second  evil  relates  to 
the  same  office,  and  this  pertains  to  the  manner  of  the  President's  election.  The  will  of 
the  people  is  not  fairly  and  well  expressed  by  the  cumbrous  inter\-ening  electoral  college 
provided  for  in  the  Constitution.  The  Presidential  election  in  the  United  States  is  not  suf- 
ficiently popular  and  direct.  The  choice  of  the  chief  magistrate  should  be  like  ever>'  other 
function  of  the  government — of  the  people,  for  the  people  and  by  the  people — according  to 
the  aphorism  of  Lincoln.  This  it  cannot  be  so  long  as  the  complicated  and  machine- 
like  electoral  college  is  interposed  as  the  agent  and  organ  of  the  quadrennial  election. 

34 


530  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

In  the  third  place,  it  is  clear  in  the  retrospect  that  the  fathers  erred  in  fixing  the  term 
of  the  Presidency  at  four,  instead  of  six  or  seven  years.  The  extension  of  the  term 
to  the  latter  period  should  of  course  imply  ineligibility  to  reelection,  thereby  assuring  to  the 
people  an  administration  totally  free  from  the  prevalent  intent,  manner  and  method  of  pre- 
paring for  a  reelection  of  the  incumbent  and  the  maintenance  of  his  partisans  in  ofRce. 
Nothing  can  be  more  disastrous  to  the  integrity  of  the  national  government  than  its  conver- 
sion by  the  President  and  his  party  into  a  machine  for  his  reelection.  On  the  other  hand 
it  may  be  truly  said  that  the  period  of  four  years  is  hardly  sufficient  for  the  establishment 
of  a  given  administration  and  the  attestation  of  its  policy. 

Among  the  powers  of  the  Presidential  office  is  that  of  appointing  a  cabinet.  This  idea 
sprang  partly  out  of  the  exigencies  of  the  case,  and  was  partly  caught  from  the  existing 
system  of  Great  Britain.  The  American  method  has  virtually  proved  a  failure.  The  error 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  responsibility  of  American  cabinet  officers  appertains  to  the  Presi- 
dent^ instead  of  to  Congress.  In  this  regard  the  English  system  is  greatly  superior  to  that 
of  the  United  States.  The  President  appoints  certain  of  his  own  partisans  to  be  what  are 
called  his  constitutional  advisers.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the)-  become  simply  the  head-men 
of  his  party  retinue.  They  have  and  can  have  no  independent  advice  to  give  to  the  admin- 
istration. They  are  virtually  the  President's  men.  The  various  secretaries  have  no  power 
of  originating  policies  and  presenting  and  defending  the  same  before  Congress;  nor  have  the 
people  any  check  upon  objectionable  cabinet  officers.  It  is  within  the  power,  and  tinfortu- 
nately  within  the  practice,  of  American  Presidents  to  keep  in  office  at  the  head  of  important 
cabinet  departments  men  whom  four-fifths  of  the  American  people  would  join  in  ejecting 
from  their  places.  The  abuse  which  has  arisen  in  this  respect  under  our  Constitution  is 
serious  and  deep-seated. 

CRiTrCISM  OF  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  SYSTEM. 

As  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  there  is  a  great  and  radical  error  in  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  body  in  that  the  members  are  chosen  by  the  States,  as  it  were  in  their  official 
capacities,  instead  of  by  the  people.  The  Senators  are  elected  by  the  legislatures  of  the 
several  States.  The  manner  of  senatorial  elections  has  in  many  instances  become  corrupt 
and  disgraceful  to  the  extent  of  filling  the  Senate  Hall  of  the  United  States  with  men  far 
below  the  grade  of  statesmen. 

But  the  more  cr\'ing  evil  does  not  lie  in  the  dangerous  methods  employed  in  senatorial 
elections,  but  rather  in  the  fact  that  all  the  States,  great  and  small,  are,  under  our  Consti- 
tution, made  equal  in  the  upper  House  of  Congress.  Rhode  Island  and  Delaware  have  two 
Senators  each,  and  so  have  New  York,  Ohio  and  Texas.  The  system  is  undemocratic,  im- 
republican.  It  is  against  the  genius  of  American  institutions.  It  contradicts  the  doctrines 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The  Senators  instead  of  being  chosen  by  the  people, 
of  Senatorial  districts,  laid  off  according  to  area  and  population,  and  with  little  or  no  regard 
for  State  lines,  are  elected  by  the  local  legislatures  of  the  different  States,  two  for  each,  with- 
out regard  to  their  magnitude  and  importance.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  is,  there- 
fore, not  a  representative  body.  It  offends  the  spirit  and  principle  of  popular  government, 
and  if  we  mistake  not  the  system  which  now  prevails  under  the  Constitution  will  not  stand 
the  ordeal  of  public  opinion  in  the  times  to  come. 

As  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  system  of  election  is  sufficiently  popular  and 
equitable.  The  error  in  this  respect  is  the  too  frequent  recurrence  of  Congressional  elec- 
tions. Three  years,  instead  of  two,  should  be  the  minimum  for  the  repetition  of  those 
partisan  agitations  which  now  biennially  sweep  the  countiy  to  the  distraction   of  industrial 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


531 


enterprises,  the  confusion  of  all  arts  aud  progress,  the  eiubillernieiit  of  the  public  niiud, 
and  the  jubilee  of  demagogues.  In  all  of  these  particulars  it  were  possible  luider  out 
Constitution  to  make  amendments  which  should  conduce  greatly  to  the  civil  and  political 
advantage  of  the  American  people. 

ELECTION  OF  THE  FIRST  PRESIDENT. 

In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  and  a  resolution  of  Congress, 
the  first  Wednesday  of  January,  1789,  was  named  as  the  time  for  the  election  of  a  President, 
In  this  matter  the  people  had  but  one  voice. 
All  eyes  were  turned  instinctively  to  the  man 
who  should  be  honored  with  the  chief  magis- 
tracy of  the  United  States.  The  election 
was  held,  and  early  in  April  the  ballots  of 
the  electors  were  counted  in  the  presence  of 
Congress.  George  Washington  was  unani- 
mously chosen  President  and  John  Adams 
Vice-President  of  the  new  republic. 

On  the  14th  of  the  month  Washington 
received  notification  of  his  election  and 
departed  for  New  York.  His  route  thither 
overland  was  a  constant  triumph.  Marj'land 
welcomed  him  at  Georgetown.  Philadelphia, 
by  her  executive  council,  the  trustees  of  her 
imiversit}',  and  the  officers  of  the  Cincinnati, 
honored  him  as  their  guest.  How  did  the 
people  of  Trenton  exult  in  the  presence  of 
the  hero  who  twelve  years  before  had  fought 
their  battle!  There  over  the  bridge  of  the 
Assanpink  they  built  a  triumphal  arch,  and 
girls  in  white  ran  before  singing  and  strewing  the 
bethtown,  he  was  met  by  the  principal  officers  of  the  government  and  welcomed  to  the 
capital  where  he  was  to  become  the  first  chief  magistrate  of  a  free  and  grateful  people. 
Thus  came  he  to  old  New  York,  aud  after  a  few  days  of  rest  and  preparation  was  ready  to 
take  upon  himself  the  duties  of  the  Presidential  office. 


way 


nth 


■'■//// 

JOHN   ADAMS. 

flowers.     Arriving  at 


Eliza- 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


FIRST  THREE  ADMINISTRATIONS. 


^J^^^ 


<ttl 


e) 


We.  §p 


was  on  the  30th  of  April,  1789,  that  Washington  was 
inaugurated  first  President  of  the  United  States.  The 
new  government  was  to  have  begini  its  existence  on 
the  4th  of  March;  but  the  event  was  delayed  by  un- 
foreseen circumstances  for  nearly  two  months.  The 
inaugural  ceremony  was  performed  on  the  balcony  of 
the  old  City  Hall,  on  the  present  site  of  the  Custom 
House,  in  Wall  Street.  Chancellor  Livingston  of  New 
York  administered  the  oath  of  office.  The  occasion  was 
obsen-ed  with  great  rejoicings  throughoiit  the  city  and 
the  whole  country.  The  streets  and  housetops  of  New 
York  were  thronged  with  people;  flags  fluttered;  can- 
non boomed  from  the  batter}^  As  soon  as  the  public 
ceremony  was  ended  Washington  retired  to  the  Senate 
chamber  and  delivered  his  inaugural  address.  The 
organization  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  had 
already  been  effected,  so  that  the  inauguration  of  the  President  completed  the  ceremony  of 
instituting  the  new  government  under  the  Constitution. 

That  government  was,  however,  at  the  outset  embarrassed  with  many  and  serious 
difficulties.  They  who  had  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  now  became  a  party, 
cavilling  at  the  new  order  of  things  and  in  particular  at  the  measures  of  the  administration. 
By  the  treaty  of  1783  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  had  been  guaranteed  to  vessels 
of  the  United  States.  Now  the  jealous  Spaniards  of  New  Orleans  hindered  the  passage  of 
American  ships.  The  people  west  of  the  AUeghanies  looked  to  the  great  river  as  the 
natural  outlet  of  their  connnerce  and  the  duty  was  devolved  on  the  government  of  pro- 
tecting them  in  their  rights  and  making  good  their  expectations  of  the  future. 

On  many  parts  of  the  frontier  the  Indians,  for  good  reason  dissatisfied  with  their  dis- 
placement from  their  ancient  hunting-grounds,  were  hostile  and  did  not  hesitate  to  make 
war  on  the  American  frontiersmen.  As  to  financial  credit,  the  United  States  had  none. 
In  the  very  beginning  of  his  arduous  duties  Washington  was  prostrated  with  sickness.  For 
several  weeks  he  was  confined  to  his  couch,  and  when  at  length  he  was  measurably 
restored  the  evidences  of  rapidl}'  approaching  old  age  were  still  more  distinctly  seen  upon 
him.      In  the  interim  of  his  sickness  the  business  of  government  was  much  delayed. 

It  was  not  until  September  that  the  first  important  measures  were  adopted  by  the  new 
administration.  On  the  loth  of  that  month  an  act  was  passed  by  Congress  instituting  a 
department  of  foreign  affairs,  a  treasury  department  and  a  department  of  war.  As  mem- 
bers of  his  cabinet  Washington  nominated  Jefferson,  Hamilton  and  Knox  ;  the  first  as 
Secretar>'  of  Foreign  Afiairs,  the  second  of  the  treasury  and  the  third  of  war.    In  accordance 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


6S^ 


■with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  a  Supreme  Court  was  also  organized,  John  Jay 
receiving  the  appointment  of  first  Chief  Justice.  With  him  were  joined  as  Associate  Justices 
John   Rutlodjre,   of  vSouth   Carolina;   James  Wilson,    of   Pennsylvania  ;  William  Cashing, 


WASHINGTON   TAKIM.      illl.    OATH    AS    PRESIDENT. 

of  Mas.sachusetts  ;  Jolin  Blair,  of  Virginia  ;  and  James  Iredell,  of  North  Carolina.     Edmond 
Randolph  recei%-ed  the  appointment  of  Attorne>-gencral. 

THE  ANTAGONISM   BETWEEN  JEFFERSON  AND   HAMILTON. 
Nothing  could  more  clearly  illuslvatc  tlic  spirit  and   purpose  of  Washington  than  the 
non-partisan  character  of  the  administration  which   he   thus  began.      His  thought  was  to 


534 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Jefferson. 


:iox.  K.tu  ..  i,.  I  Hamilton. 

WASHINGTON   AND   HIS   CABINET. 


Washington. 


avoid  the  division  of  the  American  people  into  parties,  and  to  unite  the  best  opinions  and 
the  best  men  of  whatsoever  views  in  the  support  of  the  government.  At  this  time  no  two 
public  men  in  America  were  more  pitted  against  each  other  than  Jefferson  and  Hamilton. 
The  first  represented  those  extreme  democratic  views  which  had  prevailed  in  the  Declaration 

of  Independence.  The  other  was 
the  embodiment  of  extreme  federa- 
listic  opinion.  The  one  wholly  dis- 
trusted the  new  s^'stem  of  govern- 
ment because  of  its  alleged  mon- 
archical tendencies  ;  the  other  would 
fain  have  given  to  that  goveniment 
additional  powers  and  prerogatives. 
The  two  leaders  stood  at  the  extremes 
of  the  political  thought  of  the  epoch, 
and  yet  Washington  called  them 
both  into  his  cabinet !  He  made 
no  discrimination  against  either,  but 
sought  to  utilize  in  support  of  his 
administration  the  talents  and  genius 
of  both. 

At  this  time  many  constitutional 
amendments  were  brought  forward, 
and  ten  of  them  adopted.  Some 
of  the  States  had  accepted  the  Constitution  07i  condition  that  certain  amendments 
should  be  accepted.  Other  States,  as  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island,  had  refused 
to  adopt  until  amendments  which  they  desired  should  be  approved  bj*  Congress.  By 
the  action  of  that  body  in  accepting  ten  of  the  proposed  amendments,  the  objections  of  the 
two  jealous  States  were  removed,  and  both,  by  ratifying  the  Constitution,  came  into  the 
Union,  thus  completing  the  circle  of  the  old  Thirteen  Colonies. 

Such  were  the  first  important  acts  of  the  Congress  of  1789.  On  the  29th  of  September 
that  body  adjoiinied  until  the  following  Januar}-.  Washington  availed  himself  of  the 
opportunity  thus  afforded  to  make  a  tour  of  the  Eastern  States.  Accompanied  by  his 
secretaries  he  set  out  in  his  carriage  from  New  York  on  the  15th  of  October,  traversed 
Connecticut,  and  in  nine  days  arrived  at  Boston.  Ever^'where  on  the  route  the  affection 
of  the  people,  and  especially  of  the  Revolntionar}-  veterans,  burst  out  in  unbounded 
applause.  At  Boston  the  President  was  welcomed  b}-  John  Hancock,  then  governor  of  the 
State,  and  by  the  selectmen  of  the  cit}'.  No  pains  were  spared  that  could  add  to  the 
comfort  and  pleasiire  of  the  new  chief  magistrate.  After  remaining  a  week  among  the 
scenes  associated  with  his  first  command  of  the  American  army  he  proceeded  to  Ports- 
mouth, and  thence,  with  improved  health  and  peace  of  mind,  by  way  of  Hartford  to  New 

York. 

QUESTIONS  OF   ETIQUETTE. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  many  peculiar  questions  arose  respecting  the  fonnalities  and 
methods  of  administering  the  government.  One  of  the  most  troublesome  of  these  related 
to  the  ceremony  and  etiquette  which  ought  to  pre\-ail  at  the  presidential  mansion.  How 
should  the  President  demean  himself  in  his  contact  with  officers  and  the  people  ?  How 
should  he  appear  in  public ?     How  often?     Wliat  kind   of  entertainment  should  he  give? 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA-  535 

Who  should  be  invited?  What  title  should  the  President  bear?  With  what  formality 
should  he  be  introduced  ?  In  these  matters  there  was  no  precedent  to  guide.  For  who  had 
ever  held  such  a  station  before?  The  President  must  not  on  the  one  hand  bear  himself  like 
a  king  surrounded  with  noblemen  and  courtiers,  nor  on  the  other  must  he  degrade  his  high 
office  by  such  blunt  democratical  manners  as  would  render  himself  ridiculous  and  the 
presidency  contemptible. 

Such  situations  as  they  occasionally  arise  in  the  movements  of  human  society-  are  not 
a  little  embarrassing.  Washington,  had  he  followed  his  own  disposition  and  the  suggestions 
of  his  antecedents  as  a  Virginia  planter,  would  doubtless  have  inclined  much  to  a  severe 
and  lofty  fonnality.  It  would  perhaps  not  have  been  much  against  his  habits  and  manners 
that  the  presidency  should  have  a  "court;"  but  the  American  people  as  a  whole  were  in 
no  humor  for  any  courtly  proceedings.  This  was  particularly  tnie  in  New  England.  It 
could  not  be  said  that  the  President  was  out  of  sympathy  and  touch  with  the  masses  of  his 
conntPiinen  ;  but  he  was  by  nature  a  severe  and  sedate  man,  one  of  the  most  unapproach- 
able indeed  that  modern  histor\'  has  produced. 

Washington  sought  the  advice  of  Adams,  Jefferson,  Hamilton  and  others  in  regard  to 
a  suitable  etiquette  and  ceremonial  for  the  republican  court.  Strangely  enough,  John 
Adams  favored  much  ceremony,  naturally  enough,  Jefferson  favored  none  at  all.  The  latter 
said:  "I  hope  that  the  tenns  Excellency,  Honor,  W^orship,  Esquire,  and  even  Mr.,  shall 
shortly  and^forever  disappear  from  among  us."  Hamilton's  reply  favored  a  moderate  and 
simple  fonnalit}-,  and  this  view  was  adopted  by  Washington  as  both  consistent  with  the 
spirit  of  the  new  government  and  accordant  with  his  own  tastes.  In  the  meantime  the 
question  made  its  way  into  Congress,  and  that  body  declared  that  the  chief  magistrate 
should  bear  no  title  other  than  that  of  his  office,  namely.  President  of  the  United  States. 
So  with  ceremonies  few  and  simple  the  order  of  affairs  and  etiquette  in  the  presidential 
office  was  established. 

Of  all  the  questions  of  the  hour  the  greatest  and  gravest  and  most  threatening  was  that 
of  the  national  debt.  The  United  States  had  gone  into  the  war  of  the  Revolution  without 
resources  or  credit  Year  after  year  the  indebtedness  of  the  struggling  young  republic  had 
increased,  and  though  the  aggregate  at  the  end  of  the  war  was  small,  as  compared  with  the 
tremendous  national  debts  that  have  accumulated  during  and  since  the  Napoleonic  wars,  yet 
proportionally  to  the  resources  of  the  people  the  sum  was  sufficiently  appalling.  The 
total  indebtedness  of  the  United  States  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  epoch,  inclusive 
of  the  Revolutionar\'  expenses  of  the  several  States,  amounted  to  nearly  eighty  millions 
of  dollars. 

The  problem  of  meeting  this  comparatively  immense  obligation  was  devolved  on 
Hamilton.  He  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  adopted  a  broad  and  honest  policy,  and  his 
genius  at  length  triumphed  over  every  obstacle.  His  plan  for  meeting  the  debt  by  the  pro- 
cesses of  refunding,  revenue  and  payment  was  matured  and  laid  before  Congress  at  the 
beginning  of  the  second  session.  The  scheme  embraced  the  feature  of  the  assumption  of 
the  several  State  war  debts  by  the  national  government.  The  plan  was  based  fundameutallv 
upon  the  proposition  that  the  debt  should  be  fully  and  honestly  paid.  This  policy  once 
established  tended  strongly  to  create  confidence  on  the  part  of  capitalists,  and  it  was  not 
long  until,  by  the  measures  of  the  Secrctan-,  the  countr>-  was  fu]]\  established  and  actual 
payment  of  the  debt  begun. 

As  a  means  of  augmenting  the  revenues  of  the  government  a  duty  was  laid  on  the 
tonnage  of  merchant  ships,  with  a  discrimination  in  favor  of  .Vmcrican  vessels.      A  system 


536 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


of  customs-duties  was  devised  on  all  imported  articles,  with  a  view  not  only  to  revenue,  but 

to   the    temporary  protection   and   encouragement    of   American    industries.       Hamilton's 

financial  schemes  were  violently  opposed  ;  but  his  policy,    which  was  supported   by  the 

Federal  party  and  by  the  President,  prevailed,  and  the  credit  of  the  American  government 

was  soon  firmly  established. 

A  WAR  WITH  THE   INDIANS. 

As  said  above,  the  financial  scheme  embraced  the  assumption  of  the  debts  of  the 
several  States  by  the  national  government,  and  this  was  coupled  with  the  proposition  to 
fix  the  place  of  the  capital.  In  this  matter  there  was  strong  competition,  particularly 
between  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The  latter  was-  more  centrally  situated,  but  the 
claim  of  the  former  was  strong  and  was  generally  supported  by  the  representatives  from 
New  England.  It  was  finally  agreed  to  establish  the  seat  of  government  for  a  period  of  ten 
years  at  Philadelphia  and  afterwards  at  some  suitable  locality  on  the  river  Potomac. 

The  next  important  measure  was  the  organization  of  the  territory  southwest  of  the 
Ohio.  The  region  including  the  country  west  of  the  Carolinas  and  lying  between  wliat  was 
afterwards  known  as  the  Territory  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  western  extension  of  Virginia 
was  included  in  the  act  of  1790,  but  was  soon  afterwards  modified  into  the  State  of 
Tennessee. 

In   the  autumn   of  this  same   year  a  war  broke  out  with  the  Miami  Indians.      Fort 
Washington,  on  the  present  site  of  Cincinnati,  had  been  built,  and  the  capital  of  the  north- 
west     territory     had     been 
transferred     to    that     place 
from  Marietta.      There 
General  St.  Clair  established 
his  headquarters  as  military 
governor.      The  Indians  had 
relinquished  their  territorial 
rights    in    the    surrounding 
country,    but     other  tribes, 
refusing    to    recognize    the 
treaty,    came    forward  with 
claims  to  the  ceded  country 
and    then   went    to  war    to 
recover  their  lost  possessions. 
In  the  latter  part  of  September,  1790, 
General  Harinar  with  fourteen  hundred  men 
set  out  on  an  expedition    from   Fort  Wash- 
ington   against    the    hostile    Miamis.       He 
destroyed   several   villages   and   wasted  the 
.    GEN.  HARM.\R  DEFEATED  BY  THE  INDIANS.  couutry   as    far  as  the    Maumee,    or    North 

Miami.  Harmar  adopted  the  tactics  of  dividing  his  army  into  detachments,  and  thus  ex- 
posed himself  to  the  wiles  of  the  Indians.  Colonel  Hardin,  who  commanded  the  Ken- 
tucky volunteers,  was  ambuscaded  and  his  forces  routed  at  an  Indian  town  eleven  miles 
from  Fort  Wayne,  and  on  the  21st  of  October  the  main  division  was  defeated  by  the 
savages,  with  great  loss,  at  Maumee  Ford.  General  Harmer  was  obliged  to  get  out  of 
the  Indian  country  as  best  he  could  and  make  his  way  back  to  Fort  Washington.  The 
situation  at  the  close  of  the  year  was  threatening,  ominous  indeed,  in  all  the  country  north- 
west of  the  Ohio. 


-y^-^^^^- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


537 


Meanwhile  the  government  continued  to  wrestle  with  questions  of  finance  and  revenue. 
In  the  earl\-  part  of  1791  an  act  was  passed  by  Congress  establishing  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  The  measure  originated  with  Hamilton,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  was  vio- 
lently opposed  by  Jefferson  and  the  Anti-Federal  party.  But  federal  opinion,  which  was 
essentially  the  assumption  of  large  implied  powers  in  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
prevailed,  and  the  bank  was  established  without  direct  warrant  of  the  Constitution.  In  the 
same  year,  namely  1791,  Vermont,  which  had  been  for  the  last  fourteen  years  an  inde- 
pendent territor\-,  adopted  the  Constitution,  and  on  the  18th  of  Februan,-  was  admitted  into 
the  Union  as  the  fourteenth  State.  The  claim  of  New  York  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  prov- 
ince had  been  purchased  in  1789  for  thirty  thousand  dollars.  At  this  time  the  first  census 
of  the  United  States,  completed  for  the  year  1790,  was  published,  showing  that  the  popula- 
tion of  the  countn.'  had  increased  to  three  million  nine  hundred  and  twenty-nine  thousand 

souls. 

DISASTROUS  DEFEAT  OF  GENERAL  ST.  CLAIR. 

The  defeat  of  General  Hurmar  gave  great  uneasiness  to  the  government,  and  more  vig- 
orous measures  were  at  once  adopted  for  the  repression  of  Indian  hostilities.  A  new  anny 
■was  organized,  two  thousand  strong,  and  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Governor  St.  Clair.  On 
the  6th  of  September,  1791,  the  expedition  set  out  from  Fort  Washington  and  was  directed 
against  the 
Miami  confede- 
racy. On  the 
night  of  Nov- 
ember 3d,  St. 
Clair  reached  a 
point  about  a 
hundred  miles 
north  of  Fort 
Washington, 
'  and  encamped 
on  one  of  the 
upper  t  r  i  b  n - 
taries  of  the 
Wabash  in 
what  is  now 
the  southwest 
angle  of  Mercer 
county,  Ohio. 
Earlv   on   the 


following  morn- 


si  Ki'Ki-ir  or 


MR  \I.    ST     CI.  AlK. 


ing    his    camp 

was  suddenly  attacked  by  an  army  of  Indians  numbering  more  than  two  thousand,  under 
command  of  the  chief  Little  Turtle  and  several  American  renegades  who  had  joined  the 
savages.  A  terrible  battle  ensued,  in  which,  after  a  conflict  of  three  hours'  duration,  St. 
Clair  was  completely  defeated.  He  lost  fully  one-half  of  his  men  and  was  fortunate  to 
escape  with  the  remainder.  The  fugitive  militia  retreated  precipitately  to  Fort  Washing- 
ton, where  they  arrived  four  days  after  the  battle. 

If  the  defeat  of  Harmar  had  spread  alarm,  that  of  St.  Clair  brought  terror.      Kver\  wher^ 


638 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


were  gloom  and  sorrow.  Hardly  any  battle  of  the  Revolution  had  entailed  greater  loss  of 
life  and  suffering.  Even  the  national  government  at  Philadelphia  was  for  a  while  in  con- 
sternation. The  responsibility  for  the  defeat  was  laid  with  some  justice  at  the  feet  of 
General  St  Clair,  who  had  not  conducted  the  campaign  with  the  necessary  vigilance  and 
caution.  For  once  the  benignant  spirit  of  Washington  gave  way  to  wrath.  He  was  sitting 
at  the  table  when  the  despatches  announcing  the  ruinous  defeat  of  the  arm\-  were  laid 
beside  him.  Presently  he  arose  and  retired  to  his  office.  "Here,"  said  he  in  a  tempest  of 
indignation,- — "here  in  this  very  room  I  took  leave  of  General  St.  Clair.  I  wished  him 
success  and  honor.  I  said  to  him,  '  You  have  careful  instructions  from  the  Secretary  of 
War,  and  I  myself  will  add  one  word — Beware  of  a  surprise !  You  know  how  the  Indians 
fight  us.  Beware  of  a  SURPRISE  !'  He  went  off  with  that  my  last  warning  ringing  in  his 
ears.  And  yet  he  has  suffered  that  army  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  hacked,  butchered,  toma- 
hawked by  a  surprise, — the  ver\'  thing  I 
guarded  him  against !  How  can  he  answer 
to  his  coimtrj'  ?  The  blood  of  the  slain  is 
upon  him, — the  curse  of  widows  and 
orphans  !' ' 

Mr.  Lear,  the  secretary, 
in  whose  presence  this  storm 
of  wrath  burst  forth,  sat 
speechless.  Presently  Wash- 
ington grew  silent.  ' '  What 
I  have  uttered  must  not  go 
beyond  this  room, ' '  said  he  in 
a  manner  of  great  seriousness. 
Another  pause  of  several 
minutes  ensued,  and  then  he 
continued  in  a  slow  and 
bolemn  tone,  "  I  looked  at 
^/  the  despatches  hastil}',  and 
did  not  note  all  the  particu- 
lars. General  St.  Clair  shall 
have  justice.  I  will  receive 
him  without  displeasure, — he 
shall  have  full  justice !  ' ' 
WASHINGTON  RECEFviNG  THE  REPORT  OF  ST.  CLAIR'S  DEFEAT.  Notwithstaudiug  lils  exculpa- 

tion  by  a  committee  of  Congress,  poor  St.  Clair,  overwhelmed  with  censures  and  reproaches, 
resigned  his  command,  and  was  succeeded  by  General  Wayne,  whom  the  people  had 
named  Mad  Anthony. 

It  was  not  long  until  Kentucky  followed  Vermont  into  the  Union.  The  population  of 
the  former  territory'  had  now  reached  sevent  \--three  thousand.  Only  seventeen  years  before 
Daniel  Boone,  the  hardy  hunter  of  North  Carolina,  had  made  his  way  across  the  mountains 
and  settled  with  his  companions  at  Boonesborough.  Harrodsburgh  and  Lexington  were 
founded  about  the  same  time.  During  the  Revolutionan-  period  the  pioneers  were  con- 
stantly beset  by  the  savages.  Kentucky  gained  the  name  of  the  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground. 
It  was  not  until  after  the  expedition  of  George  Rogers  Clarke  in  1779  that  the  frontier 
became  comparatively  secure.     In  the  years  following  the  treaty  of  1783  thousands  of  immi- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  539 

grants  arrived  annually.      Meanwhile  \'iri^inia  relinquished  her  claim  to  the  territor/,  and 
on  the  ist  of  June,  1792,  Kentucky  was  admitted  into  the  Union. 

Thus  the  first  quadrennium  of  the  American  government  drew  to  a  close.  The  Con- 
stitution was  silent  in  regard  to  the  eligibility  of  a  President  for  reelection.  The  people, 
however,  in  their  sovereign  capacity  decided  in  favor  of  continuing  the  administration  of 
Washington.  Accordingly  in  the  autunni  of  1792  the  Father  of  his  Countr)-,  now  in  the 
sixtj-first  year  of  his  age,  was  again  unanimously  chosen  to  the  Presidency  ;  as  Vice-Presi- 
dent John  Adams  was  also  reelected. 

TROUBLES  OF  THE  SECOND  ADMINISTRATION. 

Histop.-  had  reser\-ed,  however,  for  the  second  adniiuislration  of  Washington  many 
vexations  complications  and  serious  troubles,  particularly  in  the  foreign  relations  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Western  Europe  was  now  in  an  uproar.  The  French  Revolution  had  broken 
out  coincidently  with  the  institution  of  the  new  American  government,  and  was  running  its 
dreadful  course.  The  French  democracy,  liberated  by  its  own  e.xertion  from  the  thraldom  of 
centuries,  had  arisen  against  the  existing  order,  and  after  three  years  of  unparalleled  excesses, 
had  tried,  convicted  and  beheaded  the  King.  The  Jacobins  were  rampant.  The  French  mon- 
archy was  abolished.  Citizen  Genet  was  sent  by  the  new  French  republic  as  minister  to 
the  United  States.  On  his  arrival  at  Charleston,  and  on  his  way  to  Philadelphia  lie  was 
greeted  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  The  anti-Federal  or  Republican  party  had  watched 
the  course  of  the  French  Revolution  with  sympathy  and  delight,  seeing,  as  they  believed,  in 
the  same  the  European  counterpart  of  the  American  war  for  independence.  Citizen  Genet, 
making  the  most  of  his  popularity,  soon  began  to  abuse  his  authority  by  fitting  out  priva- 
teers to  prey  on  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain.  He  planned  an  expedition  against  Louis- 
iana, and  although  the  President  had  proclaimed  neutrality,  began  to  demand  an  alliance 
of  the  American  government  with  France. 

The  situation  was  peculiar,  critical.  It  was  not  long  since  France,  in  a  manner  as 
irregular  as  it  was  generous,  had  come  to  the  aid  of  the  American  Revolutionists.  The 
French  alliance  had  been  the  mainstay  of  the  patriots  in  the  darkest  days  of  their  stniggle 
for  independence.  War  between  France  and  Great  Britain  had  resulted  from  this  open  sym- 
pathy and  support  of  the  American  cause.  .\11  this  must  needs  have  produced  in  the  minds 
of  the  democratic  fathers  an  immense  prejudice  in  favor  of  France  and  against  Great  Britain. 
The  situation  in  1793  was  such  that  the  United  States  must  almost  out  of  the  nature  of  the 
case  join  hands  with  France,  whatever  might  be  her  course  and  policy. 

It  was  therefore  in  great  measure  against  the  sentiment  of  the  people  that  Washington 
and  his  cabinet  finnly  refused  the  demands  of  Citizen  Genet,  held  faithfully  to  the  existing 
treat\-  with  Great  Britain,  and  declined  the  proposed  warlike  alliance  with  the  F'rench.  At 
this  the  audacious  ambassador  threatened  to  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
against  the  government.  In  this  conduct,  so  much  in  violation  of  the  principles  of  intenia- 
tional  intercourse,  Genet  was  sustained  and  encouraged  b}'  the  anti-Federal  party.  For  a  while 
the  government  was  menaced  and  endangered.  But  Washington  stood  unmoved  in  the  midst 
of  the  clamor,  declared  the  conduct  of  the  French  minister  insulting  to  the  sovereignty  of 
the  United  States,  and  demanded  his  recall  as  a  person  not  acceptable  to  the  American  gov- 
ernment. The  Republican  authorities  of  France  heeded  the  demand,  and  Citizen  Genet 
was  superseded  by  Citizen  Fouchet,  who  .showed  himself  to  be  a  man  of  greater  equanimity 
and  steadier  temperament  than  his  predecessor. 


640  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

POLITICAL  DISSENSIONS   IN    THE    CABINET. 

Unfortunately,  the  spirit  of  partisanship  had  now  measurably  prevailed  over  the  plan 
and  purpose  of  Washington.  It  had  been  the  intention  and  policy  of  the  President  to  know 
no  part}'  in  his  administration.  But  the  party  had  come,  and  the  government  became 
greatly  embarrassed  by  political  dissensions  in  the  cabinet.  From  the  beginning,  indeed,  the 
Secretaries  of  State  and  the  Treasury  had  maintained  towards  each  other  an  attitude  of  im- 
placable political  hostility.  The  divergence  between  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  was  one  of 
thought  and  constitution.  They  differed  fundamentally  in  their  concepts  of  society  and 
government.  The  intense  democracy  of  the  one  was  set  against  the  intense  Federalism  of 
the  other.  Hamilton  believed  in  a  vast  and  orderly  organization  of  society  on  the  general 
plan  of  the  British  government.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  believed  in  monarchy  as  a 
theor\',  or  that  he  favored  its  reinstitution  in  America — though  he  was  vehemently  charged 
with  this  purpose  by  his  political  opponents.  Hamilton  sought  rather  to  give  to  the  Ameri- 
can republic  solidity,  regularity,  permanence,  firmness  of  prerogative,  and  in  particular 
whatsoever  implied  powers  were  requisite  for  its  own  maintenance  against  either  domestic 
insurrection  or  foreign  violence.  Jefferson  on  the  other  hand  was  broadly  and  radically 
democratic.  He  believed  that,  on  the  whole,  governmental  systems  had  been  the  bane  of 
libert}'  and  the  curse  of  the  human  race.  He  would  fain  have  little  government  and  great 
local  freedom.  He  would  run  all  risks  of  anarchy  aud  disintegration  rather  than  incur  the 
danger  of  a  centralized  despotism. 

The  reader  may  well  perceive  the  difficulty  which  a  President  would  experience  in  at- 
tempting to  get  on  smoothly  with  two  men  of  so  great  ability  and  such  antagonistic  princi- 
ples occupying  the  two  principal  seats  in  his  cabinet.  Doubtless  the  trouble  was  intensified 
by  the  natural  disposition  of  both  secretaries  to  gain  an  ascendancy  over  the  mind  of  the 
President.  It  was  in  this  posture  of  affairs  that  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  became  the  heads 
of  rival  parties  in  the  government.  The  financial  measures  of  the  fonner  were  attacked 
with  vehement  animosity  by  the  latter,  and  the  policy  of  Jefferson  in  his  relations  and  duties 
as  Secretary'  of  Foreign  Affairs  was  the  subject  of  much  bitter  criticism  from  Hamilton's 
scathing  pen. 

The  breach  between  the  rivals  grew  wider  and  wider.  Washington's  influence  was 
hardly  sufficient  to  prevent  an  open  break  in  his  cabinet.  So  great  were  the  abilities  and 
so  valuable  the  experience  of  the  two  secretaries,  and  so  pronounced  was  the  patriotism  of 
each  that  the  services  of  neither  could  be  spared  without  serious  detriment  to  the  adminis- 
tration. Both  officers  were  in  high  esteem  by  their  fellow-citizens,  and  justly  so;  for  no 
other  men  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  reached  a  higher  level  of  statesmanlike  abilities 
and  devotion.  Both  had  insisted  on  the  reelection  of  Washington  to  the  Presidency. 
Gradually  the  spirit  of  party  prevailed  in  the  administration,  and  Washington  himself 
became  recognized  more  and  more  as  a  Federalist.  Jefferson,  without  ceasing  to  sympathize 
with  the  President  in  his  responsibilities  and  in  most  of  his  public  measures,  nevertheless 
drew  off,. and  in  January-  of  1794  resigned  his  office  and  retired  to  private  life  at  Monticello. 
A  year  afterwards  Hamilton  also  retired  from  the  cabinet,  and  was  succeeded  by  Oliver 
Wolcott,  of  Connecticut. 

THE  WHISKEY  INSURRECTION. 

The  year  1 794  was  marked  by  a  serious  domestic  disturbance  in  western  Pennsylvania, 
known  as  the  whiskey  insurrection.  The  trouble  seems  to  have  originated,  in  part  at  least, 
in  the  democratic  agitations  which  had  attended  the  coming  of  Citizen  Genet  from  France. 
The  government,  in  the  hope  of  improving  its  revenues,  had  in  1791  imposed  a  tax  on  all 


COLUMBUS   A\D    COLUMBIA. 


041 


ardent  spirits  distilled  in  the  United  States.  While  Genet  was  at  Philadelphia  lie  and  his 
partisans  had  nsed  the  whiskey  tax  as  an  ary^nment  for  inciting  the  people,  especially  those 
of  the  distilling  regions,  to  hostility  against  the  existing  legislation  and  resistance  of  the 
collectors  of  revenne. 

At  length  an  open  insnrrection  broke  ont.  \Va.shington  issned  two  proclamations 
warning  the  insnrgents  to  disperse  and  obey  the  laws;  bnt  instead  of  doing  so,  they  fired 
upon  and  captured  the  officers  of  the  government.       The  President  found  it  necessarj-  to 

send  a  strong  military  force  under  General  Henry 
Lee  into  the  rebellious  districts  in  order  to  restore 
order  and  enforce  the  law.  With  the  approach 
of  this  force  the  rioters  took  counsel  of  discretion 
and  dispersed.  The  sequel  showed  that  the  in- 
surrection had  been  a  political 
rather  than  a  social  or  civil 
outbreak;  for  the  an ti- Federa- 
lists were  in  the  majority  in 
the  distilling  region  and  the 
whiskey  income-tax  was  a 
measure  of  the  Federal  party. 
After  the  defeat  of  General 
~^t.  Clair  and  the  destruction 
1  his  army  the  government 
must  needs  take  measures  for 
the  protection  of  the  north- 
west territory  and  the  sup- 
pression of  the  hostile  Indian 
tribes.  The  latter  were  com- 
bined in  what  was  known  as 
the  Miami  confederacy.  General  Wayne,  on  taking  command  in  the  west,  organized  as 
soon  as  practicable  a  force  of  three  thousand  men.  In  the  fall  of  1793  he  began  a  campaign 
into  the  Indian  countr>'  and  soon  reached  the  scene  of  St.  Clair's  defeat.  There  he 
built  a  stockade  named  Fort  Recovery,  and  then  pressed  on  to  the  junction  of  the  An 
Glaize  and  the  Maumee  in  the  present  county  of  Williams,  Ohio.  At  this  place  Fort 
Defiance  was  built  and  garrisoned.  Wayne  then  descended  the  Maumee  to  the  rapids, 
from  which  place  he  sent  proposals  of  peace  to  the  Indians  who  were  in  council  only 
a  few  miles  away. 

WAYNE'S  VICTORY  OVER  THE  INDIANS. 

Among  the  ablest  chieftains  of  the  native  races  of  the  Ohio  Valley  was  that  Little 
Turtle  whose  name  and  deeds  enter  so  largely  into  the  frontier  history  of  the  epoch.  Like 
Tecumtha,  he  was  able  to  understand  when  to  fight  and  when  to  refrain  from  fighting.  At 
the  great  council  on  the  Maumee  he  advised  that  a  treaty  of  peace  be  made  with  the 
whites  on  the  best  tenns  that  might  be  obtained;  but  the  rash  majority  were  for  battle, 
and  the  council  so  decided.  On  the  20th  of  August  Wayne  marched  against  the  savages, 
and  came  upon  them  where  the  present  town  of  Waynesfield  stands.  Here  he  attacked  the 
Red  men  without  delay,  and  routed  them  with  terrible  losses.  He  then  compelled  the 
humbled  chieftains  to  purchase  peace  by  ceding  to  the  United  Stixtes  all  the  territory  east 
of  a  line  drawn  from   F^ort  Recovery  to  the  mouth   of  the  Great  Miami.     The  campaign 


CAPTURE  OF  THE  WHISKEY-TAX  COLLECTORS. 


542  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

was  crowned  with  complete  success;  but  it  was  the  last  of  the  public  services  of  Anthony 
Wayne.  Remaining  for  a  while  in  the  Indian  country,  he  embarked  on  L,ake  Erie  to 
return  to  Philadelphia;  but  in  December  of  1796  he  died  on  board  the  vessel,  and  was 
buried  at  Presque  Isle,  Pennsylvania. 

As  the  eighteenth  century  drew  to  a  close,  Western  Europe  seemed  given  over  to  the 
ferocity  and  horror  of  universal  war.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  United  States  that  the 
broad  atlantic  rolled  and  swelled  between.  Otherwise  it  would  perhaps  have  been  impos- 
sible that  our  new  republic  should  not  be  embroiled  in  the  common  struggle.  The 
prudence  and  probity  of  Washington  held  back  hard  against  the  tendency  which  would 
have  drawn  his  country  into  the  vortex.  It  was  the  fact  of  maritime  commercial  relations 
which  seemed  most  likely  to  involve  the  young  nation  in  the  common  fate  of  war. 

Very  little  was  Great  Britain  disposed  to  regard  the  interests,  rights  and  wishes  of  the 
United  States  while  she  prosecuted  her  warlike  enterprises  against  the  French.  As  early  as 
November  of  1793  the  British  King  issued  secret  instructions  to  privateers  to  seize  all 
neutral  vessels  that  might  be  found  trading  in  the  West  Indies.  The  United  States  had  no 
notification  of  the  purpose  of  England  in  this  respect,  and  the  high-handed  outrage  fell  upon 
American  trading-vessels  without  warning.  The  commerce  of  the  United  States  to  the 
value  of  many  millions  of  dollars  was  swept  from  the  sea  by  a  process  differing  only  in  name 
from  highway  robbery.  But  for  the  temperate  spirit  of  the  government  the  country  must 
have  been  plunged  at  once  into  war. 

Prudence,  however,  prevailed  over  passion,  and  instead  of  a  declaration  of  hostilities 
Chief  Justice  Jay  was  sent,  in  the  spring  of  1794,  as  envoy  extraordinary  to  demand  redress 
and  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  British  government.  Contrary  to  expectation,  his  mission 
was  successful,  and  in  the  following  November  an  honorable  treaty  was  added  to  that  of 
1783.  The  tenns  of  settlement,  however,  were  exceedingly  distasteful  to  the  anti-Federal 
partisans  of  France  in  America,  and  they  determined  to  prevent  its  ratification.  The  excite- 
ment in  the  country  rose  to  a  high  pitch  of  bitterness  and  passion.  Every  argument  and 
motive  which  ingenuity  and  prejudice  could  supply  was  eagerly  made  and  repeated  before 
the  people.  Discontent  was  the  order  of  the  day.  Public  meetings  were  held,  and  orators 
harangued  the  multitudes.  In  New  York  a  copy  of  the  treaty  was  burned  before  the 
governor's  mansion.      In  Philadelphia  there  were  similar  proceedings. 

Washington,  standing  serenely  at  the  helm  of  State,  was  assailed  with  incendiary 
invectives  and  slanders.  Never  in  his  whole  career  had  he  been  subjected  to  a  like  storm 
of  malice,  indignity  and  shameless  animadversions.  In  one  instance  his  house  was 
approached  by  a  mob  who  hooted,  threw  stones  and  clubs  in  the  manner  of  madmen  at  the 
official  residence.  But  the  President,  believing  the  late  treaty  to  be  just  in  its  main  pro- 
visions and  earnestly  hoping  to  avoid  a  war,  stood  his  ground,  and  the  treaty  was  ratified. 
In  June  of  1795  the  new  compact  was  accepted  by  the  Senate  and  signed  by  the  President. 
It  was  specified  in  the  treaty  that  Great  Britain  should  make  ample  reparation  for  the 
injuries  done  by  her  privateers,  and  surrender  to  the  United  States  certain  western  posts 
which  until  now  had  been  held  by  English  garrisons. 

TROUBLE  WITH  THE  ALGERINE  PIRATES. 

It  was  an  important  matter  at  this  epoch  to  settle  the  international  boundary  between 
the  United  States  and  Spain  on  the  side  of  Louisiana.  This  work  was  accomplished  by  a 
treaty  in  October,  1795.  The  Spanish  king  gave  a  guarantee  to  the  Americans  of  the  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  just  as  England  had  done  in  the  treaty  of  independence. 


COLUMBUS   A\D   COLUMBIA.  543 

Less  honorable  by  far  was  the  compact  made  at  this  time  with  the  kingdom  of  Algiers. 
For  a  long  time  Algerine  pirates  had  infested  the  Mediterranean.  Probably  since  the  times 
of  Pompey  the  Great  that  inland  ocean  had  never  been  free  from  the  depredations  of  the 
African  freebooters  of  the  deep.  They  preyed  upon  the  commerce  of  all  civilized  nations 
alike,  and  those  nations  had  chosen  to  purchase  exemption  from  such  ravages  by  the  ruinous 
policy  of  paying  to  the  Dey  of  Algiers  an  annual  tribute. 

In  consideration  of  the  tribute  the  Dey  agreed  (with  astonishing  magnanimity!)  that  his 
pirate  ships  should  confine  themselves  to  the  Mediterranean  and  should  not  attack  the 
vessels  of  such  nations  as  made  the  payment.  At  this  time,  however,  and  with  the  purpose 
of  injuring  her  rival,  France,  Great  Britain  winked  at  an  agreement  with  the  Dey,  by  which 
the  Algerine  sea-robbers  were  turned  loose  on  the  Atlantic.  Once  afloat  in  those  broad 
waters,  the  pirate-ships  made  little  discrimination  among  the  victims  of  their  piracy  ;  and 
American  commerce  suffered  greatly  with  the  rest.  The  government  of  the  United  States 
in  this  juncture  of  affairs  deemed  it  prudent  to  purchase  safety  and  exemption  by  the  pay- 
ment of  the  shameful  tribute. 

In  the  summer  of  1796,  Tennessee  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  the  third  new  State. 
Six  years  previously  North  Carolina  had  surrendered  her  claims  to  her  territory-  west  of  the 
mountains  in  the  .same  manner  as  Virginia  had  done  in  the  case  of  Kentucky.  At  that 
time,  namely  in  1790,  Tennessee  contained  a  population  of  thirty -five  thousand  ;  but  within 
the  follo\ving  five  years  the  number  was  more  than  doubled.  The  first  inhabiiants  of  Ten- 
nessee, as  will  be  recalled  by  the  reader,  were  fugitives  from  the  wrath  of  the  royal  governor 
of  Carolina,  against  whom  they  had  revolted  in  the  early  days  of  independence.  They 
were  of  that  hardy  race  of  pioneers  to  whom  the  perils  of  the  wilderness  are  as  nothing 
provided  the  wilderness  is  free.  By  the  addition  of  the  two  States  southwest  of  the  Ohio, 
more  than  eighty-three  thousand  square  miles  of  territory  were  brought  under  the  dominion 
of  civilization. 

The  democratic  hostility'  to  Washington  passed  away  with  the  passion  in  which  it  was 
engendered.  Few  things  in  history,  indeed,  are  more  surprising  than  the  ascendancy  which 
he  to  the  end  of  his  official  career  contiiuied  to  e.xercise  over  the  minds  of  his  countrymen. 
His  integrity  had  in  these  late  years  of  his  life,  as  well  as  in  the  times  of  the  Revolution 
and  back  to  the  days  of  his  youth,  been  tested  by  every  ordeal  to  which  human  character 
may  be  subjected.  True,  in  the  House  of  Representatives  during  the  last  two  sessions  of 
his  administration,  there  had  been  a  clear  anti- Federal  majority  against  him  and  his  policy  ; 
and  yet  the  House  continued  the  support  of  his  measures.  Even  the  provisions  necessary 
to  carr\-  into  effect  the  hated  treaty  with  Great  Britain  were  made  by  that  body,  though  the 
vote  was  close.  So  powerful  were  the  President's  views  and  wishes  in  determining  the 
actions  of  the  people  that  Jefferson,  writing  to  James  Monroe  at  Paris,  said:  "  Congress  have 
risen.  You  will  see  by  their  proceedings  the  tnith  of  what  I  always  told  you,  namely  that 
one  man  outweighs  them  all  in  influence  over  the  people,  who  support  his  judgment  against 
their  own  and  that  of  their  representatives.     Republicanism  resigns  its  vessel  to  the  pilot." 

WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

In  the  beginning  of  a  govcrnniLUl  like  lluit  of  llie  United  States  many  things  must  be 
left  to  establish  themselves  by  custom,  trial  and  precedent.  This  was  particularly  true  in 
the  case  of  our  own  country-,  for  the  Constitution  was  comparatively  brief,  and  the  nature 
of  the  government  was  such  as  to  forbid  explicit  details  on  many  important  points.  One 
question  of  wide  and  far-reaching  interest  was  the  eligibility  of  the  incumbent  President  to 
reelection.     .\t  the  close  of  Washington's  first  term  this  was  decided  in  the  aflSrmative  by 


544  COLU.MBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

■ 

a  kind  of  common  consent.  The  question  of  a  second  reelection  remained,  however,  to  be 
considered  in  the  year  1796.  The  second  administration  drew  to  a  close.  Should  Wash- 
ington be  chosen  for  a  third  term  or  should  some  other  be  taken  in  his  place  ?  Popular 
opinion  was  in  favor  of  the  continuance  of  the  President  in  office.  He  was  strongly 
solicited  to  permit  the  use  of  his  name  in  candidature  for  a  third  election,  but  he  would  not. 
His  resolution  had  been  taken  to  end  his  public  career  with  the  close  of  his  second  tenn. 
With  him  the  evening  of  life  drew  on  and  rest  was  necessar}-. 

Accordingly  in  September  of  1796  Washington  issued  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  his  farewell  address — a  document  crowded  with  precepts  of  political  wisdom,  prudent 
counsels  and  chastened  patriotism.  Perhaps  no  other  communication  has  ever  been  sent  to 
a  free  people  in  which  so  much  wisdom,  devotion  and  unselfish  counsel  was  given  as  in  this 
the  last  address  of  the  Father  of  his  Countr}-. 

As  soon  as  Washington's  determination  to  retire  from  the  Presidency  was  known  the 
political  parties  marshalled  their  forces  and  put  forward  their  champions.  John  Adams 
appeared  as  the  candidate  of  the  Federal  and  Thomas  Jefferson  of  the  anti-Federal  party. 
Antagonism  to  the  Constitution,  which  had  thus  far  been  the  chief  question  dividing  the 
American  politicians  and  statesmen,  now  gave  place  to  another  issue — whether  it  was  the  true 
policy  of  the  United  States  to  enter  into  intimate  relations  with  the  republic  of  France. 
The  anti-Federalists  or  Republicans  said  Yes ;  that  all  republics  have  a  common  end,  and 
that  Great  Britain  was  the  common  enemy  of  them  all.  The  Federalists  said  No ;  that  the 
American  republic  must  mark  out  an  independent  course  among  the  nations  and  avoid  all 
foreign  alliances.  On  that  issue  John  Adams  was  elected  to  the  Presidency ;  but  ]\Ir.  Jeffer- 
son having  the  next  highest  number  of  votes  became  Vice-President.  For  according  to  the 
old  provision  of  the  Constitution  the  person  who  stood  second  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for 
for  the  Presidency  was  declared  the  second  officer  in  the  government. 

JOHN  ADAMS,  THE  SECOND  PRESIDENT. 

It  was  thus  decided  that  the  Federal  administration  upheld  and  promoted  by  Washing- 
ton during  the  first  eight  years  of  our  national  existence  should  be  continued  under  his 
successor.  John  Adams  was  a  native  of  the  town  of  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
was  born  on  the  19th  of  October,  1735.  He  was  the  great-grandson  of  that  Henr>-  Adams 
who,  emigrating  from  Great  Britain  in  1640,  founded  in  America  a  famih-  which  was 
destined  to  be  made  famous  by  many  illustrious  names.  Eight  sons  of  the  elder  Adams 
settled  around  Massachusetts  Bay.  One  of  these,  the  grandfather  of  the  President,  made 
his  home  in  that  part  of  Braintree  afterwards  called  Quincy.  The  father  of  John  Adams 
was  a  Puritan  deacon,  a  selectman  of  the  town,  a  fanner  of  small  means  and  a  shoemaker. 
The  son  received  a  classical  education,  being  graduated  at  the  age  of  twenty  from  Har\'ard 
College.  For  a  while  he  taught  school ;  but  finding  that  vocation  to  be,  as  he  expressed  it, 
a  school  of  affliction,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  study  of  law.  In  this  his  chosen  pro- 
fession he  soon  became  eminent,  removed  to  Boston,  engaged  with  great  zeal  in  the 
controversy  with  the  mother  countr\-  and  became  in  a  short  time  a  recognized  leader  of 
public  opinion. 

From  this  time  forth  the  services  of  Adams  were  in  constant  demand  both  in  his 
native  State  and  in  the  successive  Colonial  Congresses.  He  was  a  member  of  the  celebrated 
committee  appointed  to  draw  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  and  in  the  debates  on  that 
instrument  was  its  chief  defender.  He  was  an  able  jurist,  well  versed  in  the  principles  of 
international  law,  and  during  the  last  years  of  the  Revolution  ser\'ed  his  country'  as  ambas- 
sador to  France,  Holland  and  Great   Britain.       He  was  the  first  minister  of  the  United 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  o45 

States  to  the  mother  couiUi\  aiu-r  the  reco.L,nntioii  of  American  indepciKlence.  From  this 
important  station  lie  returned  in  178S  to  be  elected  to  the  \'ice- Presidency  under  the  new 
Constitution.  In  this  high  office  he  served  by  the  side  of  Washington  for  eight  years  and 
was  then  chosen  as  his  successor  to  the  Presidenc\-. 

The  beginning  of  the  administration  of  Adams  was  a  time  of  trouble  and  alarm  both 
national  and  international.  The  anti-Federal  party  in  the  United  States,  now  beginning 
to  take  the  name  of  Democratic,  constituted  both  in  and  out  of  Congress  a  powerful  and 
well-organized  opposition  to  the  government.  Tiie  minister  of  the  French  republic  was  at 
this  time  M.  Adet,  who  had  succeeded  Fouchet.  His  business  in  the  United  States 
appeared  to  be  principally  the  securing  of  a  league,  defensive  and  offensive,  against  Great 
Britain.  The  President  and  Congress  stood  firmly  on  the  doctrine  of  neutralit\-  which  had 
been  advanced  by  Washington  as  the  tnie  policy  of  the  United  States. 

Adet,  failing  with  the  government,  began  to  make  inflammatorj-  appeals  to  the  people, 
among  whom  lie  found  a  great  and  audacious  following.  The  French  Director\-  meanwhile 
grew  insolent,  and  began  to  demand  an  alliance.  Tlie  treat)-  which  John  Jay  had  con- 
cluded with  England  was  especialh-  complained  of  by  the  partisans  of  France.  On  the 
loth  of  March,  only  six  days  after  the  inauguration  of  Adams,  the  Director}-  issued  instruc- 
tions to  French  men-of-war  to  assail  the  commerce  of  the  United  States.  Soon  afterwards 
Mr.  Pinckney,  the  American  minister  at  Paris,  was  ordered  to  leave  the  territor\-  of  France. 

WAR  WITH    FRANCE. 

Such  proceedings  were  the  equivalent  of  a  declaration  of  war.  The  President  immedi- 
ately convened  Congress  in  extraordinan-  session  and  preliminary  measures  were  taken  to 
repel  the  aggressions  of  the  French.  Elbridge  Gerr}-  and  John  Marshall  were  directed  to 
juin  Mr.  Pinckney  in  a  final  effort  for  a  peaceable  adjustment  of  the  pending  difficnltv,  but 
the  effort  was  fruitless.  The  Director)-  of  France  would  not  receive  the  American  ambassadors 
except  upon  condition  that  the>-  would  pledge  tlie  payment  into  the  French  treasurv  of  a 
quarter  of  a  million  dollars.  Then  it  was  that  Pinckney  made  answer  with  the  aphoristic 
declaration  that  the  United  States  had  vnllions  for  defence,  hut  not  a  cent  for  tribute .'  The 
envoys  were  then  ordered  to  leave  the  countn,-,  but  Gerr\-,  who  was  an  anti- Federalist,  was 
at  length  permitted  to  remain.     These  events  occupied  the  summer  and  fall  of  1797. 

War  with  France  was  now  anticipated  as  a  certainty.  Congress  began  to  make  pro- 
•vision  for  the  emergency,  and,  in  the  early  part  of  1798,  passed  an  act  completing  the 
organization  of  the  army.  Washington 
was  called  from  the  retirement  of  his  old 
age  and  appointed  commander-in-chief. 
He  accepted  the  position  on  the  two  con- 
ditions that  he  should  not   be   obliged  to 

take  the  field  e.xcept  in  case  of  actual  in-  '^  ^ 

vasion,  and  that  he  should  have  the  right 
to  name  his  own  subordinates.      Alexander 
Hamilton   was    chosen    first  major-general. 
A  navy  of  six  frigates,  besides  many  priva- 
teers,   had  been    provided    for   during    the    -..  ""*'•' 
previous  year  and  a  national  loan  had  been         1                           ...  ,       .:.i.latio.n-  and  the 
authorized.     The  patriotism  of  the  people                                  insurgent. 
was  at  length  thoroughly  aroused.      Even  the  strung  sympathy  of  the  anti-Federalist  party 
for  the    cause  of  Republican    France  was  not  sufficient    to    prevail  against  the  sentiments 
of  the  people  stung  by  the  affronts  and  injustice  of  the  French  Directory. 

35 


640  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  existing  treaties  with  France  were  promptly  anmilled  and  vigorous  preparations 
made  for  the  impending  war.  The  American  frigates  put  to  sea,  and  in  the  summer  and 
fall  of  1799  did  good  service  for  the  commerce  of  the  country.  Commodore  Truxton  in  the 
ship  Coustellatioji  won  distinguished  honors  for  his  flag  and  inflicted  great  injury  upon  the 
enemy.  On  the  9th  of  February,  while  cruising  in  the  West  Indies  he  attacked  the 
Insurgent,  a  French  man-of-war  carrying  fort}-  guns  and  more  than  four  hundred  seamen. 
A  desperate  engagement  ensued,  and  Truxton  though  inferior  in  guns  and  men  gained  a 
complete  victory.  A  }-ear  later  he  fell  in  with  another  frigate  called  the  Vengeance,  and 
after  five  hours'  battle  in  the  night  would  have  captured  his  antagonist  but  for  a  storm  and 
the  darkness.  The  cruise  by  its  success  added  greatly  to  the  reputation  of  the  American 
Hag  on  the  high  seas. 

Meanwhile  the  organization  of  the  provisional  army  w^ent  forward  and  was  soon  com- 
pleted. The  commander-in-chief  established  his  headquarters  at  Philadelphia,  where  he 
remained  for  five  weeks  in  consultation  with  Generals  Hamilton  and  Pinckney.  Such 
measures  were  devised  as  were  deemed  adequate  to  the  defence  of  the  honor  of  the  nation. 
Washington  then  retired  to  Mount  Vernon,  leaving  the  greater  part  of  the  responsibility  to 
be  bonie  by  Hamilton. 

The  news  of  these  warlike  proceedings  was  soon  borne  to  France.  The  relation 
between  the  two  republics  was  as  unnatural  as  it  was  strained.  The  question  might  well 
be  asked  why  these  two  friendly  peoples,  lately  fighting  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  trenches 
before  Yorktown,  should  now  take  up  arms  in  a  fratricidal  war.  The  shrewd  Tallej-rand, 
French  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  seeing  that  his  dismissal  of  Mr.  Monroe  and  General 
Pinckney  had  given  mortal  offence  to  the  American  people,  signified  to  Vans  Murray, 
ambassador  of  the  United  vStates  to  Holland,  that  if  President  Adams  should  send  anothe? 
minister  to  Paris  he  would  be  cordially  received.  This  hint  was  transmitted  by  ^Murray  to 
the  American  President,  who  eagerly  seized  the  opportunity  to  extricate  the  country  from 
apprehended  war.  On  the  i8th  of  February,  1799,  he  sent  a  message  to  the  Senate  nomi- 
nating Mr.  Murray  as  Minister  Plenipotentian,-  to  the  French  Republic.  The  nomination 
was  confirmed  and  the  ambassador  was  ordered  to  proceed  at  once  to  France.  W^ith  him 
were  joined,  by  the  action  of  the  American  Senate,  two  other  envoys,  Oliver  Ellsworth  and 
William  R.  Davie.  These  two  hastened  to  Amsterdam  to  join  ^Murray  on  his  important 
mission  to  the  French  capital. 

NAPOLEON'S  FRIENDLY  ATTITUDE  TOWARDS  AMERICA. 

By  this  time,  however,  the  French  Directory  had  itself  gone  into  oblivion.  The  youth- 
ful Napoleon  Bonaparte,  rising  suddenly  as  a  militarx-  hero  on  the  dazzled  vision  of  the 
French  republic,  had  displaced  the  governing  Director}-  and  made  himself  First  Consul. 
More  wise  than  his  predecessors  and  associates,  he  immediateh-  sought  peace  with  the  United 
States.  He  saw  clearly  enough  that  the  impending  war  would,  if  prosecuted,  result  in  an 
alliance  between  America  and  England — a  thing  naost  unfavorable  to  the  interests  of  France. 
Thereby  the  strong  friendship  already  becoming  traditional  between  France  and  America 
would  be  annulled,  the  political  and  social  dislike  of  the  Americans  for  the  mother  country 
obliterated,  and  the  whole  replaced  with  what  might  well  seem  to  him  an  unnatural  league 
of  the  lately  rebellious  States  of  the  New  World  with  the  monarchy  which  had  tried  to  op- 
press and  destro}-  them. 

Bonaparte  was  confident  that  peaceful  overtures  on  his  part  would  be  met  with  favor. 
VVhen  the  three  American  ambassadors — Murray,  Ellsworth  and  Davie — reached  Paris  in 
the  beginning  of  March,  1800,  they  were  well  received  by  the   First   Consul,  and  negotia- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  547 

tions  were  at  once  opened  for  peace.  In  the  following  September  all  difficulties  were  hap- 
pily terminated  with  the  new  treaty,  entirely  satisfactory  in  its  provisions  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States.  In  all  his  relations  with  our  country — whatever  may  have  been  his 
underlying  motives  of  action — Napoleon  acted  the  part  of  a  consistent  and  honorable 
ruler. 

UST  DAYS    AND    DEATH    OF  WASHINGTON. 

Before  the  war-clond  was  scattered  by  the  now  lreat>-  with  the  French  republic, 
America  was  called  to  mourn  the  loss  of  Washington.  On  the  14th  of  December,  1799, 
after  an  illness  of  only  a  day,  the  venerated  chieftain  passed  from  among  the  living.  It  ap- 
pears that  though  Washington  was  by  nature  of  an  unusually  vigorous  constitution,  his 
vital  forces  failed,  or  began  to  fail,  at  a  comparatively  early  period  of  his  life.  The  hard- 
ships and  anxieties  of  the  Revolution  told  heavily  upon  him.  It  is  probable  that  at  heart 
the  Father  of  his  Conntr\-  was  capable  of  feeling  the  greatest  distress  on  account  of  the  suf- 
ferings and  sorrows  of  his  countrymen.  At  all  events,  on  his  retirement  from  the  Presi- 
denc\-,  just  after  the  completion  of  his  sixty-fifth  year,  he  was  already  an  aged  man;  but  he 
returned  to  Mount  \'ernon  in  happy  spirits,  and  began  by  personal  supervision  the  restora- 
tion and  improvement  of  his  estates.  It  was  his  custom  and  jo>-  to  ride  abroad  each  morn- 
ing in  the  personal  superintendence  of  the  various  enterprises  whereb\-  he  hoped  soon  to 
make  IMount  \'ernon  the  ideal  and  resting  place  of  his  declining  days. 

Two  days  before  his  death,  though  the  weather  was  bleak  and  threatening,  Washington 
rode  forth  to  a  distant  part  of  the  estate,  and  did  not  return  until  after  dark.  Meanwhile  a 
cold  rain  had  come,  and  the  General  was  wet  and  chilled  in  the  December  evening.  An 
attack  of  tonsilitis,  to  which  disease  he  had  been  subject  at  intervals  for  many  vears,  super- 
vened, and  on  the  following  day  he  was  seriously  sick.  The  physician  was  called  in,  and, 
acting  after  the  folly  of  the  times,  bled  his  illustrious  patient  almost  to  exhaustion.  During 
the  next  day  he  sank  away,  and  in  the  evening  fell  into  that  peaceful  slumber  from  which 
neither  the  affectionate  voice  of  his  countrymen  nor  the  blare  of  the  trumpet  of  war  might 
ever  wake  him  more. 

The  event  touched  all  hearts  with  inexpressible  sorrow.  The  people  instinctively  put 
on  the  garb  of  mourning.  Congress  on  receiving  the  intelligence  went  in  funeral  procession 
to  the  German  Lutheran  Church,  where  General  Henr>'  Ivce,  the  personal  friend  of  Wash- 
ington, delivered  that  touching  and  eloquent  oration  in  which  the  expression,  "  First  in 
war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-citizens,"  was  recorded.  Throughout 
the  civilized  world  the  memory  of  the  Father  of  his  Country  was  honored  with  appropriate 
ceremonies.  To  the  legions  of  France  the  event  was  announced  by  Bonaparte,  who  paid  a 
beautiful  tribute  to  the  virtues  of  "the  warrior,  the  legislator,  and  tlic  citizen  without  re- 
proach." As  the  body  of  Washington  was  laid  in  the  sepulchre,  the  voice  of  partisan  ma- 
lignity that  had  not  hesitated  to  assail  his  name  was  hushed  into  e\-erlasting  silence,  and  the 
world  with  uncovered  head  agreed  with  Lord  B\rou  in  declaring  the  illustrious  dead  to  have 
been  among  warriors,  statesmen  and  patriots — 

"The  first,  thi;  last,  the  best— 
Tlie  Ciiuiiiiiatiis  of  the  Wist." 

PEACE,    PROSPERITY  AND  PERMANENCE. 

Great  was  the  relief  to  the  public  mind  when  the  threatening  cloud  of  war  with  France 
passed  by.  It  could  not  be  said  that  with  the  masses  of  the  people  the  prospect  of  such  a 
war  was  ever  entertained  with  favor.  The  recollection  of  the  recent  great  good  of  the 
French  alliance  was  too  recent  to  pass  readily  from   the   brain    and   heart  of  the   people. 


548  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

There  was,  therefore,  a  sense  of  relief  when  the  clouds  parted  and  the  liglit  of  returning  good- 
will streamed  through.  Meanwhile  the  administration  of  the  elder  Adams  and  the  ei^h- 
teenth  century  drew  to  a  close  together.  In  spite  of  domestic  dissensions  and  foreign 
alarms,  the  new  republic  had  greatly  grown  in  strength  and  influence.  The  second  census, 
that  of  1800,  showed  that  the  population  of  the  countr\-,  including  the  blacks,  had  in- 
creased to  over  five  millions.  The  sevent\--five  post  offices  reported  by  the  census  of  1790 
had  been  multiplied  to  nine  hundred  and  three.  The  exports  of  the  United  States  had  in- 
creased from  twenty  millions  to  nearly  seventy-one  millions  of  dollars.  Better  than  all,  the 
permanency  of  the  new  political  order  under  the  Constitution  as  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land  had  become  an  established  fact  and  was  cheerfully  recognized  by  the  people. 

In  December  of  1800  Congress  for  the  first  time  assembled  in  Washington  City,  the 
new  capital  of  the  nation.  Virginia  and  ]\Iar\land  had  ceded  to  the  United  States  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  a  tract  ten  miles  square,  hing  on  both  sides  of  the  Potomac.  But  the 
part  given  by  Virginia  was  afterward  re-ceded  to  that  State.  The  city  which  was  designed 
as  the  seat  of  government  was  laid  out  in  1792,  and  in  1800  the  population  had  reached  an 
aggregate  of  about  eight  thousand  five  hundred. 

The  political  question  now  arose  as  to  which  party  and  policy  should  obtain  preponder- 
ance in  the  government.  It  would  appear  that  with  prudent  management  and  unanimity 
the  Federalists  might  ha\e  remained  in  the  ascendant  ;  but  that  policy  had  now  incurred 
much  popular  reprobation.  There  were  dissensions  in  Adams's  cabinet.  I\Iuch  of  the  re- 
cent legislation  of  Congress  had  been  unwise  and  perhaps  partisan.  The  Alien  law,  by 
which  the  President  was  authorized  to  send  out  of  the  country  any  foreigners  whose 
presence  might  be  reckoned  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States,  was  especialh' 
odious.  The  Sedition  law,  which  punished  with  fine  and  imprisonment  the  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  when  directed  abusively  against  the  government,  was  denounced  by 
the  opposition  as  an  act  of  tyranny.  Partisan  excitement  ran  high.  It  was  clear  that  the 
destinies  of  the  American  government  were  to  fall  exclusively  into  the  hands  of  the  one 
party  or  the  other. 

John  Adams  and  Charles  C.  Pinckney  were  put  forward  as  the  candidates  of  the  Fed- 
eralists, and  Thomas  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Buit  of  the  Republicans,  or  Democrats.  The 
latter  were  triumphant.  In  the  electoral  college  Jeiferson  and  Bun'  each  received  seventy- 
three  votes  ;  Adams  sixt\'-five,  and  Pinckney  sixty-four.  In  order  to  decide  between  the 
Democratic  candidates,  the  election  was  referred  to  the  House  of  Representatives.  After 
thirty-five  ballotings  the  choice  of  that  body  fell  on  Jefferson,  and  Burr,  who  was  now 
second  on  the  list  was  declared  Vice-President.  After  controlling  the  government  for  the 
first  twelve  years  of  its  existence  the  Federal  party,  thus  defeated,  passed  from  power  never 
to  be  restored. 

CHARACTER  OF  JEFFERSON. 

The  reader  may  readily  discover  the  natural  evolution  which  was  beginning  in  the 
political  history  of  the  government.  The  elder  Adams  had  served  as  Vice-President  to 
Washington.  Jefferson  had  served  in  a  like  relation  with  Adams.  Both  had  been  long  dis- 
ciplined in  public  life.  Both  had  represented  the  government  abroad  in  its  most  critical  in- 
ternational relations.  There  was  clearly  a- disposition  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  choose 
the  greatest  and  strongest  men  for  the  highest  official  trusts. 

There  was  also  a  gravitation  towards  a  broader  democracy.  This  was  expressed  in  the 
election  of  Jefferson  over  Adams.  The  new  chief  magistrate  was  one  of  the  most  intel- 
lectual men  of  the  century' — one  of  the  greatest  patriots  ;  but  he  was  by  no  means  a  mili- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


.54y 


tan-  leader.  Jefferson  \v;is  born  in  the  connty  of  Albemarle,  Virj^^inia,  on  the  2d  of  April, 
1743.  Of  his  ancestr)-  history  has  preserved  no  record  other  than  the  name  of  his  father, 
Colonel  Peter  Jefferson,  who  in  the  pre-revolntionar\'  period  rose  to  note  by  his  native  abili- 
ties and  force  of  character.  The  son  had  excellent  advantages  of  early  training,  both  at 
home  and  in  a  private  school  established  by  an  exiled  Scottish  clergyman.  Afterwards  he 
completed  his  education  at  William  and  Mary  College.  He  then  entered  upon  the  study  of 
law,  and  soon  rose  to  distinction.  He  became  in  early  manhood  deeply  absorbed  in  the  ris- 
ing controversy  with  the  mother  country,  and  by  his  radical  views  in  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses contributed  much  to  fix  the  sentiments  of  that  body  against  the  arbitran,-  measures 
of  the  English  ministry. 

The  provincial  council  of  \'irginia,  however,  could  not  limit  the  activities  and  fame  of 
Jefferson,  and  he  was  sent  to  the  Continental  Congress.  His  coming  was  an.xiously  awaited 
in  that  body  in  1776;  for  his  fame  as  a  thinker  and  Democrat  had  preceded  him.  To  his 
pen  and  brain  the  authorship  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  nuist  be  awarded.  During 
the  struggles  of  the  Revolution  he  was  among  the  most  distinguished,  active  and  uncompro- 
mising of  the  patriot 
leaders.  After  the  war 
was  over  he  was  sent 
abroad  with  Adams  and 
Franklin  to  negotiate 
treaties  of  amity  and  com- 
merce with  the  nations  of 
Europe.  He  was  then 
appointed  minister  pleni- 
potentiar%-  of  the  new 
republic  to  France.  From 
this  high  trust  he  was 
recalled  to  become  Secre- 
tar>-  of  State  under  Wash- 
ington. In  1796  he  was 
elected  Vice-President, 
and  in  1800  President  of 
the  United  States. 

Though  of  aristocratic 
birth,  Jefferson  was  the  most  extreme  Democrat 
of  his  time.  He  was  first  of  his  .social  class  to 
substitute  pantaloons  for  knee  breeches,  and  to 
fasten  his  shoes  by  leather  strings  instead  of  bv 
silver  buckles.     When   elected   President   he  set 


JEFFHRSON"    COINT. 


HIS  INArGl'RATION. 


aside  the  custom  of  his  predecessors,  who  rode 
to  the  place  of  their  inauguration  in  a  magnificent  court-like  carriage  drawn  by  four 
horses,  and  accompanied  by  liveried  servants,  but  proceeded  thither  on  horseback  and  un- 
attended. Arriving  at  the  place,  he  hitched  his  horse  to  a  rack,  and  going  into  the 
Capitol  delivered  an  address  that  occupied  less  than  fifteen  minutes.  So  opposed  was  he 
to  ostentation  and  the  homage  paid  to  greatness,  that  he  aljolished  Presidential  levees,  and 
kept  the  date  of  his  birth  secret  in  order  that  it  might  not  be  celebrated.  The  American 
decimal  system  of  coinage,  the  statute  of  religious  freedom  in  Virginia,  the  Declaration  of 


550  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

Independence,    the  University    of  Virginia,   and  the    Presidency  of    the  Union    are    the 
immutable  foundations  of  his  fame. 

The  tendency  towards  a  party  and  partisan  administration  of  the  government  has 
already  been  noted  as  one  of  the  early  features  in  the  political  history  of  our  republic.  At 
the  beginning  of  his  administration  Jefferson  transferred  the  chief  offices  of  the  govern- 
ment to  members  of  the  Democratic  party.  This  policy  had  in  some  measure  been  adopted 
by  his  predecessor;  but  the  principle  was  now  made  universal.  Such  action  was  justified 
by  the  President  and  his  adherents  on  the  ground  that  the  affairs  of  a  republic  will  be  best 
administered  when  the  officers  hold  the  same  political  opinions.  Congress  had  passed  with 
the  elections  of  1800  into  the  hands  of  a  Democratic  majority,  and  one  of  the  first  acts  of 
that  body  was  to  abolish  the  system  of  internal  revenue.  The  Alien  law  and  the  Sedition 
law  which  had  been  directed  against  foreigners  and  the  freedom  of  the  press  were  also  re- 
pealed. But  the  territorial  legislation  of  Jefferson's  first  term  was  the  most  important  of  all 
the  measures  of  his  administration. 

The  work  of  dividing  and  organizing  the  great  region  known  as  the  territory  northwest 
of  the  River  Ohio  was  i:ndertaken  in  the  year  1800.  In  the  first  place  a  line  was  drawn 
through  that  territory  from  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  river  to  Fort  Recovery,  and 
thence  to  Canada.  *  Two  years  afterward  the  country  east  of  this  line  was  erected  into  the 
State  of  Ohio  and  admitted  into  the  Union.  The  portion  west  of  the  line,  embracing  the 
present  States  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  i\Iichigan,  Wisconsin,  and  a  part  of  -Minnesota,  was  or- 
ganized under  the  name  of  the  Indiana  territory.  Vincennes,  on  the  Wabash  river,  was 
made  the  capital,  and  General  William  Henr}-  Haixison  received  the  appointment  of  territo- 
rial governor.  About  the  same  time  the  Mississippi  territory,  extending  from  the  western 
limits  of  Georgia  to  the  great  river,  was  organized.  Thus  another  grand  and  fertile  district 
of  a  hundred  thousand  square  miles  was  reclaimed,  at  least  potentiall)',  from  primitive  bar- 
barism. 

THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE. 

More  important  still  was  the  purchase  of  Louisiana.  The  reader  will  recall  the  roman- 
tic and  adventurous  incidents  by  which  the  vast  region  lying  west  of  the  ^lississippi  had 
fallen  first  to  France  and  afterwards  to  Spain.  In  the  year  1800,  ven,-  soon  after  his  acces- 
.sion  to  power.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  compelled  Spain  to  make  a  secret  cession  of  this  vast 
territory  to  France.  The  First  Consul  then  prepared  to  send  an  army  to  New  Orleans  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  his  authorit}-.  All  this  was  done  with  no  ill-will  to  the  United 
States,  but  with  the  ulterior  design  of  overbalancing  the  interests  of  Great  Britain  and 
North  America. 

The  government  of  the  United  States,  howe^'er,  remonstrated  against  such  a  proceed- 
ing. France  at  this  time  was  threatened  with  multiplied  wars  in  Europe,  and  Bonaparte, 
perceiving  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  a  colonial  empire  at  so  great  a  distance,  authorized 
his  minister  to  dispose  of  Louisiana  by  sale.  President  Jefferson  appointed  Mr.  Livingston 
and  James  Monroe  to  negotiate  the  purchase.  The  circumstances  were  such  as  greatly  to 
embarrass  the  President,  for  his  views  of  the  limited  powers  of  the  American  government 
under  the  Constitution  were  of  a  kind  to  forbid  the  executive  purchase  of  new  territorj-. 
But  the  great  opportunity'  brooked  no  delay,  and  on  the  30tli  of  April,  1803,  the  terms  of 

*\Vhen  the  territorial  division  was  first  effected,  the  di\'iding  line  setting  off  Ohio  was  run  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Kentucky  river  to  Fort  Recover}',  but  afterwards,  wheu  the  territorial  boundary  of  Ohio  was  determined, 
the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  instead  of  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  was  taken  as  the  point  of  origin — a  change 
which  considerably  affected  the  territorial  limits  of  the  two  States  lying  east  and  west  of  the  line. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  r.oi 

transfer  were  agreed  on  by  the  agents  of  the  two  nations.  The  snni  of  eleven  million  two 
hundred  and  fift\-  thousand  dollars  was  fixed  as  the  priee  of  the  cession,  and  Louisiana  was 
transferred  to  the  United  States.  *  In  another  agreement,  which  was  signed  on  the  same 
day,  it  was  stipulated  that  the  United  States  should  assume  the  payment  of  certain  debts 
due  from  France  to  American  citizens;  but  the  sum  thus  a.ssunied  should  not,  inclusive  of 
interest,  exceed  three  million  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Thus  did  the  vast 
domain  west  of  the  Mississippi,  embracing  an  area  of  more  than  a  million  square  miles, 
pass  under  the  dominion  of  the  United  States. 

In  this  great  territorial  transaction  four  nations — France,  the  United  States,  Great 
Britain  and  Spain — were  concerned.  The  question  of  boundaries  of  the  ceded  territory 
was  of  far-reaching  importance.  .\s  to  the  eastern  limit,  all  four  of  the  contracting  parties 
—or  rather  the  parties  concerned — agreed  that  it  sliould  be  the  Mississippi  River  from  its 
source  to  the  thirt\-first  parallel  of  latitude.  On  the  southeast  the  boundary  contended  for  by 
the  United  States,  Great  Britain  and  France  was  the  thirty-first  parallel  from  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Appalachicola,  and  down  that  river  to  the  gulf.  From  this  line,  however,  Spain 
dissented,  claiming  the  Iberville  and  Lake  Maurepas  and  Pontchartrain ;  but  she  was  obliged 
to  yield  to  the  decision  of  her  rivals.  On  the  south,  by  the  consent  of  all,  the  boundary  was 
the  Gulf  of  ^Me.xico  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  river  Sabine.  The  southwestern  limit  was 
established  along  the  last  named  stream  as  far  as  the  thirty-first  parallel ;  thence  due  north 
to  the  Red  River;  up  that  stream  to  the  one-hundredth  meridian  from  Greenwich;  thence 
north  again  to  the  Arkansas;  thence  with  that  river  to  the  mountains,  and  thence  nortli  with 
the  mountain-chain  to  the  forty-second  parallel  of  latitude. 

Thus  far  all  four  of  the  nations  were  agreed;  but  the  United  States,  Great  Britain  and 
France — again  coinciding — claimed  the  extension  of  the  boundar\-  along  the  forty-second 
parallel  to  the  Pacific  Ocean;  and  to  this  extension  vSpain  for  several  years  refused  her 
assent;  but  in  the  treaty  of  1819,  by  which  Florida  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  the 
objections  of  Spain  were  fonnally  withdrawn.  The  claim,  therefore,  of  the  United  States, 
to  the  extension  of  Louisiana  to  the  Pacific,  though  disallowed  by  Spain  for  sixteen  years, 
was  finally  conceded  by  her,  and  a  true  map  of  tlie  cession  so  represents  the  purchase.  In 
fixing  the  nothern  boundary,  only  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  were  concerned,  and 
the  forty-ninth  parallel  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Pacific  was  established  as  the 
international  line. 

OTHER  IMPORTANT  RESULTS  OF  THE  JEFFERSON  ADMINISTRATION. 

This  great  territorial  acquisition  was  tlie  most  imporlanl  event  of  the  Jeffersonian 
administration.  Of  the  southern  portion  of  the  new  acquisition  the  Territory'  of  Orleans 
was  soon  organized  with  the  same  limits  as  the  present  State  of  Louisiana.  The  remainder 
of  the  vast  cession  continued  to  be  called  the  Territon-  of  Louisiana,  or  the  Louisiana 
Purchase.  By  the  cession  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  no  longer  matter  of 
dispute,  since  that  river  lay  henceforth  within  the  territories  of  the  United  States.  Ven,- 
justly  did  Mr.  Livingston  remark  to  the  French  minister,  as  they  arose  from  signing  the 
treaty:   "We  have  lived  long,  but  this  is  the  noblest  work  of  our  whole  lives." 

In  another  respect  Jefferson's  administration  may  be  noted  with  interest  and  favor.  It 
was  during  this  time  that  the  jurispnidence  of  the  new  Republic  became  regular  and  well 
e.stablished  in  its  principles.  In  i8or  John  Marshall  was  confirmed  as  Chief  Justice  of  the 
United  States.      His  appointment  marked  an  epoch  in   the  judicial  history  of  the  countr\'. 

*  Bonaparte  accepted  in  payment  six  per  cent,  bonds  of  the  United   Slates,  payable  fifteen  years   after  date. 
He  also  agreed  not  to  sell  the  bonds  at  such  a  price  as  would  injure  the  credit  of  the  American  government. 


552 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUAIBIA. 


In  the  colonial  times  the  English  constitution  and  coinr'on  law  had  prevailed  in  America, 
and  judicial  decisions  were  based  exclusively  on  precedents  established  in  the  English 
courts.     With  the   establishment  of  the  new  republic    in   1789,    it  became   necessarj-  to 

modify  to  a  certain  extent  the  principles  of 
jurisprudence  and  to  adapt  them  to  the  altered 
theory  of  government.  This  great  work  was 
undertaken  in  the  days  of  Chief  Justice 
Jay  ;  but  it  remained  for  Chief  Justice  Mar- 
shall to  establish  on  a  firm  and  enduring 
basis  the  noble  structure  of  American  law. 
For  thirty-five  years  he  remained  in  his 
high  office,  bequeathing  to  after  times  a  great 
number  of  valuable  decisions  in  which  the 
principles  of  American  jurispnidence  are  set 
forth  with  unvarying  clearness  and  invincible 
logic. 

Mention  has  ahead)-  been  made  of  the 
compact  which  most  of  the  European  nations 
had  been  constrained  to  make  with  the  Algerine 
pirates.  The  new  republic  of  the  United 
States  at  first  yielded  to  what  seemed  to  be  a 
shameful  necessity  and  paid  tribute  to  the  Dey 
of  Algiers,  in  order  that  American  com- 
merce might  be  exempt  from  capture;  but  the 
merchantmen    continued    to   be   annoyed    and 

States — as  the  Moor- 
common  plan  of 


CHIEF  JUSTICE   MARSH.\I,I„ 

exemption   was    not  obser\'ed.       American 


levying 


attacked  by  the  freebooters  of  the  IMediterranean.     All  of  the  Barban 
ish  kingdoms  of  northern  Africa  are  called — had  adopted  the 
tribute  on  the  commerce  of  the  civilized  nations. 

WAR  WITH  THE   BARBARY  STATES. 

The  leaders  of  this  great  maritime  conspiracj'  were  the  Emperors  of  Morocco,  Algiers 
and  Tripoli.  It  became  necessary  that  the  young  American  government  should  do  some- 
thing for  self-protection.  Accordingly,  in  1803,  Commodore  Preble,  of  the  American  naxy, 
was  despatched  to  the  I\Iediterranean  to  protect  the  merchantmen  of  the  United  States. 
His  squadron  proceeded  first  against  Morocco;  but  the  iri^3X&  Philadelphia^  under  Captain 
Bainbridge,  was  sent  directly  to  Tripoli.  Wlien  nearing  that  city,  Bainbridge  gave  chase 
to  a  Tripolitan  pirate  Avhich  fled  for  safety  into  the  harbor.  The  Philadelphia^  attempting 
to  pursue  ran  upon  a  reef  of  rocks  near  the  shore  and  was  captured  by  the  Tripolitans. 
The  officers  were  treated  with  some  respect  but  the  crew  were  sold  as  slaves.  The  Emperor 
Yusef  was  greatly  elated  at  his  vmexpected  success. 

Though  the  Tripolitans  had  taken  an  American  man-of-war  they  were  not  able  to  keep 
their  prize.  In  February'  of  1804  Captain  Decatur,  sailing  from  Sicily  in  a  small  vessel 
called  the  Intrepid^  came  at  nightfall  in  sight  of  the  harbor  of  Tripoli,  where  the  Philadel- 
i>hia  was  moored.  The  Intrepid  being  a  jNIoorish  ship  w'as  either  unseen  or  unsuspected  by 
the  enemy,  so  that  Decatur  in  the  darkness  was  able  to  enter  the  harbor  and  come  alongside 
of  the  Philadelphia.  He  quickly  lashed  the  two  ships  together,  sprang  on  deck  with  his 
daring  crew  of  only  seventy-four  men  and  killed  or  drove  overboard  every  ]\Ioor  on  the 
vessel.     The   frigate  was  immediately  fired  and  Decatur  and  his  men,  returning  to  the 


4Ln?l»n   rI!4PPKL    pihx't. 


236 


SAVING  THE  LIFE  OF  COMMODORE  DECATUR. 


COLUMBUS   AXI)   COLUMBIA.  -,-,;? 

Intrepid,  sailed  out  of  the  liarbor  by  the  lij^ht  of  llie  flames.      The  Tripolitan   batteries 
opened  upon  tlie  .Vnierican  ship,  but  not  a  man  was  lost  and  only  four  were  wounded. 

The  e.xploit  of  Decatur  was  only  the  bei^inning  of  a  series  of  movements  b\-  which 
the  Algerine  pirates  were  destined  to  be  virtually  extenninated.  In  July  of  1804  Com- 
modore Preble  arrived  at  Tripoli  with  a  fleet  and  beg^an  a  siejje  which  lasted  till  the 
following  spring.  The  town  was  frequenth'  bombarded  and  nuuiy  of  the  enemy's  ships 
destroyed,  but  the  emperor  Yusef  would  not  come  to  terms.  Meanwhile  it  was  ascertained 
by  the  Americans  that  Hamet,  Yusef  s  brother,  who  had  been  deposed  from  the  throne  of 
Tripoli,  might  be  induced  to  aid  in  the  war  against  the  existing  government.  Hamet  was 
at  this  time  in  command  of  an  army  of  Mamelukes  in  Upper  Egypt.  To  him  General 
William  Eaton,  American  consul  at  Tunis,  was  .sent  with  proposals  of  an  alliance  against 
the  usurping  Yusef 

Hamet  was  not  slow  to  accept  the  offer.  He  detached  from  his  arni\-  a  fine  body  of 
Arabian  cavalry  and  seventy  Greek  soldiers  and  placed  the  same  at  the  service  of  General 
Eaton.  The  latter  set  out  from  Alexandria  on  the  5th  of  !March,  1S05,  and  traversed  the 
de-sert  of  Barca  for  a  thousand  miles.  On  the  25th  of  April  he  reached  Derne,  one  of 
Yusef 's  eastern  seaports.  This  place  was,  with  the  aid  of  an  American  fleet,  taken  by  storm. 
The  attacking  forces  were  made  up  of  Arab  cavalry,  Greek  infantry,  IMoorish  rebels  and 
American  sailors  ser\-ing  on  land.  Perhaps  the  American  flag  never  at  any  other  time 
waved  above  so  motley  an  assemblage  !  Emperor  Yusef  now  became  thoroughly  alarmed 
and  made  overtures  for  peace.  His  offers  were  accepted  by  Mr.  Lear,  the  American  consul- 
general  for  the  Barbary  States,  and  a  treaty  was  concluded  on  the  4th  of  June,  1805. 
Yusef  agreed  that  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  should  no  longer  be  attacked  in  the 
Mediterranean  waters,  and  this  pledge  in  favor  of  the  American  flag  was  observed  for 
several  years. 

DUEL  BETWEEN   BURR  AND   HAMILTON. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  the  far  east  an  incident  occurred  which  will 
forever  be  memorable  in  our  history.  This  was  the  killing  of  Alexander  Hamilton  by 
Aaron  Burr,  at  that  time  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  The  deed  was  done  in  a 
duel.  As  the  first  administration  of  Jefferson  drew  to  a  close  Burr  foresaw  that  the  Presi- 
dent would  be  renominated  and  that  he  himself  would  not  be  selected  as  the  candidate  of 
his  party  for  a  second  term.  Burr  was  a  proud  and  ambitious  man  who  had  long  had  his 
eye  on  the  Presidency,  and  was  determined  not  to  be  baflled!  He.  therefore,  while  still 
holding  the  office  of  Vice-President,  became  the  Democratic  candidate  for  governor  of  New 
York.  From  that  position  he  would  pass  to  the  Presidency  at  the  close  of  Jefferson's 
second  term. 

But  Hamilton's  influence  in  New  York  was  overwhelming,  and  Burr  was  defeated. 
His  presidential  ambition  received  thereby  a  stunning  blow.  From  that  day  he  determined 
to  kill  the  man  whom  he  regarded,  or  pretended  to  regard,  as  the  destroyer  of  his  hopes. 
He  accordingly  sought  a  quarrel  with  Hamilton,  and  though  the  latter  studiously  tried  to 
avoid  the  difficult)-  he  was  drawn  into  the  meshes,  and  Burr  challenged  him  to  mortal 
combat.  Hamilton  believed  that  to  refuse  to  accept  the  challenge  would,  in  the  existing 
condition  of  public  opinion,  destroy  his  own  influence  and  usefulness  in  his  part>-  and  the 
nation.  He  accordingly  accepted  the  challenge  and  met  Biirr  at  Wcchawkcu,  opposite  New 
York,  on  the  morning  of  the  nth  of  July,  and  was  there  shot  at  the  first  discharge  by  his 
antagonist.  Hamilton  for  his  part  refused  to  fire,  but  when  Burr's  ball  entered  his  breast 
and  he  was  staggering  to  the  fall  he  involuntarily  clutched  his  pistol  and  it  was  discliarged 


554 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLU^IBIA. 


— not.  'however,  in  the  direction  of  his  murderer.  Thus,  under  the  savage  and  abominable 
custom  of  duelling,  the  brightest  intellect,  the  most  capacious  understanding  in  America 
was  put  out  in  darkness. 

As  had  been  foreseen,  Jefferson  was  renominated  and  reelected  by  his  party  to  the  Presi- 
dency. For  Vice-President,  in  the  election  of  1S04,  George  Clinton,  of  New  York,  was 
chosen  in  place  of  Burr.  The  government  in  all  its  departments  contimied  imder  the  con- 
trol of  the  Democratic  party.  In  the  year  following  the  election  that  part  of  Indiana  Ter- 
ritory* called  Wayne  Count\-  was  organized  under  a  separate  territorial  governi:ient,  with 
the  name  of  Alichigan.      It  was  in  this  year,  namely  in  the  spring  of  1805,  that  Captains 


DUEL  BETWEEN   ALEXANDER   HAMILTON    AND   AARON    BURR. 

Lewis  and  Clarke,  acting  under  orders  of  the  President,  set  out  from  the  falls  of  the  IMis- 
souri  River  with  a  party  of  thirty-five  soldiers  and  hunters  to  cross  the  Rocky  Mountains 
and  explore  Oregon. 

Many  months  were  consumed  in'this  the  first  overland  expedition  performed  by  white 
men  across  the  continent.  Xot  imtil  November  did  the  company  reacli  its  destination. 
For  two  }-ears,  through  forests  of  gigantic  pines,  along  the  banks  of  tinkuown  rivers,  and 
down  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  did  the  adventurers  continue  their  explorations.  The 
story  of  the  journey,  of  its  perils  and  hardships,  might  well  remind  the  reader  of  the  days 
of  De  Soto.  After  wandering  among  unknown  tribes  of  barbarians,  encountering  grizzly 
bears  more  ferocious  than  Bengal  tigers,  escaping  perils  by  forest  and  flood,  and  traversing 
a  route  of  six  thousand  miles,  the  hardy  company,  with  the  loss  of  but  one  man,  returned 
to  civilization,  bringing  with  them  authentic  geographical  reports  of  the  vast  domains  of 
the  west. 

BURR'S  SCHEME  TO   MAKE  HIMSELF  DICTATOR  OF  THE  SOUTHWEST. 

The  triumph  of  Aaron  Burr  in  the  death  of  Hamilton  pro\-ed  to  be  the  end  of  his 
political    hopes.     A  great  popular  indignation  arose  over  the  event  which,  when   the  cir- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUxMBIA.  555 

cumstauces  of  the  duel  were  once  known,  was  seen  to  be  nothing  less  than  a  murder.  Burr 
was  constrained  to  flee  for  refuge  into  the  remote  South.  At  the  opening  of  the  ne.xt  session 
of  Congress  he  returned  to  the  capital  and  was  permitted  to  preside  over  the  Senate  until 
the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office.  With  that  event  he  delivered  a  valedictorj-,  went  to 
the  west,  travelled  through  .several  States,  an\  took  up  a  residence  with  an  Irish  exile 
named  Hannan  Blannerhassett,  who  had  laid  out  an  estate  and  built  a  mansion  on  an  island 
in  the  Ohio  just  below  the  mouth  of  the  ^luskiugum.  Here  it  was  that  Burr  made  a 
wicked  and  treasonable  scheme  against  the  peace  and  happiness  of  his  country.  He  con- 
spired to  raise  a  sufficient  military  force  for  the  invasion  of  Mexico.  His  plan  was  to  wrest 
that  countr>-  from  the  Spaniards,  detach  the  western  and  southern  States  from  the  Union, 
make  himself  dictator  of  a  southwestern  empire,  and  perhaps  subvert  the  government  of 
the  United  States. 

At  these  plans  and  conspiracies  Burr  labored  assiduously  for  two  years  ;  but  his  pur- 
poses were  suspected.  In  accordance  with  a  proclamation  of  the  President  the  military 
preparations  which  were  making  at  Blannerhassett' s  island  were  broken  up,  and  in  February 
of  1S07  Burr  himself  was  arrested  and  taken  to  Richmond  to  be  tried  on  a  charge  of  treason. 
Chief  Justice  Marshall  presided  at  the  trial,  and  the  country  was  agitated  not  a  little.  Burr 
conducted  his  own  defence,  and  was  finally  acquitted.  The  verdict  of  the  jur}.-  was  "Not 
guilty  for  want  of  sufficient  proof.''  The  escape  of  the  prisoner,  however,  was  narrow,  and 
under  an  assumed  name  he  fled  from  the  country'.  Returning  a  few  years  afterward,  he  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  law  in  Xew  York  city.  There  he  lived  to  extreme  old  age,  and  died 
in  September  of  1836  alone  and  in  abject  poverty. 

The  condition  of  the  nations  of  Western  Europe  had  now  become  such  as  to  draw  the 
United  States  strongly  towards  the  vortex  of  war.  Great  Britain  and  France  had  come  to 
death-grips  on  both  land  and  sea.  The  British  navy  had  achieved  supremacy,  while  the 
French  were  victorious  by  land.  It  became  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  to  ward  off  foreign 
commerce  from  the  coasts  of  France.  That  kind  of  commercial  intercourse  known  as  neutral 
trade  suffered  greatly  ;  for  thus  would  Great  Britain  injure  her  rival.  The  American  merchant 
marine  in  common  with  that  of  other  nations,  though  engaged  in  innocent  trade,  wasas.sailed 
on  the  high  seas,  kept  from  its  destination,  injured  or  destroyed.  Great  Britain  struck 
blow  after  blow  against  the  trade  which  France  would  fain  carry  on  with  foreign  neutral 
nations,  and  Napoleon  began  to  retaliate  with  equal  energ}'  and  vindictiveness  against  the 
commercial  relations  of  Great  Britain.  The  measures  of  the  two  belligerent  governments 
took  the  fonn  of  blockade — that  is  the  surrounding  of  each  other's  ports  with  men-of-war — 
to  prevent  the  ingress  and  egress  of  neutral  ships.  By  such  means  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States  which  had  within  the  last  decade  grdwh  to  be  vast  and  valuable,  while  the 
European  nations  were  fighting,  was  greatly  distressed  or  swept  to  destmction. 

AMERICA  SUFFERS  BETWEEN   CROSS-FIRES. 

The  measures  of  the  two  hostile  nations  became  more  and  more  extreme.  In  May  of 
1806  England  declared  the  whole  coast  of  France,  from  Brest  to  the  Elbe,  to  be  in  a  state 
of  blockade.  Neutral  nations  had  no  notice  of  the  impending  decree,  and  many  American 
vessels  approaching  the  French  ports  were  seized  and  condennied  as  prizes.  All  this  was 
done  while  the  harbors  of  France  were  not  actually,  but  only  declared  to  be,  blockaded. 
The  pjle  of  war  is  that  a  blockade  in  order  to  be  binding  upon  neutrals  must  be  effective, 
that  is,  maintained  by  an  effective  force  of  the  navy  of  the  hostile  State  declaring  the 
blockade. 

This  was  not  done  by  Great  Britain,  and  Napoleon  retaliated  against  his  foe  by  issuing 


656  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

a  decree  blockading  the  British  Isles.  By  this  measure  the  unsuspecting  merchant  ships  of 
the  United  States  were  subjected  to  unwarranted  seizure  by  the  cruisers  of  France.  In  Jan- 
uarj'  of  1807  the  British  government  retaliated  with  a  proclamation  prohibiting  the  French 
coasting- trade.  The  idea  was  that  France  should  be  hermetically  sealed  against  all  inter- 
course with  foreign  States.  The  belligerents  had  no  shadow  of  right  to  take  such  steps 
towards  each  other,  but  they  proceeeded  from  one  stage  of  arrogance  to  a  greater,  until  the 
rights  of  neutral  nations  were  not  only  disregarded,  but  treated  with  contempt.  Of  all 
such  neutrals  the  nation  that  suffered  most  was  the  United  States. 

Another  grievance,  criminal  in  its  character,  was  meanwhile  revived  by  England,  to 
the  great  distress  of  American  commerce.  This  act  related  to  trade  with  the  colonies  of 
France.  At  the  beginning  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  George  II.  had  issued  an  edict 
forbidding  neutral  trade  with  the  French  colonies  or  with  the  provinces  of  any  country  with 
■which  Great  Britain  might  be  at  war.  This  edict  was  known  as  the  Rule  of  1756.  Its 
arbitrary  character  and  injustice  were  sufficient  to  condemn  it  in  a  moment  in  the  court  of 
any  civilized  nation  ;  but  it  has  alwa\s  been  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  to  uphold  advan- 
tageous abuses  as  long  as  possible. 

During  the  administration  of  Washington  the  Rule  of  1756  had  been  applied  by  the 
mother  country  and  complained  of  by  the  American  government.  In  June  of  1801,  in  a 
treaty  between  England  and  Russia  the  former  agreed  to  modify  the  rule  in  favor  of  common 
justice.  The  effect  was  beneficial  to  neutral  commerce,  particularly  to  that  of  the  United 
States,  which  soon  increased  five-fold  while  that  of  England  declined  in  a  nearly  correspond- 
ing ratio.  Great  Britain  has  for  centuries  been  exceedingly  sensitive  about  her  commercial 
supremacy.  Seeing  the  growth  of  American  commerce  and  the  decline  of  her  own,  she 
chose  in  the  summer  of  1805  to  revive  by  edict  the  Rule  of  1756,  and  to  declare  it  a  part 
of  the  law  of  nations.  The  result,  as  had  been  foreseen,  was  that  American  commerce  was 
virtually  driven  from  the  ocean  and  shrank  suddenly  into  insignificance. 

RIGHT  OF   SEIZURE  AND  SEARCH. 

Next  came  another  measure  aggravating  the  injustice  of  Great  Britain  and  provoking 
the  anger  of  America.  The  English  theory  of  citizenship  has  been  that  whoever  is  bom 
in  England  remains  through  life  an  English  subject.  The  privilege  of  an  Englishman  to 
expatriate  himself — that  is,  to  go  abroad  to  throw  off  his  allegiance  to  the  British  crown 
and  to  assume  ^he  necessary'  obligations  of  citizenship  in  another  nation — is  absolutely 
denied.  The  rule  is  "once  an  Englishman  always  an  Englishman  ;"  and  this  principle  the 
government  of  Great  Britain  in  the  first  decade  of  our  ceuturj'  imdertook  to  enforce  by 
searching  American  vessels  and  taking  therefrom  all  persons  suspected  of  being  subjects  of 
the  British  crown. 

One  of  the  chief  objects  had  in  view  in  this  iniquitous  business  was  the  prevention  of 
Irish  emigration  to  the  United  States.  The  Irish  people  had  become  enamored  by  report  of 
the  free  institutions  and  boundless  prospects  of  America,  and  were  flocking  hither  in  great 
numbers.  Something  must,  therefore,  be  done  to  stop  the  movement.  George  III.  and  his 
ministry  marshalled  forth  the  British  theory  of  citizenship  and  set  it  up  like  a  death's  head 
at  every  port  of  emigration.  Every  Irishman  or  Scotchman  who  should  venture  on  board 
an  American  vessel  would  henceforth  expose  himself  to  seizure  and  impressment ;  it  was 
believed  that  not  many  would  take  so  great  a  risk. 

The  apprehensions  of  the  emigrants  were  well  founded  ;  for  those  who  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  be  overtaken  at  sea  were  seized  from  under  the  American  flag  and  without  further 
inquiry  were  impressed  as  marines  in  the  British  navy.     To  crowd  the  decks  of  their  men- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


00/ 


of-war  with  unwilling  recruits  torn  from  home  and  friends  was  the  end  which  the  British 
King  and  ministry  were  willing  to  reach  at  whatever  sacrifice  of  national  honor.  One 
American  ship  after  another  was  chased,  overtaken  and  .searched,  until  the  hope  of  reaching 
the  United  States  from  Western  Europe,  that  is,  the  hope  of  emigration,  was  almost  extin- 
guished. Finally  to  these  general  wrongs  was  added  a  specific  act  of  violence  which  kin- 
dled the  indignation  of  the  Americans  to  the  highest  pitch. 

On  the  2 2d  of  June,  1S07,  the  American  frigate  Chesapeake  was  hailed  near  Fortress 
Monroe  by  a  British  man-of-war  called  the  leopard.  British  officers  came  on  board  aftei 
their  manner  and  demanded  to  search  the  vessel  for  deserters.  The  demand  was  refused 
and  the  ship  cleared  for  action  ;  but  before  the  American  guns  could  be  charged  the  Leopard, 
being  already  in  preparation,  poured  in  a  destructive  fire  and  compelled  a  surrender.  Four 
men  were  taken  from  the  captured  ship,  three  of  whom  were  afterwards  proved  to  be  Ameri- 
can citizens.  Great  Britian  disavowed  the  outrage  and  promised  reparation,  but  the  promise 
was  never  fulfilled. 

It  thus  became  necessary  for  the  American  government  to  adopt  the  policy  of  retalia- 
tion. The  President,  in  the  stnnmer  of  1807,  issued  a  proclamation  forbidding  British  ships 
to  enter  American  harbors.  On  the  21st  of  December  Congress  passed  the  celebrated 
Embargo  Act,  by  which  as  a  measure  of  compulsion  to  hostile  nations  all  American  vessels 
were  detained  in  the  ports  of  the  United  States.  The  object  was  to  cut  off  commercial 
intercourse  with  France  and  Great  Britain.  The  act  fell  heavily  upon  those  who  were 
engaged  in  foreign  commerce,  and  there  was  great  complaint  against  the  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment. The  measure  itself  was  of  little  avail,  and  after  fourteen  months  of  trial,  the 
Embargo  Act  was  repealed.  Meanwhile,  in  November  of  1818,  the  British  government 
published  an  "Order  in  Council," 
hibiting  all  trade  with  France  and 
allies.  Thereupon  Napoleon  issued 
' '  Milan  Decree, ' '  forbidding  all  trade 
England  and  her  colonies.  By  these 
outrages  done  to  international  law  the 
merce  of  the  United  States  was  well 
destroyed. 

ROBERT  FULTON'S  STEAMBOAT. 

It  is  interesting  to  turn  from  these  dis- 
tressing foreign  complications,  involving  as 
they  do  the  ambitions  and  follies  and  crimes 
of  governments,  to  note  the  progress  of  the 
individual  mind  in  its  work  of  ameliorating 
the  condition  of  the  world.  While  the 
country  was  still  distracted  with  the  Anglo- 
French  commercial  imbroglio  Robert  Fulton 
was  engaged  in  the  invention  and  construc- 
tion of  the  first  steamboat.  This  event 
exercised  a  vast  influence  on  the  future 
development  of  the  .\mcrican  nation.  It  was  of  the  greatest  im]K)rtance  to  the  people  of 
the  inland  States  of  the  Union  that  their  rivers  .should  be  enlivened  with  rapid  navigation. 
This  without  the  application  of  steam  was  im])os.sible.  The  steamboat  thus  came  as  one 
of  the  harbingers  of  civilization  in  the  great  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississipj)!. 


ROBKRT    FULTON. 


558 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Fultou  was  an  Irishman  by  descent,  a  Pennsylvanian  by  birth.  His  education  in  boy- 
hood was  imperfect,  but  was  afterwards  improved  by  study  at  London  and  Paris.  From  the 
latter  city  he  returned  to  New  York,  and  there  began  the  construction  of  a  steamboat. 
Already  his  predecessors  had  done  something  in  the  application  of  steam  to  navigation.  As 
early  as  1786  a  ferryboat  at  Philadelphia  had  been  propelled  back  and  forth  across  the  Dela- 
ware by  steam.  In  1804  a  steam  craft  capable  of  action  was  launched  on  the  lake  in  what  is 
now  Central  Park,  New  York.  It  remained  for  Fulton,  however,  to  bring  the  enterprise  to 
a  practical  and  successful  issue.  He  invented  an  ungainly  boat  with  a  steam  engine  for 
propulsion,  and  invited  his  friends  to  go  on  board  for  a  trip  from  New  York  to  Albany.  On 
the  2d  of  September,  1807,  a  crowd  gathered  at  the  wharf  to  witness  the  experiment.  The 
word  was  given,  and  the  boat  did  not  move.  Fulton  went  below.  Again  the  word  was 
given,  and  the  boat  moved !  She  started  up  stream,  and  on  the  next  day  the  company 
reached  Albany  in  safety.  For  many  years  this  first  rude  steamer,  called  the  Clermont^  con- 
tinued to  ply  the  Hudson. 

The  second  term  of  Jefferson  in  the  Presidency  drew  to  a  close  with  the  spring  of  1809. 
The  great  change  which  had  been  wrought  during  his  administration  was  the  addition  of 
territory.  The  area  of  the  United  States  had  been  vastly  extended.  Burr's  wicked  and 
dangerous  conspiracy  had  come  to  naught.  Pioneers  were  pouring  into  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  woods  by  the  river  shores  resounded  with  the  cry  of  steam.  The  foreign 
relations  of  the  United  States,  however,  were  troubled  and  foreboding.  Jefferson  declined  a 
third  election,  as  Washington  had  done,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  presidential  office  by- 
James  Madison,  of  Virginia.  For  Vice-President,  George  Clinton,  of  New  York,  was  hon- 
ored with  reelection. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


SECOND  WAR  WITH   ENGLAND. 

«^AMHS  :\IADISOX,  tliiis  raised  to  the  highest  office  in 
the  gift  of  the  American  people,  was  another  of  those 
scholarly  Virginia  statesmen  who  constituted  in  the 
political  jargon  of  aftertimes  what  was  called  the 
"  \'irginia  Dynasty."  The  new  chief  magistrate  was 
born  in  Fort  Conwa>-,  Virginia,  on  the  i6th  of  March, 
1 75 1.  He  was  the  eldest  of  twelve  children.  Like 
Jefferson,  the  boy  Madison  received  his  first  educa- 
tional training  in  the  school  of  a  Scotch  teacher, 
named  Donald  Robertson.  Afterwards  he  became  a 
student  at  Princeton,  and  was  graduated  therefrom  in 
1772.  For  two  or  three  years  he  devoted  himself  to 
■scholastic  pursuits,  and,  for  a  young  man,  became  pro- 
foundly versed  in  such  learning  as  the  age  offered  to 

students.     He  entered  public  life  in  1776  and  espoused  the  popular  cause  with  the  breadth 

and  fervor  of  a  true  democrat.      Madison  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and 

afterwards  a   delegate   to    the   constitutional 

convention   of    1787.       He    was    one    of   the 

makers  and  defenders  of  the  Constitution  of 

the  United  States.      Under  Jefferson  he  served 

as  Secretary  of  State.       His  election  to  the 

Presidency  he  owed  to  the  Democratic  part}', 

whose  sympathy  with  France  and  hostility  to 

Great  Britain  were  well  known. 

On  the  ist  of  March  the  Embargo  Act 

was     repealed    by    Congress,*    and    another 

measure  adopted  instead,  by  which  American 

ships  were    permitted  to  go  abroad  but  were 

forbidden  to  trade  with  Great  Britain.     Mr. 

Erskine,   the  British   minister  to  the  United 

States,  now  gave  notice  that  by  the  loth  of 

June  the  "Orders  in  Council  "  so  far  as  they 

affected  the  United  States  should  be  repealed. 

In  the   following    spring  Bonaparte  issued  a 

decree  for  the  seizure  of  all  .\merican  ships 

th.at  might  approach  the  harbors  of  France  ; 

but  this   edict  was  soon    annulled,  and  all    restrictions  on  .American   commerce    removed. 

The  government  of  Great  Britain,  however,  adhered  to  its  former  measures  and   .sent  ships 

of  war  to  enforce  the  "  Orders  in  Council." 


JAMKS    MAIU.SON. 


•The   EiiiharKO  Act  was  the  suhject  of  much  recrimiiiatimi   ami  riilicule. 
derisively  spelled  the  word  backward,  making;  it  the  O  Grab  mi;  Act  I 

'559) 


The  enemies   of  the    tucasure 


560 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLmiBIA. 


It  now  became  evident  that  a  crisis  was  at  hand  in  the  affairs  of  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain.  The  government  of  onr  conntry  liad  fallen  completely  nnder  control  of  the 
party  which  sympathized  with  France.  The  American  people,  smarting  nnder  the  insults 
of  the  mother  countr}-,  adopted  the  motto  of  "Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights."  They  had 
made  up  their  minds  to  fight  rather  than  endure  any  longer  the  wrongs  which  they  had 
suffered  for  fully  ten  years.  The  elections  held  between  1808  and  181 1  showed  the  drift 
of  public  opinion.  The  sentiment  of  the  countr}-  ran  to  the  effect  that  war  at  even,-  hazard 
was  preferable  to  national  disgrace. 

The  third  census  of  the  United  States  was  taken  in  the  spring  of  1810.  The  popula- 
tion had  now  increased  to  seven  million  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  souls.      Four  new 


ELKSWATAWA   TRYING    TO   CONJURE   GENERAL   HARRISON. 

States  had  been  added  to  the  original  thirteen,  and  several  of  the  territories  were  preparing 
for  admission  into  the  Union. 

HARRISON'S  VICTORY  OVER  TECUMTHA. 
In  domestic  affairs  everj-thing  went  well  with  the  new  nation  except  the  contact  of 
civilization  with  the  Indian  races.  The  rapid  march  westward  had  aroused  the  jealous}' 
of  the  red  men,  and  Indiana  Territory  became  the  scene  of  a  serious  Indian  war. 
The  hostile  tribes  were  led  by  the  great  Shawnee  chief,  Tecuintha  (or  Tecumseh),  and 
his   brother,    Elkswatawa  the  Prophet.      These  two  sent    messages  to  General   Harrison, 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBLV  561 

and  finally  visited  him  at  Vincennes  to  make  known  tlieir  "^ievances.  The  General 
received  the  Indians  and  consented  to  discnss  the  qnestions  at  issne.  The  Prophet,  liowever, 
instead  of  proceeding  at  once  to  set  forth  his  complaints,  indulged  in  many  singular  antics 
with  the  intention,  as  he  expressed  it,  of  conjnring  the  white  man,  after  which  strange 
exhibition  he  paused  and  made  an  imperious  demand  that  the  United  States  surrender  the 
lands  which  had  been  ceded  by  treaty  with  the  several  separate  tribes.  The  alternative 
being  war.  General  Harrison  accepted  the  challenge  and  the  council  broke  up  with  both 
parties  resolved  upon  hostilities.  The  Prophet  and  Tecumtha  proceeded  immediately  to 
collect  their  forces  on  the  Tippecanoe,  a  few  miles  north  of  the  present  city  of  Lafayette. 
Thither  General  Harrison,  the  territorial  governor,  in  command  of  the  whites,  had  marched 
by  way  of  the  Wabash  stations  from  Vincennes. 

Harrison  reached  the  destined  battle-ground  and  encamped  there  on  the  evening  of 
the  6th  of  November,  1811.  Negotiations  had  been  opened  with  the  Indians,  but  the 
natives  were  treacherous,  aftei  their  manner,  and  had  plotted  the  destruction  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. In  the  early  morning  of  the  7th  the  savages,  seven  hinidred  strong,  crept  tiirough 
the  marshes  to  the  east  of  Harrison's  camp,  surrounded  his  position  and  made  an  impetuous 
attack.  The  militia,  fighting  in  the  darkness,  held  the  Indians  in  check  until  daylight 
and  then  routed  them  in  several  vigorous  charges.  On  the  next  day  the  .\mericans  burned 
the  Prophet's  town,  not  far  away,  and  soon  afterwards  returned  victorious  to  Vincennes. 
The  campaign  was  so  successful  as  to  bring  great  reptitation  to  General  Harrison,  and  to 
lay  the  foundation  for  his  future  preferment  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 

FIRST  GUN  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1813. 

While  peace  was  thus  established  by  the  sword  in  the  Ohio  valley,  war  had  begun  on 
the  ocean.  Cxreat  Britain  and  the  L^nited  States  renewed  the  conflict  which  it  had  been 
hoped  was  forever  ended  by  the  treaty  of  1783.  On  the  i6th  of  May,  181  r,  Commodore 
Rodgers,  commanding  the  frigate  President^  hailed  a  vessel  off  the  coast  of  Virginia. 
Instead  of  a  polite  answer  he  received  a  cannon  ball  in  the  mainmast.  Rodgers  responded 
with  a  broad.side  and  the  enemy's  gims  were  silenced.  W'hen  light  came  with  the  moniing 
the  hostile  ship  was  found  to  be  the  British  sloop  of  war  called  Little  Belt.  The  event  pro- 
duced great  excitement  throughout  the  countr>-. 

The  engagement  of  the  two  vessels  had  been  without  law  or  declaration  of  hostility. 
In  general  the  countr\-  still  hoped  for  peace,  but  the  hope  was  delusive.  On  tlie  4tli  of 
November  the  Twelfth  Congress  of  the  United  States  assembled.  Though  the  Democrats 
were  in  the  ascendant,  many  of  the  members  believed  that  hostilities  might  be  avoided,  and 
thus  the  winter  passed  without  decisive  measures.  On  the  4th  of  the  following  April  it 
was  deemed  necessar\-  to  pass  an  act  laying  embargo  for  ninety  days  on  all  British  vessels 
that  might  be  found  v.ithin  the  harbors  of  the  United  States.  This  comparatively  mild 
measure  was  adopted  in  the  hope  that  war,  actual  war,  might  be  avoided.  But  Great 
Britain,  heated  in  her  conflict  with  France,  would  not  recede  from  her  hostile  attitudes  and 
methods.  Her  anger  was  so  great  that  she  was  willing  to  engage  in  an  irrational  and  imjust 
war  with  the  .American  republic,  and  the  time  had  come  for  the  beginning  of  the  stniggle. 
Meanwhile,  before  the  actual  outbreak  of  hostilities,  Ivouisiana,  the  fifth  new  State,  was,  on 
the  8th  of  .\pril,  1812,  admitted  into  the  Union.  Her  population  had  at  the  time  of 
admission  reached  seventy-seven  thousand. 

On  the  19th  of  June  in  this  year  a  declaration  of  war  was  issued  by  Congress  against 
Great  Britain.  Vigorous  preparations  were  made  for  the  conflict.  It  was  ordered  to  raise 
twenty-five  thousand  regular  troops  and  fiftv  thou.sand  volunteers.      The  several  States  were 

36 


'/ 


562  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

requested  to  call  out  their  militia  contiugents  to  the  number  of  a  hundred  thousand.  A 
national  loan  of  eleven  million  dollars  was  authorized  and  General  Henry  Dearborn,  of 
Massachusetts,  was  chosen  commander-in-chief  of  the  American  armies. 

Though  hostilities  existed  on  the  sea  between  .the  merchantmen  and  cruisers  of  the 
two  nations,  the  actual  war  was  begun  in  what  was  then  the  northwest  of  the  United 
States.  General  William  Hull,  governor  of  Michigan  Territory,  led  the  first  campaign, 
which  proved  to  be  sufficiently  disastrous.  On  the  ist  of  June,  1812,  he  set  out  from 
Dayton,  Ohio,  with  a  force  of  fifteen  hundred  men.  For  a  full  month  the  army  toiled 
through  the  forests  to  the  western  extremity  of  Lake  Erie.  Arriving 
at  the  Maumee,  Hull  attempted  to  send  his  baggage  by  water  to 
Detroit,  but  the  British  at  Maiden  were  on  the  alert  and  captured 
Hull's  boat  with  ever>'thing  on  board.  Nevertheless  the  Americans 
pressed  on  to  Detroit,  and  on  the  12th  of  July  crossed  the  river  to 
'*]  Sandwich. 

At  this  point  Hull  received  information  that  Mackinaw  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  British.  He,  therefore,  retraced  his  course  to 
Detroit,  and  from  this  place  sent  back  Major  Van  Home  to  meet  a 
'IsLsi^  division  of  reinforcements  which  had  arrived  under  Major  Brush  at 
the  River  Raisin.  Tecumtha,  chief  of  the  Shawnees,  had  after  the 
SCENE  OF  HULL'S  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  in  which  he  was  not  a  participant,  made  his  way 
CAMPAIGN,  1812.  ^Q  Canada  and  associated  himself  with  the  British.  The  chief,  learning 
of  the  advance  of  Van  Home's  forces,  laid  an  ambush  for  them  near  a  place  called 
Brownstown  and  succeeded  in  destroying  or  dispersing  the  detachment.  Colonel  Miller 
with  another  division,  however,  attacked  and  routed  the  savages  with  great  losses  and 
then  made  his  way  to  Detroit. 

Meanwhile  the  British  and  Canadians  under  Governor  Brock  rallied  at  Maiden,  and 
from  that  place  advanced  on  the  i6th  of  August  to  lay  siege  to  Detroit  The  Americans 
were  well  prepared  to  receive  the  enemy.  They  lay  in  their  trenches  and  awaited  the  battle 
during  the  British  advance.  When  the  latter  were  within  five  hundred  yards  Hull  hoisted 
a  white  flag  over  the  fljrt !  Then  followed  a  surrender  the  most  shameful  in  the  history 
of  the  United  States.  All  the  forces  imder  Hull's  command  became  prisoners  of  war. 
The  whole  of  Michigan  Territory  was  surrendered  to  the  British.  Hull  was  afterwards 
court-martialed  for  cowardice  and  was  sentenced  to  be  shot,  but  the  President  pardoned  him. 
Thus  inauspiciously  for  the  United  States  began  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain. 
Three  days  after  the  surrender  of  Detroit  the  American  frigate  Constitution^  commanded  by 
Captain  Isaac  Hull,  a  man  of  very-  diflFerent  mettle  from  the  General,  overtook  the  British 
Giierriere  off  the  coast  of  Massachusetts.  The  vessels  manoeuvred  for  a  while,  the  Consti- 
tution  closing  with  her  antagonist  until  at  half-pistol  shot  she  poured  in  a  broadside, 
sweeping  the  decks  of  the  Gtierriere  and  deciding  the  contest  at  a  single  discharge.  On 
the  following  morning  the  British  vessel  having  become  unmanageable  was  blown  up,  but 
Captain  Hull  secured  his  prisoners  and  spoils  and  returned  in  safety  to  port. 

CAPTURE  OF  THE  BRIG  FROLIC. 
Such  was  the  opening  of  the  contest  on  the  sea.  On  the  1 8th  of  October  the  Ameri- 
can man-of-war  Wasp,  under  Captain  Jones,  fell  in  with  a  fleet  of  merchantmen  off  the 
coast  of  Virginia.  The  squadron  was  under  convoy  of  a  war  vessel  called  the  Frolic,  com- 
manded by  Captain  Whinyates.  A  terrible  engagement  ensued,  lasting  for  three-quarters 
of  an  hour.     Finally  the  American  ship  was  brought  alongside,  and  Jones's  crew  boarding 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


563 


the  Frolic  struck  the  British  flag  and  captured  the  ship  outright.  Soon  afterwards,  however, 
the  Poictiers^  a  British  seventy-four  gun  ship,  hove  iu  sight  and  bore  dowu  upon  the 
victorious  Americans.  The  Wasp  was  captured  and  the  wreck  of  the  Frolic  retaken  by  the 
superior  force  of  the  enemy. 

After  his  work  in  the  Mediterranean  Commodore  Stephen  Decatur  had  returned  to  the 
American  waters  and  was  given  command  of  the  frigate  United  Slates.  In  this  vessel  he 
went  on  a  cniise  to  the  Canary  Islands  and  a  short  distance  from  that  group  fell  iu  with  and 
captured  the  British  war  ship  Macedonian.  The  loss  of  the  enemy  in  killed  and  wounded 
was  more  than  a  hundred 
men.  On  the  I2th  of  Decem- 
ber the  ship  Essex,  under  com- 
mand of  Captain  Porter,  cap- 
tured the  Nocton,  a  British 
packet  having  on  board  fifty- 
five  thousand  dollars  in  specie. 
Ou  the  29th  of  the  month  the 
Constilitlion,  now  commanded 
b>-  Commodore  Bainbridge, 
overtook  the  British  Java  on 
the  coast  of  Brazil.  A  furious 
battle  ensued  and  after  two 
hours  of  fighting  the  /ava  was 
reduced  to  a  wreck.  The 
British  flag  was  struck  and 
the  crew  and  passengers  num- 
bering upwards  of  four  hun- 
dred were  transferred  to  the  Constitution.  What  remained  of  the  enemy's  vessel  wa."- 
burned  at  sea.  The  news  of  these  unvarying  successes  roused  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
American  people  to  the  highest  pitch. 

As  soon  as  practicable  after  the  capitulation  of  Hull  a  new  expedition  was  organized 
against  Canada.  On  the  13th  of  October  a  force  of  a  thousand  men  under  command  of 
General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer  crossed  the  Niagara  River  to  captiire  Queenstown.  The 
British  had  learned  of  the  movement  and  stationed  a  force  at  the  water's  edge.  This,  how 
ever,  was  driven  away  and  the  batteries  of  the  enemy  on  the  adjacent  heights  were  carried. 
In  a  short  time  the  British  rallied,  but  were  a  second  time  repulsed.  Here  it  was  that  Gen- 
eral Brock,  governor  of  Canada,  was  mortally  wounded.  The  Americans,  thus  for  the 
time  victorious,  entrenched  themselves  and  awaited  reinforcements;  but  no  recruits  came 
to  the  rescue;  the  British  returned  to  battle  and  the  Americans  after  losing  a  hundred  and 
si.xty  men  were  obliged  to  surrender.  At  this  juncture  General  \'an  Rensselaer  resigned 
the  command  of  the  northern  forces  and  was  succeeded  by  General  .Vlcxander  Smyth. 

The  Canadian  border  became  the  scene  of  renewed  hostilities.  The  Americans 
'gathered  in  force  at  Black  Rock,  a  few  miles  north  of  Buffalo,  and  on  the  aSth  of  November 
a  detachment  crossed  to  tlie  Canada  shore.  This  movement,  however,  was  recalled  b_\ 
General  Smyth  as  premature.  A  few  days  later  a  second  crossing  was  undertaken,  but 
was  not  effected,  and  the  Americans  went  into  winter  quarters.  It  soon  appeared  thai 
General  Smyth  was  incompetent  for  the  command.  The  militia  became  mutinous,  and  the 
General  under  charge  of  cowardice  was  deposed.     Thus  came  tlie  autumn  of  1812  and  with 


CAi'fLKE   ul-    TilU    1  KOI.Ii. 


564 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


it  the  presidential  election.    Madison  was  chosen  for  a  second  term;  but  the  Vice- Presidency 
passed  from  Clinton  to  Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts. 

DEFEAT  AND    MASSACRE  AT    RAISIN    RIVER. 

Thus  far  the  war  had  been  feeble  and  desultory.  With  the  spring  of  1813  the  Ameri- 
can forces  were  organized  into  three  divisions,  known  as  the  Army  of  the  North,  under 
General  Wade  Hampton;  the  Army  of  the  Centre,  under  the  commander-in-chief;  the 
Army  of  the  West,  under  General  Winchester,  who  was  soon  superseded  by  General  Har- 
rison. The  last  named  division  was  first  to  move.  In  the  early  part  of  January  Winches- 
ter set  out  in  the  direction  of  Lake  Erie  to  regain  the  ground  lost  by  Hull.  On  the  loth  of 
the  month  the  advance  came  to  the  rapids  of  Maumee.  A  detachment  then  pressed  forward 
to  Frenchtown,  on  the  river  Raisin,  captured  the  place,  and  on  the  20th  of  the  month  were 
joined  by  Winchester  with  the  main  division. 

On  the  32d  of  January,  the  Americans  were  assaulted  by  a  British  and  Indian  army, 
twenty-five  hundred  strong,  under  command   of  General  Proctor.      The  fight  went  against 

the  Americans.     Winchester  was    taken 
*^#  ^wi^  prisoner   and  sent  word    to  his  army  to 

capitulate.  This  done,  the  American 
woimded  were  attacked  by  the  Indians 
and  butchered  after  the  manner  of 
savager}-.  The  American  prisoners  were 
dragged  off  through  untold  sufferings 
to  Detroit,  where  they  were  held  until 
their  ransom  was  effected  by  the  govern- 
ment. These  two  disasters,  one  in  181 2 
and  the  other  in  the  following  year,  gave 
to  the  river  Raisin  an  ominous  memory 
until  the  survivors,  and  even  their  chil- 
dren, finally  passed  away. 

General  Harrison  now  left  in  com- 
mand of  the  Army  of  the  West,  or  of 
what  remained  of  it,  built  Fort  Meigs  on  the  Maumee.  Here  he  was  besieged  by  a  British 
army  numbering  two  thousand,  inclusive  of  the  Indian  allies  under  command  of  Proctor 
and  Tecumtha.  Meanwhile  General  Clay,  with  a  force  of  twelve  hundred  Kentuckians, 
had  set  out  from  his  own  State  and  was  advancing  to  the  relief  of  the  fort.  With  the 
rumor  of  his  coming  the  Indians  in  large  numbers  deserted  and  Proctor,  thus  weakened, 
abandoned  the  siege  and  retreated  to  Maiden.  At  the  latter  place  the  British  were  reinforced 
to  nearly  four  thousand  men  and  in  July  made  a  second  expedition  against  Fort  Meigs. 

GALLANT  DEFENCE  OF  FORT  STEPHENSON. 

The  garrison  of  this  fort,  however,  could  not  be  drawn  from  the  fortifications  or  driven 
out  bv  battle.  Proctor  was  at  length  obliged  to  file  off  with  half  his  forces  for  an  attack  on 
Fort  Stephenson,  at  Lower  Sandusky — a  place  which  seemed  to  the  British  General  more 
accessible  to  assault.  The  fort  was  defended  by  only  a  hundred  and  sixty  men  under 
Colonel  Croghan,  a  stripling  but  twenty-one  }'ears  of  age.  The  event  showed,  however, 
that  he  had  in  him  the  instinct  and  passion  of  battle.  On  the  2d  of  August,  the  confident 
British  came  on  to  storm  the  fort.  They  crowded  into  the  trench,  but  the  sequel  showed 
that  Croghan  had  so  planted  his  guns  as  to  command  the  approach.     When  the  trench  was 


luRT    MEIGS. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


5r>o 


filled  with  iiicu,  the  cannons  were  discharged  and  tiie  attacking  column  was  swept  away 
almost  to  a  man.  Tlie  repulse  was  complete.  Proctor  at  once  raised  the  siege  of  Fort 
Meigs,  and  returned  to  Maiden. 

Thus  far  in  the  contest  on  our  northwest  border  tlie  advantage  had  been  witli  the 
British,  from  the  fact  that  they  controlled  Lake  Erie.  On  that,  water  they  had  a  squadron 
of  six  vessels.  It  was  now  deemed  necessar\'  to  gain  control  of  the  lake  from  the  enemy, 
and  the  work  was  intnisted  to  Commodore  Oliver  H.  Perry.  His  antagonist,  the  com- 
mander of  the  British  fleet,  was  Commodore  Barcla>-  a  veteran  from  the  wars  of  Europe. 
Perr\'  equipped  his  vessels,  nine  in  number,  at  Put-in-Bay,  and  was  soon  able,  through  the 
extraordinan.-  energ\'  which  he  displayed, 
to  get  afloat.  On  the  loth  of  September 
the  two  squadrons  met  not  far  from  land, 
and  a  battle  at  once  ensued. 

The  engagement  was  begun  b\-  the 
American  squadron.  Perry's  flag-ship,  tlie 
Lawrence^  leading  the  attack.  Barclay's 
ship  was  the  Detroit.  The  Britisli  vessels 
were  fewer  in  number,  but  their  guns  had 
a  longer  range  and  were  better  ser\ed. 
The  contest  between  the  two  flag-ships  was 
desperate.  The  Laivreiicc  was  mined,  and 
the  Detroit  was  almost  wrecked.  It  became 
necessary  for  Pert)-  to  transfer  his  flag  to 
another  vessel.  He  accordingly  got  over- 
board into  an  open  boat,  and  carried  his 
pennant  to  the  Niagara.  With  this  power- 
ful vessel  he  immediately  bore  down  upon  the  enemy's  line,  drove  through  tlie  midst, 
discharging  deadly  broadsides  to  right  and  left.  In  fifteen  minutes  the  British  fleet  was 
reduced  to  a  state  of  helplessness.  Perr\-  returned  to  the  floating  hull  of  the  Lawrence  and 
there  received  the  surrender  of  the  enemy's  squadron.  He  then  sent  to  General  Harrison 
his  laconic  despatch :   ' '  We  have  met  the  enemy  and  the\'  are  ours. ' ' 

The  control  of  Lake  Erie  was  thus  gained  by  the  A  mericans,  and  a  way  opened  for  the 
invasion  of  Canada.  On  the  27th  of  September,  General  Harrison's  anny  was  carried 
across  to  Maiden.  The  British  fell  back  before  him  as  far  as  the  river  Thames,  but  there 
halted  and  prepared  for  battle.  .\  field  was  chosen  liaving  the  river  on  one  side  of  the 
British  position  and  a  swamp  on  the  other.  Here,  on  the  fifth  of  October,  Proctor  was 
attacked  by  Harrison  and  Shelbx . 

DEFEAT  AND   DEATH  OF  TECUMTHA. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  battle  the  liritisli  general  fled.  The  regulars  were  broken  by 
an  attack  of  the  Kentuckians  under  Colonel  Richard  M.  John.son.  The  Americans  were 
thus  enabled  to  turn  against  the  Indians,  who,  to  the  number  of  fifteen  hundred,  had  taken 
one  of  their  favorite  positions  in  the  adjacent  swamp.  Tlierc  Tccumtha  had  staked  all  on 
the  issue  of  battle.  For  a  while  the  war-whoop  of  the  great  chieftain  was  heard  above  the 
din  of  the  conflict.  Presently,  iiowever,  his  voice  ceased  to  call  to  his  warriors;  for 
Tecnmtha  was  no  more.  The  savages,  appalled  by  the  death  of  their  leader,  fled  in 
despair,  and  the  .\mericans  were  left  completeh-  victorious.      So  ended  the  campaign  of 


COMMODORE   PERRY  LEAVING  HIS   FLAG-SHIP  FOR 
THE   NIAGARA. 


566 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


SCENE  OF  THE   CREEK  WAR 
1813-I4. 


1813  in  the  west.     All  that  Hull  had  lost  in  the  previous  year  was  regained,  and  mnch 

more  takeu. 

The  Indian  races  of  the  Mississippi  valley  had  now,  with  good  reason,  come  to  dread 

the  aggression  and  progress  of  the  white  race.      They  saw  in  the  Americans  a  force  before 

which  their  own  people  must  recede  into  oblivion.  From  north  to 
south  the  native  tribes  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys  were  in 
a  state  of  vigilant  hostility.  While  Harrison's  campaign  in  the 
northwest  was  under  way,  the  Creek  nation  of  Alabama  rose  in 
anns.  In  the  latter  part  of  August,  Fort  Mims,  forty  miles  north 
of  Mobile,  was  attacked  and  taken  b}-  the  savages,  who  destroyed 
about  four  hundred  people  iu  their  sudden  insurrection. 

The  governors  of  Tennessee,  Georgia  and  Mississippi  were 
obliged  to  make  immediate  and  strenuous  preparations  for  the 
repulse  of  the  savages.  The  Tennesseeans  under  General  Andrew 
Jackson  were  the  first  to  rise  to  the  rescue.  The  advance  force 
of  nine  hundred  men,  led  by  General  Coffee,  first  struck  the 
enemy  at  their  town  of  Tallushatchee,  burned  it,  and  left  not  an 

Indian  alive.       It   was  the    first  blow  of  a  desperate    and  bloody  stniggle.       On  the   8th 

of    November,  a  second     battle  was  fought  at  Talladega,    aud    the    savages   were  again 

defeated  with  heavy  losses.     A  third  fight  occurred  on  the  Tallapoosa,  at  the  Indian  town 

of  Antosse,    where    the 

natives  were    again  dis- 
astrously routed. 

By  these  movements 

the  daring  Jackson  had 

carried    his    forces     far 
■  into  the  Indian  country 

Nor  were    his    supplies 

sufficient    for    such     an 

expedition.    His  hungry 

men    became  mutinous, 

and  were  going  to  march 

homeward;  but  a  mutiny 

among    Jackson's    men 

was  a    dangerous   thing 

for  the  mutineers.     The 

general  set  his  men  the 

example    of    living    on 

acorns  which  he  roasted 

and      carried      in      his 

pockets.      After  this  ex- 
hibition of  endurance  he 

threatened    with    death 

the  first  man  who  should 

atir  from  the  ranks  ;  and 

no  man  stirred  !     By  the  middle  of  Januar>'  Jackson  was  able   to   renew  hostilities.      On 

the  22d  of  the  month  he  gave  the  enemy  battle  at  Mucfau,  where  the  Tennesseeans  were 


DEFEAT   OF  THE   INDIANS   AT   TALLAPOOSA. 


COLl'MBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  507 

again  victorious.  At  Horse-shoe  Bend,  the  Creeks  gathered  in  force  and  made  their  final 
stand.  On  tlie  27th  of  March  the  Wliites,  under  General  Jackson  stonned  the  breastworks 
and  drove  the  Indians  into  the  bend  of  the  river.  There  huddled  together  a  thousand 
Creek  warriors,  with  the  women  and  children  of  the  tribe,  met  their  doom.  The  nation 
was  completeh-  conquered,  almost  extenninated. 

CAPTURE  OF  TORONTO  AND   DEATH  OF  GENERAL  PIKE. 

We  may  now  return  u>  the  spring  of  1813  and  trace  the  movements  of  the  Anny  of 
the  Centre  under  the  commander-in-chief.  On  the  25th  of  April,  in  that  year.  General 
Dearborn  embarking  his  forces  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  proceeded  against  Toronto.  This 
place  was  the  most  important  depot  of  supplies  in  British  America.  Bv  this  time  an 
American  fleet  imder  command  of  Commodore  Chauncey  had  obtained  control  of  Lake 
Ontario.  On  the  27th  of  the  month  the  American  advance,  seventeen  hundred  strong, 
under  General  Pike,  landed  near  Toronto.  The  British  were  driven  from  the  water's  edge 
and  their  first  batteries  were  carried  by  the  Americans,  who  then  rushed  for\vard  to  storm 
the  main  defences.  At  that  moment,  however,  the  British  magazine  blew  up  with  terrific 
violence.  Two  hundred  men  were  killed  or  wounded  by  the  explosion.  General  Pike 
himself  was  fatally  injured.  But  the  Americans  continued  the  charge  and  the  Britisli  were 
driven  out  of  Toronto.  Property  to  the  value  of  a  half  million  dollars  was  secured  to  the 
victors  who  were  not  verj"  careful  to  use  their  victory  as  not  abusing  it. 

Meanwhile  a  counter  movement  was  made  by  the  British  against  Sackett's  Harbor.  The 
expedition,  however,  was  not  successful  ;  for  General  Brown,  rallying  the  American  militia, 
drove  back  the  assailants.  For  reasons  that  do  not  well  appear  the  American  force  at 
Toronto  was  soon  withdrawn  from  its  vantage  ground  and  recrossed  the  lake  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Niagara.  Soon  afterwards,  on  the  27tli  of  Ma>-,  a  force  led  by  Generals  Chandler 
and  Winder  carried  the  British  position  of  Fort  George  by  stonn.  The  garrison  escaping, 
retreated  to  Burlington  Bay,  at  the  western  extremity  of  the  lake. 

Much  confusion  marks  the  niilitar>-  liistor>-  of  the  year  1813.  After  the  battle  of  the 
Thames  General  Harrison  transferred  his  forces  to  Buffalo,  and  then,  tliough  seemingly  in 
great  favor  with  the  public,  resigned  his  commission.  General  Dearborn  also  withdrew 
from  the  service  and  the  command-in-chief  was  transferred  to  General  James  Wilkinson, 
already  aged  and  incompetent.  The  ne.xt  active  campaign  was  planned  by  General  Ann- 
strong  and  was  designed  for  the  conquest  of  Montreal.  The  Ann)-  of  the  Centre  was  ordered 
to  join  the  .\nny  of  the  North  on  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  but  the  movement  was  not  effected 
with  energ)-  or  celerity.  On  the  5th  of  November,  seven  thousand  .Vmcricans,  embarking 
twenty  miles  north  of  Sackett's  Harbor,  sailed  against  Montreal.  Parties  of  British,  Cana- 
dians and  Indians  gathering  on  the  left  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  impeded  the  progress  of 
the  expedition.  General  Brown  was  sent  ashore  with  a  considerable  detachment  to  drive 
the  enemy  into  the  interior.  On  the  nth  of  November  was  fought  the  severe  but  inde- 
cisive battle  of  CImsler's  Field.  The  Americans  then  passed  down  the  river  to  St.  Regis, 
where  the  forces  ot  General  Hampton  were  expected  to  form  a  junction  with  Wilkinson's 
command.  But  Hampton  did  not  arrive  ;  and  the  division  of  Wilkinson  went  into  winter 
quarters  at  Fort  Covington. 

Meanwhile  the  British  on  the  Niagara  frontier  rallied  and  recaptured  Fort  George. 
Before  abandoning  the  place,  however,  General  .McClure,  comniaiulant  of  the  American 
garrison,  burned  the  town  of  Newark.  This  act  cost  the  people  of  Northern  New  York 
dearly  ;  for  the  British  and  Indians  soon  effected  a  crossing  of  the  river,  took  Fort  Niagara 


568 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUI^IBIA. 


and  iu  retaliation  burned  the  villages  of  Youngstown,  Lewiston  and  Manchester.     On  the 
30th  of  December  Black  Rock  and  Buffalo  were  laid  in  ashes  by  the  enemy. 

DESPERATE  ENGAGEMENT  BETWEEN  THE  CHESAPEAKE  AND  THE  SHANNON. 
From  this  indecisive  and  half-barbarous  war  on  the  northern  frontier  we  may  turn  again 
to  the  sea.  On  the  24th  of  Februar}',  1813,  the  American  war-sloop  Hornet^  commanded 
by  Captain  James  Lawrence,  overtook  the  British  brig  Peacock  off  the  coast  of  Demerara. 
A  terrible  battle  of  fifteen  minutes  ensued  and  the  Peacock  surrendered.  While  the  Ameri- 
cans were  transferring  the  conquered  crew,  the  wrecked  brig  gave  a  lurch  and  was  swallowed 
from  sight.  Nine  British  sailors  and  three  of  Lawrence's  men  were  sucked  down  in  the 
whirlpool. 

Captain  Lawrence  by  his  victory  gained  great  reputation.     On  returning  to  Boston  he 
was   transferred  to   the  command  of  the  Chesapeake.     With  this  strong  ship  he  put  to  sea 

and  was  soon  challenged  by  Captain 

Broke  of  the  British  Shannon.     The 

two  vessels    joined    battle    eastward 

from  Cape  Ann  on   the  ist  of  June, 

1 81 3.      The    conflict    was    obstinate, 

brief  and  dreadful.     The  Chesapeake 

was  wrecked.      In  a  short  time  every 

officer  on  board  was  either  killed  or 

wounded.    Captain  Lawrence  himself 

was  struck  with  a  ball  and  fell  dying 

on    the   deck.       As    the}'    bore    him 

down  the  hatchway  he  gave  his  last 

famous  order,  which  became  the 

motto  of  the  American  sailors — 

"Don't    give    up    the    ship!" 

The   Shannon  towed    her    prize 

into    the     harbor    of     Halifax, 

where   the   bodies    of  Lawrence 

and    Lieutenant    Ludlow    were 

buried  with  the   honors    of  war 

by  the  British. 

The  capture  of  the  Chesa- 
peake  seemed  to  be  a  turn  in  the 
tide  by  which  the  fortunes  of  the  American  navy  were  bonie  down  and  lost  in  ever-recurring 
defeat.  On  the  14th  of  August,  the  British  Pelican  overtook  the  American  brig  Argus, 
and  obliged  her  to  surrender.  On  the  5th  of  September,  the  British  brig  Boxer  was  in  turn 
captured  by  the  American  Enterprise,  off  the  coast  of  Maine.  Captain  Blyth,  the  British 
commander,  and  Captain  Burrows,  of  the  Enterprise,  were  both  killed  in  the  battle,  and 
were  buried  side  by  side  at  Portland.  On  the  28th  of  March,  1814,  while  the  ship  Essex, 
under  command  of  Captain  Porter,  was  lying  in  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso  she  was  attacked 
by  two  British  vessels,  the  Pho'be  and  the  Cherub.  Captain  Porter  fought  bra\-eh- 
until  nearly  all  his  crew  were  killed  or  wounded,  and  then  sun-endered  the  remnant  to 
his  antagonists. 

Next  came  an  era  of  marauding.      Early  in  1814,  Lewiston  was  bombarded  and  taken 
by  a  British  squadron.     Other  British  men-of-war  entered  the  Chesapeake,  and  sending  de- 


ENGAGEMENT    BETWEEN    THE    CHESAPEAKE   AND   SHANNON. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


5(j9 


tachments  ashore  here  and  there,  burned  the  villages  on  the  bay.  At  the  town  of  Hampton, 
the  soldiers  and  marines  perpetrated  great  outrages.  On  the  coast  of  New  England  the  war 
was  conducted  in  a  more  humane  manner.  There  Commodore  Hardy,  a  regular  officer  of 
the  British  navy,  was  in  command,  and  tiie  .Vmcricaus  had  no  cause  to  complain  of  other 
than  the  uecessar\'  hardships  of  war. 

With  the  spring  of  1814  another  invasion  of  Canada  was  planned  by  the  Americans; 
but  there  was  much  delay  in  beginning  the  campaign.  Not  until  the  3d  of  July  did  Gen- 
erals Scott  and  Ripley,  with  three  thousand  men,  cross  the  Niagara  river  and  capture  Fort 
Erie.  On  the  next  day  the  Americans  advanced  on  Chippewa  village  ;  but  before  reaching 
that  place  they  were  met 
by  the  British  ann\ 
under  command  of 
General  Riall.  On  the 
ne.xt  day,  towards  e\en- 
ing.  a  severe  battle  wa- 
fought  on  the  plain  sout 
of  Chippewa  river,  au' 
the  .Americans,  c  o  m 
mandcd  by  Scott  ane 
Ripley,  won  the  field.  ^ 
General  Riall  fell  back 
to  Burlington  Heights, 
and  the  Americans 
advanced    to    a  positioii  , 

on  the  high  grounds  in  i 

sight  of  Niagara  Falls.  attack  ox  os\\-ego. 

"  The  summer  campaign  opened  with  the  capture  b\-  the  British  of  the  fort  at  Oswego, 
although  it  was  stubbornly  and  bravely  defended  by  its  commander.  Colonel  Mitchell.  May 
5th  the  town  was  bombarded  and  a  fruitless  attempt  made  to  land.  The  next  da>-  the 
effort  was  renewed  snccessfnlh'.  Mitchell  thereupon  abandoned  the  fort,  which  mounted 
only  five  gims,  and  after  annoying  the  English  as  much  as  he  could  he  retreated  to  Oswego 
Falls.      Having  dismantled  the  works  and  burned  the  l^arracks,  the  enemy  retired." 

BLOODY   LUNDY'S    LANE. 

Here,  on  the  evening  of  the  25th  of  July,  was  fought  the  hardest  battle  of  the  war. 
General  Scott,  commanding  the  American  right,  was  hard  pressed  by  Riall,  but  held  his 
ground  until  reinforced  by  the  other  divisions  of  the  anny.  The  British  reser\'es  were 
brought  into  action,  and  as  twilight  faded  into  darkness  both  armies  were  at  death-grips  in 
the  struggle.  A  detachment  of  .Vmericans  getting  upon  the  British  rear,  succeeded  in  cap- 
turing General  Riall  and  his  .staff;  but  the  main  line  was  still  unbroken.  The  key 
to  the  enemy's  position  was  a  high  ground  crowned  with  a  batten*-.  Calling  Colonel 
James  Miller  to  his  side.  General  Brown,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  battle, 
.said  "Colonel,  take  your  regiment  and  storm  that  batter). "  "I  will  tr}-,  sir,"  was 
Miller's  answer;  and  the  battery  was  taken  and  held  against  three  successive  assaults  of 
the  British.  General  Drummond  was  wotmded,  and  the  British  anny,  numbering  abottt  five 
thousand,  was  driven  from  the  field  witli  a  loss  of  more  than  eight  hundred  men.  The 
Americans  lost  an  equal  ntimber;  but  were  jubilant  with  their  victory. 

Soon  after  this  battle  of  Niagara,  or   Lundy's  Lane,  as   it  was  popularly  called,  the 


570  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

American  forces  fell  back  to  Fort  Erie.  General  Gaines,  at  this  time  in  command  at  Buf- 
falo, crossed  over  from  that  place  and  assumed  command  of  the  army.  General  Drummond, 
who  had  succeeded  General  Riall,  was  reinforced,  and  on  the  4tli  of  August  invested  Fort 
Erie.  The  siege  continued  until  the  17th  of  September,  when  the  Americans  made  a  sortie, 
and  the  British  siege  was  raised.  On  the  5th  of  November,  Fort  Erie  was  destroyed  by  the 
Americans,  who  recrossed  the  Niagara,  and  took  up  winter  quarters  at  Black  Rock  and 
Buffalo. 

Meanwhile  General  Wilkinson,  with  the  army  of  the  North,  had  passed  the  winter  of 
1 81 3-1 4  at  Fort  Covington.  With  the  coming  of  spring  the  American  commander  under- 
took an  invasion  of  Canada.  At  a  place  called  La  Colle,  on  the  river  Sorrel,  he  attacked 
the  British  and  was  defeated.  He  then  fell  back  to  Plattsburg,  was  relieved  of  the  com- 
mand and  superseded  b\'  General  Izard. 

At  this  time  Lake  Champlain  was  under  control  of  an  American  fleet,  commanded  by 
Commodore  McDonough.  The  British  General  Prevost  advanced  into  New  York  with  an 
army  of  fourteen  thousand  men,  and  at  the  same  time  ordered  Commodore  Downie  to  ascend 
the  Sorel  with  his  fleet.  The  invading  army  succeeded  in  reaching  Plattsburg,  where  Com- 
modore McDonough' s  squadron  lay  at  anchor  in  the  bay.  On  the  6th  of  September,  Gen- 
eral Macomb  retired  with  his  forces  to  the  south  bank  of  tlie  Saranac.  This  stream  was 
made  the  line  of  defence,  and  for  four  days  the  British  made  ineffectual  efforts  to  cross  the 
river.  Downie' s  fleet  had  now  come  into  position  for  action,  and  a  general  battle  was 
planned  for  the  nth.  Prevost's  army  was  to  carry  Macomb's  position  and  the  British 
squadron  was  to  attack  McDonough  at  the  same  time. 

The  naval  battle  began  first,  and  was  obstinately  fought  for  two  and  a-half  hours. 
Gradually  victon-  inclined  to  the  side  of  the  American  vessels.  Commodore  Downie  and 
man)'  of  his  officers  were  killed.  The  heavier  British  ships  were  disabled  one  by.  one,  and 
obliged  to  strike  their  colors  ;  the  smaller  escaped.  The  British  ami)-  on  shore  gave  battle, 
but  after  a  severe  action  that  also  was  defeated,  with  considerable  losses.  Prevost  retired 
precipitately  to  Canada,  and  the  English  ministr)-  began  to  devise  measures  of  peace. 

At  the  same  time  the  war  on  the  Atlantic  coast  was  prosecuted  with  more  vigor  than 
the  enemy  had  hitherto  shown.  Late  in  the  summer  Admiral  Cochran  arrived  off  the  Vir- 
ginia coast  with  a  squadron  of  twenty-one  vessels.  He  had  on  board,  besides  his  crews,  a 
veteran  army  numbering  four  thousand,  under  General  Ross.  The  American  fleet  in  the- 
Chesapeake,  under  command  of  Commodore  Barney,  was  unable  to  oppose  so  powerful  an 
armament.  The  British  entered  the  bay  with  the  purpose  of  attacking  Washington  and 
Baltimore.  The  larger  division  sailed  into  the  Patuxent,  and  on  the  19th  of  August  Gen- 
eral Ross  debarked  with  his  division  at  Benedict. 

CAPTURE  AND  BURNING  OF  WASHINGTON. 

Commodore  Barney  was  now  obliged  to  blow  iip  his  vessel  and  take  to  the  shore.  The 
British  advanced  against  Washington.  No  adequate  preparations  had  been  made  for  their 
resistance.  At  Bladensburg,  six  miles  from  the  capital,  the  enemy  was  met,  on  the  24th  of 
the  month,  by  the  forces  of  Commodore  Barney.  Here  a  battle  was  fought,  but  the  militia 
behaved  badly,  and  Barney  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner.  Tlie  way  was  thus  opened  to  , 
the  capital.  It  only  remained  for  the  President,  the  cabinet  and  the  people  to  betake 
themselves  to  flight.  As  for  Ross  and  his  anny,  they  marched  unopposed  into  Washing- 
ton. All  the  public  buildings  except  the  Patent  Office  were  burned.  The  unfinislied 
Capitol  and  the  President's  house  were  left  a  mass  of  ruins.      In  justification  of  these  pro- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  .-,71 

ceedings,  amounting  to  barbarism,  the  British  alleged  tlie  principle  of  retaliation  and  the 
previous  bad  conduct  of  the  Americans,  who  at  Toronto  and  other  places  on  the  Canadian 
frontier  had  behaved  but  little  better. 

The  other  division  of  the  British  fleet  came  presently  to  Alexandria.  The  inhabitants 
finding  themselves  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy,  purchased  forbearance  by  the  surrender  of 
twent\--one  ships,  si.xteen  thousand  barrels  of  flour  and  a  thousand  hogsheads  of  tobacco. 
As  soon  as  General  Ross  had  completed  his  work  at  Washington  he  proceeded  with  his 
army  and  fleet  to  Baltimore.  There  the  American  militia  to  the  number  of  ten  thousand 
gathered  for  defence  under  connnand  of  General  Samuel  Smith.  On  the  12th  of  Sep- 
tember, the  British  came  to  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Patapsco,  and  the  fleet  began  the 
ascent  of  the  river.  The  land  division  was  soon  confronted  by  the  American  advance 
under  General  Strieker.  A  skirmish  ensued  in  which  General  Ross  was  killed  ;  but  Colonel 
Brooks  assumed  command,  and  the  invasion  was  continued  until  the  British  came  upon  the 
American  lines  near  the  city  and  were  brought  to  a  halt. 

Bv  this  time  the  British  .squadron  had  ascended  the  Patapsco  and  begtm  a  cannonade 
of  Fort  McHenr}-.  From  sunrise  of  the  13th  of  September  until  after  midnight  the  guns 
and  mortars  of  the  fleet  poured  a  tempest  of  shells  upon  the  fortress,  but  no  impression 
could  be  made  upon  the  works.*  It  was  clear  that  Fort  McHenry  was  too  strong  for  the 
assailants.  The  British  became  disheartened,  and  ceased  to  fire.  The  land  forces  retired 
coincidently  with  the  fleet,  and  Baltimore  was  saved  from  capture. 

The  coast  of  New  England  suffered  here  and  there  from  the  incursions  of  the  enemy. 
On  the  9th  and  loth  of  August  the  village  of  Stonington,  Connecticut,  was  bombarded  by 
Commodore  Hardy  ;  but  the  British,  attempting  to  land,  were  driven  back.  The  New  Eng- 
land fisheries,  however,  were  in  most  places  broken  up.  The  salt-works  at  Cape  Cod  were 
about  to  be  destroyed,  but  escaped  by  the  payment  of  heavy  ransoms.  The  blockade  wa.s 
severe.  All  the  harbors  from  Maine  to  Delaware  w^ere  sealed  to  foreign  commerce.  The 
trade  of  the  Eastern  States,  upon  which  so  much  of  the  prosperity  of  that  section  of  the 
Union  depended,  was  almost  totally  destroyed. 

POLITICAL  DISSENSIONS  GROWING  OUT  OF  THE  WAR. 

For  these  reasons  many  of  the  men  of  New  luigland  were  opposed  to  the  prosecution 
of  the  war.  The  Federalists,  as  a  measure  of  political  opposition,  cried  out  against  its 
continuance.  The  legislature  of  Massachusetts  advised  the  calling  of  a  convention  to  con- 
sider the  condition  of  the  country  and  the  means  of  reaching  a  peace.  The  other  Eastern 
States  responded  to  the  call,  and  on  the  14th  of  December  the  delegates  assembled  at 
Hartford. 

As  a  political  movement  this  meeting  drew  great  odium  to  its  promoters.  The  leaders 
of  the  Democratic  party  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  purposes  of  the  assembly  were  dis- 
loyal and  treasonable.  On  convening  the  delegates  sat  with  closed  doors.  What  their  dis- 
cussions were  has  never  been  fully  known.  The  session  lasted  for  nearly  three  x*  eeks,  and 
was  ended  with  the  p\iblication  of  an  address  in  which  the  injustice  and  impolicy  of  the 
war  were  held  up  to  condemnation.  But  the  convention  was  of  little  effect  as  it  related  to 
the  course  of  events,  except  that  the  political  prospects  of  those  who  participated  in  the 
proceedings  were  ruined. 

The  war  of  181 2 — so-called — was  now  drawing  to  a  close.     A  student  of  general  hi.s- 

•  It  was  duriiiK  the  night  of  the  iK.mh.anlment  that  Francis  M.  Key,  detained  on  board  of  a  British  ship  and 
watching  the  American  flaj,'  over  I-'ort  MrlTiiirv— <;een  at  intervals  l«y  the  ulare  of  rockets  and  th*  fla-sh  of  eannott 
^<omposed   The  Star  Spant;led  Banner. 


572  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

tory  will  remember  that  the  Napoleonic  dynasty  in  France  was  tottering  to  its  downfall.  The 
continental  nations  were  concentrating  their  energies  aronnd  the  French  empire,  and  the 
little  ]\Ian  of  Destiny,  who  for  nearly  twenty  years  had  made  them  tremble  in  their  capitals, 
was  alread)'  an  exile  at  Elba.  The  American  war  was  attracting  but  little  attention  abroad. 
Great  Britain  herself  prosecuted  her  American  campaigns  and  expeditions  languidly  and 
with  indifference. 

During  the  progress  of  the  conflict  Spain — particularly  the  Spanish  authorities  of 
Florida — had  sympathized  with  the  British.  In  August  of  1814,  a  British  fleet  was  pennitted 
by  the  commandant  of  Pensacola  to  use  that  port  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  an  expedition 
against  Fort  Bowyer,  on  the  bay  of  Mobile.  General  Jackson,  who  commanded  in  the  South, 
remonstrated  with  the  Spaniards  for  this  breach  of  neutrality-,  but  received  no  satisfaction. 
He  thereupon  marched  a  force  against  Pensacola,  took  the  town  by  assault,  and  expelled 
the  British  from  Florida. 

It  was  in  the  prosecution  of  this  campaign  that  Jackson  learned  of  the  preparations  of  the 
British  for  the  conquest  of  Louisiana.  This  information  was  altogether  to  his  liking,  as  it 
gave  free  scope  for  his  restless  and  daring  nature  to  strike  the  enemy  at  his  own  discretion. 
He  repaired  at  once  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  declared  martial  law,  mustered  the  militia, 
and  adopted  measures  for  repelling  the  invasion.  From  La  Fitte,  the  notorious  smuggler 
of  the  West  Indies,  he  learned  the  enemy's  plans.  A  British  army  twelve  thousand  strong, 
under  command  of  Sir  Edward  Pakenham,  was  coming  from  Jamaica.  On  the  loth  of  De- 
cember, the  squadron  entered  Lake  Borgne,  sixty  miles  northeast  of  New  Orleans. 

BATTLE  OF    NEW  ORLEANS. 

From  this  point  Pakenham  began  to  make  his  advance  towards  the  city.  On  the  2 2d 
of  the  month  he  reached  the  Mississippi  about  nine  miles  below  New  Orleans,  and  on  the 
next  night  Generals  Jackson  and  Coffee  made  a  bloody  assault  on  the  British  position.  But 
the  Americans  were  not  in  sufficient  strength  to  succeed  in  such  manner,  and  were  obliged 
to  fall  back  to  a  more  favorable  position  on  the  canal,  about  four  miles  below  the  city. 
Pakenham  advanced,  and  on  the  28th  began  a  cannonade  of  the  American  position.  On 
New  Year's  Day,  1815,  he  renewed  the  attack  with  some  spirit,  but  was  repulsed.  After 
this  the  British  commander  made  preparations  for  a  general  battle. 

For  this  Jackson  was  ready.  He  had  constructed  earthworks  and  thrown  up  a  long 
line  of  cotton-bales  and  sand-bags  for  the  protection  of  his  forces.  The  British  moved  for- 
ward, and  after  some  manoeuvring  came  to  battle  on  the  8th  of  Januar}-.  The  conflict 
began  with  the  early  morning,  and  was  ended  before  nine  o'clock.  Column  after  column  of 
the  British  regiilars  was  thrown  forward  against  the  American  intrenchments,  only  to  be 
smitten  with  irretrievable  ruin.  Jackson's  men  were  almost  entirely  secure  from  the 
enemy's  fire,  while  every  discharge  of  the  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  rifles  told  with  fearful 
effect  on  the  British.  Pakenham  was  killed.  General  Gibbs  was  mortally  wounded.  Only" 
General  Lambert  was  left  to  call  the  fragments  of  the  army  from  the  field. 

The  victory  of  Jackson  was  perhaps  the  most  decisive  and  startling  in  the  history  of 
American  warfare.  Of  the  British  forces  seven  hundred  were  killed,  fourteen  hundred 
wounded  and  five  hundred  taken  prisoners.  The  loss  of  the  Americans  amounted  to  eight 
men  killed  and  thirteen  wounded !  General  Lambert  retired  with  the  wreck  of  his  army 
into  Lake  Borgne,  while  Jackson,  marching  into  New  Orleans,  was  received  with  the 
greatest  enthusiasm. 

The  battle  of  New  Orleans  was  the  last  blow  of  our  second  war  with  the  mother 
countrv.      There  were    no    further  engagements  on    land.       On  the  sea  there  were  a   few 


COLUMBUS   AND   CULUMIUA. 


573 


additional  conflicts  like  those  whicii  had  characterized  the  beginning  of  hostilities.  On  the 
20th  ot  February,  the  American  Conslitulian,  cruising  off  Cape  St.  \'iiicent,  captured  two 
British  vessels,  the  Cyane  and  the  Levant.  On  the  2 2d  of  March,  1815,  the  Aniericau 
Hornet  made  an  end  by  capturing  the  British  Penguin  off  the  coast  of  Brazil. 

But  these  sea-battles,  as  well  as  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  itself,  had  been  fought  under 
flags  which  were  no  longer  hostile.  Alread)-  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been  concluded.  In  the 
summer  of  1814  American 
commissioners  were  sent  to 
Client,  in  Belgium,  and  were 
there  met  by  the  ambassadors 
of  Great  Britain.  The  agents 
of  the  United  States  were 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Janie- 
A.  Bayard,  Henr>'  Clay, 
Jonathan  Russell  and  Albert 
Gallatin.  The  British  com- 
missioners were  Lord  Gai 
bier,  Henry  Goulbum,  ant: 
William  Adams.  On  the  24th 
of  December  the  tenns  of 
reconciliation  and  settlement 
were  agreed  to  and  signed. 
In  both  countries  the  news 
was  received  with  profound 
satisfaction.      The   causes   of  battle  of  nkw  oki.mans. 

the  war  had  been  from  the  first  factitious  and  without  definition.  On  the  i8th  of  Febniarv, 
1 81 5,  the  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  and  peace  was  publicly 
proclaimed. 

It  could  not  be  said  that  either  nation  was  the  victor.  Both  had  fought  and  suffered  to 
little  purpose.  These  facts  of  the  irrationality  of  the  war  came  out  strongly  in  the  terms 
of  pacification.  Indeed,  there  never  was  a  more  absurd  treaty  than  that  of  Ghent  Its  onlv 
significance  was  that  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  having  been  at  war,  agreed  to  be 
at  peace.  Not  a  single  one  of  the  distinctive  issues  to  decide  v/hich  the  war  had  been 
undertaken  was  settled  or  even  mentioned  in  the  compact  with  which  it  was  ended.  Of  the 
impressment  of  American  seamen  not  a  word  was  said.  The  wrongs  done  to  the  commerce 
of  the  United  States  were  not  even  referred  to.  The  rights  of  neutral  nations  were  left  as 
undetermined  as  before.  Of  "  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights,"  which  had  been  the  battle- 
cry  of  the  American  navy,  no  mention  was  made.  The  whole  treaty  was  circumlocutorv 
and  inconsequential.  The  principal  articles  were  devoted  to  the  settlement  of  unimportant 
boundaries  and  the  possession  of  some  petty  i.slands  in  the  bay  of  Passamaquoddy  ! 

EFFECTS  OF  THE  WAR. 

There  is  little  doubt,  however,  that  at  the  time  of  the  treat>'  of  Ghent  Great  Britain 
gave  private  assurance  to  the  United  States  that  impressment  on  the  high  seas  and 
the  other  wrongs  complained  of  by  the  Americans  should  be  practised  against  them 
no  more.  Thus  much  at  least  was  gained.  For  the  space  of  more  than  sevcutv-five 
years  ves.sels  bearing  the  flag  of  the  United  States  have  been  exempt  from  such  insults  as 
led  to  the  war  of  181 2.      Another  advantage  gained  by  America  was  the  recognition  of  her 


574  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

naval  strength  and  prowess.  It  was  no  longer  doubtful  that  the  American  sailors  were  the 
equals  of  any  in  the  world.  Their  valor  and  patriotism  had  challenged  the  admiration  of 
all  nations.  It  was  no  small  triumph  for  the  republic  that  her  flag  should  henceforth  be 
honored  on  all  seas  and  oceans. 

The  troubles  of  the  American  na\y  with  the  Algerine  pirates  of  the  IVIediterranean 
have  more  than  once  been  mentioned  on  former  pages.  The  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  gave  opportunity  to  the  Moorish  sea-robbers  to  renew  their  depredations. 
At  the  close  of  the  conflict  the  government  of  the  United  States  made  haste  to  settle  the  score 
with  the  African  pirates.  Commodore  Decatur  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  the  Mediterranean 
and  to  chastise  them  into  final  submission.  He  had  the  good  fortune,  on  the  17th  of  June,  to 
fall  in  with  the  principal  frigate  of  the  Algerine  squadron,  and  this  ship,  after  a  severe  fight, 
was  compelled  to  surrender.  Two  days  afterwards  he  captured  another  frigate.  In  a  short 
time  he  sailed  boldly  into  the  bay  of  Algiers  and  was  able  to  dictate  to  the  frightened  Dey 
an  advantageous  and  honorable  treaty.  The  Moorish  Emperor  agreed  to  release  his  Ameri- 
can prisoners  without  ransom,  to  reliuquish  all  claims  to  tribute  and  to  give  a  pledge  that 
his  ships  should  trouble  American  merchantmen  no  more.  Decatur  followed  up  the  good 
work  by  sailing  against  Tunis  and  Tripoli,  both  of  which  powers  he  compelled  to  give 
pledges  of  good  conduct  and  to  pay  large  sums  in  the  way  of  indemnity  for  former 
depredations. 

FOUNDING  OF  A  NEGRO  FREE  STATE. 

We  thus  reach  the  close  of  the  epoch  of  our  second  war  with  the  mother  country. 
Before  the  end  of  Madison's  administration  the  Territory'  of  Indiana  was  organized  and 
admitted  into  the  Union.  The  new  commonwealth  was  received  by  act  of  Congress  on  the 
nth  of  December,  1816.  About  the  same  time  was  founded  the  Colonization  Society  of  the 
United  States,  having  for  its  object  the  establishment  of  a  refuge  for  free  persons  of  color. 
Many  distinguished  American  citizens  became  members  of  the  association  and  sought  to 
promote  its  interests.  Liberia,  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  was  selected  as  the  seat  of  a 
proposed  colony  to  be  founded  by  the  freemen  of  the  African  race  emigrating  from  America. 
A  sufficient  number  of  these  went  abroad  to  establish  a  flourishing  negro  state  ;  but  the 
enterprise  has  never  answered  to  the  expectations  and  hopes  of  its  promoters.  The  capital 
of  Liberia  was  named  Monrovia,  in  honor  of  James  ]\Ionroe,  who  in  the  fall  of  181 6  was 
chosen  as  Aladison's  successor  in  the  Presidency.  For  Vice-President  the  choice  fell  on 
Daniel  D.  Tompkins  of  New  York. 

The  one  g^eat  benefit  of  the  war  of  181 2,  so  far  as  our  country  was  concerned,  was 
that  the  conflict  conduced  greatly  to  the  independence  of  the  United  States.  The  American 
nation  became  more  conscious  of  its  own  existence,  more  self-sufiicient  than  ever  before. 
The  reader  of  general  history  will  have  readily  perceived  that  the  war  was  really  a  side 
issue  of  the  greater  struggle  going  on  in  Europe.  On  the  part  of  Great  Britain  the 
conflict  was  conducted  but  feebly — as  though  she  knew  herself  to  be  in  the  wrong.  As 
soon  as  a  fair  opportunity  was  presented  she  receded  from  a  contest  in  which  she  had 
engaged  in  only  a  half-hearted  and  irresolute  way  and  of  which  she  had  good  cause  to  be 
ashamed.  At  the  close  of  the  conflict  the  historian  comes  to  what  may  be  called  the  ^Middle 
Ages  of  the  United  States — an  epoch  in  which  the  tides  of  population  rolled  through  the 
notches  of  the  Alleghanies  into  the  Mississippi  Valley,  tending  to  a  powerful  physical  civili- 
zation, in  which,  however,  the  institution  of  African  slavery  began  to  throw  its  black  and 
portentous  shadow  athwart  the  historical  landscape. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


MIDDLE  AGES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

FTER  the  war  of  1812  the  United  States  entered  a 
period  of  an  unheroic  cliaracter.  Tragedy  disap- 
peared from  our  annals.  Nor  could  it  be  tnithfullj' 
said  that  great  deeds  of  peace  took  the  place  of  the 
excitement  and  vicissitudes  of  the  battle-field.  Never- 
theless, the  era  upon  which  we  are  here  to  enter  will 
be  found  replete  with  interest.  A  new  and  more 
humane  spirit  may  be  discovered  among  the  people. 
The  nineteenth  centur)-,  towards  the  close  of  its  first 
quarter  and  the  beginning  of  the  second,  yielded  itself 
somewhat  to  a  more  benign  genius  than  that  which 
had  dominated  the  eigliteenth  to  its  close.  In  the 
present  chapter  we  are  to  follow  the  annals  of  our 
country'  from  the  accession  of  James  Monroe  to  the 
Presidency  to  the  epoch  of  the  war  with  Mexico. 

The  new  President  was  a  Virginian  by  birth  and  education,  being  the  fourth  and  last 
of  the  so-called  "Virginia  Dynasty."  .'\.ll  the  chief  magistrates  thus  far,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  elder  Adams,  had  been  chosen  from  the  Old  Dominion.  Monroe  was  born  on 
the  28th  of  April,  1758.  He  was  educated  at  William  and  Mary  College,  from  which  insti- 
tution he  went  out  in  1776  to  become  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  a  young  man 
of  valor  and  great  abilities.  In  the  battle  of  Trenton  he  received  a  British  ball  in  his 
shoulder.  He  ser\-ed  under  Lord  Stirling  in  the  severe  campaigns  of  1777-78,  being  in  the 
battles  of  Brandywine,  Germantown  and  Monmouth.  After  the  Revolution  he  became  a 
student  of  law  with  Thomas  Jefferson,  at  that  time  governor  of  Virginia.  He  set^-ed  in  the 
Virginia  assembly  ;  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-si.K  was  sent  to  Congress.  He  was  one  of 
those  who  first  discerned  the  inutility  -^f  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and  who  exerted 
themselves  for  the  adoption  of  a  betLer  constitution  for  the  United  States. 

Monroe  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1787,  and  three  years  after- 
wards was  elected  Senator  of  the  United  States  from  Virginia.  In  1794  he  was  sent  as 
plenipotentiarj-  to  France,  and  was  one  of  those  who  negotiated  the  purchase  of  Louisiana. 
Aftenvards  he  was  appointed  American  minister  to  the  court  of  St.  James.  He  was  one 
of  the  many  who,  beginning  public  life  as  a  Federalist,  under  the  leadership  of  Washington 
changed  gradually  to  a  more  democratic  type  of  opinion  and  policy,  until  he  took  his  place 
in  the  same  category  of  statesmen  with  Jefferson  and  Madison.  In  1811  Monroe  was 
chosen  governor  of  Virginia,  and  when  Madison  came  to  the  Presidenc\-  was  appointed  Ser- 
retar;  of  State.  His  election  to  the  Presidency  was  reached  b\-  an  overwhelming  vote  o!  a 
hundred  and  eighty-three  out  of  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  seventeen.  He  chose  for  his 
cabinet  John   Quincy  .'\dams  as  Secretary  of  State,  William    H.  Crawford   as  Secretary  of 


676 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  Treasury,  John  C.  Calhoun  as  Secretar>'  of  War,  Eenjaniin  W.  Crowuinshield  as  Secre- 
tar>'  of  the  Navy,  and  William  Wirt  as  Attorney-General. 

MONROE'S  ADMINISTRATrON. 
The  Democratic  principles  which  had  marked  the  administrations  of  Jefferson  and 
Madison  were  adopted  and  furthered  by  Monroe.  The  stormy  times  of  the  second  decade 
of  the  century,  however,  now  gave  place  to  years  of  unbroken  peace.  The  animosities  and 
party  strifes  which  had  prevailed  to  so  great  an  extent  since  the  death  of  Washington 
seemed  for  a  season  to  subside.  The  statesmen  who  determined  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment devoted  themselves  earnestly  to  the  payment  of  the  national  debt.  Wise  measures 
adopted    for  the 


were 

liquidation  and  funding 
of  the  national  burden, 
and  commerce  w  a  s 
speedily  revived.  The 
government  was  econo- 
mically and  faithfully 
administered.  Monroe 
had  many  of  the  political 
characteristics  of  the 
Father  of  his  Countrj', 
and  his  official  duties  were 
performed  in  the  spirit 
of  patriotism  and  devo- 
tion to  the  public  welfare. 
The  population  of  the 
countr\'  rapidly  increased. 
Wealth,  as  the  result  of 
production  and  c  o  m  - 
merce,  began  to  flow  in, 
and  in  a  few  years  the 
war  debt  was  fully  and 
honestly  discharged. 

The  first  foreign 
trouble  of  the  United 
States  was  a  difficulty 
between  the  government 
and  the  little  kingdom 
of  Hayti  in  the  northern 
part  of  San  Domingo. 
Suspicions  arose  that 
Louis  XVIII.,  the  newly 
restored  Bourbon  King  of 
France,    would   endeavor 

to  obtain  the  sovereignty  of  the  island  and  secure  its  annexation  to  the  French  kingdom. 
Under  the  Napoleonic  ascendancy  Hayti  had  been  for  a  time  one  of  the  possessions  of 
France,  and  there  was  an  attempt  to  maintain  under  the  restoration  what  had  been  won 
by  the  sword  of  Bonaparte. 


CONFIRMING   A   TRE.^TY    BETWEEN    WHITES    .\ND   INDIANS. 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA.  577 

At  this  juncture  the  sovereij^u  of  Hayti  was  a  certain  Christophe,  who  became  anxious 
to  secure  the  reco<,!iition  of  his  independence  by  the  <;ovornnient  of  the  United  States. 
Nor  was  this  expectation  disappointed.  The  President,  altogether  unwilling  that  France 
should  be  intermeddling  with  the  political  affairs  of  the  American  islands,  met  the  over- 
tures of  the  Haytian  king  with  favor.  A:i  agent  of  the  government  was  sent  out  in  the 
frigate  Congress  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  the  insular  kingdom. 
The  President,  however,  took  pains  that  his  agent  should  not  rank  as  a  plenipotei^tiary. 
On  this  score  the  Haytian  authorities  were  offended,  and  the  negotiations  were  broken  off. 

Better  success  attended  the  work  of  forming  a  new  treaty  with  the  Indians  of  the  terri- 
torj-  northwest  of  the  River  Ohio.  The  tribes  most  concerned  in  the  new  compact  were 
the  Wyandots,  the  Delawares,  the  Senecas  and  the  Sliawnees.  Other  native  nations  interested 
were  the  Chippewas,  the  Ottowas  and  the  Pottawattamies.  The  question  at  issue  related  to- 
the  Indian  lands  in  the  broad  country  between  the  upper  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  the  Indian  title  to  the  valley  of  the  IMauinee  was  procured.  The  cession  and 
purchase  of  about  four  millions  of  acres  were  accomplished  as  one  feature  of  the  treaty,  and 
it  may  well  surprise  the  reader  to  know  that  the  sum  paid  for  this  vast  and  fertile  tract  did 
not  exceed  fourteen  thousand  dollars  !  In  addition  to  this  purchase-money,  the  Delawares 
were  for  their  part  to  receive  an  annuity  of  five  hundred  dollars,  while  the  combined 
annuities  guaranteed  to  the  Wyandots,  the  Senecas,  the  Shawnees  and  the  Ottawas  amounted 
to  about  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  Chippewas  and  Pottawattamies  were  granted  an  annuity 
of  three  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  fifteen  years.  Certain  tracts  were  also  reserved 
by  the  red  men  for  their  homes  and  hunting  grounds  amounting  to  an  aggregate  of  about 
three  hundred  thousand  acres. 

The  belief  of  our  publicists  at  this  time  was  that  the  Indians,  surrounded  by  the  vast 
and  progressive  settlements  of  the  white  race,  w'ould  soon  be  assimilated  to  the  civilized 
life  and  be  gradually  absorbed  as  a  part  of  the  nation.  This  expectation,  however,  was 
doomed  to  disappointment.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  Indians  had  little  symjwthy 
with  American  farms  and  villages  and  civilized  methods  of  life.  The  habits  of  barbarism 
were  too  strongly  fi.xed  through  ages  of  heredity  and  no  aptitude  for  the  anticipated  change 
was  seen  on  the  part  of  the  sequestrated  aborigines.  i 

Thirty  years  had  now  elapsed  since  the  formation  of  the  Constitution.  The  new  system 
of  government  seemed  to  be  working  well  and  to  have  lodgment  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
In  no  respect  did  the  provisions  of  the  fundamental  law  apply  more  successfully  than  in  the 
admission  or  addition  of  new  States  to  the  Union.  The  next  territory'  after  Indiana  to 
apply  for  the  privileges  and  rights  of  Statehood  was  the  Territory  of  Mississippi,  which 
was  organized  and  admitted  in  1817.  The  new  comnionwealth  contained  an  area  of  forty- 
seven  thousand  square  miles  and  brought  a  population  of  sixty-five  thousand.  This  work 
completed  the  extension  of  tlie  State  system  on  the  southwest  as  far  as  the  Mississippi, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

REVIVAL  OF  BUCCANEERING. 

In  the  planting  of  new  civilizations  on  our  conlinenLs  vast  opportunities  were  given  to 
the  restless  and  lawless  classes  to  imdertake  and  pursue  systems  of  crime  against  national 
and  international  authority.  One  of  the  most  favorable  scenes  for  such  manner  of  life  ■\vas 
the  West  Indies  and  the  littoral  parts  of  Florida.  Off  the  nortlieasteni  coa.st  of  the  last- 
named  State  a  nest  of  buccaneers  was  established  on  Amelia  Island.  The  jMratical  com- 
bination had  its  origin  and  opportnnit\'  in  the  Revolutionary  movements  which  had  been 
going  on  in  New  Grenada  and  Venezuela.    A  cerLiin  Grcgor  McGregor  who  held  a  commis- 

37 


578  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUAIBIA. 

sioii  from  tlie  insurgent  authorities  of  New  Grenada  gathered  a  band  of  freebooters  from 
many  parts,  particularly  from  Charleston  and  Savannah,  and  with  these  fortified  and  held 
Amelia  Island,  making  it  a  sort  of  headquarters  for  slave-traders  and  South  American 
privateers. 

It  was  doubtless  believed  by  the  audacious  rascals  that  the  sympathy  of  the  United 
States  for  the  republican  tendency  shown  in  South  America  at  this  time  would  save  them 
from  disturbance.  The  buccaneers  seemed  to  be  acting  in  the  cause  of  South  American 
liberty,  and  they  hoped  by  this  attitude  to  escape  attack  from  the  government  of  the  United 
States.  They  began  under  this  infatuation  to  carr}-  matters  with  a  high  hand,  and  presently 
proceeded  to  blockade  the  port  of  St.  Augustine.  In  doing  so  they  demeaned  themselves 
as  if  there  were  no  civilization  or  retributive  justice  which  they  had  cause  to  fear.  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  however,  soon  took  action  against  the  pirates  and  sent  a  fleet 
which  succeeded  in  breaking  up  their  establishment  on  Amelia  Island.  A  similar  assem- 
blage of  freebooters  which  had  been  established  on  the  island  of  Galveston,  off  the  coast  of 
Texas,  was  in  like  manner  suppressed. 

Now  it  was  that  the  question  of  the  internal  improvement  of  the  United  States  as  a 
measure  of  national  policy  first  presented  itself  as  a  practical  issue.  The  population  of  the 
republic  was  rapidly  moving  westward  and  filling  up  the  Mississippi  valley.  The  necessity 
for  thoroughfares  and  other  physical  means  of  intercourse  and  commerce  rose  upon  the 
people  as  a  condition  of  their  further  progress.  The  territorial  vastness  of  the  country 
made  it  imperative  to  devise  suitable  means  of  communication  between  the  distant  parts. 
Without  thoroughfares  and  canals  it  was  evident  that  the  rich  products  of  the  almost  limitless 
interior  of  the  country  could  never  reach  a  general  emporium  or  foreign  market.  It  was 
also  evident  that  private  capital  and  enterprise  were  not  sufficient  for  the  production  of  the 
needed  improvements  ;  but  had  Congress,  under  the  Constitution,  the  right  to  vote  money 
for  the  prosecution  of  such  enterprises  ? 

CONTENTION   BETWEEN   DEMOCRATS  AND    FEDERALISTS. 

This  question  became  one  of  political  division.  The  Democratic  party  had  from  the 
first  been  what  is  known  as  the  party  of  strict  construction.  The  Democratic  doctrine  was 
that  whatever  is  not  positively  conceded  and  expressed  in  the  Constitution  has  no  existence 
in  the  American  system  of  government.  The  Federalists,  on  the  other  hand,  claimed  that 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  pregnant  with  implied  powers,  and  that  these  may 
be  evoked  under  the  necessities  of  any  given  situation  and  directed  to  the  accomplishment 
of  any  desired  end.  Jefferson  and  Madison  had  been  the  leaders  and  organizers  of  the  doc- 
trine of  strict  construction.  They  and  their  party  had  opposed  internal  improvements 
under  national  patronage.  Monroe  held  a  similar  view — though  less  strenuously — and  the 
propositions  in  Congress  to  make  appropriations  for  the  internal  improvement  of  the  country 
were  either  voted  down  or  vetoed. 

To  this  policy  there  was  only  a  single  exceptional  instance.  A  bill  was  passed  appro- 
priating the  necessary  means  for  the  construction  of  a  National  Road  across  the  AUeghanies 
from  Cumberland  to  Wheeling.  This  was  an  extension  of  the  great  thoroughfare  which 
had  already  been  constructed  from  Peninsular  Virginia  to  Cumberland,  and  which  was  after- 
wards carried,  though  without  completion,  from  Wheeling  westward  through  Ohio,  Indiana 
and  Illinois  to  St.  Louis. 

With  the  passage  of  the  act  for  the  building  of  the  National  Road  the  question  of 
other  internal  improvements  was  referred  to  the  several  States  as  a  concession  to  their  rights. 


COLUiMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  -)79 

Under  this  legislative  action,  Xew  York  took  the  lead  by  constructing  at  the  public  expense 
a  magnificent  canal  from  Buffalo  to  Alban\-,  a  distance  of  three  hnndred  and  sixtv  miles. 
By  this  means  the  waters  of  the  great  lakes  were  conveniently  united  with  those  of  the 
Hudson  and  the  Alantic.  The  cost  of  the  canal  was  more  than  seven  and  a  half  million 
dollars,  and  the  whole  period  of  Monroe's  administration  was  occui^ied  in  completing 
the  work. 

JACKSON'S   HEROIC   MEASURES   FOR  SUPPRESSING  THE  SEMINOLES. 

In  the  year  uSi;  the  Seminoles,  occupying  llie  frontiers  of  (ieorgia  and  Alabama,  broke 
into  hostilities  against  the  whites.  It  has  frequently  been  difficult  in  the  history  of  our 
countr\-  to  ascertain  the  exact  causes  of  Indian  hostilities.  Perhaps  the  hereditary  instincts 
of  war  on  the  part  of  the  savage  races  sought  expression  at  intervals  in  blood  and  violence. 
Otherwise  the  land  question  may  be  ascribed  as  the  true  cause  of  the  larger  part  of  Indian 
hostilities  in  America.  In  the  case  of  the  Seminole  outbreak  considerable  numbers  of  half- 
savage  Xegroes  and  Creek  Indians  joined  in  the  depredations. 

At  the  beginning  of  hostilities  the  government  ordered  General  Gates,  commandant  of 
the  post  on  Flint  River,  to  march  into  the  Seminole  country-  and  reduce  the  sa\agcs  to  sub- 
mission: but  that  officer  after  destroying  a  few  villages  found  himself  unable  to  proceed. 
It  was  alleged  that  his  forces  were  inadequate  for  the  campaign.  General  Jackson,  of  Ten- 
nessee, was  hereupon  ordered  to  collect  from  the  adjacent  States  a  sufficient  armv  to  reduce 
the  Seminoles  to  submission.  The  general,  however,  took  his  own  course  in  the  matter, 
and  mustered  about  a  thousand  riflemen  out  of  west  Tennessee,  with  whom  in  the  following 
spring  he  marched  against  the  Indians  and  overran  the  hostile  country.  General  Jackson 
had  acquired  among  the  natives  the  sobriquet  of  the  Big  Knife^  and  his  name  spread  terror 
among  them. 

The  expedition  of  Jackson  was  followed  by  a  serious  episode.  The  General,  while 
jn  his  march  against  the  Indians,  had  entered  Florida  and  taken  possession  of  the  Spanish 
post  at  St.  Marks.  He  gave  as  a  reason  for  doing  so  that  the  place  was  necessary  as  a  base 
of  operations  against  the  savages.  The  Spanish  garrison  which  had  held  St.  Marks  was  re- 
moved to  Pensacola.  At  the  time  of  the  capture  of  the  place  two  Knglishmen,  named 
Arbuthuot  and  Ambrister,  were  found  at  St.  Marks,  and  charges  were  preferred  against  them 
of  having  incited  the  Seminole  insurrection.  They  were  tried,  convicted  of  treacherous 
acts,  condemned  and  executed. 

Jackson  then  marched  against  Pensacola,  took  the  town,  besieged  the  fortress  and  com- 
pelled the  Spanish  authorities  to  take  ship  for  Havana.  Tliese  measures  e.xcited  a  bitter 
animosity  against  General  Jackson,  and  he  was  subjected  by  his  enemies  to  unmeasured  con- 
demnation and  abuse.  The  President  and  Congress,  however,  upheld  him  in  his  reckless 
proceedings,  and  his  reputation  was  increased  rather  than  diminished  by  his  arbitrary  con- 
duct. The  great  secret  of  his  popularity  and  influence  was  his  success  and  honesty.  A 
resolution  of  censure  upon  him  introduced  into  the  House  of  Representatives  was  defeated 
by  a  large  vote. 

Other  important  results  followed  in  the  train.  When  the  news  from  Florida  was 
borne  to  Spain  the  king  entered  protests  against  Jackson,  but  his  remonstrance  was  little 
heeded  by  the  ."Vmericau  government.  The  Spanish  monarch  began  to  perceive  the 
unprofitableness  and  difficulty  of  maintaining  such  a  provincial  government  as  Florida  at  so 
great  a  distance  from  the  liome  administration  of  the  kingdom.  It  became  c\'ident  that  the 
defence  of  Florida  would  in  all  probability  cost  him  more  than  the  country  was  worth.  He 
accordingly    proposed  a  cession  of  the  province  to  the  United  States.      I'\ir  this   purpose 


580  COLUIMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

negotiations  were  begun  at  Washington,  and  on  the  22d  of  Februar}-,  1819,  a  new  treaty 
was  concluded,  by  which  East  and  West  Florida  and  the  outlying  islands  were  surrendered 
forever  to  the  United  States.  In  consideration  of  the  cession,  the  American  government 
agreed  to  relinquish  all  claims  to  the  Territory  of  Texas,  and  to  pay  to  citizens  of  the 
United  States  for  depredations  committed  b}'  Spanish  vessels  a  sum  not  exceeding  five 
millions  of  dollars.  By  the  same  treaty  it  was  agreed  that  the  boundary  line  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico  should  be  the  river  Sabine. 

MONEY  CRISIS  OF  1819- 

Almost  coincidently  with  this  important  treaty  came  the  first  great  financial  crisis  to 
the  United  States.  The  American  Republic  had  been  poor  in  resources.  The  people  as  a 
rule  were  small  property-holders  to  whom  capital,  as  that  term  is  understood  in  more  recent 
times,  was  a  stranger.  At  length,  however,  wealth  increased  and  financial  institutions 
grew  into  such  importance  as  to  make  possible  a  crisis  in  monetary  and  commercial  affairs. 
We  have  already  seen  how,  in  the  year  1817,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  reorganized. 
With  that  event  came  improved  facilities  for  credit,  and  with  these  facilities  the  spirit  and 
fact  of  speculation.  With  the  coming  of  speculation,  dishonest}-  and  fraud  arose,  and  the 
circle  of  finance  ran  its  usual  course,  until  the  strain  was  broken  in  a  crisis.  The  control 
of  the  Branch  Bank  of  the  United  States  at  Baltimore  was  obtained  by  a  band  of  speculators 
who  secured  the  connivance  of  the  public  officers  in  their  schemes.  About  two  millions  of 
dollars  were  withdrawn  from  the  institution  over  and  above  its  securities.  President  Cheves, 
however,  who  belonged  to  the  Superior  Board  of  Directors,  adopted  a  policy  by  which  the 
rascality  of  the  management  was  discovered  and  exposed.  An  end  was  put  to  the  system 
of  unlimited  credits,  and  the  business  of  the  country  at  length  swung  back  into  its 
accustomed  channels. 

Other  new  States  soon  followed  Mississippi  into  the  Union.  In  181 8  Illinois,  being 
the  twenty-first  in  number,  or  the  eighth  new  State,  was  organized  and  admitted.  The  new 
commonwealth  embraced  an  area  of  over  fifty-five  thousand  square  miles.  The  population 
at  the  time  of  admission  was  about  forty-seven  thousand.  In  December  of  the  following 
year  Alabama  was  added  to  the  Union.  The  new  State  in  this  instance  brought  a  popula- 
tion of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  and  an  area  of  nearly  fifty-one  thousand  square 
miles. 

About  the  same  time  civilization  as  expressed  in  civil  rule  took  its  stride  across  the 
Mississippi.  The  great  territorj'  of  Missouri  was  divided  into  two.  The  southern  part  was 
organized  into  Arkansas  Territory,  while  the  northern  half  continued  to  bear  the  name  of 
Missouri.  In  1820  the  province  of  Maine,  which  had  remained  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
Massachusetts  since  1652,  was  separated  from  that  commonwealth  and  admitted  into  the 
Union  as  a  State.  The  population  of  ]\Iaine  at  this  time  had  reached  two  hundred  and 
ninety-eight  thousand  ;  the  territory  embraced  nearly  thirty-two  thousand  square  miles.  In 
August  of  1 82 1  the  Territory  of  Missouri,  embracing  an  area  of  sixty-seven  thousand 
square  miles  and  a  population  of  seventy-four  thousand,  was  admitted  as  the  twenty-fourth 
member  of  the  Union.  But  the  admission  was  attended  with  a  political  agitation  so  violent 
as  to  threaten  the  peace  of  the  United  States  and  to  foretoken  a  long  series  of  events  the 
effects  of  which  have  not  yet  disappeared  from  the  history  of  our  country. 

THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE. 

The  question  at  issue  was  that  of  African  slavers-  in  the  proposed '  State  of  Missouri. 
The  bill  for  the  admission  of  that  commonwealth,  or  rather  for  the  organization  of  the 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA.  oHl 

Territon-  for  admission,  was  brought  before  Congress  in  Fcbruar>'  of  1819.  Before  this 
time,  however,  slave-holders  in  large  numbers  had  gone  into  Missouri  carr%ing  their  human 
chattels  with  them.  The  issue  was  at  once  raised  in  Congress  whether  a  new  State  should 
be  admitted  with  the  system  of  slave  labor  prevalent  therein,  or  whether  by  Congressional 
action  slaveholdiug  should  be  prohibited.  A  motion  to  amend  the  territorial  bill  was  intro- 
duced by  James  Tallmadge,  of  New  York,  to  the  effect  that  any  further  introduction  of 
slaves  into  Missouri  should  be  forbidden,  and  that  all  slave  children  in  the  new  common- 
wealth should  be  granted  their  freedom  on  reaching  the  age  of  twenty-five. 

This  amendment  was  adopted  and  became  for  the  time  a  part  of  the  organic  law  for  the 
Territor\-.  A  few  days  afterwards,  when  a  bill  was  presented  for  the  Territorial  organiza- 
tion of  Arkansas,  a  motion  was  made  for  the  insertion  of  a  clause  similar  to  the  Tallmadge 
amendment  in  the  Missouri  bill.  In  this  case  there  was  a  heated  debate,  and  the  proposed 
amendment  was  defeated.  The  mover  of  the  same,  John  W.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  then 
introduced  a  resolution  that  thereafter,  in  the  organization  of  Territories  out  of  that  part 
of  the  Louisiana  purchase  which  lay  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty 
minutes,  slavery-  should  be  prohibited.  This  resolution  was  also  defeated  after  a  heated 
debate.  Meanwhile  Tallmadge's  amendment  to  the  Missouri  bill  was  brought  up  in  the 
Senate,  and  was  defeated  in  that  body.  As  a  consequence  of  this  legislation,  real  and 
attempted,  the  two  new  Territories  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas  were  organized  zvithoiit  rcslric- 
tions  in  the  matter  of  slavery. 

The  people  of  Missouri  now  proceeded  to  fonn  their  State  Constitution  according  to 
the  provisions  of  the  Enabling  Act.  In  January  of  1820  a  bill  for  the  admission  of  the  State 
under  the  Constitution  so  formed  was  brought  up  in  Congress.  The  resolution  of  admission 
was,  however,  strenuously  opposed  by  the  large  and  growing  party  of  those  who  favored  the 
exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  public  domain  of  the  United  States.  At  this  juncture,  how- 
ever, a  proposition  was  made  for  the  admission  into  the  Union  of  the  new  free  State  of 
Maine.  The  situation  was  advantageous  to  the  pro-slavcr>'  party  ;  for  that  partv  might 
oppose  the  admission  of  Maine  as  a  free  State  until  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave 
State  should  be  conceded. 

The  debates  became  angry  and  were  extended  until  the  i6th  of  Februar\-,  when 
a  bill  coupling  the  two  new  States  together,  one  with  and  the  other  without  slavery,  was 
passed.  Hereupon  Senator  Thomas,  of  Illinois,  made  a  motion  that  henceforth  and  forever 
slavery  should  be  excluded  from  all  that  part  of  the  Louisiana  cession — Missouri  excepted — 
lyii>g  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes.  This  motion  prevailed 
and  became  known  as  the  Missouri  Compromise,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  and  important 
acts  of  American  legislation — a  measure  chiefly  supported  and  carried  through  Congress  by 
the  genius  and  persistent  efforts  of  Henr)-  Clay. 

A  summar}-  of  the  principal  provisions  of  the  Missouri  compromise  shows  the  follow- 
ing results  :  First,  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave-holding  State  ;  second,  the  division 
of  the  rest  of  the  Louisiana  purchase  by  the  parallel  of  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  minutes  ; 
third,  the  admission  of  new  States  to  be  formed  out  of  the  territory  south  of  that  line  with 
or  without  slaver\'  as  the  people  might  determine  ;  fourth,  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  all  the 
new  States  to  be  organized  out  of  the  territory  north  of  the  dividing  line.  Thus  by  a 
measure  of  compromise  and  concession,  tlie  slaver.-  agitation  was  allayed  for  twenty -eight 
years.  The  event,  however,  showed  that  the  national  disease  was  too  deep-seated  to  be 
eradicated  with  a  compromise. 


582  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  conditions  of  prosperity  in  the  country  were  now  so  universal  that  the  administra- 
tion, as  is  common  in  such  cases,  was  rewarded  with  good  opinion  and  good  will.  The 
President  came  into  high  favor  with  the  people.  In  the  fall  of  1820  he  was  reelected  with 
great  unanimity,  as  was  also  Mr.  Tompkins,  Vice-President.  Perhaps  at  no  other  time  in 
the  history-  of  our  country-  since  the  administration  of  Washington  has  the  bitterness  of  par- 
tisanship so  nearly  expired  as  in  the  year  and  with  the  event  here  mentioned. 

DESTRUCTION  OF  WEST  INDIAN   PIRACV. 

Early  in  Monroe's  second  term  the  attention  of  the  government  was  recalled  to  the 
alarming  system  of  piracy  which  had  sprung  up  in  the  West  Indies.  Commerce  became  so 
unsafe  in  all  those  parts  of  the  sea  into  which  the  piratical  craft  could  make  their  way  that 
an  armament  had  to  be  sent  out  for  protection.  In  the  spring  of  1822  the  frigate  Con- 
gress^ with  eight  smaller  vessels,  sailed  to  the  West  Indies,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year 
more  than  twenty  pirate  ships  were  run  down  and  captured.  In  the  following  summer 
another  squadron,  under  command  of  Commodore  Porter,  was  sent  to  cruise  about  Cuba  and 
the  neighboring  islands.  The  piratical  retreats  were  found  and  the  sea  robbers  who  had  for 
their  leader  the  famous  buccaneer  Jean  La  Fitte  were  driven  from  their  lair.  Their 
establishments  were  broken  up  and  their  business  ended  by  suppression.  Not  a  pirate  ship 
was  left  afloat  to  trouble  further  the  honorable  commerce  of  the  sea. 

It  was  at  this  epoch  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  and  the  American 
people  became  deeply  interested  in  the  republican  revolutions  which  were  taking  place 
in  the  countries  of  South  America.  Since  the  days  of  Pizarro  the  States  in  question 
had  been  dependencies  of  European  monarchies  ;  but  the  political  ties  thus  stretching 
across  the  Atlantic  were  broken  ever  and  anon  with  declarations  of  independence  and  revo- 
lutionary wars.  The  situation  was  ver>^  similar  to  that  which  existed  in  1776  between 
the  Old  Thirteen  Colonies  of  North  America  and  the  mother  countrs*.  It  was  but  natural 
that  the  United  States,  successful  in  winning  their  independence,  should  sympathize  with 
the  revolutionists  and  patriots  of  the  southern  continent.  Many  leading  American  states- 
men espoused  the  cause  of  South  American  liberty  and  their  voices  were  heard  in  behalf 
of  the  struggling  republics  beyond  the  isthmus  of  Darien. 

THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE. 

Foremost  among  the  public  men  of  the  period  who  spoke  out  for  the  emancipation 
of  the  South  American  States  was  Henry  Clay.  He  carried  his  views  into  Congress 
and  gained  the  endorsement  of  that  body  to  the  principles  which  he  advocated.  In 
March  of  1822  a  bill  was  passed  recognizing  the  independence  of  the  new  States  of 
South  America.  The  President  sympathized  with  these  movements  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  took  up  the  question  in  his  annual  message.  In  that  document  he  stated 
the  principle  by  which  his  administration  should  be  governed  as  follows  :  That  for 
the  future  the  American  continents  were  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  coloniza- 
tion by  any  European  power.  The  declaration  thus  made,  however  vague  it  may 
seem  in  the  retrospect,  became  famous  at  the  time,  and  has  ever  since  held  its  place  in  the 
politics  and  diplomacy  of  the  United  States,  under  the  name  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine — a 
doctrine  by  which  the  United  States  seemed  to  be  committed  to  the  principle  that  the 
western  hemisphere  shall  be,  at  least  theoretically,  consecrated  to  free  institutions. 

The  summer  of  1824  brought  an  incident  of  great  rejoicing  to  the  American  people. 
The  opportunity  was  aSbrded  them  to  revive  and  express  their  gratitude  to  France  for  the 
sympathy  and  aid  which  she  had  given  to  the  United  States  in  the  War  of  Independence. 
The  venerable  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  now  aged   and  gra}-,  returned  once  more  to  visit  the 


COLUMBUS   AND  COLUMBIA.  .383 

land  for  whose  political  freedom  he  had  given  the  energies  of  his  yonth  and  indeed  shed  his 
blood.  Many  of  the  veteran  patriots  witli  whom  he  had  fought  side  by  side  came  fortii  to 
greet  him,  and  the  younger  heroes,  sons  of  the  Revolution,  crowded  around  liiin.  His 
journey  from  city  to  cit>-  was  a  continuous  triumph.  One  of  the  chief  objects  of  his 
coming  was  to  visit  the  tomb  of  Washington.  Over  the  dust  of  the  Father  of  his  Countrj' 
the  patriot  of  France  paid  the  homage  of  his  tears.  He  remained  in  the  country'  until  Sep- 
tember of  1825,  when  he  bade  final  adieu  to  the  American  people  and  sailed  for  his  native 
land.  At  his  departure  the  frigate  Brandyzvine — a  name  significant  to  him — was  prepared 
to  bear  him  awa>-  ;  and  the  liour  of  his  going  was  obser\'ed  with  ever>-  mark  of  affection 
and  gratitude  on  the  part  of  the  great  and  rising  people  of  the  west. 

Thus  came  to  a  close  the  second  administration  of  James  Monroe.  Political  excitement 
had  now  reappeared  in  the  country  and  there  was  a  strong  division  of  sentiment,  largely 
sectional  in  its  origin.  Bitter  personalities  likewise  appeared  in  the  contest.  For  the  first 
time  the  names  of  South  and  East  and  West  were  heard,  and  the  patriotic  eye  might  discern 
the  premonitions  of  danger  in  the  political  phraseology'  of  the  day. 

The  marshalling  of  parties  was  to  a  certain  extent  along  sectional  lines.  John  Ouincy 
Adams,  son  of  the  second  President,  was  put  forward  as  the  candidate  of  the  East ;  William 
H.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  as  the  choice  of  the  South;  while  Henry  Clay  and  Andrew  Jackson 
appeared  as  the  favorites  of  the  West.  The  overwhelming  preponderance  of  the  Democratic 
party  at  this  time  made  it  possible  for  several  candidates  thus  to  enter  the  field  ;  for  the  rise 
of  the  convention  system  had  not  yet  destroyed  individuality  in  American  politics. 

In  the  election  of  1824  no  one  obtained  the  requisite  majority  of  electoral  votes.  By 
this  circumstance  tiie  election  was  thrown,  for  the  second  time  in  the  histor\'  of  the  country, 
into  the  House  of  Representatives.  By  that  body  John  Quincy  Adams,  though  not  the 
foremost  candidate,  was  duly  elected.  John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  had  already 
received  the  requisite  majority  in  the  electoral  college  and  was  thus  chosen  Vice-President. 
The  old  administration  expired  and  the  new  began  with  the  4th  of  March,  1825. 

CAREER  OF  J.   Q.   ADAMS. 

It  is  probable  that  in  talents  and  acconiplislimeiits  tlie  new  chief  magistrate  was  the 
superior  of  any  man  who  has  ever  occupied  the  presidential  chair.  It  is  not  meant  that  in 
force  of  character  or  ability  to  meet  great  emergencies  he  was  the  equal  of  \\'ashington  or 
Lincoln  or  Grant  ;  but  he  had  genius,  scholarship,  great  attainments.  From  his  boyhood 
he  had  been  educated  to  the  career  of  a  statesman.  When  he  was  but  eleven  years  old  he 
accompanied  his  father,  John  Adams,  to  Europe.  At  Paris,  Amsterdam  and  St.  Petersburg 
the  son  continued  his  studies  and  thus  became  acquainted  with  the  manners,  languages  and 
politics  of  the  Old  World.  The  vast  opportunities  of  his  youth  were  improved  to  the  fullest 
extent  He  was  destined  to  a  public  career.  While  still  young  he  served  his  country'  as 
ambassador  to  the  Xetherlands,  to  Portugal,  to  Russia  and  to  England.  His  abilities  were 
such  as  to  draw  from  Washington  the  cxtraordinar>'  praise  of  being  the  ablest  minister  of 
which  America  could  boa.st.  From  1774  to  181 7  his  life  was  devoted  almost  wholly  to 
diplomatic  ser\'ices  at  the  various  European  capitals. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  at  this  period  the  foreign  relations  of  tlie  United  States 
were  critical  in  the  extreme.  Indeed  the  new  republic  had  hardh-  yet  been  fully  estab- 
lished as  an  independent  power  amongst  the  nations.  The  genius  of  .\dams  secured  for  his 
countn,'  the  adoption  of  treaty  after  treaty.  Such  was  his  acumen,  his  patriotism,  that  in 
even.-  treaty  the  rights  and  dignity  of  tlie  United  States  were  fully  .as.serted  and  maintained. 
[q   1806  Adams  was  chosen   Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Belles-Lettres  in  Harvard  College. 


584  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Afterwards  he  was  Senator  for  the  United  States  from  Massachusetts.  On  the  accession  of 
Monroe  to  the  Presidenc}'  he  was  appointed  Secretar}'  of  State.  All  the  antecedents  of  his 
life  were  such  as  to  produce  in  him  the  rarest  qualifications  for  the  Presidency  to  which  he 
was  now  called. 

In  one  respect  the  new  administration  was  less  successful,  less  peaceful  than  its 
predecessor.  The  revival  of  partisanship,  the  animosity  of  great  party  leaders,  conspired  to 
distract  the  countr)-,  to  keep  the  public  mind  from  the  calm  pursuits  of  peace  and  to  mar 
the  harmony  of  the  nation.  Indeed  from  this  epoch  we  may  date  the  beginning  of  politics 
as  a  despicable  trade  in  which  the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  been 
hawked  and  torn,  bartered  and  sold  at  the  dictation  of  unscrupulous  ambition  and  for  mere 
personal  ends. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  Adams  the  adherents  of  General  Jackson  and  ]\Ir.  Crawford 
united  in  opposition  to  the  policy  of  the  President  A  want  of  unanimity  appeared  among 
the  different  departments  of  the  government.  It  was  soon  found  that  the  supporters  of  the 
administration  were  in  the  minority  in  the  Senate,  while  their  majority  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  held  only  to  the  close  of  the  first  session  of  the  ciirrent  Congress.  The 
President  favored  the  policy  of  internal  improvements.  That  system  of  polity,  however, 
was  antagonized  b}-  the  majority  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  that  majority  soon  came  into 
the  ascendant.  As  a  consequence  of  this  break  the  recommendations  of  the  President  were 
neglected  or  condemned  in  Congress,  and  that  system  of  internal  improvements  to  which 
Mr.  Clay  gave  the  full  resources  of  his  genius  was  checked  for  a  generation. 

DIFFICULTIES  OVER  INDIAN  TITLES. 

Difficulties  with  the  Indians  now  arose  on  the  side  of  Georgia.  During  the  first 
quarter  of  the  century  considerable  portions  of  territory  east  of  the  T^Iississippi  were  still  held 
by  the  natives.  In  Georgia  they  possessed  a  wide  domain.  Here  dwelt  the  great  nation 
of  the  Creeks  with  whom  the  white  men  had  had  relations  since  the  founding  of  the  first 
colonies.  In  1802  Georgia  as  a  State  relinquished  her  claim  to  the  Mississippi  Territory-,  but 
one  of  the  conditions  of  the  surrender  was  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  should 
purchase  in  the  interest  of  Georgia  all  the  Creek  lands  lying  within  her  borders.  This 
pledge  the  government  failed  to  fulfil.  Georgia  became  seriously  dissatisfied.  The 
difficulty  grew  alanning,  and  the  general  government  was  constrained  to  carr)-  out  the 
compact  by  forming  a  new  treat}'  with  the  Creek  chiefs  for  the  purchase  of  their  lands  and 
the  removal  of  their  people  to  new  territories  beyond  the  ^Mississippi. 

Here  were  the  elements  of  the  ever-recurring  difficulty.  The  Indians  have  been,  as  a 
rule,  unwilling  to  recognize  the  validity  of  pledges  made  by  their  ancestors  relative  to  their 
national  lands.  Such  a  thing  as  ownership  in  fee  simple  was  unknown  originally  among 
the  native  races.  They  recognized  the  right  of  quit-claim,  by  which  those  occupying  lands 
could  alienate  their  own  titles  thereto,  but  not  the  titles  of  their  descendants.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that,  since  the  days  of  King  Philip,  the  government  has  found  great  difficulty  in 
securing  the  extinction  of  the  Indian  titles  to  their  lands — this  for  the  reason  that  each 
generation  of  natives  bom  in  a  given  territor}'  arises  to  claim  the  tribal  lands  with  no 
recognition  of  a  right  on  the  part  of  their  fathers  and  grandfathers  to  alienate  those  lands 
by  sale  or  cession. 

We  may  pause  to  notice  an  incident  of  the  summer  of  1826.  On  the  memorable  Fourth 
of  July  in  that  year  Thomas  Jefferson  and  John  Adams  both  expired  at  nearly  the  same 
hour.  It  might  well  impress  the  American  mind  that  just  fifty  years  to  a  day  from  the 
adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  the  great  author  of  that  famous  document  and 


:?^ 


^ 


COLUiMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  585 

its  principal  promoter  in  Congress  should  have  passed  away  together.  They  were  the  two 
most  conspicuous  patriots  of  the  Revolutionary  epoch.  They  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other 
two  men  had  agitated  the  question  of  independence  and  supported  tlie  measure  as  a  policy 
for  the  United  Colonies.  Both  had  lifted  their  voices  for  freedom  in  tlie  earliest  and  most 
perilous  days  of  the  Revolutionar)'  era.  Both  had  lived  to  see  tlieir  country's  independence 
achieved.  Both  had  served  that  country  in  its  highest  official  station.  Both  had  reached 
extreme  old  age  ;  Adams  was  ninety,  Jefferson  eighty-two.  Though  opposed  to  each  other 
as  it  respected  many  political  principles,  both  were  alike  in  patriotism  and  loyaltj-  to  the 
republic.  It  was  a  significant  circumstance  that  while  the  cannon  were  booming  for  the 
fiftieth  anniversar}^  of  the  nation  the  two  illustrious  patriots  should  pass  from  among  the 
living  at  the  hour  of  reaching  tlie  lialf-centcnnial  of  their  greatest  work. 

DISAPPEARANCE  OF  WILLIAM   MORGAN. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  this  year  that  a  serious  social  disturbance  in  the  State  of  New 
York  led  to  a  temporarj-  deflection  in  the  political  history  of  the  times.  William  Morgan, 
of  that  State,  a  member  of  the  fraternity  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  broke  with  tlie  order 
and  threatened  to  publish  its  secrets.  He  suddenly  disappeared  and  was  never  autlientically 
heard  of  afterward.  Rumors  of  his  whereabouts  gained  currency,  but  none  could  ever  be 
traced  to  a  trustworthy  origin.  The  belief  became  common  that  either  his  life  had  been 
taken  or  that  he  had  been  privately  and  permanentl)-  exiled  into  the  obscurity  of  some 
foreign  countr}'.  The  Masons  fell  under  the  suspicion  of  having  abducted  him,  and  a  great 
clamor  was  raised  against  the  fraternity  in  New  York.  The  animosity  against  the  Masons 
extended  in  other  parts  of  the  countn'  and  their  enemies  became  united  as  a  political  party. 
For  many  years  the  anti-Masonic  party  exercised  a  considerable  influence  in  local  and 
general  elections.  De  Witt  Clinton,  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  valuable  statesmen  of 
New  York,  lost  his  political  place  and  influence  on  account  of  his  membership  in  the 
Masonic  order. 

More  important  than  these  temporary  agitations  was  the  debate  which  now  began  in 
Congress  with  respect  to  the  tariff.  The  discussions  of  this  vital  issue  may  be  dated  from 
the  year  1828.  By  a  tariff  is  understood  a  customs  duty  levied  on  imported  goods.  The 
object  of  the  same  is  two-fold  :  first,  to  produce  a  revenue  for  the  government ;  secondly,  to 
raise  the  price  of  the  article  on  which  the  duty  is  laid,  in  order  that  the  domestic  manu- 
facturer of  the  thing  taxed  may  be  able  to  compete  with  the  foreign  producer.  In  a  subse- 
quent part  of  this  work  a  full  discussion  of  this  question  will  be  presented.  In  the  present 
connection  it  is  sufficient  to  note  that  when  a  customs  duty  is  levied  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  the  price  of  the  article  on  which  the  duty  is  laid  it  is  called  a  protective  tariflT. 

The  soundness  of  the  policy  of  such  a  tariff  has  been  agitated  in  nearly  all  the 
civilized  countries.  As  a  rule,  in  the  earlier  parts  of  a  nation's  history,  protective  tariffs 
are  adopted,  even  to  the  extent  of  shutting  off  foreign  competition  ;  but  with  the  lapse  of 
time  and  the  accumulation  of  capital  in  the  given  countr\-  the  tendency  is  in  the  opposite 
direction.  The  mature  people  generally  incline  to  the  principle  of  free  trade  and  open 
competition  among  the  nations. 

The  Congressional  debates  of  1828  revealed  the  fact  that  the  administration  and  its 
supporters  proper  were  in  favor  of  a  protective  tariff  In  that  year  a  schedule  of  customs 
was  prepared  by  which  the  duties  on  fabrics  made  of  wool,  cotton,  linen  and  silk,  and  those 
on  articles  manufactured  of  iron,  lead,  etc.,  were  much  increased.  This  legislation  wai 
had  with  the  primar>'  motive  of  stinnilating  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  country. 
The  question  of  a  tarifif  in  the  United  States  has  always  taken  a  somewhat  sectional  aspect. 


586  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

At  first  the  people  of  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  where  factories  abounded,  were 
favorable  to  protective  duties,  while  the  people  of  the  agricultural  regions  of  the  South  and 
West  opposed  the  protective  polic}-. 

NEW  ISSUES  BEFORE  THE  NATION. 

Several  general  facts  respecting  the  period  of  Adams's  administration  may  well  impress 
themselves  upon  the  attention  of  the  reader.  It  was  at  this  epoch  that  the  influences  of 
the  Revolution,  more  particularly  of  the  War  for  Independence,  subsided  by  the  death  or 
retiracy  of  the  great  actors  in  that  early  scene,  and  the  sentiments  of  a  new  era  began  to 
prevail.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  second  epoch  in  the  lii.stor\'  of  the  United  States.  A 
new  class  of  statesmen,  born  after  the  era  of  independence,  began  to  direct  public  opinion 
and  manage  the  affairs  of  government.  Even  the  war  of  1812  with  its  bitter  antagonisms 
and  absurd  ending,  faded  gradually  from  the  memories  of  men.  New  dispositions,  new 
tastes,  appeared  among  the  people,  and  new  issues  confronted  the  public.  Old  party  lines 
could  no  longer  be  traced  with  distinctness.  The  old  party  names  had  become  a  jargon. 
Meanwhile  the  United  States  as  a  nation  had  surpassed  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of 
the  fathers.  The  one  serious  danger  of  the  times  was  the  evidences  apparent  in  Congress 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  had  fallen  under  the  dominion  of  that  very  system 
against  which  the  Father  of  his  Country  had  uttered  his  most  solemn  warnings,  namely, 
the  system  of  partisanship  and  purely  political  government,  instead  of  a  government  of  the 
whole  people,  for  them  and  by  them. 

Like  his  father,  the  younger  Adams  was  disappointed  in  securing  a  second  election  to 
the  Presidency.  The  people  of  the  countrj-,  especially  those  of  the  great  and  rising  West, 
had  never  taken  kindly  to  the  plan  and  fact  of  Adams's  election.  It  was  claimed  that  the 
result  four  years  previoush-  had  been  reached  by  a  coalition  in  which  there  was  a  virtual 
agreement  that  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Clay  in  the  House  of  Representatives  should  elect 
Adams  on  condition  that  the  latter  would  make  their  favorite  Secretary  of  State.  This  was 
done  ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  there  was  any  corrupt  bargain  between  the  two  dis- 
tinguished statesmen. 

Adams  received  the  support  of  Clay  for  reelection  ;  but  the  President  was  handicapped 
from  the  start.  A  new  political  division  now  became  distinct,  the  opposition  to  the  admin- 
istration taking  the  Democratic  name,  while  the  administration  party  took  the  new  name 
of  Whigs.  Of  the  former  Andrew  Jackson  became  the  acknowledged  leader  and  standard- 
bearer  in  the  presidential  contest.  He  was  triun'iphantly  elected,  receiving  a  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  electoral  votes  against  eighty-three  for  his  opponent.  The  election  was  one 
of  great  excitement  and  passion  ;  but  the  elements  fell  to  a  calm  when  the  decision  was 
reached,  and  the  thoughts  of  the  people  were  turned  to  other  than  political  interests. 

JACKSON  THE  MILITARY  HERO. 

Andrew  Jackson  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  He  was  born  in  the  Waxhaw  countr}', 
March  15th,  1767.  ■  Even  in  his  boj'hood  he  showed  in  his  character  and  conduct  the 
belligerent  and  stormy  nature  within  him.  His  mother's  plan  of  devoting  him  to  the 
ministry  was  hopelessly  defeated.  Already  at  the  age  of  thirteen  we  have  seen  him  in  battle 
with  Sumter  at  Hanging  Rock.  Captured  by  the  British,  he  was  maltreated  and  left  to  die 
of  small-pox;  but  his  mother  secured  his  release  from  the  Charleston  prison  and  he  soon 
began  the  study  of  law. 

At  twenty-one  young  Jackson  went  to  Nashville.  At  twenty-nine  he  was  chosen  to 
the  National  House  of  Representatives  from  his  district  in  Tennessee.      Here  his  turbulent 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA.  587 

and  arbitran  disposition  manifested  itself  in  fnll  force.  In  1797  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  where  he  remained  for  a  year  without  makino^  a  speech  or  castinj;  a 
vote.  He  was  thoroughh-  disgusted  with  the  urbane  and  lofty  life  of  the  Senate  and 
resigned  his  seat  to  return  to  Tennessee.  His  subsequent  career  as  a  warrior  and  com- 
mander of  men  we  have  noted  in  the  preceding  pages. 

It  is  needless  to  remark  that  it  was  Jackson  the  military-  hero  who  was  chosen  to  the 
Presidential  office.  He  was  the  first  man  of  his  kind  to  reach  the  chief  masfistracv  of  the 
Union  ;  but  he  was  more  *han  a  militar\'  hero.  He  possessed  great  native  powers  and 
inflexible  honesty.  His  talents  were  strong,  but  unpolished,  unadorned.  His  personal 
integrity  was  unassailable  and  his  will  like  iron.  He  was  a  man  of  ferocity,  but  of  the 
strictest  regard  for  that  kind  of  honor  which  was  in  his  age  uppermost  in  the  esteem  of  the 
multitudes.  He  was  one  of  those  men  for  whom  no  toils  are  too  arduous,  no  responsibilities 
too  great.  His  personal  character  became  strongly  impressed  upon  the  administration. 
Believing  that  public  affairs  would  be  best  conducted  by  such  means,  he  removed  nearly 
seven  Innidred  office-holders  and  appointed  in  their  stead  his  own  political  friends.  In 
defence  of  this  course  he  was  able  to  cite  the  precedent  established  by  Jefferson  and  promoted 
to  a  certain  extent  mider  all  the  subsequent  administrations. 

The  accession  of  Jackson  to  the  Presidency  was  in  the  nature  of  a  revolution,  not  only 
political,  but  social.  The  tone  of  the  administration  was  suddenly  and  greatly  changed. 
Hitherto  all  the  Presidents  had  been  men  of  accomplishments.  They  had  been  gentlemen, 
educated  and  experienced  in  public  affairs.  They  knew  something  of  public  policies  and 
were  civilians,  as  well  as — in  some  cases — military'  leaders.  Coarseness  and  vulgarity  during 
the  first  five  Presidencies  had  been  unknown  in  the  government.  With  the  rise  of  Jackson, 
however,  the  underside  of  American  life  came  to  the  surface.  The  debonair  and  stylish 
demeanor  which  had  marked  the  manners  and  methods  of  the  former  chief  magistrates 
disappeared  from  the  Presidential  mansion  and  measurably  from  the  other  departments  of 
government.  Jackson  made  no  pretensions  to  culture  or  refinement  and  many  of  the  coarse 
and  ferocious  elements  of  his  former  life  obtruded  themselves  in  the  high  places  of  power. 
It  would  be  ver\"  erroneous  to  say  that  all  dignity  was  wanting  in  the  administration.  On 
the  contrary  there  was  much  that  was  dignified,  more  that  was  respectable;  but  the  acces- 
sion of  Jackson  was  on  the  whole  derogatory'  to  the  refinement  and  culture  and  propriet\- 
which  had  previously  prevailed  about  the  Presidential  mansion. 

ISSUES  OF   JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

The  question  of  rechartering  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  now  camd  prominently 
before  the  conntr)-.  It  was  a  question  with  which  the  government  had  to  deal.  The 
President  took  strong  grounds  against  issuing  a  new  charter  for  that  institution.  He 
believed  the  bank  to  be  both  inexpedient  and  unconstitutional.  He  recommended  that  the 
charter  should  be  allowed  to  expire  by  limitation  in  1836.  It  could  not  be  expected,  how- 
ever, that  a  concern  so  strong  and  far-reaching  in  its  influence  would  yield  without  a 
struggle.  The  controversy  with  respect  to  the  bank  was  precipitated  by  the  President  at 
an  earlier  date  than  was  natural  to  the  situation.  In  1832  a  bill  was  passed  by  Congress 
to  recharter  the  bank;  but  the  President  interposed  his  veto,  and  since  a  two-thirds 
majority  could  not  be  commanded  for  the  measure  the  proposition  for  a  new  charter  failed 
and  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  ceased    to  exist. 

We  have  already  remarked  upon  the  new  political  alignment  which  was  at  lliis  lime 
effected.  The  people  became  divided  into  the  two  great  factions  of  Whig  and  Democrat. 
The  old  Federal  party  had    lost  control  of  national  affairs  with  the  retiracy  of  the  elder 


588  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Adams.  The  party,  however,  continued  in  the  field  until  after  the  war  of  1812,  when  its 
alleged  connection  and  responsibility  for  the  Hartford  Convention  gave  it  a  final  quietus. 
Federalists,  so-called,  still  remained  in  public  and  private  life  as  late  as  the  times  of  the 
great  debates  on  slavery  in  1820-21;  but  after  that  epoch  they  disappeared.  Meanwhile 
the  anti-Federalists  had  been  metamorphosed,  first  into  Republicans  and  afterwards  into 
Democrats.  The  latter  name  held  fast  from  the  time  of  Jefferson's  administration.  With 
John  Quincy  Adams  the  name  of  Whig  was  introduced,  and  under  the  leadership  of 
Clay  and  Webster  the  party  bearing  that  name  became  organic,  powerful  and  well  fortified 
in  the  principles  and  policies  which  it  advocated  and  sought  to  establish  in  the  government 
of  the  country'. 

Now  it  was  that  the  tariff  question,  inherited  from  the  preceding  administration,  was 
revived  with  great  force  and  excitement.  In  the  Congress  of  1831-32  the  passage  of  a  bill 
had  been  secured  laying  additional  duties  on  manufactured  goods  imported  from  abroad. 
By  this  measure  the  manufacturing  districts  of  the  United  States  were  again  favored  at  the 
expense  of  the  agricultural  districts.  The  act  was  especially  offensive  to  South  Carolina. 
In  that  commonwealth  the  excitement  rose  to  a  great  height  ;  a  convention  of  the  people 
was  called,  and  it  was  resolved  that  the  tariff  law  of  Congress  was  unconstitutional,  and 
therefore  null  and  void.  The  declaration  ended  with  a  threat  of  resistance  should  an 
attempt  be  made  to  collect  the  revenues  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston.  One  division  of  the 
Democratic  statesmen  took  up  the  cause  of  South  Carolina,  and  supported  what  was  called 
her  doctrine  of  nullification. 

This  doctrine  was  advocated  even  to  practical  secession.  It  was  boldly  proclaimed  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  On  that  issue  occurred  the  most  famous  debate  ever  heard  in 
the  halls  of  Congress,  namely,  that  between  the  eloquent  Colonel  Robert  Young  Hayne, 
Senator  from  South  Carolina,  and  Daniel  Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  perhaps  the  greatest 
master  of  American  orator}'.  The  former  spoke  as  the  champion  of  the  so-called  doctrine 
of  State  rights,  including  as  its  practical  application  the  right  of  nullification  and  seces- 
sion under  the  Constitution  ;  the  latter  as  the  advocate  of  the  Constitutional  supremacy  of 
Congress  over  all  the  Union. 

THREATENED  SECESSION  OF    SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

History,  however,  had  reserved  another  force  than  that  of  Congressional  debate  for  the 
decision  of  the  question.  The  President  took  the  matter  in  hand,  and  issued  a  proclama- 
tion denying  the  right  of  any  State  to  nullify  the  laws  of  Congress.  It  was  at  this  juncture 
that  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  Vice-President,  resigned  his  office,  to  accept  a  seat  in  the  Senate, 
where  he  might  better  support  the  doctrines  and  purposes  of  his  State.  The  President 
solemnly  warned  the  people  of  South  Carolina  against  the  consequences  of  pushing  further 
the  doctrine  of  nullification.  He  then  ordered  General  Scott  to  proceed  with  a  body  of 
troops  to  Charleston,  and  also  sent  thither  a  man-of-war.  Before  this  display  of  force  the 
leaders  of  the  nullifying  party  quailed,  and  the  fatal  event  of  secession  was  postponed  for 
thirty  years.  The  excitement  and  discontent  of  the  people  of  Carolina  were  presently 
allayed  by  a  compromise  proposed  by  Henry  Clay.  A  bill  was  passed,  under  his  strong 
advocacy,  providing  for  the  gradual  reduction  of  the  duties  complained  of,  until  at  the  end 
of  ten  years  they  should  reach  a  standard  which  would  be  satisfactory  to  the  South. 

While  the  attention  of  the  government  was  thus  occupied  with  the  dangerous  and  far- 
reaching  question  of  the  right  of  a  State  under  the  Constitution  to  nullify  an  act  of  Con- 
gress an  Indian  war  broke  out  on  the  western  frontier.  The  Sacs,  Foxes  and  Winnebagos, 
of  Wisconsin  Territory,  became  hostile  and  took  up  arms  in  defence  of  what  they  conceived 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  .",89 

to  be  their  rights  as  a  nation.  They  went  into  the  field  under  the  leadership  and  instiga- 
tion of  their  great  chief,  Black  Hawk.  Like  Tcciuntha  and  many  other  sachems  who  had 
risen  to  inflnence  during  the  last  century,  Black  Ilawk  dreamed  of  the  possibility  of  uniting 
all  the  Indian  nations  into  a  confederacy  against  the  wliites.  The  lands  of  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  lay  in  what  is  known  as  the  Rock  River  country  of  Illinois.  While  Jefferson  was 
still  President  these  lands  had  been  purchased  by  the  govenimeut  from  the  chiefs  of  the 
tribes,  but  the  Indian  population  had  never  removed  from  the  ceded  territory. 

At  length  immigration  carried  the  white  settlemeuts  into  proximity  with  the  Indian 
country,  and  the  natives  were  required  to  give  possession.  A  new  race  of  warriors  had  now 
arisen,  however,  who  did  not  understand  or  recognize  the  force  of  a  co-compact  made  by 
their  fathers.  They  said  that  their  fathers  might  quit-claim  the  national  domain,  but  could 
not  alienate  the  rights  of  their  descendants.  The  government  insisted  on  the  fulfilment 
of  the  treaty  according  to  the  principle  of  warranty  and  fee  simple.  Tiie  Indians  would 
not  recede  from  their  position,  and  war  broke  out. 

At  the  outset  the  militia  of  Illinois  was  called  into  the  field.  General  Scott  was  sent 
T\-ith  nine  companies  of  artillery  to  make  his  headquarters  on  the  site  of  Chicago.  His 
forces,  however,  were  overtaken  with  the  cholera,  which  now  for  the  first  time  made  its 
appearance  in  the  United  States.  Scott  was  unable  to  cooperate  with  General  Atkinson, 
and  the  latter  was  obliged  to  make  the  campaign  against  the  Indians  with  an  army  of 
volunteers  ;  but  he  succeeded  in  defeating  them  in  several  actions  and  Black  Hawk  was 
taken  prisoner.  He  was  conveyed  to  Washington  and  other  Eastern  cities,  wdiere  his 
understanding  was  opened  to  the  power  of  the  great  nation  against  which  he  had  been 
foolish  enough  to  lift  the  hatchet.  Being  set  at  liberty,  he  returned  to  his  own  country  and 
advised  his  people  to  make  no  further  war.  His  influence  prevailed,  and  the  Indians  soon 
aftens'ards  abandoning  the  disputed  lands  removed  into  Iowa.  These  events  belonged  to  the 
years  1832-33. 

WAR  WITH  THE   CHEROKEES  AND    CREEKS. 

Difficulties  next  arose  with  the  Cherokees  of  Georgia.  These  people  had  risen  to  the 
civilized  life,  and  were  perhaps  the  most  humane  of  all  the  Indian  races.  They  had 
adopted  many  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  whites.  Fanns  had  been  opened,  towns 
built,  schools  established,  printing  presses  set  up,  and  a  code  of  laws  prepared  in  the 
civilized  manner.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  had 
given  a  pledge  to  Georgia  to  extinguish  the  title  of  the  Indian  lands  within  her  borders — 
this  in  compensation  for  her  cession  to  the  government  of  the  territory  of  Mississippi.  The 
pledge  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  was  not  fulfilled  ;  and  the  Legislature  of  Georgia, 
weary  of  the  delay  in  the  removal  of  the  Indians,  passed  a  law  abrogating  the  Indian  gov- 
ernments within  the  limits  of  the  State,  and  extending  the  laws  of  that  commonwealth  over 
all  the  Indian  domains. 

Vainly  did  the  natives  seek  to  resi.st  this  iniquitous  legislation.  The  Cherokees  and 
the  Creeks  sought  the  privilege  of  using  the  State  courts  in  the  attempt  to  maintain  their 
rights  ;  but  such  privilege  was  denied  and  the  petitioners  were  outlawed.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  however,  refused  to  ratify  the  acts  of  Georgia,  declaring  the 
same  to  be  unconstitutional.  The  Indians  appealed  to  the  President,  but  he  refused  to 
interfere.  On  the  contrary,  he  recommended  that  the  Cherokees  be  removed  to  new  lands 
bevond  the  Mi.ssissippi.  Such  was  the  contingency  which  led  in  the  year  1834  to  the 
organization  of  the  Indian  Territory  as  a  sort  of  reservation  for  the  broken  tribes.  With 
great  reluctance  the  Cherokees  yielded  to  the  necessity  of  removal.      Though  they  had  been 


590 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


paid  more  than  fi\e  million  dollars  for  their  homes,  they  clung  to  the  land  of  their  fathers. 
Only  when  General  Scott  was  directed  to  remove  them  by  force  did  they  yield  to  the 
inevitable  and  take  up  their  march  for  their  new  homes  in  the  West.  A  third  conflict  now 
came  on  with  the  Seminoles  of  Florida.  The  difficulty  in  this  case  was  much  more 
serious  and  resulted  in  a  bloody  war.  The  question  involved  was  the  right  of  the  govern- 
ment to  remove  the  Seminole  nation  to  a  new  domain  beyond  the  Mississippi.  This 
measure  the  Indians  resisted.  In  1835  hostilities  broke  out  and  continued  with  little 
interruption  for  about  four  years.  The  chief  of  the  Seminoles  was  the  famous  Osceola,  a 
half-breed  of  great  talents,  warlike  ambitions  and  audacity.  He,  together  with  Micauopy, 
another  chieftain  of  the  nation,  declared  that  the  treaty  by  which  the  Seminole  lands  had 
been  ceded  to  the  government  was  invalid  ;  that  the  fathers  could  only  quit-claim  their 
own  rights  and  could  not  alienate  the  rights  of  their  descendants. 

At  first  these  protests  were  made  openly  and  peaceably  to  the  agents  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  but  General  Thompson,  who  represented  the  United  States,  offended  at  the  haughty 
bearing  of  Osceola,  ordered  his  arrest  and  put  him  in  irons.  While  thus  confined  the 
chieftain,  dissembling  his  purpose,  gave  his  assent  to  the  old  treaty  and  was  set  free.  As 
might  have  been  foreseen,  however,  he  immediately  in  revenge  formed  a  conspiracy  against 

the  whites. 

DEATH  OF  GENERAL  THOMPSON. 

In  anticipation  of  difficulties,  the  government  had  sent  General  Clinch  to  Fort  Drane, 
in  the  interior  of  Florida.  The  Indians  gathered  in  the  same  vicinity  in  such  numbers  as 
to  threaten  the  post.      Major  Dade,  commandant  of  a  station  at  the  head  of  Tampa  Bay,  set 

out  with  a  hundred  and 
seventeen  men  to  the  sup- 
port of  Clinch.  For  this 
force  the  Indians  lay  in 
ambush,  fell  upon  them, 
and  slaughtered  them  all 
except  one  man.  On  the 
same  day  Osceola  made  a 
sudden  attack  upon  the 
quarters  of  General  Thomp- 
son, only  fifty  yards  dis- 
tant from  the  garrison,  and 
killed  and  scalped  the 
General  and  his  nine 
companions.  General 
Clinch  issued  from  Fort 
Drane,  and  on  the  31st  of 
December  fought  a  hard 
battle  with  the  Indians 
however,  were  obliged  to  fall 
back  again  to  Fort  Drane. 

Several  divisions  of  soldiers,  one  under  General  Scott  and  another  under  General 
Gaines,  now  advanced  for  the  relief  of  Clinch.  Gaines  met  the  Indians  on  the  same  battle- 
field where  Clinch  had  fought,  and  in  February  of  1835  again  repulsed  the  savages  with 
severe  losses.  At  this  time  the  remnants  of  the  Creeks  were  obliged  to  quit  the  country-  and 
repair  to  their  reser\'ation  beyond  the  Mississippi. 


IIHATH    OF   GENERAL   THOMPSON. 


and   repulsed  them   on  the  Withlacootchie.      The  whites. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  o'.>l 

The  Seniinoles,  liowever,  held  out,  occiipyinj^  the  woods  and  low  marsh-lands  of 
Florida  until  October  of  1836,  when  Governor  Call,  of  that  State,  marched  against  them 
with  a  force  of  two  thousand  men.  A  battle  was  fought  in  the  Wahoo  Swamp  and  the 
Indians  were  again  defeated  with  heavy  losses.  They  retreated  for  a  while  into  the  Ever- 
glades, but  later  in  the  season  came  forth  and  fought  another  severe  battle  on  nearly  the 
same  ground.  In  this  instance  they  were  again  defeated,  but  not  decisively,  and  the  war 
was  transmitted  to  the  next  administration. 

We  may  here  recount  the  final  stniggle  of  the  President  with  the  Bank  of  the  United 
State.*^.  After  vetoing  the  recharter  of  that  institution  he  had  determined  to  prosecute  his 
hostilit\-  by  ordering  that  the  surplus  funds  which  had  accumulated  in  the  vaults  of  the 
bank  should  be  distributed  among  the  States.  He  had  no  warrant  of  law  for  such  a  course, 
but  believing  himself  to  be  in  the  right  he  acted  after  his  manner  and  took  the  responsi- 
bility. Accordingly,  in  October  of  1833,  he  gave  orders  that  the  accumulated  surplus 
funds  of  the  great  bank,  amounting  to  fully  ten  million  dollars,  should  be  distributed 
among  certain  State  banks  which  he  designated.  His  idea  was  that  the  accumulation  of 
so  large  an  amount  of  capital  at  the  seat  of  government,  and  in  an  institution  having  a 
quasi  relation  therewith  was  dangerous  to  \he  freedom  of  Congressional  and  executive 
action— ^a  menace  to  government  and  a  source  of  corniption. 

The  high-handed  measure  of  the  President  evoked  the  most  violent  opposition.  The 
Whigs  denounced  the  removal  of  the  funds  as  unwarranted,  arbitrary,  dangerous  and  of 
incalculable  mischief.  A  coalition  was  fonned  in  the  Senate  under  the  leadership  of 
Calhoun,  Clay  and  Webster,  and  the  President's  distributing  officers — nominated  by  him 
for  the  removal  of  the  funds — were  rejected.  A  measure  of  censure  was  passed  in  the 
Senate  against  him;  but  the  proposition  failed  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  Such  was 
the  outcry  throughout  the  conntr}-  that  the  administration  appeared  for  a  season  to  be 
almost  engiilfed. 

Such  storms  as  these,  however,  brought  out  the  strength  of  the  Jacksonian  character. 
The  President  was  as  fearless  as  he  was  self-willed  and  stubborn.  He  held  on  his  course 
unmoved  by  the  clamor.  The  resolution  of  censure  stood  on  the  journal  of  the  Senate  for 
four  \ears,  and  was  then  not  onh-  repealed  but  expunged  from  the  record  through  the 
influence  of  Senator  Thomas  H.  Benton,  of  Missouri. 

FINANCIAL  PANIC,  AND  TROUBLE  WITH   FRANCE. 

The  distribution  of  the  surplus  funds  to  the  designated  State  bauKS  was  now  effected. 
This  work  was  followed  in  1836-37  by  a  second  and  most  serious  financial  panic.  Whether 
the  removal  of  the  funds  and  the  panic  stood  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  cause  and 
effect  was  the  great  political  contention  of  the  day.  The  Whigs  charged  that  the  arbitrary- 
measures  of  the  President,  by  disturbing  the  finances  of  the  countr\-  had  precipitated  the 
crisis,  while  the  Democrats  answered  that  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  with  its  multifonn 
abuses,  was  itself  the  cause  of  the  financial  distress.  It  was  urged  by  the  latter  party  that 
such  an  institution  was  too  mercenary,  too  powerful,  too  despotic  to  exist  in  a  free  govern- 
ment. The  President  himself  was  little  concerned  with  the  wrangling  over  this  question; 
for  he  had  but  recently  been  reelected  for  a  second  term  with  Martin  Van  Buren  of  New 
York  for  Vice-President,  instead  of  Mr.  Calhoun. 

Before  the  Presidential  election  of  1S30,  however,  the  strong  will  of  Jackson  was 
exhibited  in  full  force  in  a  complication  with  France.  During  the  Napoleonic  wars  Ameri- 
can commerce  had  suffered  much  through  the  recklessness  of  French  sea-captains. 
Certain  claims  had  thus  arisen  and  were  held  by   the  American  go\ernment  against  the 


592  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

French  kingdom.  The  question  of  a  settlement  had  been  agitated  many  times.  In  1831 
Lonis  Phillippe,  the  new  King  of  France  had  agreed  to  the  payment  of  five  millions  of 
dollars  indemnity  for  the  injuries  done  aforetime  by  French  cruisers  to  American  commerce. 
The  authorities  of  the  kingdom,  however,  were  dilatory  in  making  payment.  The  matter 
was  procrastinated  until  the  wrath  of  the  American  President  broke  out  in  a  message  which 
he  sent  to  Congress  recommending  that  reprisals  be  made  on  the  commerce  of  France.  He 
also  directed  the  American  minister  at  Paris  to  demand  his  passports  and  come  home. 
These  measures  had  the  desired  effect,  and  the  indemnity  was  promptly  paid.  The  govern- 
ment of  Portugal,  which  had  sinned  in  like  manner  against  American  commerce,  was 
brought  to  terms  with  similar  measures. 

The  remaining  statesmen  and  leaders  of  the  Revolutionary  epoch  now  rapidly  passed 
away.  On  the  4th  of  July,  1831,  ex-President  James  Monroe  died  in  New  York  city.  He, 
like  Adams  and  Jefferson,  expired  amid  the  rejoicings  of  tlie  national  anniversary'.  In  the 
following  year  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  last  surviving  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  passed  away  at  the  age  of  ninety-six.  Soon  afterwards  Philip  Freneau,  who 
had  gained  the  distinction  and  name  of  the  Poet  of  the  Revolution,  departed  from  the  land  of 
the  living.  The  bard  had  reached  the  good  age  of  eighty.  On  the  24th  of  June,  1833, 
John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  died  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  a  man  who,  though  eccentric  in 
character,  was  admired  for  his  talents  and  respected  for  his  integrity,  as  well  as  dreaded  for 
his  wit  and  sarcasm.  In  1835  Chief  Justice  Marshall  expired,  at  the  age  of  four  score 
years,  and  in  the  next  year  ex-President  Madison  worn  with  the  toils  of  eighty-five 
years,  passed  away.  It  will  be  noted  by  the  reader  that  most  of  the  strong  men  of  the 
Revolutionary  epoch,  with  the  distinguished  exception  of  the  Father  of  his  Country-,  lived 
to  extreme  old  age. 

Disasters  to  property  may  be  added  to  the  losses  of  life  during  this  epoch.  On  the 
16th  of  December,  1835,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  lower  part  of  New  York  city  and  the  build- 
ings covering  thirty  acres  of  ground  were  laid  in  ashes.  Five  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
houses  and  property  valued  at  eighteen  million  dollars  were  consumed.  Just  one  year 
afterward  the  Patent  Office  and  Post  Office  at  Washington  City  were  destroyed  in  the  same 
manner.  On  the  ruins  of  these  valuable  buildings  more  noble  and  imposing  structures — 
which  are  likely  to  outlast  the  century — were  soon  erected. 

JACKSON'S   FAREWELL. 

Other  States  were  now  added  to  the  Union.  In  June  of  1836,  Arkansas  with  her 
fifty-two  thousand  square  miles  and  population  of  seventy  thousand,  was  admitted.  In 
January'  of  the  following  year  Michigan  Territory  was  organized  as  a  State  and  added  to  the 
Union.  The  new  commonwealth  brought  a  population  of  a  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
thousand  and  an  area  of  fifty-six  thousand  square  miles. 

As  Jackson's  second  administration  drew  to  a  close  that  stern,  rough  patriot  followed 
the  example  of  Washington  in  issuing  a  farewell  address.  The  document  was  characterized 
by  the  severe  justice  and  something  of  the  intolerant  spirit  which  had  marked  the  man  in 
his  administration.  The  danger  of  discord  and  sectionalism  among  the  States  was  set 
forth  with  all  the  masculine  energy  of  the  Jacksonian  dialect.  It  should  be  said  of  the 
epoch  and  in  its  favor  that  it  was  a  time  in  which  the  President  was  still  President,  and 
when  the  sleek  effiisions  of  private-secretaries  and  chairmen  of  executive  committees  were 
not  in  vogue.  Jackson  solemnly  warned  the  people  of  the  United  States,  as  Washington 
had  done,  against  the  baneful   influence  of  demagogues  ;  the  horrors  of  disunion  were  por- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  o'.»;] 

trayecl  in  the  strongest  colors  and  the  people  of  every  rank  and  section  were  exhorted  to 
maintain  and  defend  the  American  Union  as  they  would  the  last  fortress  of  human  libert)-. 
Such  was  the  last  public  paper  contributed  by  Andrew  Jackson  to  the  political  literature  of 
the  age.  The  presidential  election  of  1S36  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  of 
New  York,  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party.  The  opposing  standard-bearer  was 
General  William  H.  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  who  received  the  support  of  the  new  Whig  party.  As 
to  the  Vice-Presidency  no  one  secured  a  majority  in  the  electoral  college,  and  the  choice 
was  devolved  on  the  Senate.  By  that  body  Colonel  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky, 
was  duly  elected. 

Martin  Van  Buren  was  bom  at  Kinderhook,  New  York,  December  5th,  1782.  His 
education  was  limited.  He  studied  law  and  became  a  politician.  In  his  thirtieth  year  he 
was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  his  native  State  and  six  years  afterwards,  taking  advantage  of 
the  anti-Masonic  excitement,  he  succeded  in  supplanting  De  Witt  Clinton  as  the  leader  of 
the  Democratic  party  in  New  York.  In  1821,  and  again  in  1827,  he  was  chosen  Senator 
of  the  United  States  ;  but  in  the  first  year  of  his  second  tenn  he  resigned  the  office  to  accept 
the  governorship  of  his  native  State.  Under  Jackson  he  received  the  appointment  of 
Secretary  of  State,  but  soon  resigned  that  place  to  become  minister  plenipotentiary'  to 
England.  The  President  appointed  him  to  the  latter  position,  but  when  the  appointment 
came  before  the  Senate,  Vice-President  Calhoun,  assisted  by  the  Whig  leaders  Clay  and 
Webster,  succeeded  in  rejecting  the  nomination.  Van  Buren,  who  had  been  appointed 
during  a  recess  of  the  Senate,  returned  from  his  unfulfilled  mission,  became  the  candidate 
for  the  \'ice-Presidency  in  1S32  and  w'as  elected.  Four  years  later  he  led  the  powerful  party 
to  which  he  belonged  and  succeeded  General  Jackson  in  the  Presidency. 

BLOODY  BATTLE  WITH  THE  SEMINOLES. 

As  already  said,  the  Seminole  war  was  carried  over  as  an  unfinished  task  to  the  admin- 
istration of  Van  Buren.  The  command  of  the  southern  annywas  transferred  in  1837  from 
General  Scott  to  General  Jessup.  Osceola  had  by  this  time  perceived  the  final  hopelessness 
of  his  cause.  His  revenge  had  been  gratified  by  the  destruction  of  General  Thompson. 
The  chief,  taking  advantage  of  the  laws  of  war,  came  under  a  flag  of  truce  to  the  Ameri- 
can camp,  but  being  suspected  of  treachery'  was  seized  by  the  authorities  and  sent  a 
prisoner  to  Fort  Moultrie,  where  he  languished  for  a  year  and  died. 

The  Seminoles,  though  disheartened  by  the  loss  of  their  chieftain,  continued  the  war. 
In  December  of  1838,  Colonel  Zachan,-  Taylor,  with  a  force  of  over  a  thousand  men,  pene- 
trated the  Everglad-is  of  Florida,  and  routed  the  savages  from  their  lairs.  After  unparalleled 
sufferings  he  overtook  the  main  body  of  the  Seminoles  on  Christmas  day,  near  Lake 
Okeechobee.  Here  a  hard  battle  was  fought,  and  the  Indians  were  defeated,  but  not  until 
they  had  inflicted  a  loss  on  the  whites  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-nine  men.  For  more  than 
a  year  Taylor  continued  his  expeditions  into  the  swamps.  The  spirit  of  the  Indians  was 
finally  broken,  and  in  1839  the  chiefs  sent  in  their  submission.  They  signed  an  additional 
treaty  ;  but  even  after  this  their  removal  to  tlie  West  was  made  with  much  reluctance. 

FINANCIAL  CRISIS  OF  1837. 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  financial  crisis  of  1837.  There  had  been  a  preceding 
brief  interim  of  great  prosperity.  The  national  debt  had  been  entirely  liquidated.  A 
surplus  of  nearly  forty  million  dollars  had  accumulated  in  tlic  treasury'  of  the  I'nited 
States.  We  have  already  seen  how  President  Jackson,  by  arbitrary  measures,  succeeded  in 
distributing  the  accumulations  in  tlie  Bank  of  the  United  States  among  the  several  States. 
By  this  uieasure  monev  became  suddeulv  abundant  and  speculations  of  all  sorts  grew  rife. 
3« 


594  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  credit  system  sprang  up  and  prevailed  more  and  more  in  all  departments  of  bnsiness. 
The  banks  of  the  country  were  multiplied  to  nearly  seven  hundred,  and  vast  issues  of  irre- 
deemable paper  money  were  made,  as  if  to  increase  the  opportunities  for  fraud. 

These  circumstances  and  the  rapid  increase  of  population  in  the  West  produced  a  great 
demand  for  homesteads,  and  the  public  lands  were  rapidly  taken  up.  The  paper  money 
of  the  multiplied  local  banks  was  receivable  at  the  various  land-ofhces,  and  speculators  as 
well  as  actual  settlers  made  a  rush,  with  a  plentiful  supply  of  bills,  to  secure  the  best  lands. 
General  Jackson,  at  that  time  President,  perceiving  that  an  unsound  currency  received  in 
exchange  for  the  national  domain  was  likely  to  defraud  the  government  out  of  millions  of 
dollars,  issued  his  so-called  Specie  Circular,  in  which  he  directed  the  land  agents  to  receive 
henceforth  nothing  but  coin  in  payment  for  the  public  lands. 

The  effect  of  this  measure  fell  upon  the  country  at  the  beginning  of  Van  Buren's 
administration.  The  interests  of  the  government  had  undoubtedly  been  secured  ;  but  the 
business  of  the  countr}'  was  prostrated  by  the  shock.  The  banks  suspended  specie  pay- 
ments. Mercantile  houses  tottered  and  fell.  Disaster  spread  through  every  avenue  of 
trade.  Within  two  months  after  the  accession  of  Van  Buren  the  failures  in  New  York  and 
New  Orleans  amounted  to  neai'ly  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars.  A  committee  of 
the  business  men  of  the  former  city  besought  the  President  to  rescind  the  Specie  Circular 
and  to  call  a  special  session  of  Congress.  The  former  request  was  refused  and  the  latter 
complied  with,  but  not  until  the  disasters  of  the  countn,-,  rather  than  the  clamors  of  an 
interested  committee,  had  moved  the  executive  to  action. 

THE  INDEPENDENT  TREASURY  BILL. 

When  Congress  convened  in  September,  1837,  many  measures  of  relief  were  proposed. 
As  a  temporary  expedient  a  bill  was  passed  for  the  issuance  of  treasury  notes,  not  to  exceed 
an  aggregate  of  ten  million  dollars.  The  President's- plan  of  relief  was  embodied  in  the 
measure  which  is  known  in  Congressional  history  as  the  Independent  Treasury  Bill.  The 
act  provided  that  the  public  funds  of  the  nation  should  be  kept  on  deposit  in  a  treasury  to 
be  established  for  that  special  purpose.  It  was  argued  in  support  of  the  scheme  that  the 
surplus  nionc}' — the  excessive  circulation  of  the  country — would  in  the  processes  of  trade 
and  revenue  drift  into  the  independent  treasure-,  and  lodge  there,  and  that  by  this 
expedient  the  speculative  mania  would  be  effectually  checked  and  prevented.  It  was 
believed,  not  without  good  grounds  in  reason  and  experience,  that  extensive  speculations 
could  not  be  carried  on  without  a  redundant  currency.  The  philosophical  basis  of  the 
President's  plan  was  the  notion  of  a  separation  between  the  business  of  the  government  and 
the  general  bnsiness  of  the  country. 

The  strength  of  the  administration  was  sufficient  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Treasury  Bill  by  the  Senate,  but  not  sufficient  to  overcome  the  opposition  to  the 
measure  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  At  the  ensuing  regular  session  of  Congress, 
however,  the  bill  was  a  second  time  brought  forward  and  passed.  By  this  time  the  shock 
of  the  commercial  panic  had  subsided  ;  public  confidence  had  been  restored,  and  business 
measurably  revived.  During  the  year  1838  most  of  the  banks  were  able  to  resume  specie 
payment.  Commerce  flowed  back  into  its  usual  channels.  The  current,  however,  was 
sluggish,  and  for  some  time  a  half-paralysis  rested  on  the  trade  of  the  country.  Many 
enterprises  of  public  and  private  moment  were  checked  or  defeated.  Merchants  and  traders 
adopted  a  timid  and  conservative  policy  ;  discontent  prevailed  among  the  people,  and  the 
administration  was  blamed  with  everjthing. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  595 

THREATENING  COMPLICATION  WITH  CANADA. 

The  reader  will  not  have  lorgoUeii  llic  pulicv  Lvstablishcd  b_\  Washington  of  total  non- 
interference with  the  affairs  of  foreign  nations.  The  American  theor)-,  which  was  strictly 
adhered  to  dnring  the  first  half-century  of  our  national  existence,  was  that  of  no  complica- 
tion or  entanglement  with  any  foreign  power.  The  year  1837  was  marked  by  an  event 
which  seemed  for  a  season  to  disturb  and  render  comple.\  the  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  Canada  Even  at  that  early  day  a  part  of  the  people  of  the  Canadian  provinces 
liad  become  dissatisfied  with  British  rule,  and  an  insurrection  broke  out  having  for  its 
ultimate  purpose  the  establishment  of  independence. 

Along  the  northern  frontier  of  the  United  States  a  certain  sympathy  was  excited  for  the 
rebels  across  the  border.  The  insurgents  received  some  encouragement  and  aid  from  the 
people  of  northern  New  York.  A  body  of  seven  hundred  men  arose  in  that  State,  took  up 
arms,  seized  and  fortified  Navy  Island,  in  the  Niagara  ri\'er.  The  loyalists  of  Canada — they 
who  remained  in  allegiance  to  the  British  crown  and  who  constituted  the  great  majority — 
made  an  attack  on  the  Americans  on  the  island,  but  failed  to  capture  the  place.  They  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  gaining  possession  of  the  Caroline^  the  suppl\-ship  of  the  adventurers, 
and  setting  the  vessel  on  fire  cut  her  moorings  and  sent  her  over  Niagara  Falls,  a  spectacle 
to  men! 

These  events  created  much  excitement  in  both  Canada  and  the  United  States.  It 
seemed  indeed  for  a  season  that  the  peace  of  our  country'  and  Great  Britain  was  in  danger 
of  rupture.  The  President,  however,  took  the  matter  up  and  issued  a  proclamation  of 
neutrality,  in  which  the  action  of  the  American  insurgents  was  disavowed.  The  people 
were  warned  against  any  further  interference  with  the  affairs  of  Canada.  General  Wool  was 
sent  to  the  Niagara  frontier  with  a  sufficient  force  to  quell  the  disturbance  so  far  as  the 
Americans  were  concerned  and  to  punish  those  who  had  broken  the  peace.  The  New  York 
insurgents  on  Navy  Island  were  obliged  to  surrender  and  order  was  presenth-  restored. 

Perhaps  this  international  pass  with  Canada  was  the  most  exciting  event  of  Van 
Buren's  administration.  For  the  rest  the  period  was  regarded  as  commonplace.  In  the 
absence  of  real  questions  about  which  the  people  might  concern  themselves  tlie  politicians 
were  left  to  create  factitious  issues  to  supply  the  material  of  popular  agitation.  With  tlie 
coming  of  1 840  the  question  as  to  Van  Buren's  successor  was  raised;  the  candidates  were 
soon  in  the  field  and  the  canvass  was  undertaken  in  a  -spirit  of  partisan  bitterness.  The 
measures  of  the  administration,  no  less  than  the  condition  of  the  countr\-,  had  been  of  a 
kind  to  provoke  the  sharpest  political  antagonisms.  The  Whigs  were  now  animated  with 
the  hope  of  capturing  the  government.  Almost  a  year  before  the  Presidential  election  they 
sent  General  William  H.  Harrison  into  the  field  as  their  standard-bearer  in  the  contest.  On 
the  Democratic  side  Van  Buren  was  named  for  reelection.  He  had  at  this  juncture  no 
fonnidable  competitor  for  the  leadership  of  his  party;  but  the  unanimity  of  the  Democrats 
could  not  atone  for  the  blunders  and  unsuccess,  not  to  say  the  misfortunes,  of  the  current 
administration. 

It  is  a  strange  and  lamentable  circumstance  in  the  history  of  our  country  that  in  times 
of  peace  the  animosities  wliich  prevail  in  times  of  war  find  vent  in  the  excitements  and 
passions  of  political  battle. 

ELECTION    OF    HARRISON. 

This  was  true  in  particular  of  llic  clLcliou  of  1840.  Tlie  Whigs  made  the  attack  with 
great  vehemence.  Van  Buren  was  blamed  with  everything.  The  financial  distresses  of 
the  country  were  laid   at  his  door.     Extravagance,  briber)-  and  corruption  were  charged 


696  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

against  him.  Men  of  business  already  associated  for  the  most  part  with  the  political 
opinions  of  the  Whigs  advertised  to  pay  six  dollars  a  barrel  for  flour  if  Harrison  should  be 
elected;  three  dollars  a  barrel  if  Van  Buren  should  be  successful.  The  opposition  orators 
tossed  about  the  luckless  administration  through  all  the  figures  and  forms  of  speech  and 
the  President  himself  was  shot  at  with  every  sort  of  dart  that  partisan  wit  and  malice  could 
invent.  The  enthusiasm  in  the  ranks  of  the  Whigs  rose  higher  and  higher  and  Van  Buren 
was  overwhelmingly  defeated.  The  result  showed  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  electoral 
votes  for  General  Harrison  and  only  sixty  for  his  opponent.  After  controlling  the  destinies 
of  the  government  without  a  break  for  thirt>--six  }-ears  the  Democratic  party  was  tempo- 
rarily routed.      For  Vice-President  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  was  the  successful  candidate. 

Now  was  completed  the  sixth  census  of  the  United  States.  The  results  were  replete 
with  the  evidences  of  national  growth  and  progress.  The  revenues  of  the  nation  for  1 840 
amounted  to  nearly  twenty  millions  of  dollars.  At  this  time  that  important  statistical 
information  for  which  the  subsequent  reports  have  been  noted  began  to  appear  in  its  full 
value.  The  centre  of  population  had  in  the  last  ten  years  moved  westward  along  the 
thirty-ninth  parallel  of  latitude  from  the  south  fork  of  the  Potomac  to  Clarksburg  in  the 
present  State  of  West  Virginia,  a  distance  of  fifty-five  miles.  The  inhabited  area  of  the 
United  States  now  amounted  to  eight  hundred  and  seven  thousand  square  miles,  being  an 
increase  since  1830  of  twenty-seven  and  six-tenths  per  cent.  The  frontier  line  circum- 
scribing the  population  passed  through  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  the  western  borders 
of  Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  a  distance  of  three  thousand  three  hundred  miles. 
The  population  had  reached  an  aggregate  of  seventeen  million  souls,  being  an  increase  since 
1830  of  more  than  six  millions.  It  was  found  from  the  tables  that  eleven-twelfths  of  the 
people  lived  outside  of  the  larger  cities  and  towns,  showing  a  strong  preponderance  of  the 
agricultural  over  the  manufacturing  and  commercial  interests.  One  of  the  most  cheering 
lessons  of  the  census  was  found  in  the  fact  that  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  United  States 
was  in  extent  and  area  and  not  in  accumulation — in  the  spread  of  civilization  rather  than 
in  an  increase  in  intensity^  for  during  the  last  decade  the  average  of  the  population  of  the 
country  had  not  increased  by  so  much  as  one  person  to  the  square  mile. 

The  common  judgment  has  been  that  the  administration  of  Van  Buren  was  weak  and 
inglorious.  It  appears  to  have  been  characterized  by  few  important  episodes  and  to  have 
been  controlled  by  principles  some  of  which  were  bad.  But  the  President  and  his  times 
tosrether  were  unfortunate  rather  than  vicious.  He  was  the  victim  of  the  evils  which  fol- 
lowed  hard  upon  the  relaxation  of  the  Jacksonian  methods  of  government.  That  kind  of 
government  could  not  long  be  maintained  in  the  United  States.  The  four  years  of  Van 
Buren's  administration  were  the  ebb  tide  between  the  belligerent  excitements  of  1832  and 
the  war  with  Mexico.  The  financial  panic  added  opprobrium  to  the  popular  estimate  of 
the  imbecility  of  the  government.  "The  administration  of  Van  Buren,"  said  a  bitter 
satirist,  "  is  like  a  parenthesis;  it  may  be  read  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  or  altogether  omitted 
without  injuring  the  sense."      But  the  sarcasm  was  not  true — or  true  only  in  part. 

The  new  President  was  by  birth  a  Virginian.  He  was  a  son  of  Benjamin  Harri.son, 
signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  the  adopted  son  of  Robert  Morris.  He  was 
a  graduate  of  Hampden  and  vSydney  College,  and  afterwards  a  student  of  medicine  ;  but  the 
military  life  drew  him  from  his  study  and  he  entered  the  army  of  St.  Clair.  He  rose  by 
rapid  promotion  to  be  governor  of  Indiana  Territor>^  His  militar>-  career  in  the  northwest 
has  been  already  narrated.  He  was  inaugurated  President  on  the  4th  of  March,  1841,  and 
began    his    duties  by  issuing   a  call  for  a  special  session  of  Congress,  to   consider  ' '  sundry 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  597 

important   matters  connected   with  the  finances  of  the  country."     An    able    cabinet    was 
organized,  witli  Daniel  Webster  at  tlie  head  as  Secretary  of  State. 

DEATH  OF  HARRISON  AND  ACCESSION  OF  TYLER. 

At  the  outset  everj-thing  seemed  to  promise  well  for  the  new  Whig  administration  ;  but 
before  Congress  could  convene  the  venerable  President,  already  si.vty-eight  years  of  age, 
sickened  and  died  just  one  month  after  his  inauguration.  It  was  the  first  time  that  such  an 
event  had  occurred  in  American  history.  Profound  and  universal  grief  was  manifested  over 
the  death  of  the  chief  magistrate. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1841,  John  Tyler  took  the  oath  of  office  and  became  President  of 
the  United  States.  He  was  a  statesman  of  considerable  distinction,  a  native  of  Virginia,  a 
graduate  of  William  and  Marw  At  first  a  lawyer,  he  soon  left  his  profession  to  become  a 
politician.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  Congress  and  in  1825  was  elected  governor  of 
Virginia.  From  that  position  he  was  sent  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  and  now  at 
the  age  of  fifty-one  was  called  to  the  Presidency.  He  had  been  put  upon  the  ticket  with 
General  Harrison  through  motives  of  expediency  ;  for  although  a  Whig  in  most  of  his 
political  principles,  he  was  known  to  be  hostile  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  This 
hostility  was  soon  to  be  manifested  in  a  remarkable  manner. 

The  Whig  Congress  convened  in  the  highest  spirits.  One  of  the  first  measures  pro- 
posed at  the  session,  which  lasted  from  May  to  September,  was  the  repeal  of  the  Independ- 
ent Treasury  Bill.  A  general  Bankrupt  law  was  passed  by  which  a  great  number  of 
insolvent  business  men  were  released  from  the  disabilities  under  which  they  had  fallen 
in  the  financial  panic.  The  next  measure  was  the  proposition  to  recharter  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States.  The  old  charter  had  expired  five  years  previously;  but  the  bank  had  con- 
tinued in  operation  under  a  charter  granted  b\-  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  A  bill  to 
rehabilitate  the  institution  in  its  national  character  was  now  brought  forward  and  passed; 
but  the  President  interposed  his  veto.  A  second  time  the  bill  was  presented  in  a  modified 
form  and  received  the  sanction  of  both  Houses,  only  to  be  rejected  by  the  executi\-e.  This 
action  produced  a  fatal  rupture  between  the  President  and  his  party.  The  indignant  Whigs, 
unable  to  command  a  two-thirds'  majority  in  Congress,  turned  upon  him  with  storms  of 
invective.  All  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  except  Mr.  Webster  resigned  their  seats;  and 
that  statesman  retained  his  place  only  because  of  a  pending  difficulty  with  Great  Britain. 

A  contention  had  arisen  with  that  country  relative  to  the  northeastern  boundar>'  of  the 
United  States.  Our  territorial  limit  in  that  direction  had  not  been  clearly  defined  b>-  the 
treaty  of  1783.  The  commissioners  at  Ghent  in  1814  had  contributed  little  to  the  solution 
of  the  difficulty.  That  polite  and  easily  satisfied  convention  had  postponed  the  question 
rather  than  settled  it.  It  was  agreed,  however,  to  refer  the  establishment  of  the  entire  line 
between  the  United  States  and  Canada  to  the  decision  of  three  commissions  which  were 
to  be  appointed  by  the  respective  governments.  The  first  of  these  three  bodies  awarded  to 
the  United  States  the  islands  in  the  Bay  of  Passamaquoddy.  The  third  commission  per- 
fonned  its  duty  by  fixing  the  international  line  from  the  intersection  of  the  forty-fifth 
parallel  of  latitude  with  the  river  St.  Lawrence  to  the  western  point  of  Lake  Huron.  To 
the  second  commission  was  assigned  the  more  difficult  task  of  settling  the  bound:ir\  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  St.  Lawrence.      This  work  they  failed  to  accomplish. 

THE  WEBSTER-ASHBURTON  TREATY. 

For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  llic  buiuulary  of  the  United  States  on  the  northeast 
remained  in  uncertainty.  At  times  the  difficulty  a.ssumed  a  serious  aspect.  At  last  the 
whole  question  was  referred  to  Lord  Ashburton,  acting  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  and 


698  COLUMBUS   AND    COLUMBIA. 

Daniel  Webster,  the  American  Secretary  of  State.  The  discussion  of  the  question  was  as 
able  as  the  matter  involved  was  intricate.  Finally,  however,  a  satisfactory  solution  was 
reached;  and  the  international  boundary  was  established  as  follows:  From  the  mouth  of  the 
river  St.  Croix,  ascending  that  stream  to  its  westernmost  fountain;  from  that  fountain  due 
north  to  the  St.  John's;  thence  with  that  river  to  its  source  on  the  watershed  between  the 
Atlantic  and  the  St.  Lawrence;  thence  in  a  south westernly  direction  along  the  crest  of  the 
highlands  to  the  northwestern  source  of  the  river  Connecticut;  thence  down  that  stream 
to  the  forty-fifth  parallel  of  latitude,  and  thence  with  that  parallel  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 

By  a  second  agreement  of  the  commissioners  the  boundary  was  established  from  the 
western  point  of  Lake  Huron  through  Lake  Superior  to  the  northwestern  extremity  of  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  ;  thence — confirming  the  treaty  of  October,  1818 — southward  to  the 
forty-ninth  parallel  of  latitude,  and  thence  with  that  parallel  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This 
important  settlement,  known  as  the  Webster- Ashburton  treatj',  was  completed  on  the  9th 
of  August,  1842,  and  was  ratified  by  the  Senate  on  the  2otli  of  the  same  month. 

The  following  year  was  marked  by  a  peculiar  domestic  trouble  in  Rhode  Island.  For 
nearly  two  centuries  the  government  of  that  commonwealth  had  rested  upon  the  old  charter 
granted  by  Charles  II.  There  had  always  been  in  Rhode  Island  a  certain  residue  of  loj'alism 
unfavorable  to  republican  institutions.  The  ancient  charter  contained  a  clause  restricting 
the  right  of  suffrage  to  property-holders  of  a  certain  grade.  The  spirit  of  modern  democracy 
fretted  against  this  restriction,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  remove  it  from  the  Constitution 
of  the  State. 

On  this  question  the  people  were  almost  unanimous,  but  the  manner  of  effecting  the 
change  was  violently  debated.  One  faction  calling  itself  the  Law  and  Order  party,  and 
proceeding  under  the  old  Constitution,  chose  Samuel  W.  King  as  governor.  The  other 
faction,  known  as  the  Suffrage  party,  acting  in  an  irregular  way,  elected  Thomas  W.  Dorr. 
In  May  of  1842  both  parties  proceeded  to  organize  their  rival  governments.  The  Law  and 
Order  party  undertook  to  suppress  the  Suffragists  and  the  latter  attempted  to  capture  the 
State  arsenal.  Defeated  in  this  purpose,  they  took  arms  a  second  time,  until  they  were 
dispersed  by  a  detachment  of  soldiers  sent  to  Rhode  Island  by  the  general  government. 
Dorr  fled  from  the  State,  but  returning  soon  afterwards  was  caught,  tried  for  treason, 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life.  He  was  offered  pardon  on  condition  of 
taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  but  he  stubbornly  refused  and  was  confined  until  June  of 
1845,  when  he  was  liberated  without  conditions. 

DEDICATION    OF    BUNKER    HILL   MONUMENT. 

In  1842  was  completed  the  Bunker  Hill  monument.  The  event  called  forth  great 
enthusiasm,  not  only  in  Boston,  but  throughout  the  country.  The  foundation  of  the  great 
shaft  had  been  laid  on  the  17th  of  June,  1825,  the  comer-stone  being  put  into  place  by  the 
venerable  Lafayette.  Daniel  Webster,  then  young  in  years  and  fame,  delivered  the  oration, 
while  two  hundred  Revolutionary-  veterans — fort\'  of  them  survivors  of  the  battle  fought  on 
that  hill-crest  just  fifty  years  before — gathered  with  the  throng  to  hear  him.  The  work  of 
erection  went  on  slowly.  Seventeen  }-ears  elapsed  before  the  shaft  was  finished.  The 
column  was  of  Ouincy  granite,  thirt\'-one  feet  square  at  the  base  and  two  hundred  and 
twenty-one  feet  in  height.  The  dedication  was  postponed  until  the  next  succeeding  anni- 
versary' of  the  battle.  On  the  17th  of  June,  1843,  an  immense  multitude,  including  most 
of  the  survivors  of  the  Revolution,  gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  conntP>-  to  participate  in 
the  ceremonies.      Webster,  now  full  of  years  and  honors,  delivered  tlie  dedicator}'  oration. 


C(^T.r.MBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


o9i> 


one  of  the  most  able  and  eloqnent  ever  pronounced  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  Tlie 
exercises  were  concluded  with  a  public  dinner  in  I'aneuil  Hall,  the  cradle  of  .Vniorican 
liberty. 

During;  the  last  years  of  Tyler's  administration  the  State  of  New  York  was  serionslv 
disturbed  b\-  a  dispute  concerning  the  land  titles  in  that  part  of  the  countr\-  once  held  bv 
the  Dutch  patrons.  Until  the  year  1840  the  descendants  of  \'an  Rensselaer  had  held  claims 
on  certain  lands  in  the  counties  of  Rensselaer,  Columbia  and  Delaware.  In  consideration 
of  these  claims  they  had  continued  to  receive  from  the  farmers  owning  the  lands  certain 
trifling  reuLs,  but  the  payment  of  these  rents  at  length  became  annoying  to  the  farmers  and 
they  rebelled  against  the  \'an  Rensselaer  claims.  The  question  was  in  the  legislature  of 
New  York  from  1840  to  1844.  By  the  latter  date  the  anti-rent  party  had  become  so  strong 
as  to  prevent  the  payment  of  the  quit-rents,  even  by  those  who  were  willing  to  make  them. 
The  paving  renters  were  coated  with  tar  and   feathers   ntid    driven  from   the  settlements. 


VIEW   OF   SALT   LAKK  CITY. 

Officers  were  sent  to  apprehend  the  rioters  and  them  they  killed.  Time  and  again  liic 
authorities  of  the  State  were  invoked  to  quell  the  disturbances,  and  it  was  a  long  time  before 
the  excitement  subsided.  T<j  the  present  da\-,  indeed,  there  never  has  been  any  formal 
adjustment  o(  the  difficulty. 

RISE  OF  THE  MORMONS.  ' 
To  this  period  in  our  country's  history  belongs  the  ri.se  of  the  Monnons.  This  sect, 
under  the  leadership  of  their  prophet,  Joseph  Smith,  made  their  first  imporLant  settlements 
in  Jackson  count\',  Mis.souri.  Here  their  numbers  increased  to  fifteen  hmidred.  They  were  a 
peaceable  people,  and  others  flocked  to  the  community.  Elated  with  their  success,  the  Mor- 
mons began  to  .sav  that  the  dreat  West  was  destined  to  be  their  inheritance.      The  anti- 


600  COLU^IBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Monnon  population  round  about  became  excited,  and  determined  to  rid  themselves  of 
their  prosperous  neighbors.  The  militia  was  called  out  and  the  ]\Ionnons  were  driven  from 
the  State.  In  the  spring  of  1839  they  crossed  the  Mississippi  into  Illinois,  and  on  a  high 
plateau  overlooking  the  river  laid  out  a  new  city,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  Nauvoo, 
meaning  The  Beautiful.  Here  they  proceeded  to  build  a  splendid  temple,  for  the  ideas  of 
the  communitN-  were  those  of  antiquity  and  the  Orient.  There  was  to  be  a  governing 
priesthood,  and  the  Mormon  people,  like  ancient  Israel,  were  to  have  their  life-centre  in  the 
temple. 

The  Latter  Dav  Saints — for  by  that  name  the  Mormons  would  be  called — rapidly 
increased.  Immigrants  and  converts  came  from  many  parts  of  the  United  States  and  from 
Europe.  The  settlement  soon  reached  a  population  of  ten  thousand.  This  extraordinary 
growth  and  the  peculiar  manners  and  doctrines  of  the  Saints  roused  the  hatred  of  the  peo- 
ple round  about,  who  in  abilities,  refinement  and  culture  were  b\-  no  means  the  equals  of 
the  Mormons.  There  were  soon  two  parties.  Some  of  the  laws  enacted  by  Smith's  fol- 
lowers were  contrary  to  the  statute  of  Illinois.  The  Monnons  were  charged  with  certain 
thefts  and  murders  and  it  was  said  that  the  courts  about  Nauvoo  were  powerless  to  adminis- 
ter justice  in  the  case  of  these  criminals. 

As  the  excitement  rose,  Smith  and  his  brother  Hiram  were  arrested,  taken  to  Carthage 
and  put  in  jail.  On  the  27th  of  June,  1844,  a  mob  gathered,  broke  open  the  jail  doors 
and  killed  the  prisoners.  Other  hostilities  followed  during  the  summer.  In  1845  the  State 
Legislature  annulled  the  charter  of  Nauvoo,  and  the  Mormons  were  left  at  the  mercy  of 
their  enemies.  At  length  they  despaired  of  keeping  their  place  in  Illinois  and  a  great 
majority  determined  to  exile  themselves  beyond  the  limits  of  civilization.  They  made  their 
preparations  for  an  exodus,  and  in  1846  began  their  march  to  the  far-off,  unknown  West. 
In  September  Nauvoo  was  cannonaded  for  three  da}-s  and  the  remnant  of  the  Saints  were 
driven  forth  to  join  their  companions  in  exile.  The  second  band  came  up  with  the  main 
company  at  Councils  Bluffs,  Iowa.  Thence  the  great  march  was  begun  across  the  illimita- 
ble prairies  and  the  Rock}-  Mountains.  The  Mormons  reached  the  basin  of  the  Great  Salt 
Lake  by  way  of  Marshall's  Pass  and  the  Gunnison.  There  they  founded  Utah  Territory, 
believing  themselves,  as  indeed  they  were,  beyond  the  pale  of  their  enemies.  Such  were 
the  beginnings  of  that  complication  which  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  half  a  centun,-  has  not 
yielded  either  to  the  force  of  logic  or  the  logic  of  force. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 


WAR  WITH   MEXICO. 

have  now  arrived  at  the  bci^innings  of  the  most  serious 
complications  in  which  the  United  States  was  involved 
between  the  treaty  of  Ghent  and  the  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war.  The  flux  of  Anglo-American  civilization 
westward  brought  the  \-anguard  of  our  American  race 
at  length  to  the  borders  of  Mexico,  and  with  that  His- 
panio- American  power  we  were  now  to  be  involved  in 
a  brief  but  severe  conflict  for  the  possession  of  the 
imperial  territories  stretching  from  Missouri  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

The  agitation,  upon  an  account  of  which  we  are 
here  to  enter,  arose  respecting  the  republic  of  Texas. 
That  great  State,  if  State  it  might  be  called,  lying 
between  Louisiana  and  Mexico  had  been  from  182 1  to  1836  a  province  of  the  latter  repub- 
lic. It  had  been  the  policy  of  Spain  aforetime,  while  ^Mexico  flourished  and  the  United 
States  grew  apace  to  keep  Texas  unpeopled;  for  by  this  policy  it  was  possible  to  interpose 
an  impassable  barrier  between  the  aggressive  American  race  and  the  Mexican  borders.  This 
method  of  checking  the  expansion  of  the  United  States  on  the  south-west  was  taken  up  by 
Mexico  after  the  achievement  of  her  independence  in  1821,  and  Texas  remained  as  before; 
an  unpeopled  empire. 

At  length,  however,  Moses  Austin,  of  Connecticut,  obtained  a  large  laud-grant  on 
condition  that  he  should  establish  a  colony  of  three  hundred  .Vmerican  families  within  the 
limits  of  his  Te.xan  domain.  This  grant  was  confirmed  to  his  son  Stephen  Austin,  with 
the  enlarged  privilege  of  establishing  five  hundred  families  of  immigrants.  These  charters 
were  obtained  from  the  government  of  Mexico,  and  between  the  years  of  1820  and  1S33 
the  American  settlements  in  Te.xas  had  become  so  strong  and  well  established  as  to  furnish 
the  nucleus  of  the  Te.xan  rebellion  against  the  government  of  Mexico.  That  government 
had  become  oppressive,  and  held  in  its  methods  all  the  vices  which  have  characterized  the 
Spaniards  and  Spanish- Americans  in  the  attempted  establishment  of  free  institution.s. 

REMEMBER  THE  ALAMO! 

Against  such  methods  the  Texans,  already  enjoying  a  sort  of  semi-independence,  took 
up  anns  in  the  year  1835  and  rallied  in  a  general  rebellion.  War  broke  out  between  the 
parent  State  and  the  revolted  province.  Hereupon  tnany  adventurers  and  some  heroes  from 
the  United  States  came  hurr\ing  to  the  scene  of  action  and  espoused  the  Te.xan  cau.se. 
The  first  battle  of  the  war  was  fought  at  Gonzales,  and  here  a  Mexican  army  numbering 
about  a  thousand  was  defeated  by  a  Texan  force  of  half  the  number.  On  the  6th  of  March, 
1836,  the  old  Texan  fort  of  the  .\lamo  de  Rexar,  near  San  .\ntonio,  was  surrounded  by  the 
Mexicans,  eight  thousand  strong,  under  ctjuimand  of  Santi  .\nna.  President  of  Mexico. 
The  garrison,  though  feeble  in  numbers,  made  a  heroic  defence,  but  was  overpowered  and 

(601) 


602 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


massacred  under  circumstances  of  great  atrocity.  Here  it  was  that  the  daring  David 
Crockett,  an  ex-Congressman  of  Tennessee  and  a  famous  hunter  of  beasts  and  men,  was 
killed.  In  the  following  month  was  fought  the  decisive  battle  or  San  Jacinto,  in  which 
the  small  American  armv,  commanded  by  General  Sam  Houston,  annihilated  the  host  of 
Santa  Anna  and  achieved  the  freedom  of  Texas  at  a  blow.  The  independence  of  the  new 
State  was  acknowledged  by  the  United  States,  by  Great  Britain  and  by  France,  and  Mexico 
was  oblio-ed  to  vield.  Texas  became  an  independent  republic  and  a  government  was 
organized  on  the  model  of  that  of  the  United  States. 

It  soon  appeared,  however,  that  the  movement  for  Texan  independence  had  been 
inspired  by  the  ulterior  motive  of  gaining  admission  into  the  American  Union.  No  sooner 
had  the  Texans  gained  their  independence  than  they  began  to  make  petition  for  a  place  as 
a  State  in  our  republic.  The  first  application  of  this  kind  was  made  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  Van  Buren  ;  but  the  Presi- 


dent, fearing  a  war  with  ]\Iexico, 
declined  to  entertain  the  proposal. 
For  four  or  five  years  the  question 
la}-  donnant,  but  by  no  means  dead. 
In  the  last  year  of  Tyler's  adminis- 
tration it  sprang  up  more  vital  than 
ever.  The  population  of  Texas  had 
b}-  this  time  reached  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  souls.  The  Terri- 
torj'  had  an  area  of  two  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  square  miles,  more  than 
five  times  as  great  as  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania!  It  was  like  the  annex- 
ation of  an  empire. 

Immediately    the     question    of 
MEETING  PLACE  OF  THE  FIRST  TEXAN  coNCREss.  anucxiug    Tcxas    to    tlic    Amcrican 

Union  became  political.  It  was  indeed  the  great  question  on  which  the  people  divided  in 
the  Presidential  election  of  1844.  Nor  will  the  thoughtful  reader,  nearing  the  close  of  the 
centun,-,  fail  to  discern  in  this  old  question  of  annexation  the  profound  problem  of  slaver>-. 
Freedom  in  the  free  States  had  found  a  vent  in  the  northwest,  looking  even  beyond  the 
Rock^•  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  ;  but  slavery  and  the  slave  States  seemed  to  be  hampered 
the   .southwest.     Would  not  Texas  open  to  the  "peculiar  institution"  a  field  as  broad 


on 


Could  not  the  equipoise  between 


and  promising  as  that  possessed  by  the  Northern  States  ? 
the  two  parts  of  the  Union  be  thus  maintained  ? 

In  these  questions  and  through  them  we  may  discover  the  bottom  reason  why  the 
people  of  the  South  for  the  most  part  fa%-ored  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  wh>-  the  propo- 
sition was  received  so  coldly  in  the  North.  Again,  the  project  was  favored  by  the  Democrats 
and  opposed  by  the  Whigs  ;  so  that  here  we  have  the  beginning  of  that  sectionalism  in 
party  politics  which  has  not  yet  disappeared  from  the  nation. 

In  the  presidential  contest  of  1844  the  two  parties  were  nearly  equally  matched  in 
strength.  For  this  reason,  and  for  the  exciting  nature  of  the  issues  involved,  the  contest 
surpassed  in  vehemence  anything  which  had  hitherto  been  known  in  American  historj-. 
James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  was  nominated  as  the  Democratic  candidate,  while  the  Whigs 
chose  their  favorite  leader  Henrs-  Clay.      The  former  was  elected.      Though  the  fame  of  the 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA.  COS 

latter  and  his  idolatry  by  the  Whij:^  party  were  unabated,  yet  his  hope  of  reaching  the 
Presidency  was  forever  eclipsed.  As  Vice-President  George  M.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  chosen. 

FIRST  USE  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

An  incident  of  another  kind  belonging  to  these  days  is  worthy  of  special  note.  ( )n 
the  29th  of  May,  1844,  the  news  of  the  nomination  of  Polk  was  transmitted  from  Balti- 
more to  Washington  City  by  the  magnetic  telegraph.  It  was  the  first  despatch  of  sr.ch 
kind  ever  sent  by  man,  and  the  event  marks  an  era  in  the  history  of  civilization.  The 
inventor  of  the  telegraph  which  was  destined  to  revolutionize  the  method  of  the  rapid  trans- 
mission of  infonnation  and  to  introduce  a  new  epoch  in  history,  was  Professor  Samuel  F. 
B.  Morse,  of  Massachusetts.  The  magnetic  principle  on  which  the  telegraph  depends  for 
its  efficiency  had  been  known  to  scientific  men  since  1774;  but  Professor  Morse  was  the 
first  to  put  the  great  discover)'  into  the  form  of  invention.  He  began  his  experiments  iu 
1S32,  and  wTOUght  at  the  problem  for  five  years  before  he  obtained  his  first  patent.  He 
had  in  the  meantime  to  contend  with  ever\'  species  of  prejudice  and  ignorance  which  the 
low  grade  of  human  intelligence  could  produce,  .\fter  the  issuance  of  the  patent  there  was 
a  long  delay,  and  it  was  not  until  the  last  days  of  the  Congressional  session  in  1843  that 
the  inventor  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  appropriation  of  thirty  thousand  dollars.  With 
that  appropriation  was  constructed  between  Washington  and  Baltimore  the  first  telegraphic 
line  in  tlie  world.  Perhaps  no  other  single  invention  has  exercised  a  wider  or  more  benefi- 
cent influence  on  the  welfare,  progress  and  happiness  of  mankind. 

The  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  would  not  down.  In  December  of  1844  a 
fonnal  proposition  for  the  addition  of  that  republic  to  the  Union  was  made  in  Congress. 
Debates  followed  at  inter\'als  during  the  winter,  and  on  the  ist  of  March,  1845,  the  bill  of 
annexation  was  passed.  The  President  immediately  gave  his  assent,  and  the  Lone  Star 
took  its  place  in  the  American  constellation.  On  the  day  before  the  inauguration  of  Polk, 
bills  for  the  admission  of  Florida  and  Iowa  were  signed  by  Tyler;  but  the  latter  State, 
being  the  twenty-ninth  in  number,  was  not  formally  admitted  until  the  following  year. 

James  Knox  Polk,  sixteenth  President  of  the  L^nited  States,  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  boni  November  2d,  1795.  At  the  age  of  eleven  he  removed  with  his  father  to  the 
new  State  of  Tennessee.  In  1818  he  was  graduated  from  the  University  of  North  Carolina. 
During  his  early  manhood  he  was  the //-(7/^f^  of  Andrew  Jackson.  His  first  public  office 
was  a  membership  in  the  legislature  of  Tennessee.  .Afterwards  lie  was  elected  to  Congress 
where  he  ser\-ed  as  Speaker  for  fourteen  years.  In  1839  he  was  chosen  governor  of  Ten- 
nessee and  from  that  position  was  called  at  the  age  of  fort>'-nine  to  the  Presidential  chair. 
At  the  head  of  the  new  cabinet  as  Secretan,-  of  State  was  placed  James  Buchanan,  of  Penn- 
sylvania. It  was  an  office  requiring  high  abilities,  for  the  threatening  question  with 
Mexico  came  at  once  to  a  crisis. 

.\s  soon  as  the  resolution  for  Texan  annexation  to  the  United  States  was  adopted  by 
Congress,  Almonte,  the  Mexican  Minister  at  Washington,  demanded  his  passports  and 
indignantly  left  the  country.  The  Congressional  resolution  of  annexation  was  formally 
approved  by  the  legislature  of  Texas  on  the  4th  of  July,  1845;  the  union  was  an  accom- 
plished fact.  But  the  Texan  authorities  knew  well  that  Mexico  would  go  to  war  rather 
than  accept  the  extension  of  the  American  borders  to  her  frontier  line  A  deputation  was 
accordingly  sent  with  all  haste  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  requesting  that  an 
.AiUierican  army  be  at  once  despatched  to  Texas  for  the  protection  of  the  State  In  response 
to  this  petition  General  Zachar>'  Taylor  was  ordered  to  march  from  Camp  Jessup  iu  Western 
Louisiana  to  occupy  Texas. 


604  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

QUESTIONS  WHICH   LED  TO  THE  WAR  WITH   MEXICO. 

The  real  question  between  that  State — now  a  member  of  the  American  Union  and 
supported  by  the  general  government — on  the  one  side  and  Mexico  on  the  other  was  the 
question  of  boundaries.  Perhaps  the  bare  fact  of  annexation  would  have  been  borne  by- 
Mexico,  for  she  had  already  assented  nearly  ten  years  previously  to  Texan  independence ; 
but  her  assent  to  annexation  was  conditioned  upon  her  right  to  dictate  the  boundary  line 
between  her  own  territories  and  those  of  Texas. 

The  issue  here  presented  went  back  to  the  date  of  Mexican  independence.  In  1821 
Mexico  had  thrown  off  the  authority  of  Spain  and  instituted  a  government  of  her  own.  In 
doing  so  she  had  rearranged  her  provinces.  She  had  united  in  one  the  two  provinces  of 
Coahuila  and  Texas.  These  were  the  frontier  Mexican  States  east  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
Over  this  united  province  she  had  established  a  common  government  and  this  government 
was  maintained  until  it  was  broken  by  the  Texan  rebellion  of  1836.  Texas  being  suc- 
cessful in  her  revolt  against  the  parent  State,  naturally  claimed  that  her  own  independence 
so  achieved  carried  zvith  it  the  independence  of  Coahuila  and  that  therefore  the  territory  of 
the  latter  province  became  by  the  re\'olirtion  an  integral  part  of  the  new  Texan  republic. 
These  views  were  held  also  by  the  people  of  Coahuila.  The  joint  legislature  of  that  State 
and  of  Texas  passed  a  statute  in  December  of  1836  declaring  the  integrity  of  the  two 
States  under  the  common  name  of  Texas.  Mexico  insisted,  however,  that  Texas  only  and 
not  Coahuila  had  revolted  against  her  authority  and  that  the  latter  State  was  therefore  still 
rightfulh'  a  part  of  the  Mexican  dominions. 

It  thus  happened  that  the  new  State  of  Texas,  now  a  member  of  the  American  Union, 
claimed  the  Rio  Grande  as  her  western  limit,  while  Mexico  was  determined  to  have  the 
river  Nueces  for  the  separating  line.  The  large  territory  between  the  two  provinces  was  in 
dispute.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  made  a  proposal  to  have  the  difficulty 
settled  by  negotiation,  but  Mexico  scornfully  refused.  To  her  the  question  was  clear  and 
needed  no  arbitration.  The  refusal  was  construed  by  the  Americans  as  a  virtual  confession 
that  the  Mexican  government  was  in  the  wrong  and  upon  this  conviction  the  claim  of  the 
Rio  Grande  was  stoutly  maintained  by  our  government.  General  Taylor  was  instructed  to 
advance  his  anny  as  near  to  that  river  as  circumstances  would  warrant  and  to  hold  his  posi- 
tion aeainst  aeeression.  Under  these  orders  the  American  forces  were  moved  forward  to 
Corpus  Christi,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nueces,  where  a  camp  was  established  and  there  Taylor 
gathered  an  army  of  four  thousand  five  hundred  nien.  Such  was  the  situation  at  the  end 
of  1845. 

With  the  opening  of  the  next  year  a  critical  step  was  taken.  Taylor  was  ordered  for- 
ward to  the  Rio  Grande.  It  was  known  that  the  Mexican  government  would  not  receive 
an  American  ambassador.  It  was  also  learned  that  a  Mexican  anny  was  gathering  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  republic  for  a  counter-invasion  of  Texas,  or  at  least  for  the  occupation 
of  the  disputed  territory. 

General  Taylor  obeyed  his  orders.  On  the  8th  of  March,  1846,  he  advanced  from 
Corpus  Christi  to  Point  Isabel  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  There  a  depot  of  supplies  was 
established  and  the  march  was  continued  to  the  Rio  Grande.  The  American  army  reached 
that  river  at  a  point  opposite  the  town  of  Matamoras  and  there  erected  a  fortress  named 
Fort  Brown. 

EEGINNING  OF  HOSTILITIES. 

This  invasion  of  what  had  once  been  the  province  of  Coahuila  was  regarded  by  Mexico 
as  an  act  of  war.      Qn  the  26tli  of  April  General  Arista  arrived  at  Matamoras  and  took  com- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


COS 


mand  of  the  Mexican  forces.  On  the  followinj^  da\-  Taylor  reached  tlic  otiicr  side  of  the 
river.  Arista  at  once  notified  him  tiiat  liostilities  liad  begun.  On  the  same  day  a  company 
of  American  dragoons  commanded  by  Captain  Thornton  was  attacked  by  a  body  of  Mexi- 
cans who  had  crossed  the  Rio  Grande  into  the  disputed  territory.  Here  the  war  began. 
Sixteen  of  the  American  force  were  killed  or  wounded  and  the  remainder  were  obliged  to 
surrender. 

On  the  right  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande  there  was  now  great  activity.  A  Mexican  force 
cros.sed  the  river  below  the  American  position  and  threatened  Taylor's  communications. 
The  American  General  deemed  it  expedient  to  retire  to  Point  Isabel  and  strengthen  his 
defences.  The  fort  opposite  Matamoras,  however,  was  left  in  charge  of  Major  Brown  with 
a  garrison  of  three  hundred  men.  The  Mexicans  witnessed  the  falling  back  of  the  Ameri- 
can anny  with  great  jubilation.  The  Republican  Monitor^  a  Mexican  newspaper  of  Mata- 
moras, published  a  flaming  editorial  declaring  that  the  cowardly  invaders  of  Mexico  had  fled 
like  a  gang  of  poltroons  and  were  using  every  exertion  to  get  out  of  the  country.  General 
Arista  shared  this  delusion,  believing  that  the  Americans  had  fled  away  and  that  his  only 
remaining  duty  was  to  cannonade  and  demolish  Fort  Brown;  this  should  end  the  war. 

Taylor,  however,  had  little  thought  of  receding  before  the  foe.  Having  strengthened 
his  position  at  Point  Isabel,  he  at  once  set  out  with  his  trains  and  an  army  pf  two  thousand 
men  to  return  to  Fort  Brown.  The  Mexicans  to  the  number  of  six  thousand  had  now 
crossed  the  Rio  Grande  and  taken  position  at  Palo  Alto.  This  place  lay  directly  in  Tay- 
lor's way.  At  noon  on  the  8th  of  May  the  Americans  came  up  and  the  first  general  battle 
of  the  war  was  begun.  The  engagement  was  severe,  lasting  fi\e  hours.  The  Mexicans 
near  sunset  were  driven  from  the  field  with  the  loss  of  a  hundred  men.  The  American 
artiller\'     inflicted    the 


amount  of 
damage.  It  could  but 
be  observed  b\-  Taylor 
that  the  fighting  of  the 
Mexicans  was  clumsy 
and  ineffective.  Only 
four  Americans  were 
killedand  forty  wounded; 
but  among  the  fonner  ,  ^^^  ^ 
was  the  gallant  Major  V^'"^-' 
Ringgold,  of  the  artil- 
lery." 

The  fight  of  Palo 
Alto  was  indecisive. 
The  Mexicans  fell  back 
and  General  Taylor 
prosecuted    his    march. 

When  the  American  anny  was  within  three  miles  of  P'ort  Brown,  the  Mexicans 
again  encountered.  They  had  rallied  in  full  force  and  planted  tliemselves  at  a 
called  Resaca  de  la  Palma.  Here  an  old  river  bed,  dr\  and  overgrown  with  cacti, 
lav  across  the  road  along  which  the  Americans  were  making  their  way  in  the  direclion 
of  Fort  Brown.  The  Mexican  artillery  was  planted  to  command  the  approach.  At 
tlic    first    the    Americans  were   galled;  but  a   charge  was  made  by  Captain   May  with   his 


greater 


CAITIRK   OF   Till-:    Mll.XICAN    IIATTIKV    IIV   CAPTAIN    MAY 


were 
place 


606  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

dragoons;  the  Mexican  batteries  were  captured  and  General  L,a  Vega  taken  at  the  guns. 
Hereupon  the  ]\Iexicans  flung  away  their  accoutrements  and  fled.  Nor  did  they  pause  until 
they  had  put  the  Rio  Grande  between  themselves  and  their  pursuers. 

After  his  battle  and  victorj^  Taylor  continued  his  march  to  Fort  Brown.  He  found 
that  that  place  had  been  constantly  bombarded  from  ]\latamoras  during  his  absence.  A 
brave  defence  had  been  made  and  the  garrison  had  held  out,  but  Major  Brown,  the  com- 
mandant had  fallen.     Such  were  the  first  passes  of  the  struggle. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  STRUGGLE. 

The  news  of  the  things  done  on  the  Rio  Grande  carried  wild  excitement  to  all  parts  of 
the  United  States.  The  war  spirit  flamed  out  everywhere.  'Even  party  dissensions  were 
for  a  while  hushed  and  Whigs  and  Democrats  alike  rushed  forward  to  fill  the  ranks.  The 
President  sent  a  message  to  Congress  in  which  he  laid  the  blame  of  the  conflict  on  the  law- 
less soldiery  of  Mexico,  alleging  that  they  had  shed  the  blood  of  American  soldiers  on 
American  soil.  Congress  promptly  responded  and  on  the  nth  of  May,  1846,  declared  that 
"war  already  existed  by  the  act  of  the  Mexican  government."  Ten  millions  of  dollars 
were  promptly  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  government  and  the  President  was  authorized 
to  accept  the  services  of  fifty  thousand  volunteers.  In  all  the  States  war  meetings  were 
held  and  in  a  short  time  about  three  hundred  thousand  men  ofiered  themselves  for  the 
ser\dce. 

Only  a  small  part  of  this  number  could  be  accepted.  It  remained,  indeed,  for  the  regu- 
lar army  of  the  United  States  to  do  most  of  the  fighting  in  our  war  with  Mexico.  Trained 
officers  were  sent  to  the  field  of  operations.  General  Scott  was  made  commander-in-chief. 
The  American  forces  were  organized  in  three  divisions:  the  Army  of  the  West,  under 
General  Kearney,  to  cross  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  conquer  the  northern  Mexican  provinces; 
the  Army  of  the  Centre,  under  General  Scott  himself,  to  march  from  the  gulf  coast  into  the 
lieart  of  the  enemy's  country',  and  the  Army  of  Occupation,  commanded  b}-  General  Taylor, 
to  subdue  and  hold  the  districts  on  the  Rio  Grande. 

The  dut}'  of  mustering  in  and  organizing  the  volunteer  forces  was  assigned  to  General 
Wool.  By  midsummer  of  1846  that  officer  succeeded  in  despatching  to  General  Taylor  a 
force  of  nine  thousand  men.  He  then  established  his  headquarters  and  camp  at  San 
Antonio,  Texas.  From  this  vantage  he  sent  forward  the  various  divisions  of  recruits  to  the 
field.  Meanwhile  active  operations  were  resumed  on  the  Rio  Grande.  Ten  days  after  the 
battle  of  Resaca  de  la  Palma  General  Taylor  crossed  to  the  Mexican  side  and  captured 
Matamoras.  He  then  began  to  march  up  the  right  bank  of  the  river  and  into  the  interior. 
By  this  time  the  ^Mexicans  having  felt  the  impact  of  American  mettle  grew  wary  of  their 
antagonists.  They  fell  back  to  the  old  town  of  Monterey,  which  they  fortified  and  held 
against  Taylor's  advance.  The  latter  was  not  able  at  this  time  to  leave  the  Rio  Grande  on 
account  of  the  smallness  of  his  forces.  He  was  obliged  to  remain  inactive  until  August 
before  his  army  was  sufficiently  augmented  to  justify  further  battle  with  the  enemy. 

STORMING  OF  MONTEREY. 

B\-  this  time,  however,  his  force  was  increased  to  six  thousand  men,  and  he  at  once  set 
out  against  Monterey.  Arriving  at  that  place  on  the  19th  of  September,  he  immediately 
invested  the  town.  Monterey  was  occupied  by  the  Mexicans  ten  thousand  strong  under 
General  Auipudia.  But  disparity  of  numbers  had  already  come  to  be  disregarded  by  the 
Americans.  They  began  the  siege  of  ]\Ionterey  with  great  vigor,  and  on  the  21st  of  Sep- 
tember made  an  assault  on  the  rear  of  the  town.      The  heights  on  that  side  were  carried  bv 


CCM.rMHrS    AND    COLl'.MBIA. 


r.(»7 


~>r 


the  forces  under  Worth.  Here  was  siuiatcd  tlie  Hishop's  Palace,  a  stronj^;  huildiiii;  coin- 
niaiiding  the  entrance.  Hut  on-  the  next  day  this  place  also  was  carried,  and  on  the  next 
.Monterey  was  stormed  by  the  divisions  of  General  Quintniau  and  Butler.  The  Americans 
charjjing  through  the  streets  gained  the  Grand  Plaza,  hoisted  the  Union  flag,  and  routed  the 
enemy  from  the  buildings  in  which  the)-  had  taken  refuge.  The  attacking  parties  were 
obliged  to  charge  up  dark  stairwajs,  explore  unknown  passages,  traverse  the  flat  roofs  of 
houses  and  expose  themselves  to  ever\'  hazard.  But  the  enemy  was  driven  to  an  igno- 
minious surrender.  Ampudia  was  granted  the  honors  of  war  on  condition  that  he  vacate 
the  city,  which  he  did  on  the  morrow.  Taylor's  victory  kindled  the  enthusiasm  and  war 
spirit  of  the  Americans  to  a  higher  pitch  than  ever.* 

News  now  reached  General  Taylor  that  negotiations  for  peace  had  been  opened  at  the 
Mexican  capital.  Deceived  by  this  intelligence,  he  agreed  to  an  armistice  of  eight  weeks, 
during  which  hostilities  should  cease,  but  the  matter  was  a 
mere  ruse  on  the  part  of  the  enemy  for  gaining  time.  It  was 
at  this  juncture  that  the  celebrated  General  Antonio  Lopez  de 
Santa  Anna  was  called  home  from  Havana,  where  he  was 
living  in  exile.  He  was  at  once  made  President  of  tlie 
republic  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  Mexican 
armies.  Though  the  enemy  still  boasted,  it  was 
clear  that  alann  had  taken  the  place  of  confidence. 
During  the  autumn  of 
1 846  an  army  of  twent>'  ■•J^^'f  "^y^-- 
thousand  Mexicans  was 
raised  and  sent  into 
the  field.  As  soon  as 
the  armistice  in  the 
north  expired  Taylor 
assumed  the  ofiensive. 
General  Worth  moved 
southwest  from  Mon- 
terey a  distance  of 
seventy  miles,  and  cap- 
tured the  town  of 
Saltillo.  Victoria,  a 
city     of    Tamaulipas, 

was  taken  by  the  division  of  General  Robert  Patterson.  To  that  place  General  Butler 
advanced  from  Monterey  on  a  march  against  Tampico.  That  position,  however,  had 
in    the    meantime  been    taken  by  Captain  Conner  of  the    American    navy.     General  Wool 

•  A  correspondent  of  the  Louisville  Courier  wrote  a  touching  incident  of  this  battle.  He  savs :  "In  the 
midst  of  the  conflict  a  Mexican  woman  was  busily  cnijaRed  in  carrying  breacl  ami  water  to  the  wounded  men  of 
both  armies.  I  saw  the  ministering  angel  raise  the  head  of  a  woumleil  man.  give  him  water  and  food,  and  then 
bind  up  the  ghastly  wound  with  a  handkerchief  she  took  from  her  own  head,  .\fler  having  exhausted  her 
supplies,  she  went  back  to  her  house  to  gel  more  bread  and  water  for  others.  .\s  she  was  returning  on  her 
mission  of  mercy,  to  comfort  other  wounded  persons,  I  heard  the  report  of  a  gui).  and  the  poor  innocent  creature 
fell  dead.  I  think  it  was  an  accidental  shot  that  struck  her.  I  would  not  be  willing  to  believe  otherwise.  It 
made  me  sick  at  heart  ;  and.  turning  from  the  scene,  I  involuntarily  raiscil  my  eyes  toward  heaven,  and  thought. 
Great  God  !  is  this  war  ?  Passing  the  spot  the  next  day  I  saw  her  body  still  lying  there,  with  the  bread  bv  her 
side,  and  the  broken  gourd,  with  a  few  drops  of  water  in  it — emblems  of  her  errand  We  burieil  her  ;  and  while 
we  were  digging  her  grave,  cannon-balls  flew  around  us  like  hail." 


PATHETIC    INCnJENT    OF  THE   BATTLE   OK   MONTEREY. 


608 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


set  forward  in  person  from  San  Antonio,  Texas,  and  came  within  supporting  distance  of 
Monterey.  General  Scott  arrived  at  this  juncture  and  assumed  command-in-chief  of  the 
American  army. 

Meanwhile  General  Kearne}'  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  the  West  had  set  out  for  the 
conquest  of  New  Mexico  and  California.  His  march  to  Santa  Fe  was  wearisome  in  the  last 
degree,  but  by  the  1 8th  of  August  he  reached  and  captu'red  that  city.  New  Mexico  was 
taken  b}-  a  cotip  de  main.  Having  garrisoned  Santa  Fe,  Kearney  at  the  head  of  four  hundred 
dragoons  set  out  for  California.  After  a  progress  of  three  hundred  miles  he  was  joined  by 
the  famous  Kit  Carson,  who  brought  him  intelligence  that  California  had  already  been 
wrested  from  Mexican  authority.  Hereupon  Kearney  sent  back  the  larger  part  of  his 
forces,  and  with  only  a  hundred  troopers  made  his  way  to  the  Pacific. 

CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Stirring  events  had  in  the  meantime  happened  on  that  far  coast.  For  four  years  Colonel 
John  Charles  Fremont  had  'been  engaged  in  explorations  through  and  beyond  the  Rocky 
Mountains.      He  had  hoisted  the  American  flag  on  the  highest  peak  of  that  mighty  range, 


FREMONT  HOISTING  THE   STARS  AND  STRIPES   ON   THE   LOFTIEST   PEAK    OF    THE    ROCKY    MOUNTAINS. 

and  then  set  out  for  the  Great  Salt  Lake  and  afterwards  for  Oregon.  From  the  latter 
territon,-  he  turned  southward  into  California,  where  on  his  arrival  he  learned  of  the 
impending  war  with  Mexico.  Seizing  the  situation  and  assuming  all  responsibility  he 
incited  the  few  American  residents  in  California  to  revolt  against  Mexico.  First  of  all  the 
frontiersmen  of  the  Sacramento  valley  gathered  around  his  standard,  and  the  campaign  was 
organized  for  the  subversion  of  Mexican  authority.      Several  minor  engagements  were  had 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLl'MBIA.  f.OO 

with  the  Spanish-Mexican  posts,  bnt  the  Americans  were  uniformly  successful,  and  the 
autliority  of  Freniont  was  rapidly  extended  over  the  fi^reater  part  of  Upper  and  Central 
California. 

While  these  events  were  happening  in  the  north  Commodore  Sloat  of  the  American 
navy  was  carr>ini^  forward  a  similar  work  in  the  south..  Arriving:;  off  the  coast  of  Monterey, 
about  eighty  miles  south  of  San  Francisco,  he  captured  the  place  and  raised  the  American 
flag.  At  the  extreme  southern  part  of  the  State  Commodore  Stockton  captured  San  Diego 
and  assumed  command  of  the  Pacific  squadron.  F'remont  continued  to  press  his  campaign 
iu  the  north  and  centre,  and  effecting  a  junction  with  Sloat  and  Stockton  advanced  upon 
and  took  the  city  of  Los  Angeles.  Thus  before  the  close  of  summer,  1846,  California  had 
been  revolutionized  and  placed  under  the  American  flag. 

General  Kearney  with  his  hundred  dragoons  reached  the  Pacific  coast  in  November,  and 
joined  his  forces  with  those  of  Fremont  and  Stockton.  About  a  month  later  the 
Mexicans,  having  discovere>l  the  meagreness  of  the  forces  before  whom  they  had  fled  and 
yielded,  returned  to  the  fieid,  and  the  .Xmericans  were  obliged  to  confront  them  in  a  deci- 
sive conflict.  On  the  8th  of  January,  1847,  the  battle  of  San  Gabriel  was  fought,  in  wliich 
the  Mexicans  were  completely  defeated  and  the  results  of  the  American  conquest  of  the 
previous  year  confirmed.  Thus  by  a  mere  handful  of  courageous  adventurers  marching 
from  place  to  place,  with  scarcely  the  form  of  authority  and  with  their  lives  in  their  hands, 
was  the  great  empire  of  California  wrested  from  the  Mexican  government. 

General  Kearney  on  setting  out  for  the  Pacific  coast  had  left  behind  Colonel  Doniphan 
in  command  of  the  American  forces  at  Santa  Fe.  That  officer  fretted  for  a  season,  and 
then  with  a  body  of  seven  hundred  men  set  out  across  the  country  from  Santa  Fe  en  route 
to  Saltillo,  a  distance  of  more  than  eight  hundred  miles.  On  arriving  at  the  Rio  Grande, 
he  encountered  the  enemy  at  Bracito  on  Christmas  day,  where  he  routed  the  Mexicans,  and 
then  crossing  the  river  captured  El  Paso  del  Norte.  Proceeding  on  his  march  he  found 
himself  after  t\vo  months  within  twenty  miles  of  Chihuahua.  Here,  on  the  banks  of 
Sacramento  creek,  on  the  28th  of  November,  he  met  the  Mexicans  in  great  numbers,  and 
inflicted  upon  them  another  disastrous  defeat.  He  then  captured  Chihuahua,  a  city  of  forty 
thousand  inhabitants!  With  but  small  losses  Doniphan  succeeded  in  reaching  the  division 
of  General  Wool  in  safety. 

BOMBARDMENT  OF  VERA  CRUZ. 

On  his  arrival  in  Mexico  General  Scott  drew  from  the  north  down  the  Rio  Grande  a 
large  part  of  the  Army  of  Occupation.  His  object  was  the  concentration  under  himself  of 
a  force  suflficient  for  the  conquest  of  the  Mexican  capital.  By  the.se  movements  General 
Taylor  was  weakened  and  left  in  an  exposed  condition.  The  Mexicans  learned  of  the 
situation,  and  Santa  Anna  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  advanced  on 
Taylor,  whose  entire  forces  did  not  number  six  thousand.  Indeed,  after  garrisoning  Saltillo 
and  Monterey  the  general's  effective  force  numbered  only  four  thou.sand  eight  hundred 
men.  With  this  small  and  resolute  army,  however,  he  marched  out  boldly  to  meet  the 
ivenvhelming  foe  and  chose  his  battle-ground  at  Bucna  Vista,  four  miles  south  of  Saltillo. 
Here  he  planted  himself  and  awaited  the  onset. 

The  Mexican  advance  was  from  the  direction  of  San  Luis  Potosi.  On  the  22d  of 
Februar)'  the  enemy  in  great  force  came  pouring  through  the  gorges  and  over  the  hills. 
Santa  Anna  at  once  demanded  a  surrender,  but  was  met  with  defiance.  A  general  battle 
began  on  the  morning  of  .the  23d.  At  first  the  enemy  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  out- 
flank the  .\merican  position.     Taylor's  centre  was  next  attacked;  but  this  movement  was 

39 


610 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


also  repulsed.  The  Mexicans  then  threw  their  whole  force  on  the  American  left,  where  the 
Indianians,  acting  under  a  mistaken  order,  gave  way,  and  the  anny  was  for  a  while  in 
peril.  But  the  troops  of  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  rallied  to  the  breach,  and  tlie  onset  of 
the  enemy  was  again  repelled.  The  crisis  of  the  battle  was  reached  in  the  charge  made  by 
the  Mexicans  upon  the  American  artiller\'  under  command  of  Captain  Bragg;  but  the 
eunners  stood  at  their  batteries,  and  the  Mexican  lancers  were  scattered  with  volleys  of 
grape-shot.  A  successful  counter-charge  was  made  by  the  American  cavalrj',  in  which  the 
losses  were  severe.  Against  the  tremendous  odds  the  battle  was  fairly  won.  On  the 
following  night  the  ^Mexicans,  having  lost  nearly  two  thousand  men,  made  a  precipitate 
retreat.  The  Americans  also  lost  heavily,  their  killed,  wounded  and  missing  numbering 
seven  hundred  and  forty-six.  This  was,  however,  the  last  of  General  Taylor's  battles.  He 
soon  after  left  the  field,  and  returned  to  the  United  States,  where  he  was  received  with 
great  enthusiasm.      He  was  indeed,  in  the  popular  estimation,  the  hero  of  the  war. 

With  the  opening  of  spring,  1847,  General  Scott  found  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army 
of  twelve  thousand  men,  ready  for  his  campaign  against  the  capital.  On  the  gtli  of  ]\Iarch 
he  landed  to  the  south  of  Vera  Cruz  and  succeeded  in  investing  that  city.  Batteries  were 
planted  but  eight  hundred  }-ards  from  the  defences,  while  on  the  water  side  the  American 
fleet  began  a  bombardment  of  the  celebrated  castle  of  San  Juan  d'Ulloa.  This  fortress  had 
been  erected  by  Spain  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  centurs',  at  a  cost  of  four  million 
dollars.  For  four  days  the  place  was  beaten  with  shot  and  shell  from  the  mortars  of  Com- 
modore Connor's  fleet  and  from  the  land-batteries  which  Scott  had  planted  on  the  shore. 
Life  and  property  perished  in  the  common  ruin.  The  Americans  were  already  preparing 
to  earn,'  Vera  Cruz  b\-  storm,  when  the  humbled  authorities  came  forth  and  surrendered. 
Thus  was  opened  a  route  for  the  American  advance  from  the  coast  to  the  city  of  Mexico. 

MARCH  OF  THE  VICTORIOUS  ARMV. 

The  advance  began  on  the  8th  of  April,  1847.  I'he  first  division  under  command  of 
General  Twiggs  set  out  on  the  road  to  Jalapa.       General  Scott  followed  with  the  main 

arm}-.  The  advance  was  unopposed  until 
the  1 2th  of  the  month  when  the  Americans 
came  upon  the  enemy,  fifteen  thousand 
strong,  who  under  command  of  Santa 
Anna  had  planted  themselves  in  a  strong 
position  on  the  heights  and  rock>-  pass 
of  Cerro  Gordo.  At  first  view  it  appeared 
that  the  IMexicans  could  not  be  driven 
from  their  stronghold;  but  their  expulsion 
was  a  necessity  to  further  progress.  Scott 
arranged  his  army  in  three  columns  for 
an  assault,  which  according  to  the  rules 
and  history  of  war  promised  only  disaster 
and  ruin;  but  the  spirit  of  the  army  was 
high  and  the  General  did  not  hesitate  to 
take  the  risk. 

The  attack  was  made  on  the  morning  of  the  18th  of  April  and  before  noonday  ever} 
position  of  the  Mexicans  was  carried  b}'  storm.  They  were  hurled  from  their  fortifications 
and  driven  off"  in  a  general  rout.     Nearh-  three  thousand  prisoners  were  captured,  together 


ESCAPE    OF   SANTA   ANNA  AT  CERRO  GORDO. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  r.li 

with  forty-three  pieces  of  bronze  artillen.-,  five  thousand  muskets  and  accoutrements  enough 
to  supply  an  anny.  The  American  loss  iu  killed  and  wounded  numbered  four  hundred 
and  thirty-one;  that  of  the  Mexicans  fully  a  thousand.  Santa  Anna  barely  escaped  with 
his  life  by  cutting  loose  one  of  the  mules  which  drew  his  carriage  and  mounting  its  back, 
but  in  his  haste  left  behind  his  private  papers,  his  money  chest  and  his  wooden  leg! 

The  victorious  Americans  pressed  onward  tojalapa.  On  the  22d  of  April  the  strong 
castle  Perote,  crowning  the  peak  of  the  Cordilleras  was  taken  without  resistance.  Here  the 
Americans  obtained  another  park  of  artillery  and  a  vast  amount  of  ammunition  and  stores. 
General  Scott  next  turned  to  the  south  and  captured  the  ancient  and  sacred  city  of  Puebla, 
a  place  of  eighty  thousand  inhabitants.  It  was  a  striking  scene  to  witness  the  entrance 
throu?h  the  eates  of  a  mere  handful  of  invaders  two  thousand  miles  from  their  homes. 

The  15th  of  May  found  the  American  army  quartered  in  Puebla.  Scott's  forces 
had  now  been  reduced  by  battle  and  other  exigencies  of  the  campaign  to  about  five  thou- 
sand men.  He  deemed  it  prudent,  therefore,  to  pause  until  reinforcements  could  arrive 
from  \'era  Cruz.  In  the  lull  of  active  operations  an  attempt  was  made  to  negotiate  with 
the  enemy;  but  the  foolish  hardihood  of  the  Mexicans  prevented  even  the  promise  of  suc- 
cess. Scott's  reinforcements  arrived,  and  with  his  numbers  increased  to  eleven  thousand 
men  he  set  out  on  the  7th  of  August  on  his  march  to  the  cit>-  of  Mexico. 

The  route  now  led  over  the  crest  of  the  Cordilleras.  The  Americans  had  anticipated 
strong  resistance  and  hard  fighting  in  the  mountain  passes,  but  the  advance  was  unopposed 
and  the  army  sweeping  over  the  heights  looked  down  on  the  Valle}-  of  Mexico.  Never 
before  had  a  soldier}'  in  a  foreign  land  beheld  a  more  striking  landscape.  Clear  to  the 
horizon  spread  the  green  fields,  villages  and  lakes — a  picture  too  beautiful  to  be  torn  with 
the  enginer>-  of  war. 

The  march  was  now  unopposed  as  far  as  the  town  of  Ayotla,  within  fifteen  miles  of 
the  capital.  The  progress  of  the  American  army  thus  far  had  been  along  the  great  national 
road  from  Vera  Cruz  to  Mexico.  The  Mexicans  after  their  defeat  at  Cerro  Gordo  had 
gradually  receded  into  the  interior  and  established  themselves  about  the  capital.  They  had 
fortified  the  various  positions  along  the  national  roads  for  miles  out  from  the  city.  Per- 
ceiving the  character  of  these  defences,  Scott  wheeled  to  the  .south  around  Lake  Chalco, 
and  thence  westward  to  San  Augustine.  By  this  detour  the  army  was  brought  within  ten 
miles  of  the  capital. 

STORMING  THE  HEIGHTS    OF  CHURUBUSCO  AND  CHAPULTEPEC. 

From  San  Augustine  the  approaches  to  the  city  were  by  long  causeways  across  marshes 
and  the  beds  of  bygone  lakes.  At  the  ends  of  these  causeways  were  massive  gates  strongly 
defended.  To  the  left  of  the  line  of  march  lay  the  almost  inaccessible  positions  of  Con- 
treras,  San  Antonio  and  Molino  del  Rey.  To  the  front  and  beyond  the  marshes  were  the 
powerful  bulwarks  of  two  fortresses  called,  Churubusco  and  Chapultepec.  These  various 
outposts  were  occupied  by  Santa  Anna  with  a  force  of  fully  thirty  thousand  Mexicans.  The 
anny  of  General  Scott  was  not  more  than  one-third  as  strong  in  numbers,  but  with  this 
small  force  he  pressed  on  to  the  attack. 

The  first  assaults  on  the  Mexican  positions  were  made  on  the  19th  of  .\ugust  by  the 
divisions  of  Generals  Pillow  and  Twiggs.  The  movement  was  against  Coutreras.  The 
Americans  pressing  on  in  the  darkness,  cut  the  communications  between  the  fortress  and 
Santa  .Xnna's  army.  On  the  following  night  another  column  led  by  General  Persifor  P\ 
Smith  moved  against  Coutreras,  and  with  the  early  morning  carried  the  place  by  stonn. 
Six  thousand   Mexicans  were  driven  in   rout   and  confusion  from  the  fortifications.     The 


612 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Americans  numbered  fewer  than  four  thousand.       This  was  the  y^ri-;"  victory  of  the  memor- 
able 2oth  of  August. 

On  the  same  morning  General  Worth  advanced  on  San  Antonio  and  compelled  the 
enemy  to  evacuate  the  place.  This  was  the  second  victory.  At  the  same  hour  General 
Pillow  moved  against  one  of  the  heights  of  Churubusco.  Here  the  Mexicans  had  concen- 
trated in  great  force,  and  here  they  fought  with  considerable  spirit;  but  the  height  was 
carried  by  storm  and  the  garrison  scattered  like  chaff.  This  was  the  thir-d  triumph  of  the 
day.  The  division  of  General  Twiggs  stormed  and  held  another  height  of  Churubusco. 
This  was  the  fourth  victory.  The  fifth  and  last  was  achieved  by  Generals  Shields  and 
Pierce.  The  latter  confronted  Santa  Anna,  who  was  marching  out  of  the  city  with  rein- 
forcements, attacked  him  and  drove  him  back  with  large  losses.  The  whole  of  the  Mexican 
army  was  now  withdrawn  or  driven  into  the  fortifications  of  Chapultepec. 

On  the  morning  of  the 
2ist  of  August,  the  Mexican 
authorities  being  greatly 
alarmed  sent  out  a  deputation 
to  negotiate  with  the  victors; 
but  the  tenns  suggested  by 
the  Mexicans  were  preposter- 
ous, and  General  Scott,  who 
did  not  consider  his  army  A-an- 
quished  —  as  the  Mexicans 
alleged — rejected  the  proposals 
with  contempt.  The  weather, 
however,  was  exceedingly  op- 
pressive, and  the  general  rested 
his  men  until  the  7th  of 
September.  With  the  moni- 
ing  of  the  8th  the  advance  was 
begun  by  General  Worth,  who 
moved  against  Molino  del  Rey 
and  Casa  de  Mata,  the  western 
„„„,,.,,,,;,.,:,  .,/,  v^  defences     of    Chapultepec. 

'  ''''■  These    places   were    deiended 

STORMING  OF  CHAPULTEPEC.  ^^.    j^^^^^^^    fourtccu    thousaud 

Mexicans.  The  Americans  made  the  assault  with  their  usual  desperation,  lost  a  fourth  of 
their  number,  but  carried  both  positions.  The  batteries  were  taken  and  turned  on  Chapul- 
tepec itself  Five  days  afterwards  that  frowning  citadel  was  assaulted  by  the  Americans  in 
force,  and  was  carried  by  storm.  By  this  victory  an  avenue  was  opened  into  the  city. 
Through  the  San  Cosme  and  Belen  gates  the  conquering  army  swept  resistlessly,  and  at 
nightfall  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  found  themselves  in  the  suburbs  of  Mexico. 

A  CAMPAIGN  OF  UNEXAMPLED  BRILLIANCY. 
Santa  Anna  and  the  government  fled  from  the  city.  On  their  retreat  they  turned  loose 
from  the  prisons  two  thousand  convicts,  with  license  to  fire  upon  the  American  anny.  On 
the  following  morning  before  dawn  a  deputation  came  forth  from  the  city  to  beg  for  mercy. 
Now  were  the  messengers  in  earnest ;  but  General  Scott,  wearied  with  trifling,  turned  them 
awav  in  disgust.       ''Forward P'   was  the  order.      It  rang  along  the  American  lines  at  sun- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  013 

rise.  Tiie  war-worn  regiments  swept  into  tlie  beanliful  streets  of  the  ancient  city,  and  at 
seven  o'clock  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was  lioisted  over  the  lialls  of  the  Monteznnias. 
It  was  the  triumphant  ending  of  one  of  tlie  most  brilliant  and  striking  campaigns  of 
modem  history. 

The  American  anny  as  compared  with  the  hosts  of  Mexico  had  been  but  a  handful. 
The  small  force  which  left  Vera  Cruz  on  the  march  to  the  capital  lost  much  b}-  battle  and 
disease.  Many  detachments  had  to  be  posted  en  route  to  hold  the  line  of  communications 
and  for  garrison  duty  in  sundry  places.  After  the  battles  of  Churubusco  and  Chapultepec 
fewer  than  six  thousand  men  were  left  to  enter  and  hold  the  capital  of  Mexico.  The  cam- 
paign had  never  been  seriously  impeded.  No  foot  of  ground  once  taken  from  the  Mexicans 
was  yielded  by  fal.se  tactics  or  lost  b\-  battle.  The  army  which  accomplished  this  marvel 
of  invasion  through  a  densely  peopled  countr}-,  held  by  a  proud  race  claiming  to  be  the 
descendants  of  Cortez  and  the  Spanish  heroes  of  the  sixteenth  century — denounced  at  every 
step  as  a  horde  of  barbarians  out  of  the  North — was  in  large  part,  at  least  in  the  final 
campaigns,  an  anny  of  volunteers  which  had  risen  from  the  States  of  the  Union  and 
marched  to  Mexico  under  the  Union  flag. 

Santa  Anna,  after  leaving  his  capital,  turned  about  and  treacherously  attacked  the 
American  hospitals  at  Puebla.  There  about  eighteen  hundred  American  sick  had  been  left 
in  charge  of  Colonel  Childs.  For  several  days  a  gallant  resistance  was  made  by  the 
enfeebled  garrison,  until  General  Joseph  Lane,  on  his  way  to  the  capital,  fell  upon  the 
besiegers  and  drove  them  away.  Such  was  the  closing  stroke  of  the  war — a  contest  in 
which  the  Americans  had  gained  ever>-  single  victory  from  first  to  last. 

The  Mexican  military  power  was  left  in  a  state  of  complete  overthrow.  Santa  Anna, 
the  President  and  commander-in-chief,  was  a  fugitive.  It  was  clear  that  the  war  was  over, 
and  that  the  American  government  might  dictate  its  own  terms  of  settlement.  The 
Mexican  Republic  was  completely  prostrated,  and  must  needs  sue  for  peace. 

Negotiations  were  opened  in  the  winter  of  1847-48.  American  ambassadors  met  the 
Mexican  Congress  in  session  at  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  and  on  the  2d  of  February  a  treaty  was 
concluded  between  the  two  nations.  A  prompt  ratification  followed  on  the  part  of  the  two 
goveniments,  and  on  the  4th  of  July,  1848,  President  Polk  issued  a  proclamation  of  peace. 

Great  were  the  changes  effected  in  the  territorial  boundaries  of  America  and  Me.xico  by 
the  treaty  of  Guadalupe.  Most  important  was  the  fixing  of  the  dividing  line  between  the 
two  countries,  which  was  established  as  follows: — the  Rio  Grande  from  its  mouth  to  the 
southern  limit  of  New  Mexico  ;  thence  westward  along  the  southern  and  northward  along 
the  western  boundary  of  that  territory  to  the  River  Gila;  thence  down  that  River  to  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Colorado;  thence  westward  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Thus  was  the  whole  of 
New  Me.xico  and  upper  California  relinquished  to  the  United  States.  Mexico  guaranteed 
the  free  navigation  of  the  Gulf  of  California  and  of  the  rivers  of  the  boundar>-.  The 
United  States  on  their  part  agreed  to  surrender  the  places  occupied  by  the  American  anny 
in  Mexico,  to  pay  that  country  fifteen  million  dollars,  and  to  assume  all  debts  due  from  the 
Mexican  government  to  American  citizens,  said  debts  not  to  exceed  three  million  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  was  thus,  after  the  lapse  of  sixty-five  years  from  the  treaty 
of  1783,  that  the  territon,'  of  the  United  States  was  extended  in  an  unbroken  belt  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

BOUNOARV  LINE  BETWEEN   BRITISH  AMERICA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

So  ended  the  Mexican  war,  and  such  were  its  results.  On  the  north,  meanwhile,  the 
boundar\-  line  between  the  United  States  and  the  dominions  of  Great  Britain  had  not  been 


614 


COLUMBUS    AND    COLUMBIA. 


definitely  determined.  The  sudden  extension  of  our  territories  to  the  Pacific  furnished  a 
powerful  incentive  to  the  settlement  of  our  northern  limits,  as  well  as  the  boundan-  on  the 
southwest.  The  adversary  in  this  case,  however,  was  a  party  ver}-  different  from  Mexico. 
The  Oregon  line  had  been  in  dispute  since  the  earh-  years  of  the  century\  According  to 
the  treaty  of  1818  the  international  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
dominions  had  been  carried  westward  from  the  northwestern  extremity  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods  to  the  crest  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  but  from  that  point  to  the  Pacific  the  two 
powers  coiild  not  agree  on  a  dividing  line. 

The  United  States,  from  1807  downwards,  had  continued  to  claim  the  parallel  of  fifty- 
four  degrees  and  forty  minutes,  but  this  boundan,'  Great  Britain  refused  to  accept.  In 
August  of  1827  a  conference  was  held  by  agents  of  the  two  governments,  and  it  was  agreed 
that  the  vast  region  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  lying  between  the  forty-ninth  parallel 
and  the  line  of  fifty-four  degrees  forty  minutes  should  remain  open  indefinitely  and  impar- 
tially for  the  joint  occupation  of  British  and  American  citizens.  Thus  the  difficultv  was 
postponed  for  sixteen  years,  but  thoughtful  statesmen,  both  British  and  American,  looked 
with  alarm  and  anxiety  to  the  existence  of  so  serious  a  dispute. 

In   1843   negotiations  were   formally  reopened.     The  American  Minister  to   England 

proposed   the    parallel    of  fifty-four   degrees  and    forty  minutes,  but   this  proposition  was 

rejected    as    before.      In  the    following  year  the  British  ambassador  at  Washington   again 

claimed  the  forty-ninth  parallel  as  the  true  boundary',  but  to  this  the  American  government 

refused  assent.     The  matter  involved  came  to  an  issue  on  the  15th  of  June,  1846,  when  the 

_^jftT'^''"— ^afem  -      --^— ^—  ^.j^gijp^^ -_^  question  was  definitely  settled 

^f  by  a  treat}'.      Every  point  in 

■f;  ■  ,  _  ^         the  long-standing  controversy 

i^      '"-'"  ^         was     decided     in    favor     of 

Great  Britain.  In  the  many 
diplomatical  contentions  be- 
tween that  countr,'  and  our 
own  the  United  States  has 
always  been  able  to  main- 
tain its  position  with  this 
single  exception  of  the  north- 
western  boundary-.  The 
complete  surrender  to  the 
British  government  in  this 
particular  was  little  less  than 
i.-«.Q-^'i\:x  ■"  > -'^:'*-- ": -^ '  r  '  :^— -sfs^^ > '.»B5rt3s^^^^ass^^«::=>-  ignominious,  and  can  be  ac- 
SAN  FRANCISCO  IN  1S49.  couutcd     for     ouly    on     the 

ground  that  the  government  of  the  United  States,  as  it  then  was,  v/as  indifferent  to  the 
extension  of  her  domains  by  the  addition  of  free  territory.  At  any  rate  the  settlement 
was  such  as  to  deprive  our  country  of  a  vast  and  valuable  region  inaccessible  to  slaver\' 
and  extensive  enough  for  ten  Free  States  as  large  as  Indiana.  * 

DISCOVERVOF  GOLD  IN  CALIFORNIA. 
Scarcely  had  the   treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  been  signed  when  an  event  occurred 
which  produced  a  profound  agitation  throughout  the  civilized  nations.      A  laborer  employed 

*  Such  was  the  indignation  of  the  opponents  of  this  treaty,  especially  the  leaders  of  the  Whig  party,  that 
the  political  battle  cry  of  "  Fifty-four  Forty,  or  Fight,"  became  almost  as  popular  a  motto  as  "  Free  Trade  and 
Sailors'  Rights"  had  been  in  the  war  of  1812. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


615 


by  Captain  Sutter  to  cut  a  mill-race  on  the  American  Fork  of  Sacramento  River  discovered 
some  pieces  of  gold  in  the  sand  where  he  was  digging.  With  further  search  other  particles 
were  found.  The  metal  was  tested  and  found  to  be  genuine.  The  news  spread  as  if  borne 
on  the  wind.  From  all  quarters  adventurers  came  flocking.  Explorers  went  out  and 
returned  with  information  of  new  discoveries  here  and  there.  For  a  time  it  seemed  that 
there  would  be  no  end,  no  limit,  to  the  quantity  of  gold  which  might  be  had  for  picking  up. 
Straggling  gold-hmiters  sometimes  gathered  in  a  few  hours  the  value  of  five  hundred 
dollars. 

The  intelligence  went  flying  through  the  States  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  then  to  the 
ends  of  the  world.  Men  thousands  of  miles  away  were  crazed  with  excitement  and  cupidity. 
Workshops  were  shut  up,  business  _  —  --^     =  -^-^- 

houses  abandoned,  fertile  fanns 
left  tenantless,  offices  deserted.  At 
this  time  the  overland  routes  to 
California  were  scarcely  known. 
Nevertheless  thousands  of  eager 
adventurers  started  from  the 
Western  States  on  the  long  journey 
across  the  mountains  and  plains. 
Immigrants  and  miners  poured  in 
from  all  directions.  Before  the 
end  of  1850  San  Francisco  had 
grown  from  a  miserable  Spanish 
village  of  huts  to  a  city  of  fifteen 
thousand  inhabitants.  By  the  clo.se 
of  1852  California  had  a  population 
of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million. 
The  importance  of  the  gold  mines 
of  California  to  the  industries  of 
the  coimtr}'  and  of  the  world  has 
never  been  overestimated,  nor  is 
their  richness  yet  exhausted. 

The  year  1846  was  marked  by  the  passage  of  a  Congressional  act  for  the  organization 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Wa.shington.  Twenty-two  years  previous  James  Smith- 
son,*  an  eminent  English  chemist  and  philanthropist,  had  died  at  Genoa,  bequeathing  on 
certain  conditions  a  large  sum  of  money  to  the  United  States.  In  the  fall  of  1838  Smith- 
son's  nephew  and  only  heir  died  without  issue,  and  the  properties  of  his  uncle,  amounting 
to  five  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  were  secured  by  an  agent  of  the  National 
Government.  The  funds  were  at  first  deposited  in  the  mint.  Smithson's  will  provided 
that  his  bequest  .should  be  used  for  the  establishment  at  Washington  city  of  "an  institution 
for  the  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men."  In  order  to  carry  out  tlie  designs 
of  the  testator,  a  plan  of  organization  was  prepared  by  John  Quincy  Adams  and  adopted 
by  Congress.  The  result  has  been  the  establishment  in  the  United  States  of  one  of  the 
most  beneficent  institutions  known  in  the  history  of  mankind.     The   "Smithsonian  Con- 

*  Until  after  his  {graduation  at  Oxford,  in  1786,  this  remarkable  man  w:is  known  by  the  name  oi  James  Louis 
Made.  Afterward,  of  his  own  accord,  he  chose  the  name  of  his  reputed  father,  Huj^h  Smith,  Duke  of  Northum- 
berland, but  added  the  syllabic  son  to  indicate  his  descent. 


:■  ;K^^v:^  <:l^ik^c^  ^-^^-■ 


SUTTER  S    MILL,    \Vm;RK    MARSHALL    DISCOVERED    GOLD    IN 
CALIFORNI.\. 


616  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

tributions  to  Knowledge"  already  amount  to  more  than  thirty  volumes  quarto,  and  the 
future  is  destined  to  yield  still  richer  results  in  widening  the  boundaries  of  human  thought 
and  increasing  the  happiness  of  men. 

The  mortuary-  record  of  this  epoch  includes  not  a  few  illustrious  names.  First  of  these 
may  be  mentioned  ex-President  Andrew  Jackson,  who  died  at  his  home  called  the  Hermi- 
tage, near  Nashville,  on  the  8th  of  June,  1845.  The  veteran  warrior  and  statesman  had 
reached  the  age  of  seventy-eight.  On  the  23d  of  February,  1848,  ex- President  John  Quincy 
Adams  died  at  the  city  of  Washington.  After  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency  he  had 
been  elected  to  represent  his  district  in  Congress.  In  that  body  he  had  displayed  the  most 
remarkable  abilities  and  patriotism.  There  he  acquired  the  well  earned  sobriquet  of  the 
"Old  ]\Ian  Eloquent."  At  the  time  of  his  decease  he  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives. He  was  struck  with  paralysis  in  the  verj-  seat  from  which  he  had  so  many 
times  electrified  the  nation  with  his  fervent  and  cogent  oratory. 

In  1848  Wisconsin,  last  of  the  five  great  States  formed  from  the  territor}-  northwest  of 
the  river  Ohio,  was  admitted  into  the  Union.  The  new  commonwealth  came  with  a  popu- 
lation of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  and  an  area  of  nearly  fifty-four  thousand  square 
miles.  In  establishing  the  western  boundary-  of  the  State,  bj'  an  error  of  sur\^eying,  the 
St.  Croix  River  instead  of  the  Mississippi  was  fixed  as  the  line  b}-  which  Wisconsin  lost  to 
Minnesota  a  considerable  district  belonging  to  her  territory'. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  new  cabinet  office  known  as  the  Department  of  the  Interior 
was  added  to  those  already  existing.  At  the  foundation  of  the  government  three  depart- 
ments only  had  been  organized.  To  these  were  added  in  course  of  time  the  offices  of  Post- 
master-General and  Secretarj-  of  the  Na\'5'.  The  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States 
had  meanwhile  come  to  be  recognized  as  a  member  of  the  cabinet.  The  duties  of  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  were  gathered  by  a  division  of  labor  from  the  Departments  of 
State  and  the  Treasur}-.      The  new  secretan,'ship  was  first  filled  by  General  Thomas  Ewing, 

of  Ohio. 

BIRTH  OF  THE  FREE  SOIL  PARTY. 

As  Polk's  administration  drew  to  a  close  three  parties  and  three  candidates  appeared  in 
the  field  of  political  conflict.  General  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan,  was  nominated  by  the 
Democrats  and  General  Zachar^-  Taylor  by  the  Whigs.  The  accession  of  vast  and  unoc- 
cupied territories  by  the  successful  war  with  Mexico  had  now  developed  in  considerable 
vigor  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  among  the  American  people.  At  first  this  sentiment  was 
expressed  in  simple  opposition  to  the  extension  of  slaver}'  into  the  hitherto  unoccupied 
national  domains.  As  the  representative  of  this  sentiment,  ex-President  Martin  Van  Buren 
was  brought  forward  as  the  candidate  of  the  new  Free  Soil  party.  The  circumstances  which 
gave  rise  to  this  party,  destined  to  play  so  important  a  part  in  the  future  history-  of  the 
countr}-,  may  well  be  recounted. 

The  principles  upon  which  the  Free  Soil  party  was  based  were  aroused  into  activity  by 
the  treaty  of  the  United  States  with  Mexico  and  by  the  general  results  of  the  war.  It  was 
in  1846  that  David  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania,  introduced  into  Congress  a  bill  to  prohibit 
slavery  in  all  the  territories  which  might  be  secured  by  the  treaty  with  Mexico.  The  author 
of  the  measure  and  many  other  statesmen  and  philanthropists  had  divined  the  bottom  motive 
which  was  impelling  the  American  conquest  of  Mexican  territor)-.  That  motive  was  the 
desire  for  the  acquisition  of  vast  regions  on  the  southwest  for  the  spread  and  development 
of  human  slaver}'.  By  this  means — b)'  the  creation  of  new  States  in  that  quarter  of  the 
horizon — the  equipoise  between  slave-holding  and  anti-slave-holding  principles  and  powers 
might  be  maintained  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  017 

Tiie  proposition  of  Wilmot  was  the  key  to  all  that  ensued  in  opposition  to  the  extension 
of  slaven'.  The  bill  was  defeated,  but  the  advocates  of  the  measure  called  the  "  Wilmot 
Proviso,"  fonned  themselves  into  a  party,  and  in  June  of  1848  nominated  Van  Buren  for 
the  Presidency.  The  real  contest,  however,  lay  between  the  Whi^  and  Democratic  candi- 
dates. The  position  of  the  two  old  parties  on  the  question  of  slavery  had  not  as  yet  been, 
nor  indeed  could  ever  be,  clearly  defined.  As  a  consequence  the  election  was  left  to  turn  on 
the  personal  popularity  of  the  two  candidates  and  such  minor  factitious  questions  as  the 
politicians  were  able  to  devise.  The  memory  of  General  Taylor's  recent  victories  in  Mexico 
and  the  democratic  features  of  his  character  prevailed,  and  he  was  elected  by  a  large  majority. 
As  \'ice- President,  Millard  Fillmore,  of  New  York,  was  chosen. 

Zacliar\-  Taylor  was  by  birth  a  Virginian;  by  breeding  a  Kentuckian;  by  profession  a 
soldier;  in  politics  a  Whig.  He  was  born  on  the  24th  of  September,  1784.  His  father 
was  Colonel  Richard  Taylor,  an  officer  of  the  Revolution.  In  1785  the  family  removed  to 
Kentucky  which  was  at  that  time  the  western  extension  of  the  Old  Dominion.  Young  Taylor 
distinguished  himself  in  the  war  of  181 2.  He  won  honors  in  the  northwest,  particularl}-  in 
the  defence  of  Fort  Harrison  against  the  Indians.  His  services  were  conspicuous  in  the  war 
with  the  Seminoles.  His  renown  became  great  in  our  conflict  with  Mexico.  In  that 
struggle  he  outshined  General  Scott,  and  his  popularity  made  easy  his  way  to  the  Presidency. 
His  reputation  was  military,  his  fame  enviable,  his  character  above  reproach.  His  adminis- 
tration began  with  a  renewal  of  the  question  about  .slaven,-  in  the  Territories.  California, 
the  Eldorado  of  the  West,  was  the  origin  of  the  dispute  wliicli  now  broke  out  with  increased 
and  increasing  violence. 

SLAVERY  QUESTION    AGAIN  AGITATED. 

President  Taylor  in  his  first  message  to  Congress  expressed  his  sympathy  with  the  Cali- 
fomians  and  advised  them  to  frame  a  constitution  preparatory  to  admission  into  the  Union. 
The  people  of  California  caught  eagerly  at  the  suggestion  and  a  convention  of  delegates 
was  held  at  Slonterey  in  September  of  1849,  only  eighteen  months  after  the  treaty  of  Guada- 
lupe. A  constitution  was  formed  />roA id///;/ ir  slavery  and  was  adopted  with  little  opposition 
by  the  people.  Peter  H.  Burnett  was  elected  governor.  Members  of  a  General  Assembly 
were  chosen  and  on  the  20th  of  December,  1S49,  the  new  government  was  organized  at  San 
Jose.  A  petition  in  the  usual  form  was  forwarded  to  Congress  asking  for  the  admission  ©f 
California  as  a  State. 

Now  were  the  scenes  attendant  upon  the  admission  of  Missouri  reenacted  in  the  Con- 
gressional halls;  but  the  parts  were  reversed.  As  in  that  great  debate,  the  Representatives 
and  Senators  were  sectionally  divided.  The  proposition  to  admit  California  was  supported 
by  Northern  Congressmen  and  opposed  by  those  of  the  Soutli.  Tiie  ground  of  such  oppo- 
sition was  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  line  in  its  extension  to  the  Pacific  crossed  Cali- 
fornia, whereby  a  part  of  the  proposed  State  was  opened  to  the  institution  of  slavery — this 
by  an  act  of  Congress  which  no  Territorial  Legislature  could  abrogate.  The  Southern  Rep- 
resentatives for  the  most  part  claimed  that  California  ought  to  be  rejected  until  the  restric- 
tion on  slavery-  should  be  removed.  The  reply  of  the  Northern  Representatives  was  more 
moral,  but  less  logical.  They  said  that  the  arguments  of  the  opponents  of  the  bill  for 
admission  could  apply  to  only  a />^;V  of  California;  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  had  respect 
only  to  the  I^ouisiana  purchase  and  that  California  could  not  properly  be  regarded  as  a  part 
of  that  purchase;  that  the  people  of  the  proposed  State  had  in  any  event  framed  their  con- 
stitution to  suit  themselves.  Such  was  the  issue.  The  debates  became  violent,  even  to 
the  extent  of  endangering  the  stability  of  the  Union. 


618 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  iUustrious  Henry  Clay  appeared  for  the  last  time  as  a 
conspicuous  figure  in  the  councils  of  his  countr>-.  He  came,  as  he  had  come  before,  in  the 
character  of  a  peacemaker.  His  known  predilection  for  compromise  was  once  more  mani- 
fested in  full  force.  In  the  spring  of  1850,  while  the  questions  referred  to  were  under  hot 
discussion  in  Congress,  Clay  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  committee  of  thirteen  to  whom 
all  matters  under  discussion  were  referred.  On  the  9th  of  May,  in  that  year,  he  reported 
to  Congress  the  celebrated  Omnibus  Bill,  covering  most  of  the  points  in  dispute.  The  pro- 
visions of  this  celebrated  measure  were  as  follows  :  First^  the  admission  of  California  as  a 
free  State  under  the  constitution  already  adopted  ;  second^  the  formation  of  new  States  not 


exceeding  four  in  number  out  of  the  territory  of  Texas,  said  States  to  permit  or  exclude 
slavery  as  the  people  thereof  should  determine  ;  third,  the  organization  of  territorial  go\-em- 
ments  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah  without  conditions  on  the  question  of  slaver}-  ;  fourth,  the 
establishment  of  the  present  boundary  line  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico  and  the  pay- 
ment to  Texas  for  surrendering  New  Mexico  the  sum  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  from  the 
national  treasury'  ;  Jifth,  the  enactment  of  a  more  vigorous  law  for  the  recover}'  of  fugitive 
slaves  ;  sixth,  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  report  of  the  Omnibus  Bill  precipitated  a  new  debate  in  Congress  which  seemed 
likely  to  be  interminable.  In  the  midst  of  the  discussion  President  Taylor  fell  sick  and 
died  on  the  9th  day  of  July,  1850.  Vice-President  Fillmore  at  once  took  the  oath  of  office 
and  formed  a  new  cabinet,  with  Daniel  Webster  as  Secretary  of  State. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
THE  SIXTH  DECADE. 


'ITH  the  beginninjj  of  Fillmore's  administration  we 
enter  upon  a  peculiar  period  in  American  histor}-. 
It  was  the  epoch  during  which  public  opinion  was 
gradually  transformed  from  the  support  of  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery  and  the  condition  of  society  in 
which  slavery'  had  its  ground  and  root  to  another 
and  more  progressive  and  enlightened  phase  of  pro- 
gress and  national  moralitj-.  The  period  in  question 
corresponded  in  time  with  the  sixth  decade  of  our 
centur}-.  It  covered  the  administrations  of  Fillmore, 
Pierce  and  Buchanan.  Its  opening  was  marked  by 
the  passage  of  the  Omnibus  Bill.  The  discussion  of 
this  great  and  complex  measure  continued  to  the 
.,   -  ^.     '  1 8th    of    September,    when    the    last    clause    was 

adopted  and  the  whole  received  the  sanction  of  the  President. 

This  bill  was  sustained  and  carried  through  Congress  by  the  eloquence  and  persistency 
of  Henr}-  Clay.  After  the  adoption  of  the  bill  the  excitement  of  the  countr>-  rapidly 
abated  and  it  seemed  for  the  day  that  the  distracting  controversy  was  at  an  end.  The 
peaceful  condition,  however,  was  only  superficial.  The  deep-seated  cause  of  the  evil 
remained  as  before.  The  institution  of  slavery  still  existed  and  was  destined  in  spite  of 
all  compromise  still  to  disturb  the  hannony  of  American  society  until  it  should  be  cut  from 
the  body  of  our  national  life  with  the  keen  edge  of  the  sword.  For  the  present,  however, 
there  was  quiet.  The  compromise  acts  of  1 850  were  in  the  nature  of  an  anodyne.  They 
were  administered  with  good  intent  and  were  the  last,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  those  tempo- 
rar)-,  pacific  measures  which  originated  in  the  patriotism  and  hopeful  spirit  of  Henr>-  Clay. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  bade  adieu  to  the  Senate  and  sought  at  his  beloved  Ashland  a  brief 
rest  from  the  arduous  cares  of  public  life. 

The  Omnibus  Bill  proved  to  be  a  strictly  political  settlement.  By  it  the  moral  convic- 
tions of  few  men  were  altered  or  amended.  Public  opinion  took  its  own  course  as  it 
always  does  despite  the  pimy  efforts  of  the  men  who  sometimes  vainly  imagine  that  they 
make  human  liiston.-.  In  the  North  there  appeared  a  general  indefinite  and  growing  hos- 
tility to  slavery-;  in  the  south,  a  fixed  and  resolute  ptirpose  to  defend  and  extend  that 
institution.  > 

To  the  -Whig  President  whose  party  was  in  the  ascendant  in  most  of  the  Free  States, 
the  measure  was  fatal.  Although  the  members  of  his  cabinet  advised  him  to  sign  the 
bill,  the  Whigs  were  at  heart  strongly  opposed  to  more  than  one  of  its  provisions.  The 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  grated  harshly  on  the  awakening  conscience  of  many  of  the  best  men 
of  the  epoch.  When  the  President  signed  the  bill  they  turned  coldly  from  him.  Tliough 
his  administration  in  other  respects  was  one  of  the  ablest,  most  enlightened  and  progressive 

(619) 


620  COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 

known  in  our  historj-,  his  dalliance  with  the  institution  of  slavery,  however  necessan,-  such 
a  course  might  have  appeared  to  be,  was  not  forgiven.  Two  years  afterwards  in  the  Whig 
national  convention  of  1852,  although  the  policy  of  the  President,  with  the  usual  political 
hypocrisy  was  indorsed  and  approved  by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  against 
sixty,  not  twentv  votes  could  be  obtained  in  all  the  Northern  States  for  the  renomination 
of  Fillmore!  Thus  do  political  parties  punish  their  leaders  for  hesitating  to  espouse  a 
principle  which  the  parties  themselves  are  afraid  to  avow! 

FILIBUSTERS  IN  CUBA. 

To  this  period  belongs  the  story  of  the  attempt  made  by  a  few  lawless  American 
adventurers  to  gain  possession  of  the  island  of  Cuba.  Rumors  of  Cuban  discontent  had 
reached  the  United  States,  and  it  was  believed  by  the  insiirrectionists  that  the  Cubans  were 
readv  to  throw  oiT  the  Spanish  yoke  and  to  appeal  to  the  United  States  for  annexation.  In 
order  to  further  a  rebellion  against  Spain,  General  Narciso  Lopez,  a  Spanish- American 
soldier,  fitted  out  an  expedition  in  the  Southern  States  and  on  the  19th  of  May,  1850, 
landed  with  a  considerable  body  of  followers  at  Cardenas,  a  port  in  Cuba. 

No  uprising  followed  the  adventure.  Neither  the  Cubans  nor  the  Spanish  soldiers  in 
the  island  joined  Lopez's  standard  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Florida.  Not  satisfied 
with  this  experience,  he  renewed  the  attempt  in  the  following  year  and  invaded  Cuba  with 
four  hundred  and  eighty  men.  The  force,  however,  was  attacked,  defeated,  captured  and 
the  ringleaders  were  taken  to  Havana,  tried,  condemned  and  executed. 

President  Fillmore  in  his  first  annual  message  recommended  to  the  consideration  of 
Congress  many  important  measures.  Among  these  were  the  following:  A  cheap  and 
uniform  postage;  the  establishment,  in  connection  with  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  of 
a  Bureau  of  Agriculture;  liberal  appropriations  for  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors; 
the  building  of  a  national  asylum  for  disabled  and  destitute  seamen;  a  permanent  tarifi", 
with  specific  duties  on  imports,  and  discrimination  in  favor  of  American  manufactures  ;  the 
opening  of  communication  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific  coast;  a  settlement  of 
the  land-difficulties  in  California;  an  act  for  the  retirement  of  supernumerar}-  officers  of  the 
army  and  navv;  and  a  board  of  commissioners  to  adjust  the  claims  of  private  citizens 
against  the  government  of  the  United  States.  Perhaps  no  other  series  of  recommendations 
so  statesmanlike  and  unpartisan  has  ever  been  made  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
Onlv  (zc'o  of  the  recommendations,  however — the  asylum  for  sailors  and  the  settlement  of 
the  land-claims  in  California — were  carried  into  effect.  The  Whigs  of  the  President's  party 
were  in  a  minority  in  Congress,  and  the  majority  refused  or  neglected  to  approve  these 
measures. 

A  difficult}'  now  arose  with  Great  Britain  relative  to  the  coast-fisheries  of  Newfoundland. 
These  belonged  exclusively  to  England;  but  outside  of  a  line  drawn  at  the  distance  of  a 
marine  league  from  the  shore  American  fishermen  had  certain  rights  and  privileges.  In 
course  of  time  a  contention  sprang  up  between  the  fishermen  of  the  two  nationalities  about 
the  location  of  the  line.  Should  the  same  be  drawn  from  headland  to  headland,  thus 
including  bays  and  inlets  ?  Or  should  the  line  be  made  to  conform  to  the  irregularities  of 
the  coast?  The  latter  construction  was  favorable  to  American  interests;  the  fonner,  to 
those  of  Great  Britain.  The  quarrel  grew  so  hot  that  both  nations  sent  men-of-war  into  the 
disputed  waters.  The  difficulty  extended  from  1852  to  1854,  and  it  frequently  seemed  that 
hostilities  were  imminent.  Reason,  however,  triumphed  over  passion,  and  the  difficulty 
was  settled  by  negotiation  in  a  manner  favorable  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  tiiil 

THE  HUNGARIAN   PATRIOT,  AND  NORTH   PCtt   EXPEDITIONS. 

In  the  summer  of  i^>52,  L<->ui.s  Ko.ssulli,  tlie  celebrated  Huiij^ariaii  patriot,  made  a  tour 
of  the  United  States,  and  was  received  with  eutliusiastic  admiration.  He  came  as  the 
representative  of  the  lost  cause  of  Hungary  in  her  stniggle  against  Austria  and  Russia.  He 
sought  such  aid  as  might  be  privately  given  to  him  by  those  favorable  to  Hungarian  liberty. 
His  mission  in  this  respect  was  highly  successful;  the  long-established  policy  of  the  United 
States  forbade  the  government  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  Hungary,  but  the  people  in  their 
private  capacity  gave  to  the  cause  of  freedom  in  that  land  abundant  contributions. 

To  the  same  period  in  our  history  belong  the  first  efforts  of  explorers  to  penetrate  the 
regions  about  the  North  Pole.  Systematic  efforts  were  now  made  to  enter  and  explore  the 
Arctic  ocean.  As  early  as  1845  Sir  John  Franklin,  one  of  the  bravest  of  English  seamen, 
sailed  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  to  the  extreme  north.  He  believed  in  the  possibility  of  an 
open  polar  sea  and  of  a  passage  through  the  same  into  the  Pacific.  Franklin  made  his  way 
to  a  great  distance  in  the  direction  of  his  delusive  hopes,  but  the  extent  of  his  success  was 
never  ascertained.  Years  passed,  and  no  tidings  came  from  the  daring  sailor.  It  was  only 
known  that  he  had  passed  the  country-  of  the  Esquimau.x. 

Following  in  the  wake  of  the  Franklin  expedition,  others  went,  first  of  all  in  search  of 
Franklin  himself,  and  after  that  to  explore  the  Arctic  regions.  Hent}-  Grinnell,  a  wealthy 
merchant  of  New  York,  fitted  out  several  vessels  at  his  own  expense,  put  them  under  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant  De  Haven,  and  sent  them  to  the  north;  but  in  vain.  The  govern- 
ment came  to  the  rescue.  In  1853  an  Arctic  squadron  was  equipped,  and  the  command 
given  to  Dr.  Elisha  Kent  Kane;  but  this  expedition  also,  though  fruitful  in  scientific 
results,  returned  without  discovering  Franklin. 

The  necrology  of  this  epoch  included,  first  of  all,  the  great  name  of  John  C.  Calhoun, 
of  South  Carolina.  The  distinguished  Senator  passed  away  on  the  31st  of  March,  1850. 
His  death  was  much  lamented,  especially  in  his  own  State,  to  whose  interests  and  rights,  as 
he  understood  them,  he  had  devoted  the  energies  of  his  life.  His  earnestness  and  zeal  and 
powers  of  debate  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  American  orators.  As  a  statesman,  how- 
ever, he  was  wedded  to  the  destnictive  theory  of  State  rights.  The  advocacy  of  this 
doctrine  against  the  supremacy  of  Congress  and  the  nation  has  placed  him  on  a  lower  level 
than  that  of  his  great  contemporaries  Webster  and  Clay.  At  the  age  of  sixty-eight  he  fell 
from  his  place  like  a  scarred  oak  of  the  forest,  never  to  rise  again.  Then  followed  the 
death  of  President  Taylor,  already  mentioned.  On  the  28tli  of  June,  1852,  Henrj-  Clay, 
having  fought  his  last  battle,  sank  to  rest.  On  the  24th  of  the  following  October  the  illus- 
trious Daniel  Webster  died  at  his  home  at  Marshfield,  Massachusetts.  The  place  of  Secre- 
tar\"  of  State  made  vacant  by  his  death  was  conferred  on  the  scholarly  Edward  Everett. 

The  ridiculous  attempt  of  Ivopez  to  start  a  revolution  in  Cuba,  though  the  movement 
was  totally  disavowed  by  the  United  States  and  the  officer  at  New  Orleans  dismissed  who 
had  pennitted  the  expedition  to  escape  from  that  port,  created  much  excitement  in  Europe. 
The  governments  of  Great  Britain  and  France  blustered,  affecting  to  believe  that  the  covert 
aim  and  purpose  of  the  United  States  was  to  acquire  Cuba  by  conquest — that  our  govern- 
ment was  really  behind  the  absurd  fiasco  of  Lopez.  .Acting  upon  this  theory  the  British 
and  French  Ministers  at  Washington  proposed  to  the  government  to  enter  into  a  Tripartite 
Treaty^  so-called,  in  which  each  of  the  contracting  nations  was  to  disclaim  forever  all  inten- 
tion of  gaining  possession  of  Cuba. 

EVERETT'S    REPLY   TO   ENGLAND. 

To  this  proposal  Mr.  Everett  replied  in  one  of  the  ablest  papers  ever  issued  from  the 
American  Department  of  State.-     He  informed  Great  Britain  and  France  that  the  annexation 


622  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

of  Cuba  was  foreign  to  the  policy  of  his  government;  that  the  project  was  regarded  by  the 
United  States  as  a  measure  both  hazardous  and  impolitic;  that  entire  good  faith  would  be 
kept  with  Spain  and  with  all  nations;  but  that  the  Federal  government  did  not  recognize  in 
any  European  power  the  right  to  interfere  in  affairs  purely  American,  and  that  any  such 
interference  with  the  principle  and  doctrine  set  forth  by  President  Monroe  would  be 
reo-arded  as  an  affront  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States.  Such  were  the  last  matters 
of  importance  connected  with  the  administration  of  President  Fillmore.  It  is  proper  to  say 
that  had  his  policies  and  measures  been  cordially  approved  and  seconded  by  the  political 
leaders  who  controlled  Congress  the  administration  would  have  passed  into  historj'  as  the 
most  salutary  since  the  beginning  of  the  century. 

It  had  now  come  to  pass,  however,  that  political  parties  existed  for  themselves,  for 
their  own  perpetuation  in  power  and  for  the  purpose  of  using  the  government  of  the  United 
States  for  the  ulterior  purposes  of  partisan  advantage.  The  time  arrived  for  another  presi- 
dential election,  and  Franklin  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  put  forward  as  the  candidate 
of  the  Democratic  party.  General  Winfield  Scott  was  selected  as  the  standard-bearer  of  the 
Whio-s.  The  political  aspect  was  wholly  ridiculous.  The  only  issue  which  could  be  found 
or  invented  seemed  to  be  that  involved  in  upholding  the  Compromise  Acts  of  1850.  .  Both 
parties,  strangely  enough,  instead  of  dividing  on  that  issue,  were  for  once  agreed  as  to  the 
wisdom  and  justice  of  the  measure.  Both  the  Whig  and  Democratic  platforms  stoutly 
reaffirmed  the  principles  of  the  Omnibus  Bill,  by  which  the  dissensions  of  the  country  had 
for  the  time  been  quieted. 

The  philosophic  eye  may  discover  in  this  political  unanimity  of  1852  the  exact  con- 
ditions of  a  universal  revolt  against  the  principles  so  stoutly  affirmed.  Certain  it  is  that 
when  the  two  political  parties  in  any  modern  nation  agree  to  maintain  a  given  theory  and 
fact  that  theory  and  fact  are  destined  to  speedy  overthrow.  The  greater  the  unanimity 
the  more  certain  the  revolution.  It  was  so  in  the  present  instance.  Although  the  Whigs 
and  Democrats  agreed  as  to  the  righteousness  of  the  Omnibus  Bill,  a  third  party  arose, 
whose  members,  whether  Whigs  or  Democrats,  doubted  and  denied  the  wisdom  of  the  com- 
promise of  1850,  and  declared  that  all  the  Territories  of  the  United  States  ought  to  be  free. 
John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  put  forward  as  the  candidate  of  this  Free  Soil  party, 
and  the  largeness  of  his  vote  showed  unmistakably  the  approach  of  the  coming  storm. 
Pierce,  however,  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority,  with  William  R.  King,  of  Alabama, 
for  Vice-President. 

The  new  chief  executive  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege, a  lawyer  by  profession,  a  politician,  a  general  of  the  Mexican  war,  a  statesman  of 
considerable  ability.  Mr.  King,  the  Vice-President,  had  for  a  long  time  represented 
Alabama  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  but  his  health  was  broken  and  he  was  sojourn- 
ing in  Cuba  at  the  time  of  the  inai:guration.  There  he  received  the  oath  of  office  and 
hopes  were  entertained  of  his  recovery^;  but  he  grew  more  feeble  and  presently  returned  to 
his  own  State  where  he  expired  on  the  i8th  of  April,  1853.  At  the  head  of  the  new  cabi- 
net was  placed  William  L.  Marcy,  of  New  York,  as  Secretars-  of  State. 

PACIFIC   RAILWAY  PROJECT,   AND  OPENING  THE   PORTS  OF  JAPAN. 

Now  it  was  that  the  question  of  the  Pacific  Railway  was  first  agitated.  As  early  as  thfc 
summer  of  1853  a  corps  of  engineers  was  sent  out  by  the  government  to  explore  a  suitable 
route.  At  first  the  enterprise  was  regarded  as  visionarj',  but  the  intelligent  minority  clearly 
discerned  the  feasibility  and  future  success  of  the  enterprise.      It  was  at  this   time  that  the 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA.  (523 

disputed  boundary  between  New  Mexico  and  the  Mexican  province  of  Chihuahua  was  satis- 
factorily settled.  The  maps  on  which  tlie  former  treaties  with  Mexico  had  been  based  were 
found  to  be  erroneous.  Santa  Anna,  wlio  had  again  become  President  of  the  Mexican  Repub- 
lic, attempted  to  take  advantage  of  the  error  and  sent  an  anny  to  occupy  the  territory  between 
the  true  and  the  false  boundary.  This  action  was  resisted  by  New  Mexico  and  the  national 
authorities  and  for  a  time  a  second  war  with  the  Mexican  Republic  seemed  imminent  The 
difficulty,  however,  was  adjusted  by  the  purchase  of  the  doubtful  claim  of  New  Mexico. 
This  transaction,  known  as  the  Gadsden  Purchase,  led  to  the  organization  of  the  new  Terri- 
tory- of  Arizona. 

The  year  1853  was  memorable  for  the  opening  of  intercourse  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Empire  of  Japan.  Hitherto  the  Oriental  policy  had  prevailed  with  the  Japanese 
government  and  the  ports  of  the  countr}-  had  been  closed  against  the  vessels  of  Christian 
nations.  In  order  to  remove  this  foolish  and  injurious  restriction  Commodore  Perr\-,  the 
son  of  Oliver  H.  Perr)-,  of  the  war  of  181 2,  sailed  with  his  squadron  into  the  Bay  of  Yeddo. 
Being  warned  to  depart  he  explained  to  the  Japanese  officers  the  desire  of  the  United  States 
to  enter  into  a  commercial  treaty  with  the  Emperor.  There  was  much  delay  and  hesitancy 
on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  government,  but  consent  was  at  length  obtained  and  Commodore 
Perry- was  admitted  to  an  inter\-iew  with  the  Emperor.  On  the  14th  of  July,  1S53,  the 
American  officer  presented  to  the  monarch  a  letter  from  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
For  a  while  the  old  distrust  prevailed;  btit  in  the  spring  of  1854  a  treat)'  was  effected  bv  the 
terms  of  which  the  privileges  of  commerce  were  conceded  to  American  vessels  and  two  ports 
of  entr\-  were  designated  for  their  use. 

While  these  events  were  happening  in  the  Orient  the  second  World's  Fair  was  opened 
in  the  Crystal  Palace  at  New  York  City.  The  sixth  decade  marked  the  beginning  of  the 
era  of  international  expositions.  The  American  Crystal  Palace  was  a  mar\'el  in  architec- 
ture, being  built-  exclusively  of  iron  and  glass.  Thousands  of  specimens  of  the  arts  and 
manufactures  of  all  civilized  nations  were  put  on  exhibition  within  the  spacious  building. 
The  enterprise  and  inventive  genius  of  the  American  people  were  quickened  into  new  life 
by  the  display,  and  an  impetus  was  given  to  artistic  and  manufacturing  industries.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that  international  expositions  are  among  the  happiest  fruits  of  an  enlight- 
ened age. 

WALKER'S   EXPEDITION  TO   NICARAGUA. 

The  spirit  of  filibu-stering  now  reappeared  in  General  William  Walker  and  his  invasion 
of  Central  America.  This  audacious  adventurer  undertook  his  enterprise  in  1853. 
He  made  California  his  base  of  operations,  and  first  conducted  a  band  of  lawless  men 
against  La  Paz,  in  old  California.  In  the  following  year  he  led  an  expedition  into  the 
State  of  Sonora,  where  he  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner.  He  was  subjected  to  a 
trial  at  San  Francisco,  but  was  acquitted.  Soon  afterwards  he  raised  another  company 
and  proceeded  to  Central  America.  There  he  was  joined  by  a  regiment  of  insurgents,  with 
whose  aid  he  fought  and  gained  a  battle  at  Rivas,  on  the  29th  of  June,  1S55.  In  another 
conflict  at  \'irgin  Bay  he  was  again  victorious.  He  rose  to  influence,  gained  the  upper 
hand  and  was  presently  elected  President  of  Nicaragua. 

Then  came  a  change  in  his  fortunes.  A  coiniter  rebellion  broke  out,  and  the  enemies 
of  Walker  were  encouraged  and  a.'^sisted  by  the  Vanderbilt  Steamship  Company  of  the 
United  States.  He  was  soon  overthrown,  and  on  May  ist,  1857,  was  again  made  prisoner. 
Securing  his  release  he  returned  to  New  Orleans  and  organized  a  third  force,  made  up  of 
men  who  had   ever>thing  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose.      Returning  to  Nicaragua,  fortune 


624  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

went  against  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  surrender  to  Commodore  Paulding  of  the  United 
States  navy.  Taken  to  New  York,  he  managed  to  regain  his  liberty,  gathered  another 
company  about  him,  and  in  June  of  i860  reached  Central  America  for  the  third  time. 
With  his  army  he  made  a  descent  on  Truxilo,  Honduras  ;  but  the  President  of  the  State, 
assisted  by  a  British  man-of-war,  overi^owered  and  captured  nearly  the  whole  band.  On 
the  3d  of  September  Walker  was  brought  to  trial  and  condemned  to  be  shot.  The  courage 
'with  which  he  met  his  fate  has  half  redeemed  his  forfeited  fame,  and  left  aftertimes  in 
doubt  whether  he  shall  be  called  fanatic  or  hero.  * 

At  this  period  occurred  the  celebrated  international  episode  known  as  the  Martin  Koszta 
affair.  Martin  Koszta  had  been  a  leader  in  the  Hungarian  rebellion  of  1849.  When  that 
insurrection  was  suppressed  he  fled  to  Turkey,  whence  he  was  demanded  as  a  traitor  by  the 
Austrian  government.  Turkey  refused  to  render  up  the  fugitive,  but  agreed  that  he  might 
go  for  refuge  to  some  foreign  land  never  to  return.  Koszta  chose  the  United  States,  came 
hither  and  took  out  his  papers  of  intention,  but  not  papers  of  completed  naturalization.  In 
1 854,  contrary  to  his  former  promise,  he  returned  to  Smyrna,  where  he  received  a  passport 
from  the  American  consul  and  went  ashore. 

The  Austrian  consul  at  Smyrna,  having  no  power  to  arrest  Koszta  on  shore,  instigated 

some  bandits  to  seize  him  and  throw  him  into  the  waters  of  the  bay  ;  there  a  boat  which 

lay  in  wait  picked  him   up  and  put  him   on  board  an  Austrian   frigate.     The  American 

officials  immediately  demanded  the  release  of  Koszta,  and  the  captain  of  the  sloop  St.  Loins 

loaded  his  guns,  pointed  them  at  the  Austrian  vessel,  and  was  about  to  make  qviick  work, 

when  it  was  agreed  by  all  parties  that  the  prisoner  should  be  put  in  charge  of  the  French 

government  until  his  nationality  should  be  authoritatively  decided .     Then  began  a  long  and 

complicated   international   correspondence,   in   which   the   American   Secretary'  of  State, 

William  L.  Marcy,  prevailed  in  argument,  and  Koszta  was  remanded  to  the  United  States. 

Of  so  much  importance  is  the  life  of  one  man  when  it  involves  the  great  question  of  human 

rights. 

QUESTION  OF  ANNEXING  CUBA. 

After  the  descent  of  Lopez  upon  Cuba  the  relations  of  the  United  States  and  Spain 
were  strained  for  a  season.  President  Pierce  entertained  the  belief  that  on  account  of  the 
financial  embarrassments  of  the  Spanish  government  Cuba  might  now  be  peaceably  pur- 
chased and  annexed  to  the  United  States.  The  purpose  of  gaining  Cuba  had  been  covertly 
entertained  by  several  Democratic  Presidents — this,  with  the  ulterior  design  of  extending 
the  slave  territory  of  the  United  States.  The  desire  to  purchase  Cuba  was  one  of  those 
devices  by  which  it  was  hoped  to  keep  up  the  equipoise  of  the  South  and  of  the  system  of 
slave  labor  on  the  one  side,  as  against  the  growing  North  and  the  system  of  free  labor  on 
the  other. 

The  pending  question  was  submitted  to  a  commission  having  for  its  chairman  James 
Buchanan,  of  Pennsylvania.  A  convention  of  ambassadors  from  the  various  governments 
interested  was  held  at  Ostend  and  an  important  instrument  was  there  drawn  up,  chiefl)'  by 
Mr.  Buchanan,  known  as  the  Ostend  manifesto.  The  document  was  devoted  for  the  most 
part  to  a  statement  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  the  annexation  of  Cuba  to  the  United 
States  by  purchase.  Nothing,  however,  of  practical  importance  resulted  from  the  confer- 
ence or  the  manifesto.  The  logic  of  events  was  against  the  purchase  and  the  question  was 
allowed  to  lapse. 

*  The  poet  Joaquin  Miller,  claiming  to  have  been  a  member  of  Walker's  band  in  the  first  invasion  of  Central 
America,  has  affectionately  embalmed  the  memory  of  his  brave  leader  in  a  poem,  "  With  Walker  in  Nicaragua," 
which  might  well  conciliate  the  good  opinion  of  posterity. 


COLUMIU'S   AND   COLI'MBIA.  025 

iNow  had  come,  under  the  forward  movement  of  civilization,  the  time  and  necessity  for 
the  territorial  organization  of  the  great  domains  lying  west  of  Minnesota,  Iowa  and  Mis- 
souri. Already  into  those  vast  regions  the  tides  of  emigration  were  pouring  and  a  govern- 
ment of  some  kind  was  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  ever-increasing  frontier  com- 
munities. One  must  needs  see  in  the  retrospect  the  inevitable  renewal  under  these  condi- 
tions of  the  slavery  question  as  the  most  important  issue  which  was  likely  to  affect  the  crea- 
tion of  new  Territories  and  new  States. 

It  was  in  January  of  1854  that  the  real  agitation  began.  In  that  year  Senator  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois,  introduced  into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  a  proposition  to 
organize  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  In  the  bill  reported  for  this  purpose  the 
author  inserted  a  clause  providing  that  the  people  of  the  two  Territories  in  forming  their 
constitutions  should  decide  for  themselves  whether  the  new  States  should  be  free  or  slave- 
holding.  Should  this  clause  obtain,  it  would  constitute  a  virtual  repeal  of  the  ^Missouri 
Compromise,  for  both  of  the  new  Territories  lay  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty-si.\  degrees 
and  thirty  minutes,  above  which  line  it  had  been  provided  in  the  Missouri  compact  that 
slavery  or  invohnitan.-  ser\itude  should  not  exist. 

The  ulterior  motive  of  Senator  Douglas  in  thus  opening  anew  a  question  which  had 
been  settled  with  so  great  difficulty  thirty-three  years  before  cannot  well  be  ascertained. 
The  friends  of  that  statesman  have  claimed  that  his  action  was  based  on  the  theory  that  all 
the  Territories  of  the  Union  should,  as  an  abstract  and  general  proposition,  be  left  entirely 
free  to  decide  their  domestic  institutions  for  themselves.  The  opponents  of  Douglas  held 
that  his  object  was  covertly  to  open  in  this  manner  the  vast  domain  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  to  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  by  this  policy  he  hoped  to  .secure  the  everlast- 
ing gratitude  of  the  South.  To  that  section  it  was  alleged  that  he  looked  in  his  aspirations 
for  the  Presidency.  However  this  may  be,  the  result  of  his  measure  in  the  Senate  was  inevi- 
table.     The  old  settlement  of  the  slaver\-  question  was  suddenly  undone. 

EFFORTS  TO   EXTEND  SLAVERY   LEAD  TO    BORDER    WARFARE. 

With  the  introduction  of  the  so-called  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  violent  debates  began  in 
Congress  and  continued  from  January  to  May  of  1854.  All  the  bitter  sectional  antagonisms 
of  the  past  were  aroused  in  full  force.  It  was  as  though  a  literal  Pandora's  Box  had  been 
opened  in  the  halls  of  government.  The  bill  was  violenth'  opposed  by  a  majority  of  the 
Northern  and  Eastern  representatives;  but  the  minority  from  the  North  and  East,  combin- 
ing with  the  Congressmen  of  the  South,  enabled  Douglas  to  carry  his  measure  through 
Congress,  and  in  May  the  bill  was  pa.ssed  and  received  the  sanction  of  the  President. 

With  this  act  the  struggle  which  had  been  waged  in  Congress  had  been  transferred  to 
Kansas.  Should  the  new  State  admit  slavery  or  exclude  it?  The  decision  of  the  question 
now  lay  with  the  people  or  so-called  squatters  of  the  Territory.  Douglas's  theor\-  was 
named  Squatter  Sovereignty,  and  the  opposite  view  National  Sovereignty.  Free-State 
men  and  Slave-State  men  both  made  a  rush  for  the  Territor>-.  Both  parties  were  backed 
by  strong  factions  throughout  the  Union.  Kansas  was  soon  filled  with  an  agitated  mass 
of  people  thousands  of  whom  had  been  sent  thither  to  vote.  The  Free-State  parti.sans 
gained  the  advantage  in  immigration;  but  this  was  counterbalanced  by  the  proximit>-  of 
the  great  slave  State  of  Mis.souri.  With  only  a  modest  river  between  her  western  borders 
and  the  plains  of  Kansas  she  might  easily  discharge  into  the  Territory  a  large  part  of 
her  floating  population,  to  be  remanded  whenever  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  sent  across 
the  boundary  had  been  subser\"ed. 
40 


626  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  Territorial  election  of  November,  1854,  resulted  in  the  choice  of  a  pro-slavery 
delegate  to  Congress.  In  the  general  election  of  the  following  year,  the  same  party  was 
triumphant.  A  pro-slavery  State  legislature  chosen  at  this  time  assembled  at  the  town  of 
L,ecompton,  organized  a  government  and  framed  a  constitution  permitting  slavery.  The 
Free-Soil  party,  however,  declared  the  general  election  invalid  on  account  of  the  large 
imported  vote  from  Missouri  and  other  frauds.  A  Free-State  convention  was  held  at  Topeka, 
and  a  constitution  adopted  excluding  slavery.  The  rival  governments  were  organized,  and 
civil  war  broke  out  between  the  two  factions. 

For  about  a  year  (1855-56)  the  Territory  was  the  scene  of  turmoil  and  violence.  In 
September,  1855,  the  President  appointed  John  W.  Geary,  of  Pennsylvania,  military  gov- 
ernor of  Kansas,  with  full  powers  to  restore  order  and  punish  lawlessness.  On  his  arrival, 
warlike  demonstrations  ceased,  and  the  hostile  parties  were  dispersed.  By  this  time,  how- 
ever, the  agitation  having  its  centre  in  the  afflicted  Territory  spread  to  all  parts  of  the 
Union.  Out  of  this  complex  and  stonny  condition  of  affairs  the  political  issues  were 
evolved  for  the  presidential  election  of  1856. 

BITTER  CAMPAIGN  OF  1856. 

James  Buchanan,  of  Pennsylvania,  appeared  as  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party. 
As  for  the  Whig  party,  that  was  in  a  state  of  dissolution.  The  greater  part  had  espoused 
the  cause  of  Free  Kansas.  Clearly  and  distinctly  these  partisans  put  forward  their  doctrine 
of  unequivocal  opposition  to  slaver)'  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States.  They  nomi- 
nated as  the  candidate  of  the  new  People's,  or  Republican  party,  John  Charles  Fremont,  of 
California,  known  popularly  as  the  "  Pathfinder  of  the  Rockies."  Meanwhile  a  considerable 
part  of  the  Whigs  and  many  Democrats,  anxious  to  avoid  or  ignore  the  question  of  slavery 
fonned  themselves  into  a  secret  organization  which  became  a  political  party  under  the  name 
of  the  Know-Nothings.  *  The  Democratic  doctrine  was  the  support  of  the  principles  of  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  or  what  was  known  as  Squatter  or  Popular  Sovereignty.  The 
Republicans  boldly  announced  opposition  to  slavery  in  the  Territories  as  their  fundamental 
doctrine.  The  Know-Nothing  party  set  up  its  banner  inscribed  with  opposition  to  foreign 
influence  in  the  United  States.  The  latter  movement  at  one  time  became  formidable,  and 
several  of  the  Northern  States  were  cleaily  carried  by  the  Know-Nothings  in  the  elections  of 
1854-55.  As  the  candidate  of  this  party,  Millard  Fillmore,  of  New  York,- was  nominated 
for  the  Presidency.  The  election  followed,  and  a  large  majority  decided  in  favor  of 
Buchanan  and  the  Democratic  party.  The  choice  for  Vice- Presidency  fell  on  John  C. 
Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky.  Fremont,  however,  obtained  a  surprisingly  large  vote  in  the 
Northern  States,  and  but  for  the  strong  diversion  made  by  the  Know-Nothings  his  election 
had  been  probable. 

James  Buchanan  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born  on  the  13th  of  April,  1791.  He 
was  the  last  of  American  Presidents  whose  birth  dated  back  to  the  eighteenth  century.  He 
was  educated  for  the  law.  In  his  fortieth  year  he  had  risen  to  sucli  reputation  as  to  be 
appointed  by  President  Jackson  minister  to  St.  Petersburg.  Afterwards  he  was  a  Senator 
of  the  United  States,  and  from  that  position  was  made  Secretary  of  State  iinder  Polk.  In 
1853  he  was  appointed  minister  to  Great  Britain,  and  held  that  position  at  the  time  of  his 
nomination  to  the  Presidency.  On  his  accession  to  office  he  gave  the  position  of  Secretary 
of  State  to  General  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan. 

*  Tbe  origin  of  this  apparently  absurd  name  is  found  in  a  part  of  the  pledge  which  the  members  took  on 
initiation.     The}-  promised  to  knozv  nothing  but  the  Union,  and  to  knozv  noikiiig  but  "  .\merica  for  Americans." 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  627 

THE  DRED  SCOTT  DECISION. 

Jt  was  in  March  of  1S57,  iiuniediately  after  the  begiimiug  of  the  new  administration, 
that  the  celebrated  Dred  Scott  Decision  was  rendered  by  the  Snprenie  Court  of  the  United 
States.  Dred  Scott  was  a  negro  who  had  been  held  as  a  slave  by  a  certain  Dr.  Emerson, 
of  Missouri.  "In  course  of  time  Emersou  removed  first  to  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  and  after- 
wards to  Fort  Snelling,  Minnesota,  taking  Scott  with  him  as  a  slave.  At  the  latter  place 
Scott  and  a  negro  woman  who  had  been  bought  by  Emerson  were  married.  Two  children 
were  born  of  the  marriage  and  tlieu  the  whole  family  were  taken  back  to  St.  Louis  and  sold 
as  slaves.      Dred  Scott  hereupon  brought  suit  for  his  freedom. 

The  cause  was  tried  successively  in  the  Circuit  and  Supreme  Courts  of  ]\Iissouri,  and 
in  May  of  1854  was  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  There  the  matter 
lay  for  about  three  years.  After  the  Democratic  triumph  of  1856,  however,  and  the  acces- 
sion of  Buchanan  a  decision  was  at  once  rendered.  Chief  Justice  Roger  B.  Taney,  speak- 
ing for  the  court,  decided  that  negroes,  whether  free  or  slave,  were  nol  citizens  of  the  United 
States  and  that  they  could  not  become  such  by  any  process  known  to  the  Constitution;  that 
under  the  laws  of  the  United  States  a  negro  could  neither  sue  nor  be  sued  and  that  therefore 
the  court  had  no  jurisdiction  of  Dred  Scott's  cause;  that  the  slave  was  to  be  regarded  simply 
as  a  personal  chattel ;  that  the  Constitution  gave  to  the  slave-holders  the  rights  of  removing 
to  or  through  any  State  or  Territory  with  his  slaves  and  of  returning  at  his  will  with  them 
to  a  State  where  slavery  was  recognized  by  law;  and  that  tlierefore  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise of  1820,  as  well  as  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  was  unconstitutional  and  void. 

In  these  extraordinary.-  opinions — as  sound  legally  as  they  were  profoundlv  immoral — 
six  associate  justices  of  the  Supreme  Bench — Wayne,  Nelson,  Grier,  Daniel,  Campbell  and 
Catron — concurred,  while  two  associates — ^IcLean  and  Curtis — dissented.  The  decision 
gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  nltra-slave-holding  sentiments  of  the  South  and  chimed  in 
agreeably  with  the  doctrine  of  squatter  sovereignty.  In  the  North,  however,  great  excite- 
ment was  produced  and  thousands  of  indignant  comments  and  much  bitter  opposition  were 
provoked  by  the  dictum  of  the  court 

One  of  the  provisions  of  the  Omnibus  Bill  of  1850  related  to  the  organization  of  Utah 
Territory.  That  remote,  transmontane  region  was  occupied  almost  exclusively  by  the  ^lor- 
mons  or  Latter-Day  Saints.  By  their  exile  from  Illinois  and  ^Missouri  they  had  virtually 
escaped  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  and  had  planted  themselves  in  what  thev 
supposed  to  be  an  inaccessible  countn.-.  At  length  an  attempt  was  made  to  extend  the 
American  judicial  system  over  the  Territory.  Thus  far  Brigham  Young,  the  Mormon 
Prophet,  had  as  the  head  of  the  theocracy  governed  as  he  would.  The  communitv  of 
Mormons  was  organized  on  a  plan  very  different  from  that  existing  in  other  Territories  and 
many  u.sages,  especially  polygamy,  had  grown  up  in  Utah  which  were  deemed  repugnant  to 
the  laws  of  the  United  States. 

In  1857  a  Federal  judge  was  .sent  to  preside  in  the  Territory.  He  was  resisted,  insulted 
and  driven  violently  from  the  seat  of  justice.  His  associate  officials  were  in  like  manner 
expelled  from  the  Territory-.  Utah  became  a  scene  of  terror  for  all  officers  of  the  United 
States  and  so-called  "Gentiles."  The  Monnoivs,  however,  claimed  in  justification  of  their 
course  that  the  officers  who  had  been  sent  out  to  govern  them  were  of  so  low  a  character 
as  to  command  no  respect. 

The  government  deemed  this  excuse  insufficient.  Alfred  Cmnming,  Superintendent 
of  Indian  Affiiirs  on  the  upper  Missouri,  was  sent  to  Utah  to  supersede  Brigham  Voting  in 
authority.      Delana  R.  Eckels,  of  Indiana,  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Territory,  and 


628  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

an  army  of  twenty-five  hundred  men  was  sent  to  Utah  to  put  down  lawlessness  by  force. 
The  Mormons  were  charged  with  the  perpetration  of  many  crimes,  committed  generally 
by  an  organized  band  called  Danites  who  were  known  as  the  Avenging  Angels  of  the 
Church.  These  were  accused  of  murdering  a  large  band  of  emigrants  at  a  place  in  southern 
Utah  called  Mountain  Meadows.  The  massacre  was  perpetrated  under  the 'leadership  of 
John  D.  Lee,  who  suffered  the  supreme  penalty  of  the  law  for  his  crime. 

JOHNSTON'S    CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  THE  MORMONS. 

Notwithstanding  the  show  of  force  that  was  made  by  the  military-,  Young  and  the 
Monnon  elders  were  little  disposed  to  yield.  The  antagonism  of  the  people  of  the  Ter- 
ritory was  aroused  to  the  last  pitch.  They  remembered  what  their  fathers  had  suffered  by 
banishment  and  persecution,  and  could  but  regard  this  extension  of  government  authority 
over  them  as  a  renewal  and  aggravation  of  the  former  injustice  and  cruelties  to  which 
they  had  been  subjected.  The  American  army  was  denounced  as  a  horde  of  barbarians. 
In  September  of  1867  the  national  forces  reached  the  Territory,  and  on  the  6th  of  October 
a  band  of  Mormon  rangers  attacked  and  destroyed  most  of  the  supply  trains  of  the  army. 
Winter  came  on,  and  the  Federal  forces,  under  command  of  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  were 
obliged  to  find  quarters  on  Black's  Fork,  near  Fort  Bridges. 

Meanwhile  Thomas  L.  Kane,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  sent  out  by  the  President  with 
conciliatory  letters  to  the  Mormon  authorities.  Kane  went  around  by  way  of  California, 
reached  Utah  in  the  spring  of  1858,  and  soon  succeeded  in  bringing  about  an  understand- 
ing between  Governor  Cumming  and  the  IMormons.  Next  came  Governor  Powell,  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  Major  McCulloch,  of  Texas,  bringing  from  the  President  a  proclamation  of 
pardon  to  all  who  would  siibmit  to  the  national  authority.  The  Mormons  generally 
accepted  the  overtures.  The  army  of  the  United  States  marched  to  Salt  Lake  City,  but 
was  quartered  at  Camp  Floyd,  forty  miles  distant.  Here  the  Federal  forces  remained 
until  order  was  restored,  and  in  May  of  i860,  were  withdrawn  from  the  Territory. 

The  year  1858  became  memorable  in  the  history  of  our  country,  and  indeed  of  all 
nations,  for  the  laying  of  the  first  telegraphic  cable  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  On  the 
5th  of  August  in  this  year  the  great  enterprise  was  .successfully  completed.  The  work  was 
projected  and  brought  to  an  auspicious  end  most  largely  by  the  energy  and  genius  of 
Cyrus  W.  Field,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  New  York  City. 

In  this  year  the  Territory  of  Minnesota  was  organized  and  admitted  into  the  Union. 
The  area  of  the  new  State  was  a  little  more  than  eighty-one  thousand  square  miles,  and  its 
population  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  In  1S59  Oregon,  the  thirty-third  member 
of  the  Union  and  second  of  the  Pacific  States,  was  admitted.  The  new  commonwealth 
brought  a  population  of  forty-eight  thousand  and  an  area  of  eighty  thousand  square  miles. 
It  was  on  the  4th  of  March,  in  this  year,  that  General  Sam  Houston,  of  Texas,  bade  adieu 
to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  and  retired  to  private  life.  His  career  had  been  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  in  American  histor.'.  His  genius  was  undoubted  and  his  character  of 
so  resolute  a  frame  that  in  the  last  years  of  his  life  the  secession  storm  that  prevailed  in 
Texas  could  not  sweep  him  from  his  feet  or  bear  him  away  from  his  devotion  to  the  Union. 

The  year  1859  felt  a  shadow  from  the  death  of  the  illustrious  Washington  Irving  He 
had  gained  a  proud  rank  in  American  letters.  The  powers  of  his  genius  had  been  devoted 
to  the  creation  for  his  native  land  of  a  literary'  rank  among  the  nations.  His  name  had 
become  a  household  word  in  Europe.  He  it  was,  first  of  all,  who  succeeded  in  wringing 
from  the  proscriptive  reviews  of  England  and  Scotland  an  acknowledgment  of  the  power 
and  originality  of  American  genius. 


BOOK     FOURTH 


Epoch  of  War  and   Greatness, 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
ANTECEDENTS  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 


HERE  approach  the  great  tragedy  of  American  historj'. 
We  find  onrselves  in  the  dawn  of  that  epoch  which 
was  destined  to  bring  insurrection,  blood  and  devas- 
tation in  its  train.  Let  us,  in  the  first  place,  note 
with  clearness  some  of  the  antecedents  and  causes 
which  led  to  the  tremendous  conflict  now  impending 
over  the  American  Republic. 

It  was  believed  by  the  pro-slaver>-  party  and  the 
Democratic  administration,  extending  from  1856  to 
i860,  that  the  Dred  Scott  decision — puny,  paper 
manifesto  as  it  was — would  allay  the  troubled  waters 
and  produce  a  perpetual  calm.  On  the  contran,-  that 
,,  _  judicial  edict  came  as  a  torch  among  combustibles. 

<"■'""  Some  of  the  Free  States  proceeded  to  pass  what  were 

called  Personal  Liberty  Bills,  the  object  of  which  was  to  thwart  the  operation  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  A  deep  .seated  and  unquenchable  animosity  towards  the  slavery  propagandists 
was  kindled  throughout  the  North  and  many  of  the  greatest  and  most  enlightened  Ameri- 
cans set  themselves  in  relentless  hostility,  not  only  to  the  extension  of  slaven-,  but  to  the 
institution  itself. 

Next  came  the  John  Brown  insurrection  of  1859.  Old  John  Brown,  of  Osavvatomie, 
deliberately  devised  a  scheme  for  a  servile  war  and  revolution  throughout  the  South.  He 
had  been  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Free-State  militia  in  the  border  war  in  Kansa.s.  He  was 
an  enthusiast,  fearless,  persi.stent,  determined  to  do  or  to  die,  a  religious  fanatic  who  took 
no  coun.sel  of  danger  or  defeat.  With  a  party  of  twent>'-one  men  like  himself,  but  not  his 
equals,  he  made  a  sudden  descent  out  of  Penns>]vania  on  the  United  States  arsenal  at  Har- 
per's Ferry,  captured  the  place  and  held  his  ground  for  nearly  two  days.  The  militia  of 
Virginia  and  then  the  national  troops  were  called  out  to  suppress  tlio  revolt.  Thirteen  of 
Brown's  men  were  killed.  Two  made  their  escape  and  the  rest  were  captured.  The  leader 
and  his  six  companions  were  given  over  to  the  authorities  of  Virginia,  tried,  condcnmed 
and  hanged.     The  event  was  one  which  to  the  present  day  excites  tlie  keenest  interest  and 

1629) 


630 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


liveliest  controversy.  Nor  may  it  be  easily  decided  whether  an  adventurer — supposing  him- 
self under  the  direction  of  tlie  Higher  Law — may  in  such  a  manner  attack  the  abuses  of  a 
State  and  whether,  if  he  do,  he  strikes  the  blow  in  the  character  of  a  fool  and  madman  or  as 
the  hero  and  protagonist  of  a  new  era. 

Ever  and  anon  the  controversy  in  Kansas  broke  out  with  added  heat.      There  the  Free- 
Soil  party  gradually  gained   the  upper  hand.      It  became  evident  that  slavery  would  be 

finally  interdicted  in  the 
new  State.  But  a  que;tion. 
had    now    been     opened 
between   the   North    and 
the  South  which  was  not 
to    close    except    by   the 
\\orkings  of  the  greatest 
tragedy  of  modern  times. 
Vmong  the   Northern 
leople  anti-slaver}'  senti- 
ments spread  and  became 
intense.     It  became  a  coii- 
iction  that  the  institution 
of  slavery  must   now  be 
curbed  with  a  strong  hand. 
In     the     minds     of    the 
younger  people  that    in- 
stitution   began    to  have 
the  feature  of  a  demon. 
In  the  South,  on  the  other  hand,  the  opposing  coiivicfioii 
grew  that  it  was  the  purpose  and  scheme  of  the  Northern 
people,  first  to  gain  control  of  the   national    government 
and    then    to    attack  them    and   their   peculiar    domestic 
institutions. 
THE  NOMINATING  CONVENTIONS  OF  i860. 

and  alarming  condition  of  affairs  when  the  administration  of 
The  nineteenth  Presidential  election  was  at  hand.     The  Free- 


WARFARE  ON   THE   KANSAS    BORDER. 


A  great  con- 


Such  was  the  fretful 
Buchanan  drew  to  a  close. 

Soil  party  had  now  become  powerfully  organic  under  the  name  Republican. 
vention  of  the  delegates  of  that  party  was  held  in  Chicago  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois, 
was  nominated  for  the  Presidency.  The  platfonn  of  principles  declared  opposition  to  the 
extension,  of  slaverv  as  the  one  vital  issue.  In  April  of  i860  the  Democratic  convention 
assembled  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  but  no  sooner  had  the  body  convened  than  its 
utter  distraction  of  counsels  was  apparent.  The  delegates  were  divided  on  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, and  after  much  debating  and  wrangling  the  party  was  disrupted.  The  delegates  from 
the  South,  unable  to  obtain  a  distinct  endorsement  of  their  views  in  the  platfonn  of  the 
party,  and  seeing  that  the  Northern  wing  was  determined  to  non:inate  Senator  Douglas, 
withdrew  from  the  convention.  The  remainder,  incliiding  most  of  the  delegates  from  the 
North,  continued  in  session,  balloted  for  awhile  for  a  candidate,  and  on  the  3d  of  May 
adjourned  to  meet  at  a  later  date  in  Baltimore. 

The  second  convention  was  held  on  the  i8th  of  June,  according  to  appointment.     The 
Northern  delegates  reassembled  and  chose  Stephen  A.  Douglas  as   their  standard-bearer. 


COLUMBUS    AND    COLUMBIA. 


631 


The  secediiifj  Southern  delej^ates  adjourned  first  to  Richmond,  and  afterwards  to  Baltimore, 
where  thev  met  on  the  28th  of  June  and  nominated  John  C.  Brcckinridjje  of  Kentucky. 
The  American,  or  Know-Nothing  party,  which  had  now  lost  much  of  its  distinctive  char- 
acter, took  the  name  of  Constitutional  Unionists,  met  in  convention,  and  chose  John  Bell, 
of  Tennessee,  as  its  candidate  for  the  Presidenc>-.  Thus  were  four  political  standards  raised 
in  the  field,  and  the  excitement  went  through  the  country  like  a  storm. 

In  the  political  conflict  that  ensued  the  Republicans  gained  much  by  their  compact- 
ness and  the  distinctness  of  their  utterances  on  the  question  of  slaven,-.     Most  of  the  old 


JOHN    BROWN'S    FORT   AND    HARPER'S    FERRY. 

Abolitionists  ca.st  in  their  fortunes  with  the  Republican  party  and  the  support  of  Lincoln. 
The  result  was  the  triumphant  election  of  that  remarkable  man  by  the  votes  of  nearly  all 
the  Northern  States.  The  votes  of  the  Southern  States  were  for  the  most  part  given  to 
Breckinridge.  The  States  of  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  cast  their  thirty-nine 
ballots  for  Bell.  Douglas  received  a  large  popular  but  small  electoral  support.  His 
adherents  were  scattered  through  all  the  States,  without  concentration  in  any.  Thus  after 
controlling  the  destinies  of  the  republic  for  sixty  years,  witli  only  temporary  breaks  in  1S40 
and  1848,  the  Democratic  party  was  overthrown  and  driven  from  the  field. 

But  what  was  the  result?  The  Southern  leaders  had  declared  already  that  the  election 
of  Lincoln  by  the  votes  of  the  Northern  States  would  be  just  cause  for  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union.      Threats  to  .secede  had  been  freely  indulged  in   the   Southern  States,  but   in  the 


1332 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


North  such  expressions  were  regarded  as  mere  political  bravado,  made  up  of  sound  and 
fury,  signifying  nothing.  It  was  believed  that  no  actual  purpose  of  rebellion  existed  among 
the  people  of  the  South.      The  threats  that  were  indulged  in  rather  instigated  than  deterred 

the  Republicans  of  the  populous  North 
from  voting  according  to  their  political 
convictions.  They  crowded  to  the  polls 
aird  their  favorite  was  elected  by  a  plurality 
of  the  electoral  votes. 

For  the  time,  however,  the  govern- 
ment remained  under  control  of  the  Douglas 
Democracy.  A  majority  of  the  members 
of  the  cabinet  and  a  large  number  of  Senators 
and  Representatives  belonged  to  the  Breck- 
inridge party.  These  had  imbibed  from 
their  proslavery  education  and  local  attach- 
ments all  the  fire-eating  proclivities  of  the 
extreme  South.  Such  members  of  Congress 
began  openly  to  advocate  in  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  the  doctrine  of 
secession  as  a  legitimate  remed}'  for  the 
JOHN  BROWN  BESIEGED  AT  HARPER'S  FERRY.  elcctiou  of  Liucolu.     With  the  close  of  the 

current  administration  a  climax  was  reached.  With  the  ensuing  spring  all  the  depart- 
ments of  the  government  were  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Republican  party.  The  times 
were  full  of  passion,  animosity  and  rashness. 

SECESSION   OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

At  this  juncture  the  Southern  leaders  perceived  that  as  aifairs  then  stood  the  dis- 
membennent  of  the  Union  was  possible,  but  that  with  the  inauguration  of  Lincoln  and  the 
establishment  of  Republican  rule  such  a  movement  would  probably  be  thwarted  and  become 
an  impossibilitv".  Great  was  the  embarrassment  of  the  President.  He  was  not  himself  a 
disunionist.  In  argument  he  denied  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede;  but  at  the  same  time 
he  declared  himself  not  armed  with  Constitutional  power  to  prevent  b)-  force  the  secession 
of  a  sovereign  State.  His  attitude  thus  favored  the  plans  of  the  secession  party. 
Buchanan's  theory  of  government  was  sufficient  of  itself  to  paralyze  the  remaining  energies 
of  the  executive  and  to  make  him  helpless  in  the  presence  of  the  great  emergency.  It  was 
with  wisdom  and  craft,  therefore,  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  leaders  that  the  inter\'al 
between  the  November  election  of  i860  and  the  inauguration  of  Lincoln  was  seized  as  the 
opportune  moment  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

The  event  showed  that  the  train  had  already  been  laid  for  the  impending  catastrophe. 
The  actual  work  of  secession  broke  out  in  South  Carolina.  The  disunion  proclivities  of 
that  State,  after  a  slumber  of  thirty  years,  burst  suddenly  forth  in  flame  and  fire.  On  the 
ijth  of  December,  i860,  a  convention  of  delegates  chosen  by  the  people  of  South  Carolina 
met  at  Charleston,  and  after  three  days  of  fiery  discussion  passed  a  resolution  that  the  union 
hitherto  existing  between  South  Carolina  and  the  other  States  under  the  name  of  the  United 
States  of  America  was  dissolved.  It  was  a  step  of  fearful  importance,  portending  war  and 
universal  discord. 

The  action  of  South  Carolina  was  contagious.     Disunion  spread  like  an  insanity  among 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


633 


the  Southern  people.  Within  a  short  time  the  cotton-growing  States  had  given  themselves 
wlioll>-  to  the  cause  of  dissohition.  By  the  ist  of  Febnian-,  1861,  six  other  States — 
Mississippi,  Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia, 
Louisiana  and  Texas — had  passed  ordi- 
nances of  secession.  Nearly  all  the 
Senators  and  Representatives  of  those 
States  resigned  their  seats  in  Congress, 
returned  to  the  South,  and  threw  their 
influence  with  the  disunion  cause. 

Little  opposition  was  manifested  to 
the  movement.  Those  who  opposed  dis- 
union did  not  attend  the  State  conventions, 
and  the  voice  of  opposition  was  drowned 
in  the  universal  clamor.  The  secession 
leaders  rushed  together,  carrying  with  them 
the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  planters  and 
the  young  politicians  of  the  South.  In 
some  instances  a  considerable  minority  vote 
was  cast  against  disunion.  A  few  speakers 
attempted,  but  without  success,  to  stem 
the  secession  tide.  The  course  of  Alexander 
H.  Stephens,  afterwards  Vice-President  of 
the  Confederate  States,  was  peculiar.  In 
the  Georgia  convention  he  openly  and 
powerfully  opposed  the  secession  of  his  State. 


ALEXAXDKR    H.    STIil'HE.VS. 


At  the  same  time  he  defended  the  theor\' 


cf  secession,  advocated  State  sovereignty,  declared  his  purpose  to  abide  b\-  the  decision  of 

Georgia,  but  at  the  same  time  spoke  against 
the  secession  ordinance  on  the  ground  that 
the  measure  was  impolitic,  unwise  and  likely 
to  be  disastrous  in  its  results.  Other  promi- 
nent men  in  different  parts  of  the  South  held 
the  same  view,  but  the  majority  prevailed 
and  secession  was  readily  and  enthusiastically 
accomplished. 

FORMATION  OF  THE  NEW  CONFEDERACY 
W'itli  disuuiun  came  ihc  formation  of 
a  new  government.  On  the  4th  of  Februar},-, 
1 86 1,  delegates  from  si.x  of  the  seceded  States 
a.ssembled  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  and 
proceeded  to  the  establishment  of  a  govern- 
ment under  the  name  of  the  Confederate 
States  of  America.  On  the  8th  of  the 
month  the  organization  was  completed  by 
the  election  of  Jcfierson  Davis,  of  Missis- 
v/r.    J       y'"     -^    %'f  I  sippi,  as  provisional  President,  and  Alexander 

J8FFERS0N  DAVIS.  H.  Stephens  as  Vice-President.      TIius  in  the 


634 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


heart    of  the  South   a  rival    government  to  that    of  the    United  States  was  speedily  and 
effectively  organized. 

On  the  same  day  of  the  meeting  of  the  Confederate  Congress  at  JMontgomery  a  Peace 
Conference,  so-called,  assembled  at  Washington  City.  It  was  a  fruitless  and  bootless  attempt 
to  stay  the  hurricane.  Delegates  from  twenty-one  States  were  present  and  the  optimists 
who  composed  the  body  still  dreamed  of  peace.  They  busied  themselves  with  preparing 
certain  pacific  and  compromising  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
These  were  promptly  laid  before  Congress;  but  that  bod\',  freshly  gathered  from  the  people 
and  inspired  with  the  rising  antagonism  to  the  course  of  the  Southern  leaders,  gave  little 
heed  to  the  recommendations.  The  Peace  Conference  was  permitted  to  disperse  without 
practical  results. 

Through  all  this  excitement  and  upheaval  Buchanan  remained  in  the  Presidency.  The 
Democratic  party  still  held  control  of  the  government.  The  country-  seemed  on  the  verge 
of  ruin.  It  appeared  that  the  Ship  of  State  was  steered  directly  for  the  rocks.  The 
Executive  department  was  paralyzed.  The  President  in  the  midst  of  his  dismay  and  despair 
went  about  the  halls  of  the  White  House  wringing  his  hands.  The  army  of  the  United 
States  had  been  intentionally  sent  in  detachments  to  remote  frontiers.  The  fleet  was 
scattered  in  distant  seas.  The  credit  of  the  nation  had  sunk  so  low  that  the  government 
was  unable  to  borrow  funds  for  current  emergencies  at  twelve  per   cent. 

^leanwhile  the  Southern  leaders  were  having  everything  according  to  their  counsel. 
All  things  seemed  for  the  time  to  favor  them  in  the  work  of  disruption.  They  proceeded 
to  seize  public  properties,  arsenals,  and  as  many  as  possible  of  the  government  posts.  Along 
the  Atlantic  coast  onlv  four  of  the  national   ports  were  for  the  present  sa\'ed   from  capture. 

These  were  Forts  Sumter  and  Moultrie,  in 
Charleston  harbor.  Fort  Pickens,  near  Pensa- 
cola,  and  Fortress  Monroe,  in  the  Chesapeake. 
All  the  other  naval  ports  and  posts  in  the 
seceded  States  were  seized  by  the  Confederate 
authorities,  even  before  the  organization  of 
their  government.  Meanwhile  the  local  war- 
fare in  far-off  Kansas  continued  to  break 
out  at  fitful  inter^-als,  but  the  Free-State  party 
gained  at  length  a  complete  ascendancy  and 
the  early  admission  of  Kansas  into  the  Union 
with  two  additional  Republican  Senators  was 
a  foregone  conclusion. 

At  the  beginning  of  1861  the  President, 
rousing  himself  for  a  moment  made  a  feeble 
attempt  to  reinforce  and  provision  the  garrison 
of  Fort  Sumter.  The  steamer  Star  0/  the 
J I  est  was  sent  thither  with  supplies  and  men; 
but  the  Confederates  were  informed  before- 
hand of  all  that  was  done  and  they  found  no 
trouble  in  defeating  the  enterprise.  As  the 
steamer  approached  the  harbor  of  Charieston,  she  was  fired  on  by  a  Confederate  battery  and 
compelled  to  stand  off.  Thus  in  gloom  and  grief  and  the  upheavals  of  revolution  did  the 
administration  of  James  Buchanan  draw  to  a  close.      Such  was  the  dreadful  condition  of 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  G35 

affairs  that  it  was  deemed  prudent  for  the  new  PresideiU  to  reach  the  capital  in  the  night 
and  without  recoi^nition.  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  nation  the  chief  magis- 
trate of  the  republic  slipped  into  Washington  City  in  the  darkness  as  a  means  of  personal 
safety ! 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
Abraham  Lincoln  was,  however,  the  man  lor  llie  hour  and  the  epoch.  He  had  been 
thrown  to  the  front  by  those  processes  which  in  the  aggregate  look  so  much  like  Providence. 
The  new  executive,  sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States,  was  a  Kentuckian  by  birfh, 
bom  in  the  county  Larue,  on  the  12th  of  Februar\-, 
1809.  His  ancestors  were  from  Rockingham  county, 
Virginia.  The  childhood  of  Lincoln  was  passed  in 
utter  obscurity.  The  family  were  backwoods  people 
of  the  lowest  order.  In  i8i6  Thomas  Lincoln,  the 
father  of  Abraham,  removed  to  Spencer  count}-, 
Indiana,  and  built  a  cabin  in  the  woods,  near  the 
present  village  of  Gentryville.  .Vt  sixteen  we  find 
the  future  President  managing  a  ferr>'  across  the  Ohio 
— a  service  for  which  he  received  six  dollars  a  month. 
He  managed  to  obtain  in  all  about  one  year's  schooling. 
In  the  year  of  his  majority,  his  father's  family  removed 
to  the  north  fork  of  the  Sangamon,  ten  miles  west  Lincoln  s  early  home  in  ii.li.vois. 
of  Decatur,  Illinois.  Here  another  log-hou.se  was  built,  and  here  Abraham  Lincoln  began 
for  himself  the  hard  battle  of  life. 

"The  uncleared  forest,  the  unbroken  soil, 

The  iron  bark  that  turns  the  lumberer's  axe  ; 
The  rapid  that  o'crbears  the  boatman's  toil. 

The  prairie,  hiding  the  mazed  wanderer's  tracks  ; 
The  ambushed  Indian,  and  the  prowling  bear, — 

Such  were  the  needs  that  helped  his  youth   to  train. 
Rough  culture  ;   but  such  trees  large  fruit  may   bear, 

If  but  their  stocks  be  of  right  girth  and  grain." 

It  were  long  to  tell  the  story  of  the  hardships  and  struggles  through  which  voung 
Lincoln  passed  before  he  gained  the  attention  of  his  fellowmen  and  rose  to  distinction.  He 
ser\'ed  as  a  captain  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  afterwards  became  a  lawyer,  in  which 
profession  his  amazing  common  sense  rather  than  erudition  brought  him  success.  In  1849 
he  was  elected  to  Congress,  where  he  distinguished  himself  as  a  humorous  speaker.  It  was 
in  1858  when  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  United  States  Senator  from  Illinois,  that  he  first 
revealed,  in  his  great  debates  with  Senator  Douglas,  the  full  scope  of  his  originality  and 
genius.  Two  years  after  this  combat  of  giants  he  was  nominated  and  elected  to  the  Presi- 
dency. .\t  the  time  of  his  inauguration  he  had  entered  his  fift\-third  year.  He  delivered 
on  that  occasion  a  carefully  prepared  address  declaring  his  fixed  purpose  to  uphold  the  Con- 
stitution and  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  At  the  first,  it  was  his  policy  to  ignore 
the  action  of  the  seceded  States  as  a  thing  in  itself  null,  void  and  of  no  effect. 

At  the  head  of  the  new  cabinet  was  placed  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  as 
Secretar)-  of  State.  Salmon  P.  Cha.se,  of  Ohio,  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasurv, 
and  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War;  but  the  latter  was  soon  .succeeded  bv  Edwin  M. 
Stanton.  The  department  of  the  navy  was  intru.stcd  to  Gideon  Wells.  In  his  inaugural 
address  and  first  official  papers   the    President  distinctly  outlined   his  policy,  which  was  in 


636 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


brief  to  repossess  the  forts,  arsenals  and  public  property  which  had  been  seized  by  the  Con- 
federates, and  to  reestablish  the  authority  of  the  government  in  all  parts  of  the  Union. 

Now  it  was  that  military  preparations  and  movements  were  visible  at  the  national 
capital.  There  was  the  portent  of  war.  On  the  12th  of  March,  1861,  certain  commis- 
sioners from  the  seceded  States  sought  to  obtain  from  the  Government  a  recognition  of  their 
independence;  but  the  negotiations  were,  of  course,  unsuccessful.  Then  came  the  second 
attempt  to  reinforce  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  hard  upon  that  act  followed  the 
beginning  of  hostilities. 

BOMBARDMENT    OF    FORT    SUMTER. 

The  defenses  in  Charleston  harbor  were  held  at  this  time  by  a  Federal  garri.son  of 
seventy-nine  men,  under  command  of  ^Major  Robert  Anderson.      Owing  to  the  feebleness  of 

his  force,  he  aban- 
doned Fort  Moul- 
trie, and  took  up 
his  position  in 
Fort  Sumter.  By 
this  time  Charles- 
ton was  swanning 
with  Confederate 
vohniteers,  and 
powerful  batteries 
were  built  around 
the  harbor  bearing 
on  Fort  Sumter. 
When  it  was  as- 
certained that  the 
Federal  Govern- 
ment was  about 
to  reinforce  the 
forts,  the  authori- 
ties of  the  Con- 
federate States 
detennined  to  an- 
ticipate the  move- 
ment by  compel- 
ling Anderson  to 
surrender. 

To  this  end 
General  G.  T. 
Beauregard,  com- 
mandant of  Charleston,  sent  a  fiag  to  Major  Anderson,  demanding  the  evacuation  of  the 
fort.  The  Major  replied  that  he  should  hold  the  fort  and  defend  his  flag.  On  the  follow- 
ing morning,  April  12th,  1861,  at  half-past  four  o'clock  the  first  gun  of  the  great  war  was 
discharged  from  a  Confederate  battery.  A  terrific  bombardment  of  thirty-four  hours 
duration  followed.  Fort  Sumter  was  beaten  into  ruins  and  obliged  to  capitulate.  The 
honors  of  war  were  granted  to  Anderson  and  his  men,  who  had  made  a  brave  and  obstinate 


PRESIDENT   LINCOLN'S    EIRST    CABINET. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


637 


resistance.      The  sequel   showed  that  no   lives  were  lost  either  in  the  fort  or  on  the  shore. 

The    Confederates,   by  the    complete  snccess   of   tlieir    initial    onset,  obtained    control    of 

Charleston  harbor. 

The  effect,  however,  bore  hard  on  the  aggressors.      Tlic  news  of  the  captnre  of  Sumter 

spread  through  the  country-  like  a  flame  of  fire. 

ThrouKli  tlie  crooked  lane. 
Through  dashes  and  flashes  of  rain, 

The  news  flew  out  to  the  country  wide  • 

Of  the  cannon-shot  in  Sumter's  side, 
And  the  crowds  at  tlie  meeting-place 
Had  the  fire  of  anger  in  every  face ! 

There  had  been  on  the  part  of  the  people  a  vague  expectation  of  violence,  but  the 
actual  shock  came  like  a  thunder  peal.  The  towns  became  gorged  with  excited  crowds 
eager  to  gather  tidings 
and  comment  on  the  out- 
break of  war.  Gray- 
haired  men  talked 
gravely  of  the  deed  that 
was  done,  and  prophesied 
its  consequences.  The 
general  effect  of  the 
assault  on  Sumter  was 
to  consolidate  opinion  in 
both  the  North  and  the 
South.  On  either  side 
the  sentiments  of  the 
people  were  crj'stallized 
into  a  finnly  set  antag- 
onism, which  was  only 
to  be  broken  by  the 
shock  of  battle. 

With    the    fall     of 

.Sumter,  President  Lincoln  immediately  issued  a  call  for  seventy-fi\'e  thousand  volun- 
teers, to  ser\-e  three  months  in  the  overthrow  of  the  secession  movement.  Two  days 
later  Virginia  seceded  from  the  Union.  On  the  6th  of  ]May,  Arkansas  followed,  and 
then  North  Carolina,  on  the  20th  of  the  same  month.  In  Tennessee,  particularly  in 
East  Tennessee,  there  was  a  powerful  opposition  to  disunion,  and  the  secession  ordinance 
was  with  great  difficulty  forced  upon  the  people,  June  8th,  1861.  In  Missouri  the  effort  of 
the  secessionists  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  precipitated  civil  war,  and  in  Kentucky  the 
authorities  issued  a  proclamation  of  neutrality.  In  Maryland  the  people  divided  into 
hostile  parties,  the  disunion  sentiment  being  preponderant. 

FIRST  BLOOD  SHED  IN  THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION. 
The  North  responded  promptly  to  the  call  of  the  President.  Volunteers  at  once  began 
to  march  for  Washington.  On  the  19th  of  April,  when  the  first  regiments  of  Massachusetts 
men  were  passing  through  Paltiinore  they  were  fired  upon  by  the  citizens  and  three  men 
were  killed.  This  was  the  first  bloodslicd  of  the  war.  On  the  day  before  this  event  a  body 
of  Confederates  advanced  ou    Harper's  Ferry,  to  capture  the  armory  at  that  place.      The 


ATT.^CK   ON    FORT  SUMTER    FROM    MORRIS    ISLAND. 


638 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


officer  ill  command  hastily  destroyed  a  portion  of  the  vast  magazines  and  then  escaped  into 
Pennsylvania.  On  the  20th  of  April  a  company  of  Virginians  attacked  the  great  navy 
yard  at  Norfolk.  The  officers  fired  the  buildings  and  ships,  spiked  the  guns  and  withdrew. 
The  Confederates  took  possession  and  recovered  many  of  the  guns  and  vessels,  turning  them 
in  after  time  against  the  Government. 

Virginia  soon  swarmed  with  volunteers  from  the  South  and  it  was  not  long  until  Wash- 
ington Citv  was  in  imminent  danger  of  capture.  The  National  Government  and  the  great 
communities  of  the  Northern  States  were  astounded  at  the  vehement  energy  displayed  by  the 
Confederates.  The  first  duty  of  the  administration  was  to  secure  the  Capital.  On  the  3d 
of  May  the  President  issued  a  new  call  for  men,  setting  the  number  at  eight^'-three  thousand 

and  the  term  of  ser- 
vice at  three  years  or 
during  the  war.  A 
fleet  was  equipped  and 
sent  forth  to  blockade 
the  Southern  ports. 
On  every  side  was 
heard  the  note  of  pre- 
paration. The  spirit 
of  the  i^eople  both 
North  and  South  was 
thoroughly  aroused 
and  a  great  war 
thundered  in  the 
horizon. 

Meanwhile  the 
Confederate  Congress 
adjourned  from  Mont- 
gomery to  meet  on 
the  20th  of  July,  at 
Richmond,  which  was 
chosen  as  the  capital 
of  the  Confederacy. 
To  that  place  had 
already  come  Jefferson 

Davis  and  the  officers  of  his  Cabinet.  There  the  seceded  government  took  fonn  and  sub- 
stance. The  men  who  had  its  destinies  in  charge  were  capable  and  experienced  statesmen, 
full  of  animosity  and  determined  to  win  independence  or  perish  in  the  conflict.  So  stood 
the  antagonistic  powers  at  the  beginning  of  summer,  1861.  It  was  now  evident  to  all  men 
— slow  indeed  had  they  been  to  believe  it — that  one  of  the  greatest  conflicts  of  modern 
times  was  impending  over  the  United  States.  What,  then,  were  the  causes  which  produced 
the  Great  Rebellion  of  1861  and  plunged  the  country  into  a  ruinous  and  bloody  civil  war? 

The  first  and  most  general  of  these  causes  was  the  dijfcrcnt  construction  put  upon  the 
national  Constitutio)i  by  the  people  of  the  North  and  the  South.  A  difference  had  alwaj-s 
existed  as  to  how  that  instrument  should  be  understood  and  interpreted.  The  question  had 
respect  to  the  relation  between  the  States  and  the  general  Government.  One  party  held 
that  under  the  Constitution  the  Union  of  the  States  is  indissoluble  ;  that  the  sovereignty  of 


SoViiRKIGMV    1  LAG    Ol-    SOUTH    CAROLINA — UNION   COCKADES  ;     AND   COCKADES 
OF  SOUTH   CAROLIN.A.,    VIRGINI.\    AND    M.\RVLAND. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


039 


the  nation  is  lodj>cd  in  the  central  (.Government  ;  that  tlie  States  are  subordinate  thereto  ; 
that  the  constitutional  acts  of  Congress  are  binding  on  the  States  ;  that  the  highest 
allegiance  of  the  citizen  is  due  to  the  general  Government,  not  to  his  State  ;  and  tliat  all 
attempts  at  nullification  and  disunion  are  in  their  nature  disloyal  and  treasonable. 

CONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION   BV  DISUNIONISTS. 

The  disunioni.sts,  on  tlic  other  hand,  held  that  the  national  Constitution   is  a  compact 
among  sovereign  States  ;  that  these  States  constitute  a  Confederacy,  or  what  the  Germans 
call    Stan/inbiiiid ;  that    for   certain  reasons 
the  Union   may  be    dissolved  by  the   States  ;  .'"'■', 

that  the  sovereignty  of  the  nation  is  lodged 
in  the  individual  States  and  not  in  a  central  X[^  - 

government  ;  that  Congress  can  exercise  no 
other  than  delegated  powers  ;  that  a  State 
feeling  aggrieved  may  annul  an  act  of  Con- 
gress so  far  as  itself  is  concerned  ;  that  the 
highest  allegiance  of  the  citizen  is  due  to 
his  o\\Ti  State  and  afterwards  in  a  secondar>' 
sense  to  the  general  Govenimeut ;  and  that 
acts  of  nullification  and  disunion  are  justifi- 
able, revolutionary  and  honorable.  The 
theor)'  was,  in  brief,  that  the  Constitution 
itself  provided  that  the  States  under  the 
Constitution  might  abrogate  the  Constitution 
as  it  related  to  themselves  and  thereby  dis- 
solve the  Union. 

The  issue  thus  stated  and  existent  in 
the  United  States  was  as  serious  and  portentous  as  any  that  ever  threatened  the  peace 
of  a  nation.  It  struck  into  the  ven,'  vitals  of  the  Government.  It  threatened  to  undo 
the  whole  civil  structure  of  the  United  States.  The  question  had  existed  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Government.  For  a  long  time  the  parties  who  disputed  aljout  the  meaning 
of  the  Constitution  were  scattered  in  various  sections.  In  our  earlier  history  the 
doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  had  been  most  advocated  in  New  England.  It  was  there 
that  the  greatest  suspicion  of  the  Union  existed.  With  the  rise  of  the  tariff  question 
the  local  position  of  the  parties  was  shifted  and  reversed.  The  tariff — a  Congres- 
sional measure — favored  the  Eastern  States  at  the  expense  of  the  South.  Therefore 
the  people  of  New  England,  and  ultimately  of  the  greater  part  of  the  North,  passed  over 
to  the  advocacy  of  national  sovereignty,  while  the  people  of  the  South  espoused  the  doctrine 
of  State  Rights.  As  early  as  1831  the  right  of  a  State  to  nullify  an  act  of  Congress  was 
openly  advocated  in  South  Carolina  and  by  her  greatest  statesman  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States.  The  belief  in  State  sovereignty  became  more  and  more  prevalent  in  the 
South,  less  and  less  prevalent  in  the  North.  Such  was  the  origin  of  sectional  parties  in  the 
country. 

VITAL    ISSUES    IN    CONTENTION. 

The  second  general  cau.se  of  tlie  ci\il  war  was  ///<•  dilftrcul  systems  of  labor  in  the  Xorth 
and  the  South.  It  was  in  a  word  the  question  of  slavery.  Possibly,  indeed,  this  cause 
ought  to  be  stated  first,  as  it  underlay  ultimately  even  the  dispute  about  the  Constitution 


MASSACHUSETTS   TROOPS    ATTACKED    IN  THE  .STREETS 
OF   BALTIMORE. 


640 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


and  the  meaning  of  that  instrument.  In  the  South  labor  had  tended  naturally  to  agricul- 
tural production  ;  iu  the  East  and  North,  to  manufactures  and  commerce.  In  the  South 
slaver}'  existed.  In  the  East  and  North  slavery  had  existed,  but  had  passed  away.  In  the 
former  section  the  laborers  were  bondmen,  property,  slaves  ;  in  the  latter,  free  men,  citizens, 
voters.  In  the  South  the  theory  was  that  capital  is  the  owner  of  labor  ;  in  the  North,  that 
both  labor  and  capital  are  free.  The  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States 
had  been  easily  effected  because  of  the  luiprofitableness  of  that  fonn  of  labor.  In  the  five 
great  States  formed  out  of  the  territorv  northwest  of  the  River  Ohio  slaverv  had  been 
excluded  by  the  Jeffersonian  ordinance  of  1787.  There  was  thus  a  dividing  line  through 
the  Union.  On  the  one  side  there  was  slavery  ;  on  the  other,  free  labor.  A  powerful 
antagonism  existed  on  this  account  between  the  two  sections,  and  the  discord  was  aggravated 
by  several  subordinate  causes. 

Among  these  maybe  mentioned,  first  of  all,  the  invention  of  the  cotton-gin.  In  1793 
Eli  Whitney,  of  Massachusetts,  fresh  from  college,  went  to  Georgia  as  a  school  teacher,  and 

resided  with  the  family  of  Mrs.  Greene, 
widow  of  General  Nathaniel  Greene  of  the 
Revolution.  While  there  he  became  much 
interested  in  the  difficult  process  of  picking 
cotton  by  hand,  that  is,  separating  the  seed 
from'  the  fibre.  So  tedious  was  the  process 
that  the  production  of  upland  cotton  was 
nearly  profitless.  The  cotton  plant  grew 
well  in  many  of  the  Southern  States,  but 
the  production  was  rendered  of  no  effect 
by  the  amount  of  labor  required  to  prepare 
the  product  for  the  market.  Whitney,  with 
the  inventive  curiosit}-  of  his  race,  succeeded 
in  constructing  a  gin  which  astonished  the 
beholder  by  the  rapidity  and  excellence  of 
its  work.  Cotton  in  the  seed  was  separated 
to  perfection  and  with  great  facility  by  the  machine.  Cotton  suddenly  became  the  most 
profitable  of  all  the  staples  of  the  South.  The  industr>'  of  the  cotton-producing  States 
was  revolutionized.  Whitney  obtained  patents  on  his  invention,  but  the  greed  for  obtain- 
ing and  using  his  machine  was  so  great  that  no  court  could  or  would  protect  him  in  his 
rielits.  Before  the  Rebellion  of  1861  it  was  estimated  that  the  cotton-gin  had  added  an 
aggregate  of  a  billion  dollars  to  the  revenues  of  the  Southern  .States.  Just  in  proportion 
to  the  increased  profitableness  of  cotton  slave  labor  became  important,  slaves  valuable, 
and  the  system  of  slavery  a  fixed  and  deep-rooted  institution. 

Slave-ownership  was  thus  imbedded  in  Southern  society.  The  separation  between  the 
laboring  and  the  non-laboring  class  was  not  only  a  separation  of  race,  but  it  was  a  separation 
of  condition.  The  condition  had  become  hereditary.  Slaven.'  came  to  be  regarded  as  a 
natural,  rightful  and  necessar\'  part  of  the  best  social  organization  in  the  world.  Seeing 
themselves  lifted  above  the  servile  class,  the  slaveholders  came  to  look  upon  the  system  of 
free  labor  and  the  free  laborers  of  the  North  with  contempt. 

The  reader  will  be  able  in  these  antecedents  to  discover  the  bottom  reasons  of  the 
several  crises  through  which  the  nation  had  already  passed.  The  slavery  question  became 
a  menace  to  all  politics  and  statesmanship.     The  danger  of  disunion  springing  from  this 


HORRORS   OF  THE    FUGITFVE   SLA-VE  LAW. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


641 


cause  was  already  fully  manifested  in  the  Missouri  as;it(ilio>i  of  1820-21.  Threats  of  dis- 
soh-ins:  the  Union  were  freely  and  recklessly  made  both  in  the  South  and  the  North  ;  in  the 
South,  because  of  the  proposed  rejection  of  Missouri  as  a  slave-holding  vStatc  ;  in  the  North, 
because  of  the  proposed  enlargement  of  the  dominion  of  slavery-.  Henr>'  Clay  and  his 
fellow-statesmen  sought  bv  the  Missouri  Compromise  to  remove  forever  the  slaver>-  issue 
from  the  politics  of  the  countr}.-,  but  their  success  was  temporary,  evanescent.  Lincoln 
himself,  in  the  opening  of  his  great  debates  with  Senator  Douglas,  announced  first  of  all  to 
the  nation  the  ultimate  irreconcilability  of  the  opposing  elements  in  the  .\merican  system. 
He  declared  that  a  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand  ;  that  the  institution  of  slavery-, 
to  carr>-  out  the  analog^-,  must  either  become  universal  in  the  United  States  or  else  by  limi- 
tation be  put  in  such  a  condition  as  to  lead  to  its  ultimate  extinction. 

THE  TARIFF  CHASM   BETWEEN  AGRICULTURE  AND    MANUFACTURE. 

Returning  to  the  historical  causes  of  the  civil  war  we  find  the  next  in  order  of  time  to 
be  the  nullificatioji  acts  of  South  Carolina.  These,  like  the  rest,  turned  upon  the  institution 
of  slaven.-  and  the 
profitableness  o  f 
cotton.  The 
Southern  States 
had  become  cotton- 
producing;  the 
Eastern  States  had 
devoted  their  ener- 
gies to  manufac- 
tures. The  tariff 
seemed  to  favor 
manufactures  a  t 
the  expense  of  the 
producers  of  raw 
material.  Mr. 
Calhoun  and  his 
friends  proposed  to 
remedy  the  evil 
complained  of  by 
annulling  the  laws 
of  Congress  and 
thus  forcing  an 
abolition  of  the 
tariff.  His  measures 
failed,  but  another 
com  prom  ise  was 
found  necessary  in 
order  to  allay  the 
animosities  which 
had  been  awakened. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  was  the  next  step  in  the  great  evolution  leading  to  disunion 
and  war.  With  that  event  came  a  tremendous  enlargement  of  the  domain  of  slaver\'  and 
the  reawakening  of  the  agitation.     Those  who  opposed  the  Mexican  War  did  so  not  so  much 

41 


FRIGATE  ST.    LAWRH.N'CF,   SINKING   THK  CONFKIJERATK    I'RIVATEKR    PETREL, 
IN    CHAKLKSTON    IIAKIIOR,   AfC.UST   4,    I.S61. 


642  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

because  of  the  injustice  of  the  conflict  as  because  of  the  fact  that  thereby  the  area  of  slave 
territory  would  be  vastly  extended.  Next,  in  1854,  came  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill.  The  Missouri  Compromise  was  repealed,  and  the  whole  question  opened 
anew.  By  this  time  the  character  and  civilization  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  people 
had  become  widely  different.  A  much  more  general  cause  of  the  Civil  War  was  the  want 
of  intercourse  between  the  people  of  the  North  and  the  South.  Obeying  those  cosmic  laws  by 
which  the  population  of  the  earth  has  always  been  distributed,  the  people  west  of  the  AUe- 
ghanies  had  been  carried  to  their  destinations  in  channels  flowing  from  the  east  to  the  west 
— never  from  the  north  to  the  south.  The  artificial  contrivances  of  civilization  had  been 
arranged  along  the  same  lines.  The  great  railroads  and  thoroughfares  ran  east  and  west. 
All  migrations  had  been  back  and  forth  in  the  same  course.  Between  the  North  and  the 
South  there  had  been  only  a  modicum  of  travel  and  interchange  of  opinion.  The  people 
of  the  two  sections  had  become  more  unacquainted  than  they  were  even  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution.  The  inhabitants  of  the  North  and  the  South,  without  intending  it,  had 
become  estranged,  jealous,  suspicious.  They  misrepresented  each  other's  beliefs  and  pur- 
poses. They  suspected  each  other  of  dishonesty  and  ill-will.  Before  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  the  people  of  the  two  sections  had  come  to  look  upon  each  other  almost  in  the  light 
of  difierent  nationalities. 

EFFECTS  OF  SECTIONAL  LITERATURE  AND  DEMAGOGUES. 

Still  a  fourth  cause  ma}-  be  found  in  the  publication  and  influence  of  sectional  books  and 
writings.  During  the  twenty  years  preceding  the  war  many  works  were  published  both  in 
the  North  and  the  South  whose  popularib.-  depended  wholly  or  in  part  on  the  animosity 
and  distrust  existing  between  the  two  sections.  Such  books  were  frequently  filled  with 
ridicule  and  falsehood.  The  manners  and  customs,  the  language  and  beliefs  of  one  section 
were  held  up  to  the  contempt  and  scorn  of  the  people  of  the  other  section.  The  minds  of 
all  classes,  especially  of  the  young,  were  thus  prejudiced  and  poisoned.  In  the  North  the 
belief  was  fostered  that  the  South  was  given  up  to  inhumanity,  ignorance  and  barbarism, 
while  in  the  South  the  opinion  prevailed  that  the  Northern  people  were  a  selfish  race  of 
mean,  mercenary',  cold-blooded  Yankees. 

To  these  antecedents  must  be  added,  in  the  next  place,  the  evil  influence  of  demagogues. 
It  is  the  misfortune  of  republican  governments  that  they  many  times  fall  under  the  domi- 
nation of  bad  men.  In  the  United  States  the  demagogue  has  enjoyed  special  opportunities 
for  mischief  In  the  sixth  decade  of  the  century-  American  statesmanship  and  patriotism 
were  at  a  low  ebb.  Ambitious  and  scheming  men  had  obtained  control  of  the  political 
parties  and  made  themselves  leaders  of  public  opinion.  The  purposes  of  such  were  selfish 
in  the  last  degree.  The  welfare  and  peace  of  the  country  were  put  aside  as  of  little  value. 
In  order  to  gain  power  and  keep  it,  many  unprincipled  men  in  the  South  were  anxious  to 
destroy  the  Union,  while  the  demagogues  of  the  North  were  willing  to  abuse  the  Union  in 
order  to  accomplish  their  purposes. 

To  all  these  causes  must  finally  be  added  a  growing  public  opinion  in  the  North  against 
the  institution  of  slavery  itself— ?l  hostility  inborn  and  inbred  against  human  chattelhood  as 
a  fact.  The  conscience  of  the  nation  began  to  struggle,  and  the  belief  was  more  and  more 
entertained  th.  t  slavery  was  a  civil  and  social  crime  per  se,  and  ought  to  be  destro>-ed. 
This  opinion,  this  conviction,  comparatively  feeble  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  was 
rapidly  developed,  and  had  much  to  do  in  determining  the  direction  and  final  issue  of  the 
conflict.  Such  in  brief  were  the  principal  causes  which  led  to  the  Civil  War  in  the  United 
States,  one  of  the  most  terrible  and  bloody  strifes  of  modern  times. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 
BEGINNING  OF  THE  CONFLICT. 


STRUGGLE  now  impending  was  between  the  Union 
under  the  Constitution,  upheld  by  the  Government  at 
Washington  and  supported  by  the  populous  Northern 
States,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  new  Confederate 
government  established  at  Richmond,  backed  bv  the 
forces  of  the  South  and  the  whole  power  of  the  ancient 
slave-holding  system,  on  the  other.  The  war  proper 
may  be  said  to  have  begun  on  the  24th  of  May,  1861. 
On  that  day  the  Union  anny  crossed  the  Potomac  from 
Washington  City  to  Alexandria.  At  this  time  Fortress 
Monroe,  at  the  mouth  of  the  James,  was  held  by  General 
B.  F.  Butler,  with  twelve  thousand  men.  In  the 
immediate  vicinity,  at  a  place  called  Bethel  Church, 
was  a  detachment  of  Confederates  under  command  of  General  Magruder.  On  the  loth  of 
June  a  body  of  Union  troops  was  sent  to  dislodge  them,  and  was  repulsed  with  considerable 
losses.      Such  was  the  opening  scene  in  Old  Virginia. 

West  of  the  mountains  the  conquest  of  the  State  had  been  undertaken  by  a  Union 
anny  under  General  George  B.  McClellan.  In  the  latter  part  of  May  General  Thomas  A. 
Morris,  commanding  a  force  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  troops,  advanced  from  Parkersburg  to 
Grafton,  and  on  the  3d  of  June  attacked  the  Confederates  at  Philippa.  In  this  fight  the 
Federals  were  successful,  and  the  Confederates  retreated  towards  the  mountains.  At  this 
juncture  General  McClellan  arrived,  assumed  command,  and  on  the  nth  of  July  gained  a 
victor>-  of  some  importance  at  Rich  Mountain.  General  Garnet,  the  Confederate  com- 
mander, fell  back  to  Cheat  River,  where  he  was  a  second  time  defeated  and  himself  killed 
in  battle. 

The  next  combat  was  on  the  loth  of  .\ugust,  between  General  Floyd,  commanding 
the  Confederates  at  Camifex  Ferry,  on  Gauley  River,  and  the  Union  forces  under  General 
Rosectans.  The  latter  were  victorious  and  the  Confederates  retreated.  On  the  14th  of 
September  a  division  of  Confederates  under  General  Robert  E.  Lee  was  defeated  at  Cheat 
.Mountain,  by  which  success  the  Federal  authority  was  restored  throughout  West  Virginia. 
In  the  meantime  General  Robert  Patterson  marched  with  a  Federal  force  from  Cham- 
bersburg  to  retake  Harper's  Ferry.  On  the  nth  of  the  month  the  division  of  Colonel 
Lewis  Wallace  made  a  sudden  and  successful  onset  upon  a '  detachment  of  Confederates  at 
Roniney.  Patterson  crossed  the  Potomac  with  the  main  bod>',  entered  the  Shenandoah 
\'alley  and  pressed  back  the  Confederates  to  Winchester.  Thus  far  there  had  been  only 
petty  conflicts — the  premonitor>-  onsets  and  skirmishes  of  the  great  struggle.  But  the  time 
bad  now  arrived  for  the  first  real  battle  of  the  war. 

(643) 


644 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


After  the  retirement  of  the  Confederates  from  West  Virginia  the  Confederate  forces  of 
the  State,  commanded  by  General  Beauregard,  were  concentrated  at  Manassas  Junction,  on 
the  Orange  Railroad,  twenty-seven  miles  west  of  Alexandria.  Another  large  Confederate 
force  under  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  lay  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  within  supporting 
distance  of  Beauregard.  The  Union  army  at  Alexandria  was  commanded  by  General  Irwin 
McDowell,  and  General  Patterson  was  stationed  in  front  of  Washington  to  watch  Johnston's 
movements  and  prevent  the  latter  from  joining  Beauregard. 

FIRST  BATTLE  OF  BULL  RUN. 

The  advance  of  the  Union  army  was  begun  on  the  i6th  of  July.  Two  days  afterwards 
an  unimportant  engagement  took  place  between  Centreville  and  Bull  Run.      The  Federals 

then  pressed  on,  and  on  the 
morning  of  the  21st  of  July 
came  upon  the  Confederate 
army  strongly  posted  between 
Bull  Run  and  Manassas  Junc- 
tion. Here  a  general  battle 
ensued,  continuing  with  great 
severity  iintil  noonday.  The 
advantage  was  with  the  Union 
anny,  and  it  seemed  probable 
that  the  Confederates  would 
suffer  a  complete  defeat  ;  but 
in  the  crisis  of  the  battle 
General  Johnston  arrived  A^ath 
nearly  six  thousand  fresh 
troops  from  the  Shenandoah 
Valley.  The  tide  of  victory 
turned  immediately,  and 
McDowell's  whole  ann\-  was 
thrown  back  in  rout  and  con- 
fusion. A  panic  spread  through 
the  Union  forces.  The  army 
had  been  followed  out  from 
Washington  b\-  a  throng  of 
non-combatants.  Soldiers  and 
citizens  became  mixed  together 
in  the  retreat,  and  the  whole 
mass  rolled  back  in  disorgani- 
zation into  the  defences  of 
Washington.  The  losses  on 
both  sides  were  great,  being 
on  the  Union  side  2951  and 
on  the  Confederate  side  2050. 
Never  before  in  America  had  such  numbers  fallen  in  battle  ;  and  yet  this  was  but  the 
feeble  introduction  to  the  bloody,  desperate  and  long-continued  struggle  which  was  about 
to  ensue. 


GENERAI,   G.    T.    BEAUREGARD. 


c 


c 

2 


(645) 


646 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Great  were  the  chagrin  and  humiliation  of  the  North  and  great  was  the  exultation  of 
the  Confederates.  The  Federal  government  was  with  good  reason  alarmed  for  the  safety  of 
Washington  City.  In  Richmond  there  were  jubilation  and  confidence.  There  on  the  day 
before  the  battle  the  new  Confederate  government  was  organized.  The  Southern  Congress 
assembled  and  into  it  were  gathered  the  pride,  the  talent  and  the  experience  of  the  South. 
Many  men  of  distinguished  abilities  were  there.  Jefferson  Davis,  the  President,  was  a  far- 
sighted  and  talented  man.  His  experience  was  wide  and  thorough  as  a  civilian  and  his 
reputation  as  a  soldier,  earned  in  the  Mexican  War,  was  enviable.  He  had  served  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress  and  as  a  member  of  Pierce's  Cabinet.  His  talents,  character  and  ardent 
advocacy  of  State  Rights  made  him  the  natural,  if  not  the  inevitable,  leader  of  the  Con- 
federacy in  the  impending  conflict  with  the  Union. 

For  a  brief  season  the  disaster  at  Bull  Run  seemed  to  paralyze  the  Union  cause.  Mili- 
tary operations  in  the  East  ceased.  In  Missouri,  however,  hostilities  broke  out  and  were 
attended  with  important  consequences.  Missouri,  though  a  slave-holding  State,  had  not 
seceded  from  the  Union.  The  convention  which  was  called  by  Governor  Jackson  in  accord- 
ance with  an  act  of  the  legislature  refused  to  pass  an  ordinance  of  secession.  The  Disunion 
party,  however,  was  strong  and  aggressive.  The  governor  was  himself  the  leader  of  this 
party  and  the  Disunionists  were  loath  to  give  up  the  State. 

Civil  war  supervened.  Federal  and  Confederate  camps  were  organized  in  many  parts 
of  the  State.  The  Confederates  captured  the  United  States  arsenal  at  Liberty,  in  Clay 
county,  and  obtained  thereby  supplies,  arms  and  munitions.  They  then  formed  Camp 
Jackson,  in  the  western  suburbs  of  St.  Louis,  and  the  arsenal  of  that  cit}'  was  endangered. 

At  this  juncture,  however,  Captain  Lyon 
appeared  on  the  scene  and  removed  the 
arms  and  stores  of  St.  Louis  first  to  Alton 
and  then  to  Springfield,  Illinois.  He  then 
attacked  Camp  Jackson  and  broke  up  that 
rendezvous  of  the  Confederate  party. 

The  Confederates  from  Arkansas  and 
Texas  now  made  a  rush  to  secure  the  lead 
mines  in  the  southwest  part  of  Missouri. 
On  the  17th  of  June  General  Nathaniel 
Lyon  encountered  a  Confederate  force 
under  Governor  Jackson,  at  Booneville, 
and  gained  a  decided  advantage.  On  the 
5th  of  July  the  Federals  luider  Colonel 
Franz  Sigel  were  successful  in  a  severe 
engagement  with  Jackson's  forces  at  Car- 
thage. Then  came  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run  in  the  East.  On  the  loth  of  August 
the  severest  encounter  thus  far  in  the  West  occvirred  at  Wilson's  Creek,  a  short  distance 
south  of  Springfield,  Missouri.  General  Lyon  made  a  daring  attack  on  the  Confederate 
forces  of  Generals  McCullough  and  Price.  The  Federals  at  first  gained  the  field,  but 
General  Lyon  was  killed  and  his  men  retreated,  the  command  falling  to  Sigel. 

General  Price  at  the  head  of  the  Confederate  army  pressed  northward  across  the  State 
to  Lexington,  on  the  Missouri  River.  Here  was  stationed  a  division  of  twenty-six  hundred 
Federals  under  command  of  Colonel   Mulligan.      The  fort  was  stubbornly  defended,  but 


^^' 

l.'^^^^ 


DEATH  OF  GENERAL  LYON  AT  WILSON'S  CREEK. 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


647 


Mulligan  was  obliged  to  capitulate.  Price  turned  to  the  soutli  ;  the  Federals  rallied,  and 
on  the  i6th  of  October  Lexington  was  retaken.  General  John  C.  Fremont,  who  had  been 
appointed  to  the  command  of  all  the  Union  forces  in  Missouri,  followed  the  Confederates  as 
far  as  Springfield,  and  was  on  the  eve  of  making  an  attack  when  he  was  superseded  by 
General  Hunter.  The  latter  drew  back  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  was  in  turn  superseded  by 
General  Henry  W.  Halleck.      Late  in  the  >ear  Price  fell  back  towards  Arkansas. 

BATTLE  OF  BELMONT. 
The  only  remaining  movement  of  importance  was  at  Belmont,  on  the  Mississippi.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  Kentucky  had  declared  neutrality  as  her  policy  in  the  war.  The 
Confederate  govenunent,  however,  sent  General  Leonidas  Pope  with  an  army  into  the  State, 
to  enable  the  Disunion  party  to  overbear  the  Unionists.  Pope  captured  the  town  of  Colum- 
bus and  planted  batteries  at  that  place  commanding  the  Mississippi.     The  Confederates 


A    MONTI- 


A    BLOCKADE-RUNNER 


gathered  in  force  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river.  With  a  view  to  dislodging  this  body, 
Colonel  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  with  three  thousand  Illinois  troops,  was  sent  by  way  of  Cairo 
into  Missouri.  On  November  7th  he  attacked  the  Confederate  camp  at  Belmont  and  was 
successful  in  the  onset.  General  Pope  threw  reinforcements  across  the  river  and  the  Ken- 
tucky batteries  were  brought  to  bear  on  the  Federal  position.  Grant  was  obliged  to  fall 
back  without  much  advantage  from  his  initial  success. 

After  Bull  Run  the  government  concerned  itself  first  of  all  with  the  defences  of  Wash- 
ington. The  autumn  of  1861  was  a  season  of  depression  to  the  Union  cause.  A  reaction 
came,  however,  for  with  the  subsidence  of  the  panic  the  administration  redoubled  its 
energies.  Volunteers  came  in  great  numbers  from  the  Northern  States,  and  the  first  two 
calls  were  quickly  filled.  The  aged  General  Scott,  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies,  found 
himself  unable  longer  to  bear  the 'burden  resting  ujxin  him  and  retired  from  active  duty. 
General  George  B.  McClellan  was  called  over  from  West  Virginia  and  put  in  command  of 
the  Armv  of  the  Potomac. 


648  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA 

The  event  showed  that  the  young  general  as  an  organizer  and  disciplinarian  had  no 
superior.  The  forces  under  his  command  were  by  the  middle  of  October  increased  to  a 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men.  The  army  was  no  longer  a  mere  rout  of  volunteers,  but 
a  compact,  well  disciplined  and  powerful  engine  of  war.  On  the  2ist  of  October  a  force  of 
two  thousand  Federals  under  Colonel  Baker  crossed  the  Potomac  at  Ball's  BluflF,  where  they 
were  attacked  by  the  Confederates  under  General '  Evans  and  driven  back  to  the  river. 
Colonel  Baker  was  killed  and  his  force  routed  with  a  loss  of  fully  eight  hundred  men. 

One  of  the  first  tasks  imposed  on  the  Federal  Government  was  to  gain  full  command 
of  the  seacoast.  In  the  summer  of  1861  several  naval  expeditions  were  sent  out  to  maintain 
the  authority  of  the  United  States  along  the  Confederate  sea-border.  Commodore  String- 
ham  and  General  Butler  sailed  to  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  29th  of  August 
captured  the  forts  at  Hatteras  Inlet.  On  the  7th  of  November  an  armament  under  Com- 
modore Dupont  and  General  Thomas  W.  Sherman  took  Forts  Walker  and  Beauregard  at 
the  entrance  of  Port  Royal.  Hilton  Head,  a  point  most  advantageous  for  operations  against 
Charleston  and  Savannah,  thus  fell  into  the  power  of  the  goveninient.  A  blockade  was 
successfully  established  around  the  whole  Confederate  coast,  and  soon  became  so  rigorous  as 
to  cut  off  all  communication  between  the  Confederate  States  and  foreign  nations.  A  serious 
difficulty  arose  at  this  juncture  on  accoiint  of  the  blockade  between  the  Federal  government 
and  Great  Britain. 

DANGER   FOLLOWING  THE  SEIZURE  OF   MASON   AND   SLIDELL. 

One  of  the  chief  reliances  of  the  Confederacy  was  the  cotton  crop  of  the  Southern 
States.  American  cotton  had  become  a  virtual  necessity  to  the  factories  of  England.  To 
have  the  cotton  supply  cut  off  suddenly  was  in  the  nature  of  a  calamity  to  the  industrial 
interests  of  Great  Britain.  A  state  of  feeling  supervened  in  that  countr}'  unfavorable  to  the 
United  States  and  sympathetic  with  the  Confederacy.  The  British  government  desired  the 
success  of  the  rebellion.  The  Confederate  administration  played  well  to  this  sentiment. 
James  M.  Mason  and  John  Slidell,  formerly  Senators  of  the  United  States,  were  appointed 
ambassadors  of  the  Confederate  States  to  France  and  England.  Before  they  left  America, 
however,  the  Union  squadron  had  closed  around  the  Southern  ports,  and  the  ambassadors 
were  obliged  to  make  their  escape  from  Charleston  harbor  in  a  blockade  runner.  TMaking 
their  wa}^  from  that  port,  they  reached  Havana  in  safet}'  and  were  taken  on  board  of  the 
British  mail-steamer  Tient  for  Europe. 

The  Trent  sailed,  but  on  the  8th  of  November  was  overtaken  by  the  United  States 
frigate  Sati  Jacinto^  under  Captain  Wilkes.  The  Trent  was  unceremoniously  hailed  and 
boarded.  The  two  ambassadors  and  their  secretaries  were  seized,  transferred  to  the  Sail 
Jacinto,  carried  to  Boston  and  imprisoned.  The  Trent  was  allowed  to  proceed  on  her  way 
to  England.  The  story  of  the  insult  to  the  British  flag  was  told,  and  the  whole  kingdom 
burst  out  in  a  blaze  of  wrath. 

The  sequel  showed  how  little  disposed  nations  are  to  regard  consistency  and  right  when 
their  prejudices  are  involved.  For  nearly  a  half  century'  the  United  States  had  stoutly  con- 
tended for  the  exemption  of  neutral  flags  on  the  high  sea.  The  American  theor>'  had 
always  been  that  the  free  flag  makes  free  goods,  contraband  of  war  only  excepted.  Great 
Britain,  on  the  other  hand,  had  been  immemorially  the  most  arrogant  of  all  civilized  nations 
in  the  matter  of  search  and  seizure.  She  had  in  the  course  of  her  history  insulted  almost 
every  flag  seen  on  the  ocean.  But  in  this  particular  instance  the  position  of  the  parties  was 
suddenly  reversed.  The  people  of  the  United  States  loudly  applauded  Captain  Wilkes  ;  the 
House  of  Representatives  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  him,  with  the  presentation  of  a  sword. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


049 


,i' 


Even  the  administration  was  disposed  to  defend  liis  action.  Great  Britain,  with  equal 
inconsistency,  thing  herself  into  a  furious  passion  for  the  alleged  insult  to  her  flag  and 
sovereignty.  For  a  short  time  it  appeared  that  war  between  the  two  nations  was  inevitable. 
This  peril,  however,  was  avoided  by  the  adroit  and  far-reaching  diplomacy  of  William 
H.  Seward,  Secretar>-  of  State.  When  Great  Britain  demanded  reparation  for  the  insult 
and  immediate  liberation  of  the  prisoners,  he  replied  in  a  mild,  cautious  and  ver)-  able 
paper.     It  was  conceded  that  the  seizure  of  Mason  and  Slidell  was  not  in  accordance  with 

the  law  of  nations.  A  suitable  apology-  was  ac- 
cordingly made,  and  the  Confederate  ambassadors 
were  sent  to  their  destination  abroad.  The  peril 
of  war  was  averted,  and  Ckeat  Britain  was  un- 
wittingly committed  to  a  policy  respecting  the 
rights  of  neutrals  which  she  had  hitherto  denied, 
and  which  the  United  States  had  always  con- 
tended for. 

The  beginning  of  1862  found  the  government 

with  an  anny  of  about 
four  h  ti  n  d  r  e  d  and 
fifty  thousand  men. 
Nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  of  these 
composed  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  undei 
General  McClellan. 
-A.  n  0  t  h  e  r  division, 
under  General  Don 
Carlos  Buell,  was 
stationed  at  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky  ;  and 
it  was  in  this  depart- 
ment that  the  cam- 
paigns of  the  year 
were  begun.  Early 
in  Januarj-  the  Con- 
federate     Colonel 

Humphrey  Marshall,  commanding  a  force  on  Big  Sandy  River,  in  Eastern  Kentucky,  was 
attacked  and  defeated  by  a  detachment  of  Unionists  under  Colonel  James  A.  Garfield. 
Ten  days  later  an  important  battle  was  fought  at  Mill  Spring,  Kentucky.  The  Con- 
federates were  led  by  Generals  Crittenden  and  Zollicoffer  and  the  Federals  by  General 
George  H.  Thomas.  Both  sides  lost  heavily,  and  the  Confederates  were  defeated;  General 
Zollicofifer  was  among  the  slain. 

CAPTURE  OF   FORTS  HENRV  AND  DONELSON. 

Operations  much  more  important  soon  followed  on  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland 
Rivers.  The  Tennes.see,  at  the  southern  border  of  Kentucky,  was  commanded  by  Fort 
Henrv,  and  the  Cumberland  by  Fort  Donelson,  ten  miles  south  of  the  Tennessee  line.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  year  the   F'ederal  officers   planned   the  capture  of  both  these  places. 


surrendi:k 


650 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Commodore  Foote  was  seat  up  the  Tennessee  with  a  flotilla  of  gxmboats  and  at  the  same 
time  General  Grant  moved  against  Fort  Henr\-.  Before  he  reached  his  destination,  how- 
ever, the  gunboats  compelled  the  evacuation  of  the  fort,  the  Confederates  escaping  to  Fort 
Donelson. 

The  flotilla  now  dropped  down  the  Tennessee,  took  on  supplies  at  Cairo,  and  then 
ascended  the  Cumberland.  Grant  crossed  the  country  from  Fort  Henn,-  to  Donelson,  and 
found  the  place  well  defended  by  ten  thousand  Confederates,  under  General  Simon  B. 
Buckner.  Grant's  forces  were  fully  twenty-five  thousand  strong;  but  the  weather  was 
extremely  bad,  and  the  assaults  on  the  fortifications  must  be  made  at  great  peril  and  disad- 
vantage. On  the  14th  of  February,  1862,  the  gunboats  in  the  Cumberland  were  repulsed 
with  considerable  losses.  On  the  next  day  the  garrison  of  Fort  Donelson  attempted  to 
break  through  Grant's  lines  but  were  driven  back  with  much  slaughter.  On  the  16th, 
Buckner  was  obliged  to  capitulate.      His  army,  numbering  fully  ten  thousand  men,  became 


BATTLE    OF    SHTLOH. 

prisoners  of  war,  and  all  the  magazines,  stores  and  guns  of  the  fort  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Federals.  It  was  the  first  decided  Union  victor}-  of  the  war.  The  immediate  result  of  the 
capture  was  the  evacuation  of  Kentucky  and  the  capital  of  Tennessee  b\'  the  Confederates. 
Nor  did  they  ever  afterwards  recover  the  ground  thus  lost. 

THE  BATTLE  SHOCK  AT  SHILOH. 

Such  was  the  real  beginnino^  of  the  militar}^  career  of  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  That 
officer  at  once  followed  up  his  success  by  ascending  the  Tennessee  river  as  far  as  Pittsburg 
landing.  In  the  first  days  of  April  he  fonned  a  camp  on  the  left  bank  of  that  stream  at  a 
place  called  Shiloh  Church.  Here  on  the  morning  of  the  6th  of  the  month  the  Union  army 
was  suddenly  and  audaciously  attacked  by  the  Confederates  under  Generals  Albert  S. 
Johnston  and  Beauregard.  The  shock  of  the  onset  was  at  first  irresistible.  All  day  long 
the  battle  raged  with  unprecedented  slaughter  on  both  sides.  The  Federals  were  gradually 
forced  back  -nearer  and  nearer  to  the  Tennessee,  until  at  nightfall  they  came  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  gunboats  in  the  river.  Darkness  closed  on  the  scene  with  the  conflict  unde- 
cided; but  in  the  desperate  crisis  General  Buell  arrived  from  Nashville  with  strong  rein- 
forcements. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  Ool 

General  Grant,  however,  by  no  means  despaired  of  jjaining  the  victory.  Dnring  the 
night  lie,  with  General  William  T.  Shennan,  made  arrangements  to  assnme  the  offensive  on 
the  morrow.  General  Johnston  had  been  killed  in  the  first  day's  battle.  Beauregard,  on 
whom  the  command  was  devolved,  was  unable  to  gain  any  further  successes.  On  the  con- 
trar>\  when  the  battle  was  renewed  on  the  morning  of  the  jth,  everjthing  went  against  the 
Confederates,  and  they  were  obliged  to  fall  back  in  full  retreat  to  Corinth.  The  losses  in 
killed,  wounded  and  missing  in  this  dreadful  conflict  were  more  than  ten  thousand  on  each 
side.  Never  before  had  there  been  such  a  harvest  of  death  in  the  countries  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic. 

Meanwhile  the  Federals  had  been  steadily  successful  in  a  series  of  actions  on  the 
Mississippi.  The  Confederates  after  the  evacuation  of  Columbus,  Kentucky,  had  proceeded 
to  Island  Number  Ten,  a  few  miles  below,  and  built  thereon  strong  fortifications  command- 
ing the  two  channels  of  the  river.  On  the  western  shore  the  town  of  New  Madrid  was  held 
by  the  Confederates.  Against  this  place  General  John  Pope  advanced  with  a  body  of 
Western  troops,  and  was  successful  in  capturing  the  tovvm.  Commodore  Foote's  flotilla 
attacked  the  fortifications  on  the  island,  and  Pope's  forces  cooperated  with  the  giinboats  in 
a  siege  of  twenty-three  days'  duration.  On  the  yth  of  April,  while  the  Union  anny  at 
Shiloh,  rallying  from  apparent  defeat,  was  pressing  the  Confederates  in  the  direction  of 
Corinth,  the  garrison  of  Island  Number  Ten,  numbering  five  thousand,  were  made  prisoners 
of  war.  Thus  was  the  Mississippi,  as  far  down  as  Memphis,  opened  to  navigation  and 
secured  to  the  control  of  the  Federal  fleets. 

In  the  meantime  a  severe  battle  had  been  fought  at  Pea  Ridge,  Arkansas,  between  the 
Union  anny  under  General  Curtis  and  the  Confederates  and  Indians,  twenty  thousand 
strong,  commanded  by  McCulloTigh,  Mcintosh  and  Pike.  The  battle  was  fought  on  the 
6th  and  7th  of  March  and  resulted  in  a  Federal  victor)-.  McCollough  and  Mcintosh  were 
both  killed  and  their  shattered  forces  fell  back  towards  Texas.  The  Union  losses  likewise 
were  very  severe  and  the  battle  had  little  consequence  in  the  general  issues  of  the  war. 

DUEL   BETWEEN  THE  MERRIMAC  AND   MONITOR. 

Now  it  was  that  the  altenliuu  t)f  the  American  people  was  called  to  one  of  the  most 
striking  incidents  of  naval  warfare.  After  the  destruction  of  the  Federal  navy-yard  at 
Norfolk  the  Confederates  had  raised  the  United  States  frigate  Merrimac,  one  of  the  sunken 
ships,  and  plated  her  sides  with  an  impenetrable  armor  of  iron.  .\t  this  time  the  Union 
fleet  was  lying  at  Fortress  Monroe.  When  the  equipment  of  the  Mcrrimac  was  completed, 
she  was  sent  down  to  attack  and  destro\-  the  squadron.  Reaching  that  place  on  the  8th  of 
March,  the  Mcrrimac,  called  by  the  Confederates  the  Virginia,  began  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion, and  two  powerful  ships,  the  Cumberland  and  the  Congress  were  sent  to  the  bottom. 
It  appeared  certain  that  the  work  would  go  on  until  the  Union  fleet  should  be  utterly 
destroyed. 

Sometime  before  this,  however.  Captain  John  Ericsson,  of  New  York,  had  invented 
and  built  a  peculiar  war-vessel  which  he  named  the  Monitor,  with  a  single  round  tower  of 
iron  exposed  above  the  water-line.  The  tower  was  made  to  revolve  so  as  to  bring  its  two 
great  guns  to  bear  alternately  on  any  object  of  attack.  The  port-holes  were  thus  only 
momentarily  exposed  to  an  enemy's  shot.  This  strange  craft  steamed  out  from  New  York 
and  came  around  to  Fortress  Monroe  at  the  ver\-  time  when  the  huge  ironclad  Virginia  was 
making  havoc  with  the  I'^nion  fleet.  On  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  March  the  two  floating 
mniistcrs  came  face  to  face  and  turned  tlicir  terrible  enginery  upon  eacli  other.       For  five 


(652) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  653 

hours  the  contest  contimied,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  the  I  'irginia  was  so  much  worsted 
that  slie  gave  up  the  contest  and  returned  in  a  damaged  condition  to  Norfolk.  The  event 
produced  the  greatest  excitement  and  the  navy  department  of  the  United  States  turned  its 
whole  energies  for  the  time  to  the  construction  of  the  new  war  vessels  which  took  the  name 
of  Monitors. 

In  Februar>-  of  this  \ear  a  strong  force  under  General  Ambrose  E.  Burnside  and  Com- 
modore Goldsborough  was  sent  against  the  Confederate  garrison  at  Roanoke  Island.  On 
the  8tli  of  the  month  the  Federal  squadron  attacked  and  captured  the  place,  making  pris- 
oners of  nearly  three  thousand  Confederates.  Burnside  next  proceeded  against  New  Berne, 
North  Carolina,  and  on  the  14th  of  March  captured  that  place  after  a  severe  engagement. 
He  next  took  Fort  Macon  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Beaufort.  On  the  25th  of  April 
he  gained  possession  of  the  town  itself. 

CAPTURE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. 

Meanwhile  on  the  nth  of  the  same  month  Fort  Pulaski,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Savan- 
nah river,  had  surrendered  to  General  O.  A.  Gilmore.  A  still  greater  reverse  awaited  the 
Confederates  at  New  Orleans.  In  the  beginning  of  April  a  powerful  squadron  under  Gen- 
eral Butler  and  Admiral  Farragut  sailed  iip  the  Mississippi  as  far  as  Forts  Jackson  and 
St.  Philip,  thirty  miles  from  the  gulf.  These  forts  were  built  on  opposite  shores  of  the 
Mississippi,  commanding  the  river,  and  the  channel  between  was  obstructed  and  sown  with 
torpedoes. 

On  the  iSth  of  April  the  Federal  fleet  of  forty-five  vessels  began  the  bombardment  of 
the  forts.  For  si.x  days  there  was  an  incessant  stonn  of  shot  and  shell  on  the  fortification. 
Farragut  now  undertook  to  run  past  the  batteries;  and  notwithstanding  the  hazard,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  breaking  the  chain  which  the  Confederates  had  stretched  across  the  river  and  in 
overpowering  their  fleet  The  Federal  squadron  now  came  unopposed  to  New  Orleans, 
and  the  city  yielded.  A  garrison  of  fifteen  thousand  Federal  soldiers  under  General  Butler 
was  established  in  the  metropolis  of  the  South.  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip  surrendered 
two  days  afterwards,  and  the  control  of  the  lower  Mississippi  was  obtained  by  the  Federal 
Government. 

After  Donelson  and  Shiloh  the  Confederates,  though  disheartened  for  a  season,  rallied 
at  length  and  returned  to  the  conflict.  Kentucky  was  invaded  by  two  Confederate  armies, 
one  under  General  Kirby  Smith  and  the  other  under  General  Bra.xton  Bragg.  The  first 
pressed  on  to  Richmond,  where  on  the  30th  of  August  a  battle  was  fought  in  which  the 
Federals  were  routed  with  heavy  losses.  Lexington  and  Frankfort  were  taken  and  Cincin- 
nati was  seriously  threatened.  Bragg's  army  advanced  on  Munfordville  and  there  on  the 
17th  of  September  captured  a  Federal  force  of  fully  four  thousand  men.  The  Confederate 
General  pressed  on  towards  Louisville,  but  General  Buell  made  a  forced  march  from  Ten- 
nessee and  arrived  in  that  city  only  one  day  ahead  of  Bragg.  That  day,  however,  turned 
the  scale.  The  Confederates  were  turned  back,  and  Buell's  army  was  rapidly  augmented 
to  a  hundred  thousand  men.  That  ofl^cer  took  the  field,  and  on  the  8th  of  October  fought 
with  Bragg  at  Perr>-ville  a  severe  but  indecisive  battle.  The  Confederates  then  fell  back 
towards  East  Tennessee,  sweeping  with  them  out  of  Kentucky  a  train  of  four  thousand 
wagons  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the  campaign. 

BATTLES  OF    lUKA  AND  CORINTH. 

The  next  change  of  .scene  was  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.  On  the  19th  of  Sep- 
tember a  hard  battle  was  fought  at  luka  between  the   Federal  army  under  Grant  and  Rose- 


654 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


crans  and  the  Confederates  under  Price.  The  latter  suffered  a  defeat,  losing  in  addition  to 
his  killed  and  wounded  nearly  a  thousand  prisoners.  Rosecrans  afterwards  took  post  at 
Corinth  with  twenty  thousand  men,  while  General  Grant  with  the  remainder  of  the  Federal 
anny  marched  to  Jackson,  Tennessee.  The  Confederate  commanders  Van  Dorn  and  Price, 
perceiving  the  division  of  the  Federal  forces,  turned  about  with  the  intention  of  recaptur- 
ing Corinth,  and  accordingly  attacked  the  Federal  lines  at  that  place  on  the  23d  of  October, 
and  a  se\ere  engagement  ensued  with  heavy  losses  to  both  parties,  but  the  Confederates 
were  repulsed. 

The  close  of  1862  found  the  Mississippi   River  open  to  the  Federals  above  and  below 
Vicksburg,  but  in  the  latitude  of  that  city  it  was  held  with  a  firm  grip  by  the  Confederacy. 

To  relieve  this  stric- 
ture was  the  object  of 
the  movements  which 
were  now  begun  by 
General  Grant.  That 
officer  first  proceeded 
from  Jackson  to  La 
Grange.  He  and 
General  Sherman  now 
entered  into  coopera- 
tion in  an  effort  against 
Vicksburg.  An  attempt 
was  made  to  capture 
this  place  in  December, 
but  on  the  20th  of  that 
month  General  Van 
Dorn  succeeded  in  cut- 
ting Grant's  line  of 
supplies  at  Holly 
Springs,  obliging  the 
Union  commander  to 
fall-back.  General 
Sherman  dropped  down 
the  river  from  Memphis 
as  far  as  Yazoo,  where 
he  landed  and  attacked 
the  Confederate  forts 
at  Chickasaw  Ba}Ou. 
killed,  wounded  and 
fleet  and   drew 


HEROISM   OF   COLONEI,   ROGERS. 


The  result  was  exceedingly  disastrous  to   the  Federals,  who  lost  in 
prisoners  more  than  three  thousand  men.     The  defeated   army  took  to  the 
back  up  the  Mississippi. 

The  year  was  destined  to  close  with  a  great  battle, 
ferred  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland, 
powerful  anny  at  Nashville.     General  Bragg,  on  retiring 

into  Murfreesborough,  only  thirty  miles  distant  from  Nashville.      Rosecrans  moved 
his  antagonist,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  30th  of  December  came  upon  his  lines  at  Stone 
River,  a  short  distance  northwest  from  ^Murfreesborough. 


Rosecrans  had   now  been  trans- 

During  the   fall  he  collected  a 

from   Kentucky,  threw  his  force 


agamst 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


655 


BATTLE   OF  MURFREESBOROUGH. 

Preparations  were  at  once  made  on  bolli  .sides  for  a  yeucral  attack.  Rosecrans  planned 
to  mass  his  force  on  the  Confederate  right,  while  Bragg's  plan  was  the  exact  counterpart  of 
that  of  the  Federal  General.  Both  massed  to  the  left,  so  that  when  the  battle  began  on 
the  morning  of  the  31st  the  two  armies  were  in  a  manner  thrust  by  each  other.  The  battle 
began  with  great  fury  and  lasted  until  noonday.  The  Union  right  was  shattered  and  driven 
from  the  field.  The  brunt  of  the  struggle  fell  on  General  Thomas,  and  he,  too,  was  forced 
back  to  another  position  ;  but  he  held  his  place  until  Rosecrans  was  able  to  readjust  his 
line  of  battle.  It  was  only  by  the  utmost  exertions  and  heroism  of  the  division  of  General 
William  B.  Hazen  that  the  Federal  anny  was  saved  from  a  general  rout.  At  nightfall  more 
than  seven  thousand  Union  soldiers  were  missing  from  the  ranks. 

During  the  night,  however,  Rosecrans  prepared  to  renew  the  fight.  On  New  Year's 
morning  Bragg  foimd  his  antagonist  firmly  posted  with  shortened  lines  and  defiant.     Tliat 


V' 


■'■^r-v*  . 


vT- 


GENERAL   AUGUR'S    BRIGADE    I'ASSING   THROUGH   MANASSAS    GAP   TO   REINFORCE   GENERAL    BANKS. 

day  was  spent  in  indecisive  actions.  On  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  January,  1863,  the 
battle  broke  out  anew.  There  was  a  terrific  cannonade,  and  at  three  o'clock-  in  the  after- 
noon the  Confederates  drove  the  Union  left  across  tlie  river.  This  brought  the  assailants, 
however,  within  range  of  the  Federal  artiller\'.  Rosecrans  rallied,  and  with  a  general 
advance  along  the  whole  line  drove  Bragg's  forces  from  the  field  with  a  loss  of  several  thou- 
sand men.  During  the  night  the  Confederate  commander  drew  off  in  the  direction  of 
Tullahoma.      The  losses  on  each  side  were  about  eleven  thousand  men. 

With  the  coming  of  spring,  1863,  active  campaigns  were  undertaken  in  the  East. 
Virginia  was  converted  into  a  battle-field.  The  ball  was  opened  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenan- 
doah. General  X.  P.  Banks,  with  a  strong  division,  pressed  his  way  forward,  in  Marcli,  as 
far  as  the  town  of  Harrisonburg.  On  the  other  side  General  Thomas  J.  Jackson,  known 
to  historv'  as  Stonewall  Jackson,  was  sent  with  a  force  of  twenty  thousand  men  to  cro.ss  the 


656 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Blue  Ridge  and  cut  off  Banks'  retreat.  At  Front  Royal  the  Confederates  came  upon  a  body 
of  the  Federals  and  routed  them,  capturing  their  guns  and  military  stores.  Banks,  learning 
of  the  disaster,  retreated  down  the  valley,  hotly  pursued  by  Jackson,  until  the  Federals 
put  the  Potomac  between  them  and  the  enemy. 

This  excursion  to  the  North  had  put  Jackson  in  peril.  General  Fremont  at  the  head 
of  a  strong  force  of  fresh  troops  was  sent  into  the  valley  to  intercept  the  Confederate  retreat. 
Jackson  fell  back  with  the  greatest  celerity  and  reached  Cross  Keys  before  Fremont  could 
attack  him.  Even  then  the  engagement  was  indecisive  and  the  Confederate  general  was 
able  to  fall  upon  the  division  of  General  Shields  at  Port  Republic  and  defeat  it  before  leaving 

the  valley  and  rejoining  the 
main  anny  for  the  defence 
of  Richmond.  It  was  the 
first  of  those  remarkable 
campaigns  which  demons- 
trated the  military  genius  of 
Stonewall  Jackson. 

ON  TO  RICHMOND. 
On  the  loth  of  March, 
1862,  the  great  Anny  of  the 
Potomac,  numbering  nearly 
two  hundred  thousand  men, 
throughly  disciplined  and 
equipped,  set  out  under 
General  McClellan  from  the 
camps  about  Washington  on 
a  campaign  against  the  Con- 
federate capital.  It  was  the 
theory-  of  the  national  govern- 
ment that  the  capture  of 
i^ichmond  was  the  principal 
object  to  be  attained  in  the 
war.  It  was  only  after  the 
severest  reverses  and  the  rise 
of  a  new  group  of  com- 
manders that  the  more  sen- 
sible plan  of  striking  the 
rather  than  their  seat  of  government,  was  adopted  instead. 
McClellan  pressed  forward  to  Manassas  Junction,  the  Confederates  falling  back  and 
fonning  new  lines  as  he  advanced.  The  Rappahannock  was  placed  between  the  two  great 
armies.  At  this  stage  of  the  campaign,  however,  McClellan  changed  his  plan  and  embarked 
a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  of  his  men  for  Fortress  Monroe  with  a  view  to  proceeding 
from  that  point  up  the  peninsula  between  the  James  and  York  Rivers.  This  change  of 
base  occupied  the  time  to  the  4th  of  April,  when  the  Union  anny  left  Fortress  Monroe  for 
Yorktown.  The  latter  place  was  held  by  ten  thousand  men  under  General  Magnider  and 
yet  with  this  small  force  McClellan's  advance  was  stayed  for  a  whole  month.  It  was  one 
of  the  military  peculiarities  of  the  Union  General  to  overestimate  the  forces  of  his  enemy 
and  to  display  undue  caution  in  his  presence. 


Confederate    armies. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


G57 


On  the  4th  of  May,  liowever,  Yorktown  Avas  taken  and  the  Federals  pressed  on  to 
Williamsburg.  There  the  Confederates  made  a  second  stand,  but  were  defeated  with  con- 
siderable losses.  Four  days  after\vards  a  third  engagement  occurred  at  a  place  called  West 
Point,  on  the  Mattapony,  where  the  Confederates  were  again  driven  back.  The  way  now 
lay  open  as  far  as  the  Chickahominy,  within  ten  miles  of  Richmond.  The  Union  anny 
reached  that  stream  without  further  resistance  and  crossed  at  a  place  called  Bottom's  Bridge. 

Meanwhile  General  Wool  had,  on  the  loth  of  May,  led  an  expedition  from  Fortress 
Monroe  and  recaptured  Norfolk  from  the  Confederates.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  great 
ironclad  I  irginia  was  blown 
up  to  prevent  her  from  fall- 
ing into  the  hands  of  the 
Federals.  The  James  River 
was  thus  opened  for  the 
ingress  of  transports  laden 
with  supplies  for  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac. 

After  crossing  the 
Chickahominy,  McClellan 
advanced  three  miles  in  the 
direction  of  the  Confederate 
capital.  At  that  point  on 
the  31st  of  May  he  was  con- 
fronted by  the  Confederates 
in  full  force  at  a  place  called 
Fair  Oaks,  or  Seven  Pines. 
Here  for  two  days  the  battle 
raged  till  at  last  the  Con- 
federates were  forced  from 
the  field.  The  Union  vic- 
tor)-, however,  was  by  no 
means  decisive.  The  Con- 
federates lost  nearly  eight 
thousand  in  killed  and 
wounded,  while  the  P^ederal 
losses  were  in  excess  of  five  thousand.  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  commander-in-chief 
of  the  Confederate  armies,  was  severely  wounded  and  his  place  was  filled  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  a  man  whose  militar>-  genius  from  that  time  to  the  close 
of  the  war  was  ever  conspicuous.  He  became  indeed  the  chief  stay  of  the  Confederate 
cause  until  the  day  of  its  final  collapse  at  Appomattox. 

DESPERATE  FIGHTING  BEFORE  RICHMOND. 

The  battle  of  Fair  Oaks  was  so  little  decisive  that  McClellan  detennined  to  change  his 
ba.se  of  supplies  from  the  White  House,  so-called,  on  the  Pamunkey,  to  some  suitable  point 
on  the  James.  The  movement  was  one  of  great  hazard.  General  Lee,  discovering  the 
operation  of  his  antagonist,  swooped  down  on  the  right  wing  of  the  Union  armv  at  Oak 
Grove,  where  another  hard  battle  was  fought  witliout  decisive  results.  This  was  followed 
on  the  next  day  with  a  third  dreadful  engagement  at  Mechanicsville.      In  this  conflict  the 


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MAP   OF   M'CLHtLAN'S   DEFENSIVE   LINES   AND  OPERATIONS   OF  THE  ARMY 
OF  THE   POTOMAC. 


42 


658 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


jMAiWSOKVILll 


Federals  gained  the  field,  but  on  the  following  morning  L,ee  renewed  the  struggle  at  Gaines's 
Mill  and  came  out  victorious.  On  the  28th  there  was  but  little  fighting.  On  the  29th 
McClellan  was  twice  attacked,  first  at  Savage's  Station  and  later  in  the  day  in  White  Oak 
Swamp,  but  nothing  decisive  was  achieved  on  either  side.  On  the  30th  was  fought  the 
desperate  battle  of  Glendale,  or  Frazier's  Farm.  On  that  night  the  Federal  army  reached 
Malvern  Hill,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  James,  twelve  miles  below  Richmond. 

McClellan  had  thus  receded  about  five  miles  in  a  circuitous  direction  from  the  Confed- 
erate capital.     His  position  at  Malvern  Hill  was  strong,  besides  the  Federal  gunboats  in  the 

James  now  furnished  pro- 
tection. General  Lee,  how- 
ever, determined  to  assault 
the  Union  position,  and  on 
the  morning  of  the  ist  of 
July  the  whole  Confederate 
anny  was  pushed  forward 
for  the  attack.  Throughout 
the  day  the  struggle  for  the 
possession  of  the  high 
grounds  was  furious  in  the 
last  degree.  The  battle 
lasted  until  nine  o'clock  at 
night,  when  Lee's  shattered 
columns  fell  back  exhausted. 
For  seven  days  the  roar  of 
battle  had  continued  almost 
witliout  cessation.  No  such 
dreadful  scenes  had  hitherto 
been  witnessed  on  the 
American  continent,  and 
but  rarely  in  the  Old  World. 
McClellan  was  very 
clearl)-  victorious  at  IMalvern  Hill,  and  in  the  judgment  of  after  times  might  have  at 
once  made  a  successful  advance  on  Richmond.  Lee's  army  was  broken  to  fragments, 
and  McClellan  was  greath'  superior  in  numbers.  That  commander,  however,  chose  as 
usual  the  less  hazardous  course.  On  the  2d  of  July  he  retired  to  Harrison's  landing, 
a  few  miles  down  the  river.  The  great  campaign  was  really  at  an  end.  The  Federal 
anny  had  lost  on  the  advance  from  Yorktown  to  ]\Ialvern  Hill  inclusive,  fully  fifteen 
thousand  men  and  the  capaire  of  Richmond  seemed  further  off  than  ever.  The  losses  of 
the  Confederates  had  been  heavier  than  those  of  the  Union  anny,  but  the  moral  effect  of 
victory  remained  with  the  South. 

General  Lee,  availing  himself  of  his  advantage  and  quickly  recuperating  from  his 
losses,  immediately  planned  an  invasion  of  Maryland  and  the  capture  of  Washington  city. 
The  Union  troops  between  Richmond  and  Washington  numbered  about  fift\-  thousand  and 
were  under  command  of  General  Jolin  Pope.  They  were  scattered  at  several  points  from 
Fredericksburg  to  Winchester  and  Harper's  Ferr}'.  Lee's  advance  was  made  at  the  middle 
of  August  and  Pope  began  at  once  to  concentrate  his  forces.  On  the  20th  of  the  month  he 
got  his  anny  to  the  north  bank  of  the  Rappahannock.    While  these  movements  were  taking 


PART   OF   MARYLAND    RAIDED   BY   THE   CONFEDERATE   ARMY. 


^059 1 


660 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


place  General  Banks,  attempting  to  form  a  junction  with  Pope,  was  attacked  by  Stonewall 
Jackson  at  Cedar  Mountain,  where  only  desperate  fighting  saved  the  Federals  from  rout. 

Jackson  now  passed  with  his  division  on  a  flank  movement,  reached  Manassas  Junction 
and  captured  that  place  with  its  garrison  and  stores.  Pope  with  great  audacity  threw  his 
army  between  the  two  divisions  of  Confederates,  hoping  to  crush  Jackson  before  Lee  could 
come  to  the  rescue.  On  the  28tli  and  29th  of  August  there  was  terrible  fighting  on  the  old 
Bull  Run  battle-ground  and  at  Centerville.  At  one  time  it  appeared  that  Lee's  army  would 
be  completelv  defeated;  but  Pope's  reinforcements,  a  strong  division  under  Fitz  John  Porter,, 
did  not  reach  the  field  in  time  and  Pope  was  defeated.  On  the  31st  a  dreadful  battle  was. 
fought  at  Chantilly,  lasting  all  day.  The  Confederates  were  victorious,  and  Generals 
Stephens  and  Kearney  were  among  the  thousands  who  fell  from  the  Union  ranks  in  this 
struo-o-le.  Pope  by  night  withdrew  his  shattered  columns  and  took  refuge  in  the  defences  at 
Washington.  He  immediately  resigned  his  command,  and  his  Anny  of  Virginia  was  con- 
solidated with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  The  latter  had  now  been  recalled  from  the 
peninsula  below  Richmond,  and  General  McClellan  was  placed  in  supreme  command  of  all 
the  divisions  about  Washington.  Thus  in  dire  disaster  ended  what  is  known  as  the  Penin- 
sular Campaign. 

BATTLE  OF  ANTIETAM. 

General  Lee,  victorious  over  Pope,  pressed  on  to  the  Potomac,  crossed  at  the  Point  of 
Rocks  and  on  the  6th  of  September  captured  Frederick.    On  the  loth  Hagerstown  was  taken, 

and  on  the  15th  Stonewall  Jackson,  falling  upon 
Harper's  Ferry,  frightened  the  commandant.  Colonel 
Miles,  into  a  surrender,  b}'  which  the  garrison,  number- 
ing nearly  twelve  thousand  became  prisoners  of  war. 
On  the  previous  day  a  hard  battle  had  been  fought  at 
South  Mountain  in  which  the  Federals  were  victorious. 
By  these  movements  McClellan' s  army  was  brought 
into  the  immediate  rear  of  Lee,  who  on  the  night  of 
the  14th  fell  back  to  Antietam  Creek  and  took  a  strong 
position  in  the  vicinit>'  of  Sliarpsburg. 

Another  great  battle  was  now  at  hand.  During 
the  15th  of  September  there  was  much  skirmishing  ; 
but  night  came  without  decisive  results.  These  move- 
ments continued  during  the  i6th.  General  Hooker, 
commanding  the  Federal  right,  was  thrown  across  the 
Antietam,  obtaining  thereby  a  favorable  position. 
The  Confederate  left,  under  Hood,  was  assailed  and 
forced  back  in  the  direction  of  Sharpsburg.  Then  followed  a  cannonade  until  nightfall. 
On  the  morning  of  the  17th  both  armies  were  well  posted.  The  Federals  were 
strono-est  in  numbers,  but  the  Confederates  had  the  advantage  of  an  unfordable  stream 
in  their  front  It  was  of  great  importance  to  McClellan  that  he  should  gain  and  hold 
the  four  stone  bridges  by  which  passage  could  be  had  to  the  other  side.  General  Burn- 
side,  who  was  ordered  to  capture  the  lower  bridge  and  attack  the  division  of  A.  P.  Hill, 
was  retarded  in  his  movements;  and  it  was  only  by  terrible  fighting  that  he  succeeded 
in  holding  his  position  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Antietam.  On  the  Union  right  Hooker 
fought  a  successful  battle;  but  the  success  was  gained  by  great  losses,  including  that  of 
General  Mansfield.     At  the  close  of  day  the  Union  army  had  gained  the  west  bank  of  the 


(,h,;NhKAi,  JUbbPH   HOOKER. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBL\. 


(it;  I 


river,  and  the  Confederates  were  worsted  all  along  the  line;  Inil  llioy  still  held  nearly  the 
same  ground  as  in  the  morning,   and  the  final  struggle  was  reserved  for  the  morrow. 

With  the  morrow,  however,  McClellan  began  to  act  on  the  defensive.  It  was  another 
of  those  fatal  delays  for  which  the  military  career  of  that  General  was  unfortunately  noted. 
During  the  i8th  two  strong  divisions  of  Federals,  under  Generals  Humplire)'  and  Couch, 
arrived,  and  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Union  commanders  to  renew  the  battle  on  the  19th  ; 
but  General  Lee,  wiser  than  his  antagonist,  availed  himself  of  the  delay,  withdrew  from  his 
critical  position  and  recrossed  the  Potomac  into  Virginia.  The  great  conflict  which  had  cost 
the  Union  anny  an  aggregate  of  ten  thousand  men  ended  in  a  drawn  battle,  in  which  there 
was  little  to  be  praised  except  the  heroism  of  the  soldiery.  To  the  Confederates,  how- 
ever, the  campaign  had  ended  in  defeat.  The  people  of  Maryland  did  not  rise  in  behalf  of 
the  Confederate  cause  and  General  Lee  was  obliged  to  relinquish  the  invasion  which  had 
cost  him  in  the  short  space  of  a  month  about  twenty-five  thousand  men. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  ADVANCE  ON   RICHMOND. 

After  Antietam  there  was  another  lull  and  it  was  late  in  October  before  McClellan,  fol- 
lowing the  retreating  Confederates,  again  entered  Virginia.      The    detennination  of   the 

national  Goveniment, 
however,  was  not 
abated.  The  adminis- 
tration was  pledged  to 
the  suppression  of  the 
Rebellion.  That  Re- 
bellion had  now  become 
a  mighty  war,  strongly 
tending  to  revolution 
and  a  general  change  of 
American  history.  It 
was  the  intention  of  the 
authorities  to  make 
another  advance  on 
Richmond  before  the 
coming  of  winter  and 
the  Union  commander 
was  ordered  to  prepare- 
There  was,  however,  a 
that  General  and  the 
administration.  The  latter  objected  to  McClellan's 
plan  of  campaign  by  which  Washington  city  would 
be  again  imcovered  to  a  counter  invasion  of  the 
Confederates.  It  was  the  desire  of  the  Union 
General  to  establish  his  base  of  supplies  at  West 
Point,  on  the  Pamunkey  river ;  but  the  President  and  Secretan,-  of  War  insisted  that 
he  should  choose  -Mexandria  as  his  base  of  operations.  From  this  point  it  was  proposed  to 
go  forward  by  way  of  the  Orange  railroad,  through  Culpcper  to  Gordonsville  and  thence  by 
the  Virginia  Central  to  its  junction  with  the  line  reaching  from  Fredericksburg  to 
Richmond. 


for  such    a  movement 
discord  of  views    between 


STORMING  THK   BRIDGE  AT   ANTIETAM 


662  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  sequel  showed  that  the  break  between  General  McClellan  and  the  authorities  at 
Washington  was  fatal.  The  whole  of  October  was  wasted  with  delays  and  November  was 
begun  before  that  commander  with  an  army  of  a  hundred  and  twent}-  thousand  men 
announced  himself  ready  for  the  advance.  On  the  jtliof  the  month,  when  the  movement 
was  about  to  begin,  he  was  superseded  and  his  command  transferred  to  General  Burnside. 
Rieht  or  wrone,  the  President  at  last  reached  the  decision  that  General  McClellan  was  a 
man  over-cautious  and  slow,  too  prudent  and  too  much  absorbed  with  preliminaries  to  lead 
great  armies  to  victor}-. 

With  the  accession  of  Burnside  the  plan  of  the  campaign  was  at  once  changed.  The 
new  commander  would  establish  his  base  of  supplies  at  the  mouth  of  Aquia  creek,  fifty-five 
miles  below  Washington,  and  from  that  point  move  southward  through  Fredericksburg  on 
his  wav  to  Richmond.  But  there  was  another  great  delay  in  preparation  and  General  Lee 
had  ample  time  to  discover  the  purpose  of  his  antagonist  and  to  gather  his  army  on  tlie 
heights  about  Fredericksburg.  The  passage  of  the  Union  arm\-  across  the  Rappahannock 
was  not  seriouslv  resisted.  The  movement  was  effected  with  little  loss  or  opposition  and 
on  the  1 2th  of  December  Burnside  established  his  lines  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  from 
Falmouth  to  a  point  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Massaponax,  three  miles  below. 

BATTLE  OF    FREDERICKSBURG. 

Early  on  the  13th  of  December  a  general  battle  began  on  the  Union  left,  where 
Franklin's  division  was  met  by  that  of  Stonewall  Jackson.  At  the  beginning  of  the  engage- 
men  General  Meade  succeeded  in  breaking  the  Confederate  line  ;  but  the  movement  was  not 
sustained  ;  the  Confederates  rallied  and  drove  back  the  Federals  with  a  loss  of  about  three 
thousand  men.  Jackson's  loss  was  almost  as  great  and  the  result  was  indecisive.  On  the 
centre  and  right,  however,  the  battle  went  wholly  against  Burnside.  General  Sumner's 
division  was  ordered  against  the  Confederates  on  Marye's  Hill  and  the  charge  was  gallantly 
made  ;  but  the  attacking  columns  were  mowed  down  by  the  thousand  and  hurled  back 
while  the  defenders  of  the  heights  hardly  lost  a  man.  Time  and  again  the  assault  was 
renewed,  but  always  with  the  same  disastrous  result.  The  carnage  did  not  end  until  dark- 
ness fell  over  the  scene  of  conflict. 

General  Burnside,  rashly  patriotic  and  almost  out  of  his  wits,  would  have  renewed  the 
battle,  but  the  subordinate  officers  dissuaded  him,  and  on  the  night  of  the  15th  the  whole 
armv  was  quietly  withdrawn  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rappahannock.  The  Union  losses  in 
the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  amounted  in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners  to  more  than  twelve 
thousand  men.  The  Confederates  lost  something  over  five  thousand.  Of  all  the  important 
movements  of  the  war  only  that  of  Fredericksburg  was  tmdertaken  with  no  probability  of 
success.  Under  the  plan  of  battle  nothing  could  be  reasonably  expected  but  repulse,  rout 
and  ruin.      Thus  in  gloom,  disaster  and  humiliation  ended  the  Virginia  campaign  of  1862. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


DECLINE  AND  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY. 


THE  Ci\il  War  had  continued  with  the  same  results 
through  the  j'ear  1863,  the  revolution  attempted  by  the 
Confederate  leaders  must  have  succeeded.  Thus  far  the 
battle  had,  on  the  whole,  gone  in  favor  of  the  South. 
It  appeared  not  improbable  that  the  di.ssolntion  of  the 
Union  would  be  effected.  It  became  the  aim  and  deter- 
mination of  the  Confederate  government  to  hold  out 
against  the  superior  resources  of  the  North  until  they 
should  compel  the  national  authorities  to  yield  the  contest. 
The  war  had  now  grown  to  unheard-of  proportions. 
The  Southern  States  cast  all  on  the  die,  and  drained  every 
source  of  men  and  means  for  the  support  of  their  armies. 
The  National  Government  also  was  greatly  ta.xed,  but  the 
resource.^  m1  the  North  were  by  no  means  exhausted.  On  the  2d  of  July,  1S62,  President 
Lincoln  issued  a  call  for  three  hundred  thousand  men.  In  the  exciting  times  of  Pope's 
retreat,  he  sent  forth  another  call  for  three  hundred  thousand,  and  to  this  was  soon  added  a 
requisition  by  draft  for  three  hundred  thousand  more.  Most  of  these  demands  were 
promptly  met,  and  th-^  discerning  eye  might  already  discover,  at  the  beginning  of  1863, 
that  the  national  authority  was  destined  to  be  reestablished  by  force  of  arms. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  new  year  President  Lincoln  issued  the  celebrated  Emancipation 
Proclamation.  The  President  had  hitherto  declared  that  he  would  save  the  Union  u-ith 
slavery  if  he  could,  but  xvithout  it  if  he  must.  Meanwhile  a  growing  animosity  against  the 
system  of  human  bondage  had  spread  among  the  people.  The  sentiment  of  abolition  began 
to  prevail  among  both  the  people  and  the  soldier}-.  It  came  to  be  regarded  by  the  Govern- 
ment as  a  military  necessity  to  strike  a  blow  at  the  labor  system  of  the  South,  and  the  step 
was  finally  taken  with  little  hesitancy  or  opposition.  The  President  had  issued  a  prelimi- 
nar\-  proclamation  in  September  of  1862,  in  which  he  warned  the  people  of  the  Southern 
States  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  return  to  their  allegiance,  under  the  menace  of  the 
destruction  of  their  peculiar  institution.  The  warning  was  met  with  disdain,  and  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  was  accordingly  issued.  Thus  after  an  existence  of  two 
hundred  and  forty-four  )ears,  African  slavery  in  the  United  .States  wa.-;  swept  away. 

The  beginning  of  the  new  year  found  General  William  T.  Shennan  in  active  move- 
ment on  the  Mississippi.  That  commander  sent  out  an  cxjiedition  earl\'  in  Jauuar>  for  the 
capture  of  Arkansas  Post,  on  the  Arkansas  river.  The  Union  forces  reached  their  destina- 
tion on  the  loth  of  the  month,  and  after  a  hard-fought  battle  gained  a  decisive  victory. 
Arkansas  Post  was  taken,  with  nearly  five  thousand  prisoners.  The  expedition  was  then 
turned  about  for  \'icksburg,  in  order  to  cooperate  with  Cicneral  Ciraut  in  a  second  effort  to 
capture  that  stronghold  and  free  the  Mi.ssissippi  river. 


664 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


THE  REDUCTION  OF  VICKSBURG. 

With  this  end  in  view  the  Union  anny  was  collected  at  ^Memphis,  and  embarked  on  the 
Mississippi.  A  landing  was  first  made  at  Yazoo,  bat  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  from  that 
direction  was  now  regarded  as  impracticable.  For  three  months  General  Grant  beat  about 
the  half-frozen  bayous,  swamps  and  hills  around  Vicksburg,  in  the  hope  of  gaining  a  posi- 
tion in  the  rear  of  the  town.  An  attempt  was  made  to  cut  a  canal  across  the  bend  in  the 
river,  with  a  view  to  turning  the  channel,  thus  opening  a  passage  for  the  Union  gunboats; 
but  a  flood  in  the  Mississippi  washed  away  the  works,  and  the  enterprise  ended  in  failure. 
Another  canal  was  begim,  but  presently  abandoned.  Finally,  in  the  beginning  of  April,  it 
was  determined  at  all  hazards  to  run  the  fleet  past  the  Vicksburg  batteries.      On  the  night 

of  the  1 6th,  the  boats  were  made  ready  and 
silently  dropped  down  the  stream.  It  had 
been  hoped  that  in  the  darkness  they  might 
pass  unobserved  ;  but  all  of  a  sudden  the 
guns  burst  forth  from  the  Mississippi  shore 
with  terrible  discharges  of  shot  and  shell, 
which  exploded  among  the  passing  steamers ; 
but  they  went  by  with  comparatively  little 
damage,  and  gained  a  safe  position  below 
the  city. 

By  this  extraordinary  manoeuvre  Grant 
was  now  able  to  transfer  his  land  forces 
down  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi  and 
to  form  a  junction  with  the  fleet  below 
Vicksburg.  This  done,  he  crossed  the  river 
at  Bruinsburg  on  the  30th  of  April,  and  on 
the  following  day  fought  with  the  Con- 
federates a  victorious  battle  at  Port  Gibson. 
This  success  obliged  the  Confederates  to 
evacuate  Grand  Gulf,  and  the  Union  army 
was  thus  free  to  move  at  will  in  the  rear 
of  Vicksburg. 

But  there  was  much  hazard  in  the 
situation.  On  the  12th  of  May  another  battle  was  fought  at  Raymond  and  the  Con- 
federates were  defeated.  At  this  juncture  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was  on  the 
march  from  Jackson  to  reinforce  the  forces  at  Vicksburg,  which  were  commanded  by 
General  J.  C.  Pemberton.  The  right  wing  of  the  Union  army,  under  Sherman  and 
McPherson,  fell  in  with  Johnston  on  the  14th  of  the  month,  and  a  severe  battle  was 
fought,  in  which  the  Confederates  were  defeated.  Grant  was  able  to  follow  up  his 
success  with  the  capture  of  Jackson.  The  possession  of  the  lines  of  communication 
between  Vicksburg  and  the  interior  was  secured  by  the  Union  General,  and  his  antagonist 
was  forced  back  towards  Vicksburg.  Pemberton,  however,  was  not  willing  to  be  shut  up 
without  a  struggle  for  freedom.  He  accordingly  moved  out  with  the  greater  part  of  his 
forces,  and  on  the  i6th  of  the  month  fought  with  the  Federal  army  the  decisive  battle  of 
Champion  Hill.  This  was  followed  by  a  second  conflict  at  Black  River.  In  both  engage- 
ments the  Federals  were  victorious,  and  the  Confederate  army  was  effectually  cooped  up 
within  the  fortifications  of  Vicksburg. 


GENERAL  WM.    T.    SHERMAN. 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUMBIA.  (JGo 

That  city  was  invested  and  besieged  by  the  Union  army.  On  the  19th  of  May  General 
Grant  attempted  to  carry  the  Confederate  works  by  assanlt,  but  the  attack  was  repulsed 
with  severe  losses.  Three  da\-s  afterwards  another  assault  was  made,  but  the  P'ederal 
columns,  though  they  gained  some  ground  in  different  parts  of  the  field,  were  hurled  back 
with  great  destruction  of  life.  The  aggregate  losses  in  the  two  attacks  amounted  to  nearly 
three  thousand  men. 

The  siege  was  now  pressed  with  ever-increasing  vigor.  The  Confederate  garrison  was 
presently  placed  on  short  rations.  A  condition  of  starvation  ensued,  but  Pemberton  held 
out  for  more  than  a  month.  It  was  not  until  the  Fourth  of  July  that  he  was  obliged  to 
surrender.  By  the  act  of  capitulation  the  Confederate  army,  thirty  thousand  strong,  became 
prisoners  of  war.  Thousands  of  small  arms,  hundreds  of  cannon  and  vast  quantities  of 
ammunition  and  military  stores  were  the  additional  fruits  of  this  great  Union  victory,  by 
which  the  national  cause  gained  more  and  the  Confederacy  lost  more  than  in  any  previous 
struggle  of  the  war.     It  was  a  blow  from  which  the  South  was  never  able  to  recover. 

General  X.  P.  Banks  had  now  superseded  General  Butler  in  the  command  of  the 
department  of  the  Gulf.  That  officer  set  out  early  in  January  from  Baton  Rouge,  and 
advanced  with  a  strong  force  into  Louisiana.  He  encountered  the  Confederates  at  a  place 
called  Bayou  Teche  and  gained  there  a  decisive  victory.  He  then  moved  northward  and 
began  a  siege  of  Fort  Hudson,  Mississippi.  The  beleaguered  garrison,  under  General 
Gardner,  made  a  brave  defence,  holding  out  until  the  8th  of  July.  When  the  news  of  the 
fall  of  Vicksburg  reached  Gardner,  however,  he  capitulated,  by  which  six  thousand  addi- 
tional Confederate  soldiers  became  prisoners  of  war.  It  was  the  last  stroke  by  which  the 
Mississippi  was  freed  from  Confederate  control  and  opened  through  its  whole  length  to  the 
operations  of  the  Federal  anny.  The  series  of  movements  by  which  this  work  was  accom- 
plished reflected  the  highest  honor  upon  the  military'  genius  of  General  Grant.  After 
Vicksburg  the  attention  and  confidence  of  the  North  were  turned  to  him  as  the  leader  who 
was  destined  to  conduct  the  national  annies  to  final  triumph. 

DESTRUCTION  WROUGHT  BY  CAVALRY   RAIDS. 

.\t  this  period  of  the  war  cavalr\  raids  became  tlie  order  of  the  day.  These  move- 
ments were  an  important  element  of  larger  military  operations.  The  possibility  of  them 
was  first  noted  and  their  value  demonstrated  by  Stonewall  Jackson  in  his  Shenandoah 
campaigns  of  1862.  Later  in  that  >ear,  after  the  battle  of  Ai:tietam,  General  J.  E.  B. 
Stuart,  commanding  the  cavaln,-  of  the  anny  of  Northern  Virginia,  made  an  excursion  with 
eighteen  hundred  troopers  into  Pennsylvania.  He  captured  Chambersburg,  made  a  com- 
plete circuit  of  the  Union  army  and  returned  in  safety  into  Virginia. 

In  the  spring  of  1863  Colonel  Benjamin  Grierson  of  the  Sixth  Illinois  cavalry  struck 
out  with  his  command  from  La  Grange,  Tennessee,  entered  Mississippi,  traversed  the  State 
to  the  east  of  Jackson,  cut  the  railroads,  destroyed  great  amounts  of  property,  and  after  a 
rapid  course  of  more  than  eight  hundred  miles  through  the  enemy's  country,  gained  the 
Mi.ssissippi  at  Baton  Rouge.  Both  .sections  of  the  countr>-  along  the  border  lines  of  the  war 
were  kept  in  the  utmost  agitation  and  alarm  by  these  recurring  raids.  With  the  progress 
of  the  conflict  such  movements  became  more  and  more  injurious.  The  commanders  of 
them  and  the  men  whom  they  led  learned  to  perfection  the  arts  of  destruction.  The  skill 
of  the  raiders  was  directed  chiefly  to  the  annihilation  of  railroads  and  telegraphs.  This 
work  became  a  new  military  art,  and  the  destructive  abilities  of  the  raiders  were  such  that 
miles  of  track  and  road-bed  were  destroyed  in  a  single  day. 

After  Murfreesborough.  General   Rosecrans  remained  inactive  for  a  season.      Late  in 


666 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  spring  the  command  of  Colonel  A.  B.  Streight  made  a  raid  into  Georgia,  met  the 
division  of  the  Confederate  General  Forrest,  was  captured  and  sent  to  Libb)-  prison.  While 
the  siege  of  Vicksburg  was  in  progress  Rosecrans  resumed  activities,  and  by  a  series  of  flank 
movements  obliged  General  Bragg  to  retire  from  Tennessee  into  Georgia.  The  Union 
General  followed,  and  planted  himself  at  Chattanooga,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tennessee. 

BATTLE  OF  CHICKAMAUGA. 
The  Confederate  authorities  now  sent  forward  large  reinforcements  to  Bragg,  including 
the  divisions  of  Johnston  from  Mississippi  and  Longstreet  from  Virginia.  On  the  19th 
of  September  the  Confederate  commander  turned  upon  the  Federal  anny  at  Chickamauga 
Creek,  in  the  northwest  angle  of  Georgia,  where  was  fought  one  of  the  great  battles  of  the 
war.      Night    fell    on    the   scene  with  the   victory  undecided.      Under    cover  of  the   dark- 


'.'■t»^-./., 

A    RAII.ROAD  BATTERY    OF   THE    RAIDERS. 

ness  the  Confederates,  strongly  reinforced  by  Longstreet,  prepared  for  the  renewal  of  the 
conflict.  Longstreet  took  the  Confederate  left,  opposite  the  Union  right,  held  by  General 
Cook.  The  battle  was  renewed  on  the  morning  of  the  20th,  and  for  a  while  the  Federals 
held  their  ground  with  unflinching  courage.  After  some  hours  of  indecisive  fighting,  the 
national  battle  line  was  opened  by  General  Wood,  acting  under  mistaken  orders.  Long- 
street,  seeing  the  mistake,  thrust  forward  a  heavy  column  into  the  gap,  cut  the  Union  army 
in  two,  and  dro\'e  the  shattered  right  wing  in  utter  rout  from  the  field.  The  brunt  of  the 
battle  now  fell  on  General  Thomas,  who  held  the  Union  left.  That  officer,  with  a  desperate 
valor  hardly  surpassed  in  the  annals  of  war,  clung  to  his  position  until  nightfall,  and  then 
under  cover  of  darkness  withdrew  into  Chattanooga,  where  the  defeated  army  of  Rosecrans 
found  a  precarious  shelter.  The  Union  losses  in  this  dreadful  battle  amounted  in  killed, 
wounded  and  missing  to  nearly  nineteen  thousand  and  the  Confederate  loss  was  equally 
appalling. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


067 


Bragg  pressed  forward  at  once  to  the  siege  of  Chattanooga.  He  succeeded  in  cutting 
fhe  Federal  lines  of  communication  and  for  awhile  the  anny  of  Rosecrans  was  threatened 
with  total  destruction.  General  Hooker  came  to  the  rescue  with  two  army  corps  from  the 
Anny  of  the  Potomac,  opened  the  Tennessee  River  and  brought  a  measure  of  relief  to  the 
besieged.  But  the  great  step  towards  recovery  was  the  promotion  of  General  Ulysses  S. 
Grant  to  the  chief  command  of  all  the  Western  armies.  That  commander,  whose  star  now 
struggled  out  of  the  clouds  of  doubt  and  disparagement  to  shine  with  ever  increasing 
brightness,  at  once  assumed  direction  of  affairs  at  Chattanooga.  Nor  was  there  ever  a  time 
in  the  course  of  the  war  when  a  change  of  commanders  was  immediately  felt  in  so  salutary 
a  measure.  Shennan  also  arrived  at  Chattanooga  with  his  division  and  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland  was  able  to  assume  the  offensive  against  the  Confederates. 

BATTLE  OF   LOOKOUT  MOUNTAIN. 

The  left  wing  of  Bragg's  anny  rested  at  this  time  on  Lookout  Mountain  and  the  right 
on  Missionary  Ridge.  The  Confederate  position  was  seemingh-  impregnable,  but  the  Union 
commander  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  his  antagonist.  At  this  very  time  Bragg  was  maturing 
his  plans  for  an  assault 
on  Chattanooga.  On  the 
20th  of  November  he 
went  so  far  as  to  notify 
General  Grant  to  remove 
all  non-combatants  from 
the  city  as  he  was  about 
to  begin  a  bombardment. 
To  this  menace  the  Union 
General  paid  no  attention. 
On  the  23d  of  the  month 
Hooker  was  sent  with  hi- 
corps  across  the  ri\Lr 
below  Chattanooga  to  gain 
a  footing  at  the  bottom 
of  Lookout  Mountain. 
He  was  ordered  to  hold 
himself  in  readiness  to  make  an  assault  with  the  support  of  Generals  Gerry,  Gear\-  and 
Osterhaus.  The  Union  line  in  front  of  Chattanooga  was  kept  in  a  state  of  activity  to 
distract  the  attention  oif  the  Confederates  from  the  real  point  of  attack. 

The  movements  of  Hooker  on  the  Union  right  were  concealed  by  a  fog  that  hung  like 
a  hood  over  the  mountain.  The  assault  began  early  in  the  morning  and  the  Confederate 
rifle-pits  along  the  foothills  were  successfully  carried.  The  Union  charge  gathered  enthusi- 
asm and  momentum  in  its  course.  The  assault  was  made  up  the  steep  sides  of  Lookout, 
but  the  Union  troops  went  forward  with  irresistible  energy.  The  mountain  was  not  strongly 
defended  by  the  Confederates,  for  the  reason  of  its  apparent  inaccessibility.  The  Federal 
charge  went  to  the  summit  and  by  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  national  flag  was  waving 
above  the  clouds  on  the  top  of  Lookout.  The  Confederates  retreated  down  the  eastern  slope 
and  across  the  inter\'ening  valleys  towards  Missionary  Ridge. 

Bragg  now  perceived  that  he  was  to  be  the  attacked  instead  of  the  attacking  part}-. 
During  the  night  of  the  24th  he  concentrated  his  forces  for  the  defence  of  his  position.  On 
the  morning  of  the  25th  Grant  ordered  Hooker  to  bear  down   the  slopes  of  Lookout,  cross 


A    CHARGK   AT   MISSIONARY    RIDGE. 


668 


COLU^IBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  Chattanooga  and  renew  the  battle  on  the  Confederate  left.      General  Sherman  meanwhile 
had  thrown  a  pontoon  bridge  across  the  Tennesseee  and  gained  a  lodgment  for  his  di^•ision 

on  the  northeastern  declivit}-  of 
Missionar,-  Ridge.  General 
Thomas,  commanding  the 
Union  centre,  lay  on  the  southern 
and  eastern  slopes  of  Orchard 
Knob  impatiently  awaiting  the 
result  of  Shennan's  and  Hooker's 
onsets. 

Hooker  was  delayed  in  his 
movements,  but  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  the  signal  of 
an  a r t i  1 1  e r }•  discharge  from 
Orchard  Knob  announced  the 
beginning  of  the  assault  along 
the  whole  line.*  Instantly  the 
Union  column  moved  forward. 
The  thrilling  scenes  of  Lookout 
INIountain  were  reenacted  on  a 
more  magnificent  scale.  General 
Grant  had  ordered  the  assaulting 
columns  to  take  the  lifle-pits  at 
the  foot  of  Missionars'  Rid^e 
and  then  to  pause  and  re-form 
for  the  principal  charge  ;  but 
such  was  the  elan  of  the  army, 
such  the  impetuosity  of  its  im- 
pact, that  after  carn-ing  the  rifle- 
pits  the  column  of  its  own 
motion  pressed  forward  at  full 
speed,  clambered  up  the  slopes 
and  drove  the  Confederates  in  a 
disastrous  rout  from  the  summit 
of  the  Ridge.  Xo  more  brilliant 
ojDeration  was  witnessed  during 
the  war. 

In  the  following  night  General 
Bragg  withdrew  in  the  direction 
of  Ringgold,  Georgia.  His  anny 
was  greatly  shattered  by  defeat. 
The  Confederate  losses  had 
reached  in  killed,  wounded  and 
prisoners  fully  ten  thousand  men. 
The     Federals   lost    in   the    two 


*  The  reverberations  of  Grant'b  .mx  aK.iu,! 
the  end  of  the  Confederacy. 


from    Orchard  Knob  were  the  signal  of  the  beginning  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


66i> 


battles  of  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionar\-  Riilj^c  more  than  fi\e  thousand,  of  whom 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-seven  were  killed.  The  result  was  so  decisive  as  to  end  the 
war  in  Tennessee  until  it  was  recklessly  renewed  by  General  Hood  at  Franklin  and 
Nashville  in  the  winter  of  1864. 

Meanwhile  General  Buniside  was  making  a  strenuous  effort  to  hold  East  Tennessee 
against  the  attempts  of  the  Confederacy.  On  the  ist  of  September  he  arrived  at  Knoxville 
and  was  cordially  received  by  the  people,  most  of  whom  in  this  section  of  the  State  had 
remained  finn  in  their  allegiance  to  the  Union.  After  Chickamauga  General  Longstreet 
was  sent  into  East  Tennessee  to  suppress  the  Union  party  and  prevent  the  restoration  of  the 
national  authority'.  On  his  march  towards  Knoxville  he  captured  .several  detachments  of 
Federal  troops  and  then  began  a  siege  of  the  town.  On  the  29th  of  November  he  made  an 
attempt  to  carr>-  Knoxville  by  assault,  but  was  repulsed  with  heavy  losses.  General  Grant 
looked  with  the  greatest  solicitude  to  the  situation  of  affairs  in  East  Tennessee,  and  as  soon 
as  Bragg  retreated  from  Chattanooga  sent  General  Sherman  to  the  relief  of  Knoxville.  As 
the  latter  drew  near  Longstreet  prudently  drew  off  into  \'irginia. 

INVASION  OF  MISSOURI. 

The  Confederates  had  in  the  meantime  resumed  activities  in  Arkansas  and  southern 
Missouri.  Early  in  1863  strong  forces  under  Generals  Marmaduke  and  Price  entered  this 
region  of  countn,-, 
and  on  the  8th  of 
January-  attacked  the 
city  of  Springfield. 
Their  assault,  how- 
ever, was  repulsed 
with  considerable 
losses  to  the  assailants. 
Three  days  afterwards 
another  battle  w  a  s 
fought  at  the  town  of 
Hartsville,  with  like 
results.  On  the  26th 
of  April  ^][,annaduke 
made  an  attack  on 
Cape  Girardeau,  on 
the  Mississippi,  but 
was  for  the  third  time 
repelled.  On  the  4tli 
of  July  General    Holmes, 


TTLK   OK  CH.\XCELLOKS\  II.I.K. 


I.EE  AND  J.\CK-  ; 

with  an  anny  of  about  eight  thousand  men,  made  an  attack  on 
Helena,  Arkansas,  but  was  defeated  with  a  loss  of  one-fifth  of  his  forces.  It  was  on  the 
13th  of  August  in  this  year  tliat  the  town  of  Lawrence,  Kansas,  was  sacked  and  burned 
and  a  hundred  and  forty  persons  killed  by  a  band  of  guerillas  led  by  a  chieftain  called 
Quantrell.  On  the  loth  of  September  General  Steele  reached  Little  Rock,  Arkansas, 
captured  the  city,  and   restored  the  national  authority  in  the  State. 

The  greatest  raid  of  the  year,  and  perhaps  of  the  war,  was  that  of  the  Confederate 
General  John  Morgan.  That  officer,  at  the  head  of  a  cavalry  force  three  thon.sand  strong, 
started  northward  from  the  town  of  Sparta,  Tennes.see,  for  an  invasion  of  Kentucky, 
Indiana  and  Ohio.     While  passing  through  the  first-named  State  he  gathered  strength,  so 


670 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


that  his  force  on  reaching  the  Ohio  River  was  formidable.  He  crossed  at  a  place  called 
Brandenbvirg  and  began  his  march  through  Indiana  to  the  north  and  east.  The  home- 
gnards  of  that  State  turned  out  ;  but  the  movements  of  Morgan  were  so  rapid  that  it  was 
difficult  to  check  his  progress.  He  was  resisted  seriously  at  Corydon,  and  a  large  force 
of  Federals  under  General  Hobson  pressed  hard  after  him  as  he  made  his  way  in  a  circuit 
through  the  southeastern  part  of  the  State.  He  crossed  the  Ohio  line  at  the  town  of  Harri- 
son and  passed  to  the  north  of  Cincinnati.  B)-  this  time,  however,  State  troops  began  to 
swarm  around  the  raiders,  and  the  latter  attempted  to  regain  the  Ohio  River.  There  they 
were  confronted  by  gunboats  and  turned  back.  The  forces  of  Morgan  melted  awa}'  under 
pressure  and  constant  fighting,  until  he  came  to  the  town  of  New  Lisbon,  Ohio,  where  he 
was  surrounded  and  captured  by  the  brigade  of  General  Shackelford.  The  Confederate 
leader  was  imprisoned  in  the  Ohio  penitentiary;  but  he  succeeded  in  making  his  escape 
from  that  place,  fled  to  Kentucky,  and  finally  reached  Richmond. 

ATTACK  ON    CHARLESTON    AND    DEATH    OF  JACKSON. 
In  the  meantime  minor  but  important  operations  had  been  carried  forward  along  the 
sea-coast.      On  the  first  day  of  1863  General  IMarmaduke  captured  Galveston,  Texas,  thus 

for  the  Confederate  States  a  much- 


needed  port  of  entry.  On  the  7th  of  April 
Admiral  Dupont,  with  a  fleet  of  ironclads  and 
rftonitors,  made  a  descent  on  Charleston,  but 
was  driven  back  from  the  city.  In  the  latter 
part  of  June  the  eflfort  was  renewed  in  con- 
junction with  a  land  force  under  command  of 
( General  O.  A.  Gilmore.  The  Federal  army 
gained  a  lodgment  on  Folly  and  Morris 
islands,  where  batteries  were  planted  bearing 
on  Forts  Sumter  and  Wagner.  On  the  i8th 
of  July  an  assault  was  made  on  Fort  Wagner, 
but  the  Federals  were  repulsed  with  a  loss 
of  more  than  fifteen  hundred  men.  Early  in 
September  the  Confederates  evacuated  Wagner 
and  Batten-  Gregg,  whence  they  retired  into 
Charleston.  Gilmore,  acting  in  conjunction 
with  Admiral  Dahlgren,  was  able  to  plant 
batteries  within  four  miles  of  the  city.  The 
lower  part  of  Charleston  was  bombarded  and 
one  side  of  Fort  Sumter  pounded  into  powder. 
The  fort,  however,  could  not  be  taken, 
and  the  only  present  gain  to  the  Federals 
the    establishment    of    a    blockade     so 


STONE\V.\LL  JACKSON    BEFORE   THE   B.-VTTLH. 


was 


complete  as  to  seal  up  the  port  of  Charleston. 

In  the  meantime  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  had  its  share  of  A-icissitude  and  battle. 
After  the  repulse  at  Fredericksburg,  General  Burnside  resigned  the  command,  and  was 
superseded  by  General  Joseph  Hooker.  The  latter  advanced  in  the  after  part  of  April, 
crossed  the  Rappahannock  and  the  Rapidan  and  reached  Chancellorsville.  Here,  on  the 
evening  of  the  2d  of  May,  he  was  attacked  by  the  Array  of  Northern  Virginia,  under  com- 
mand of  Lee  and  Jackson.      The  latter  general,  at  the  head  of  twenty-five  thousand  men, 


COLUMBUS   A\I)   COLUMBIA. 


<;71 


succceiled  b\'  extraordinary  tlaring  in  ontflanking  the  I'nion  army,  and  swept  down  like  a 
thunder-blast  upon  the  right  wing,  dashing  everything  to  destruction  as  he  came.  But  it 
was  the  last  of  Stonewall's  battles.  As  night  came  on  and  ruin  seemed  to  impend  over  the 
Federal  army,  the  Confederate  leader,  in  the  confusion  of  the  scene,  received  a  volley  from 


BATTI.1-;    OF    CHAN*CKt.I.ORSVIl.I.K. 


his  own  lines,  and  fell  mortally  wounded.      He  lingered  a  week,  and  died  at  (luinca  Station, 
leaving  a  gap  in  tlie  Confederate  ranks  never  to  be  filled. 

The  Union  right  wing  was  rallied  and  restored.  On  the  morning  of  the  3d  tiie  Con- 
federates were  checked  in  their  career  of  victory.  General  Sedgwick,  who  had  attempted 
to  reinforce  Hooker  at  Fredericksburg,  was  attacked  and  driven  across  the  Rappahannock. 


672 


COLUMBUS  AND    COLUMBIA. 


The  Union  annv  was  forced  into  a  comparatively  small  space  between  Chancellorsville  and 
the  river,  where  it  remained  in  the  utmost  peril  until  the  evening  of  the  5th,  when  Hooker 
succeeded  in  withdrawing  his  forces  to  the  northern  bank.  The  Union  losses  amounted  to 
about  seventeen  thousand,  while  those  of  the  Confederates  were  hardly  five  thousand  in 
number.  At  no  time  during  the  war  did  the  Union  cause  appear  to  a  greater  disadvantage 
in  the  East  than  after  the  disastrous  battle  of  Chancellorsville. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  General  Stoneman  conducted  his  successful  cavalry-  raid  into 
Virginia.  His  movement  was  coincident  with  that  of  Hooker  to  Chancellorsville.  On  the 
29th  of  April,  Stoneman,  crossing  the  Rappahannock,  tore  up  the  Virginia  Central  railway 
and  pushed  ahead  to  the  Chickahomin}^      He  succeeded  in  cutting  Lee's  communications, 

swept  around  within  a  few 


miles  of  Richmond,  and  on 
the  8th  of  May  recrossed 
the  Rappahannock  in  safety. 
Another  event  serving  to 
mitigate  the  Union  disasters 
at  Chancellorsville  was  the 
successful  defence  of  Suffolk, 
on  the  Nansemond  river, 
by  General  Peck  against 
the  siege  conducted  by 
General  Longstreet. 
INVASION  OF  PENNSVLVANIA. 
The  Confederates  were 
greatly  elated  with  their 
successes  on  the  Rappahan- 
nock, and  General  Lee  de- 
termined upon  a  counter- 
invasion  of  jMarj-land  and 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  first 
week  of  June  he  crossed  the 
Potomac  with  his  whole 
army  and  captured  Hagers- 
town.  On  the  2 2d  of  the 
month  he  reached  Chambers- 
burg,  and  then  pressed  on  through  Carlisle,  in  the  direction  of  Harrisburg.  The  in- 
vasion produced  the  greatest  excitement.  The  militia  of  Pennsylvania  was  hurriedly 
called  out,  and  volunteers  by  the  thousand  poured  in  from  other  States.  General  Hooker 
threw  forward  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  confront  his  antagonist.  It  became  evident  that 
a  great  and  decisive  battle  was  at  hand. 

General  Lee  concentrated  his  forces  near  the  village  of  Gettysburg,  capital  of  Adams 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Union  array  was  likewise  gathered  on  the  highlands  be>ond 
the  town.  On  the  ver>-  eve  of  battle  the  command  of  the  Federal  forces  was  transferred 
from  General  Hooker  to  General  George  G.  IMeade— a  dangerous  experiment  in  the  face  of 
so  overwhelming  a  contingency.  IMeade  drew  up  his  army  through  the  hill-country  in  the 
direction  of  Gettysburg.      After  two  years  of  indecisive  though  bloody   warfare,  it  now 


SEAT    OF    WAR    FROM    HARPER'S    FERRY   TO    SUFFOLK,    VA. 


COLUxMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


673 


seemed  that  the  fate  of  the  war,  and  possibly  of  the  American  republic,  was  to  be  staked 
on  the  issue  of  a  single  battle. 

On  the  morning  of  the  ist  of  July  the  Union  advance  under  Generals  Reynolds  and 
Beauford,  moving  out  westward  from  Gettvsburg,  encountered  the  Confederate  division  of 
General  A.  P.  Hill  coming  upon  the  road  from  Hagerstown,  and  the  struggle  began.  In 
the  afternoon  both  divisions  were  strongly  reinforced,  and  a  severe  battle  was  fought  for  the 
possession  of  Seminar>-  ridge.  The  Confederates  were  victorious,  and  the  Union  advance 
line  was  forced  back  from  its  position  through  the  village  to  the  high  grounds  on  the  south. 

Such  was  the  initial  passage  of  the  battle.  The  Federal  lines  were  now  drawn  up  in  a 
convex  position  reaching  from  the  eminence  called  Round  Top,  where  the  left  wing  rested, 
armind  the  crest  of  the  ridges  to  Cemetery  Hill,  where  the  centre  was  posted.  From  this 
position  the  lines  extended  to  Wolf  Hill, 
on  Rock  creek.  The  position  was  well 
chosen  and  strong,  and  the  whole  Union 
army,  with  the  exception  of  Sedgwick's 
corps,  was  brought  forward  into  position 
during  the  night  of  the  ist.  The  Con- 
federate forces  were  likewise  thrown  into 
advantageous  lines  on  Seminar)-  ridge,  and 
on  the  high  grounds  to  the  left  of  Rock 
creek.  The  semi-circle  was  about  five 
miles  in  extent.  The  cavalr,-  divisions, 
both  Federal  and  Confederate,  hung  upon 
the  flanks  of  the  respective  armies,  doing 
effective  ser\'ice,  but  hardly  participating 
in  the  main  conflicts  of  the  centre. 

BATTLE  OF  GETTYSBURG. 
With  the  morning  of  July  2d  the 
battle  was  begun  by  General  Longstreet, 
who  commanded  the  Confederate  right. 
That  officer  moved  forward  with  impetu- 
osity and  fell  upon  the  Union  left  under 
General  Sickles.  The  stniggle  for  the 
possession  of  Great  and  Little  Round 
Tops  was  terrific  and  lasted  until  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening.      The  close  of  the 

J  r  J     it  4.  •,.•  4.MI     •  BATTLE   OF   GETTYSBURG,    IlLV   1,    2,   ■>,,   iSSx. 

day  found  those  strong   positions  still  in  .  j         .      o.      j 

the  hands  of  the  Federals  ;  but  the  fighting  on  the  whole  had  been  favorable  to  the 
Confederates.  In  the  centre,  meanwh-.le,  a  battle  had  been  fought  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  day,  the  contention  being  for  the  mastery  of  Cemeten,-  Hill  which  was 
the  key  to  the  Federal  position.  In  this  part  of  the  field  the  national  line,  though 
hard  pressed  by  the  Confederates,  preserved  its  integrity  until  nightfall.  On  the  Union 
right  the  Confederate  onset  was  more  successful,  and  that  wing  of  the  aniiy  commanded 
by  General  Slocum  was  to  a  considerable  extent  broken  by  the  assaults  of  .\.  P. 
Hill.  At  ten  o'clock  at  night,  however,  when  the  fighting  ceased,  it  was  found  that  the 
two  annies  held  virtually  the  same  position  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  battle — this,  not- 

43 


674 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


?^^ 


ft'i 


r 


A 


^.  :i 


withstanding  the  fact  that  nearly  forty  thousand  Union  and  Confederate  dead  and  wounded 
already  bore  evidence  of  the  portentous  character  of  the  conflict. 

The  national  forces  were  now  on  the  defensive.  The  Confederates  in  order  to  succeed 
must  advance.  Otherwise  the  invasion  would  end  in  defeat  and  disaster.  The  Confeder- 
ate anny  must  break  through  the  opposing  wall  or  be  hurled  back  from  the  assault.  Lee 
did  not  flinch  from  the  great  exigency  before  him.  During  the  night  both  generals  pre- 
pared for  a  renewal  of  the  battle  on  the  morrow.  With  the  coming  of  morning,  however, 
both  seemed  loath  to  begin.  Doubtless  both  were  well  aware  of  the  critical  nature  of  the 
conflict.  The  whole  nation,  indeed,  realized  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  July  that  the 
crisis  of  the  Civil  War  had  been  reached,  and  that  perhaps  before  sunset  the  issue  would  be 
decided  for  or  against  the  American  Union. 

The  forenoon  of  that  tremendous  day  was  spent  in  preparations.  There  was  small  and 
desultory  fighting  here  and  there  but  nothing  decisive.      At  midday  there  was  a  lull  along 

the  whole  line.  Then 
burst  forth  the  fiercest 
cannonade  ever  known  on 
the  American  continent 
For  about  two  hours  the 
hills  and  surrounding 
country  were  shaken  with 
the  thunders  of  more  than 
two  hundred  heavy  guns. 
The  Confederate  artillery 
was  concentrated  against 
the  Union  centre  at 
Cemeter}'  Hill,  and  this 
place  became  a  scene  of 
indescribable  uproar  and 
death.  About  two  o'clock 
the  Union  batteries,  under 
the  direction  of  General 
Hunt,  drew  back  beyond 
the  crest  in  order  to  cool 
the  guns  and  also  for 
economy  of  ammunition. 
The  slacking  of  the  fire  was  construed  by  the  Confederates  as  signifying  that  their 
cannonade  had  been  successful.  Then  came  the  crisis.  The  roar  of  the  great  guns 
in  a  measure  ceased.  A  Confederate  column  numbering  eighteen  thousand  men  and 
about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  in  length,  headed  by  the  Virginians  under  Pickett,  moved 
forward  in  a  desperate  charge  against  the  Union  centre. 

The  scene  that  ensued  was  doubtless  the  finest  military'  spectacle  ever  witnessed  west 
of  the  Atlantic;  but  the  onset  was  in  vain.  The  brave  men  who  made  it  were  mowed  down 
with  terrible  slaughter.  The  head  of  the  Confederate  column  succeeded  in  striking  the 
Union  line;  but  there  it  sank  to  the  earth.  Then  the  whole  division  was  hurled  back  in 
ruin  and  rout.  Victory  hovered  over  the  national  army  and  it  only  remained  for  Lee  with 
his  broken  legions  to  turn  back  towards  the  Potomac. 

The  losses  on  both  sides  were  prodigious.       That  of  the   Confederates — though   never 


REPULSING 


CHARGE    AT   GETTYSBURG. 


►J 


a 

c 

X 


676  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

formally  reported — was  nearh-  thirty  thousand.  The  Federals  lost  in  killed,  wounded  and  miss- 
ing twenty-three  thousand  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-six,  making  a  total  of  more  than  fifty 
thousand  men!  It  was  strongly  hoped  by  the  Government  that  when  the  Confederates  were 
driven  back  in  retreat  General  Meade  would  be  able  by  a  counter  attack  to  spring  upon  and 
destroy  the  forces  of  his  antagonist  before  they  could  recross  the  river;  but  the  condition  of 
the  Union  anny  was  so  dreadful  that  the  desired  movement  could  not  be  undertaken.  Gen- 
eral Lee  withdrew  his  forces  into  Virginia  and  the  Federals  soon  took  up  their  old  positions 
on  the  Potomac  and  the  Rappahannock. 

RIOTS  FOLLOWING  THE  CONSCRIPTION  ACT. 

Notwithstanding  the  overwhelming  success  of  the  Union  cause  at  Vicksburg  and 
Gettysburg,  the  national  administration  was  pressed  with  mountains  of  difficulty.  The  war 
debt  was  piling  up  to  infinity.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  war  mi:st  soon  end  or  national 
bankruptcy  ensue.  The  last  call  for  volunteers  had  not  been  fully  met  and  there  were  those 
in  the  North  who,  on  account  of  political  animosity  rejoiced  in  the  embarrassments  of  the 
Government  and  threw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  success.  The  anti-war  party  becoming 
bold  and  open,  denounced  the  measures  of  Congress  and  the  military  conduct  of  the  war. 
On  the  3d  of  March,  1863,  the  Conscription  Act  was  passed  by  Congress  and  two  months 
afterwards  the  President  ordered  a  general  draft  of  three  hundred  thousand  men.  All  able- 
bodied  citizens  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty-five  were  subjected  to  the  requisition. 

This  Conscription  Act  added  fuel  to  the  fires  of  opposition.  The  Government  was 
bitterly  denounced.  In  many  parts  of  the  Border  States  the  draft-officers  were  resisted. 
On  the  13th  of  July,  notwithstanding  the  recent  successes  of  the  Union  armies  and  the  pro- 
spective end  of  the  war,  a  serious  riot  occurred  in  New  York  city.  A  vast  mob  rose  in  arms, 
attacked  the  offices  of  the  provost-marshals,  burned  the  Colored  Orphan  Asylum,  drove  back 
the  police  and  killed  about  a  hundred  people,  most  of  whom  were  negroes.  For  three  days 
the  mob  had  virtual  possession  of  the  city.  Governor  Seymour  came  down  from  Albany  and 
made  to  the  rioters  a  mild-mannered  speech,  promising  that  the  draft  should  be  suspended 
and  advising  the  crowds  to  disperse.  Little  heed  was  given  to  this  soft-toned  admonition, 
and  General  Wool,  commander  of  the  military  district  of  New  York,  was  obliged  to  take 
the  matter  in  hand.  Even  he,  with  the  forces  at  his  disposal,  was  not  able  at  first  to  put 
down  the  insurrection.  At  this  juncture,  however,  some  volunteer  regiments  came  trooping 
home  from  Gettysburg.  The  Metropolitan  police  was  organized  for  the  assault  and  the 
insurgents  were  scattered  with  a  strong  hand.  The  stor>'  of  Vicksburg  and  Gett)'sburg 
threw  a  damper  over  these  treasonable  proceedings  and  acts  of  domestic  violence  ceased. 
Opposition  to  the  war,  however,  was  still  rampant  in  many  parts  of  the  North  and  on  the 
igtli  of  August,  1863,  President  Lincoln  was  constrained  to  issue  a  proclamation  suspending 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  throughout  the  Union. 

The  sequel  showed  the  ineffectiveness  of  the  conscription  as  a  method  of  filling  the 
Union  armies.  Only  about  fifty  thousand  men  were  added  to  the  national  forces  by  the 
draft.  In  other  respects,  however,  the  measure  was  salutary.  It  was  seen  that  the  Govern- 
ment would  not  hesitate,  in  the  last  resort,  to  draw  upon  the  human  resources  of  the  coun- 
try by  force.  Volunteering  and  the  employment  of  substitutes  became  the  order  of 
the  day,  and  the  ranks  of  the  Union  army  were  constantly  strengthened  by  new 
recruits.  Such,  however,  were  the  terrible  losses  in  camp  and  field  that  in  October  of  1863 
the  President  found  it  necessary  to  issue  another  call  for  three  hundred  thousand  men.  By 
these  active  measures  the  Federal  anny  was  not  only  maintained  in  its  integrity,  but  con- 
stantly increased  in  volume  and  effectiveness. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


077 


It  now  became  apparent  that  the  Confederacy  was  weakening.  With  the  approach  of 
winter  the  disparity  between  the  Federal  and  the  Confederate  forces  began  to  be  apparent  to 
the  whole  world.  The  armies  of  the  South  already  showed  symptoms  of  exhaustion  ;  and 
the  most  rigorous  conscription  was  necessary  to  fill  the  thinning  and  breaking  ranks.  It  was 
on  the  20th  of  June  of  this  year  that  West  Virginia,  separated  from  the  Old  Dominion,  was 
organized  and  admitted  as  the  thirty-fifth  State  in  the  Union. 

RAIDS  OF  GENERAL  FORREST. 

The  Union  Generals  waited  anxiously  for  the  spring  of  1864.  Military  operations  with 
the  opening  of  the  season  were  first  begun  in  the  West.  Early  in  February'  General 
Shennan  left  Vicksburg  with  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  railways  of  Eastern  Mississippi. 
He  advanced  to  Meridian,  where  on  the  15th  of  the  month  he  began  the  destruction  of  the 
tracks  from  Mobile  to  Corinth  and  from 
Vicksburg  to  Montgomery.  This  work  was 
carried  on  with  fearful  rapidity  for  a  distance 
of  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Bridges  were 
bunied,  locomotives  and  cars  destroyed  and 
vast  quantities  of  cotton  and  com  given  to 
the  flames.  Shennan  had  expected  to  be 
joined  at  Meridian  by  a  Federal  cavalry 
force  under  General  Smith,  but  the  latter 
oflScer  was  met  on  the  advance  by  the 
Confederate  cavalPv-  under  Forrest  and  was 
driven  back  to  Memphis.  Sherman,  dis- 
appointed by  this  failure,  returned  to  Vicks- 
burg; while  Forrest  continued  his  raid  north- 
ward into  Tennessee.  On  the  24th  of 
March  he  captured  Union  city  and  then 
pressed  on  to  Paducah,  Kentucky,  where  he 
attacked  Fort  Anderson,  but  was  repulsed. 
Turning  back  into  Tennessee  he  assaulted  Fort  Pillow,  seventy  miles  north  of  Memphis. 
The  place  was  defended  by  five  hundred  and  sixty  soldiers,  about  half  of  whom  were 
negroes.  Forrest  demanding  a  surrender  and  being  refused,  carried  the  fort  by  storm  and 
nearly  all  the  negro  soldiers  were  slain. 

DISASTROUS   RESULTS  OF  THE  RED  RIVER  EXPEDITION. 

To  the  spring  of  1864  belongs  the  story  of  the  Red  River  Expedition  of  General  Banks. 
The  plan  of  this  campaign  embraced  the  movement  of  a  strong  land-force  up  Red  River, 
supported  by  a  fleet  under  Admiral  Porter.  The  object  was  the  capture  of  Shreveport, 
Louisiana.  The  Federal  anny  advanced  in  three  divisions,  under  Generals  Smith,  Banks 
and  Steele.  On  the  14th  of  March  .Smith's  division  reached  Fort  de  Russy,  which  was 
taken  by  assault  On  the  i6th  Alexandria  was  occupied  by  the  Federals  and  on  the  19th 
Natchitoches  was  captured.  At  this  point  the  road  departed  from  the  river  and  the  anny 
and  the  gunboats  were  separated.  The  fleet  proceeded  up  the  stream  towards  Shreveport  and 
the  land-forces  whirled  off  in  a  circuit  to  the  left 

On  the  8th  of  .\pril  the  Union  advance  approaching  the  town  of  Mansfield  was  suddenly 
attacked  by  the  Confederates  in  full  force.  The  Federals  were  completely  routed  and  were 
pursued  as  far  as  Pleasant  Hill.      Mere  a  .second  battle  was  fought  in  which  the  hard  fighting 


FORREST  LEADING   HIS   ROUGH   RIDERS. 


678 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


TuL4 


M  \P  OF 

DALTON' 


of  the  division  of  General  Smith  saved  the  army  from  complete  rout.  Nearh-  three  thou- 
sand  men,  twenty  pieces  of  artiller\-  and  the  supply  train  of  the  Federals  were  lost  in  these 
disastrous  battles. 

Meanwhile  the  Confederates  planted  batteries  on  the  banks  of  Red  River  to  pre\ent 
the  return  of  the  fleet.  When  the  flotilla  dropped  down  as  far  as  Alexandria  no  further 
progress  could  be  made  on  account  of  the  low  stage  of  the  river.     The   gunboats  could  not 

pass  the  rapids.  In  this  emergency 
Colonel  Bailey,  of  Wisconsin,  con- 
structed a  dam  across  the  river,  rais- 
ing the  water  so  that  the  vessels 
could  be  floated  over.  The  whole 
expedition  broke  to  pieces  and  the 
fragments  rolled  back  into  the 
Mississippi.  General  Steele  hearing 
the  news  on  his  advance  from  Little 
Rock,  withdrew^  in  safety  to  his 
station.  The  whole  campaign  appears 
to  have  been  marked  with  misfor- 
tune, folly  and  incompetency  of 
management.  General  Banks  was 
relieved  of  his  command  and  super- 
seded b}-  General  Canb}-. 

The  Civil  War  had  now  de- 
veloped its  own  leaders.  First  and 
greatest  of  these  was  General  Ulysses 
S.  Grant.  By  degrees  and  through 
ever}-  kind  of  hardship  and  con- 
tumely that  silent  and  self-possessed 
commander  had  emerged  from  the 
obscurity  which  surrounded  him  at 
the  beginning  of  the  conflict  and 
now  stood  forth  in  unequalled 
modesty  as  the  leading  figure  of  the 
time.  After  Vicksburg  and  Chatta- 
nooga nothing  could  stay  his  progress  to  the  command-in-chief  Congress  responded  to 
the  spirit  of  the  country  b)-  reviving  the  high  grade  of  /iciitcnant-general  and  conferring 
it  on  Grant.  This  brought  with  it  the  appointment  by  the  President  on  the  ad  of 
March,  1864,  to  the  command-in-chief  of  the  land  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States. 
No  fewer  than  seven  hundred  thousand  Union  soldiers  were  now  to  move  at  Grant's  com- 
mand. He  took  leave  of  his  Western  armies  and  repaired  to  Washington  City,  where  he 
received  his  commission  at  the  hands  of  the  President. 

SHERMAN'S   MARCH  TO  THE  SEA. 

Now  it  was  that  the  grand  strateg\-  of  the  war  began  to  appear.  Two  great  campaigns 
were  planned  for  the  year.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under  immediate  command  of 
Meade  and  the  General-in-chief,  was  to  advance  on  Richmond,  still  defended  by  the  army 
of  Northern  Virginia,  under  Lee.      General  Slierman  commanding  theanny  at  Chattanooga, 


COLUMHl'S   AND   COIAMBIA. 


679 


numbering  a  hundred  thousand  men,  was  to  march  against  Atlanta,  which  was  defended  by 

the  Confederates  under  General  Johnston.     To  these  two  great  movements  all  other  military 

operations  were  subordinated.     Grant  sent  his  orders  to  Sherman   for  the  grand  beginning 

which  was  destined  to  end  the 

war  and  the  ist  of  May,  1864, 

was  fixed  as  the  date  of  tlie 

advance. 


I^Ala^H?      /.^^^H£\    WfF^"^  '  ^*Xi     ~  Promptly   on   the     7th    of    that 

Ma^K^Btf  4iw2^^^^uiV  wSH^       ^^^^  month    General  Sherman    moved  out 

of  Chattanooga.  At  Dalton  he  was 
met  by  Johnston  with  a  Confederate 
anny  sixty  thousand  strong.  Sherman 
by  manoeuvring  and  fighting  suc- 
ceeded in  turning  the  Confederate 
flank  and  obliged  his  antagonist  to 
fall  back  to  Resaca.  At  this  place 
on  the  14th  and  15th  of  May  two  hard 
battles  were  fought  in  which  the  Union  anny  was  victorious.  The  Confederates  retreated 
by  way  of  Calhoun  and  Kingston  to  Dallas.  .\t  the  latter  place  Johnston  made  a  second 
stand.  On  the  aSth  of  May  he  was  attacked,  outnumbered,  outflanked  and  compelled  to 
fall  back  to  Lost  Mountain.  From  this  position  he  was  forced  in  like  manner,  on  the  17th 
of  June,  after  three  days  of  desultory  fighting. 


DEATH   OF   GENERAL   POLK. 


680 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Johnston  made  his  next  stand  at  Great  and  Little  Kenesaw  Mountains.  Here  a  line 
was  formed  and  on  the  22d  of  June  General  Hood  fiercely  assaulted  the  Union  centre,  but 
was  repulsed  with  heavy  losses.  Five  days  afterwards  Sherman  made  an  assault  with  great 
audacity  and  attempted  to  carry  Kenesaw  by  storm,  but  he  was  hurled  back  with  a  loss  of 
nearly  three  thousand  men.  The  Union  commander,  however,  at  once  resumed  his  former 
tactics,  outflanked  his  antagonist  and  on  the  3d  of  July  drove  him  across  the  Chattahoo- 
chee. A  week  later  the  whole  Confederate  array  was  crowded  back  within  the  defences  of 
Atlanta. 

Then  followed  the  siege  of  that  city.  Atlanta  was,  after  Richmond,  the  most  impor- 
tant seat  of  power  within  the  limits  of  the  Confederacy.  Here  were  located  the  machine 
shops,  foundries,  car  works  and  depots  of  supplies  upon  the  possession  of  which  the  Con- 
federate cause  so  much  depended.  The  government  at  Richmond  now  became  deeply  dis- 
satisfied with   the  militar}'  policy  of 


JtAPOF 

ATLANTA- 

AND  VICINITY. 

1    »^  K.    14    0 I 


General  Joseph  E.  Johnston.  That 
cautious  and  skilful  commander  had 
adopted  the  Fabian  policy  of  falling 
back  before  the  superior  forces  of 
Sherman  and  of  conserving  as  much 
as  possible  the  energies  of  his  army. 
This  method,  however,  displeased 
President  Davis  and  when  the  siege 
of  Atlanta  was  begun  Johnston  was 
deposed  from  command  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  rash  but  daring  General 
J.  B.  Hood.  The  opinion  prevailed 
that  the  latter  would  fight  at  what- 
ever hazard  and  this  view  of  his 
military  character  was  borne  out  by 
the  facts.  On  the  20th,  22dand  28th 
of  July  he  made  three  successive 
and  desperate  assaults  on  the  Union 
lines  around  Atlanta  ;  but  in  each 
engagement  the  Confederates  were 
It  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  second  of  these  battles 
the  bosom  friend  of  Generals  Grant   and 


repulsed  with   dreadful    losses. 

that  the  brave    General   James    B.  McPherson 

Sherman  and  the  pride  of  the  Union  army,  was  killed  while  reconnoitering  the  Confederate 

lines.      In  the  three  battles  just  referred  to  Hood  lost  more   men  than  Johnston  had  lost  in 

all  his  masterly  retreating  and  fighting  between  Chattanooga  and  Atlanta. 

Around  the  latter  city  Sherman  daily  tightened  his  grip.  At  last  by  an  incautious 
movement  Hood  opened  his  line  ;  the  Union  commander  thrust  a  column  into  the  gap,  and 
the  immediate  evacuation  of  Atlanta  followed.  On  the  2d  of  September  the  city  was 
occupied  by  Sherman's  army.  The  campaign  from  Chattanooga  up  to  this  point  of  pro- 
gress had  cost  the  Federals  in  killed,  wounded  and  missing,  fully  thirty  thousand  men,  and 
the  Confederate  losses  were  even  greater. 

DEFEAT  OF  HOOD  AND  CAPTURE  OF  ATLANTA. 

By  abandoning  Atlanta  Hood  saved  his  army.  He  formed  the  plan  of  striking  boldly 
northward  into  Tennessee,  with  the  hope  of  compelling  Sherman  to  evacuate  Georgia  ;  but 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


681 


the  latter  had  no  thought  of  relinquishing  his  ground  ;  he  followed  Hood  north  of  the 
Chattahoochee,  and  then  turned  back  to  Atlanta.  The  Confederate  connnander  continued 
his  march  through  Northern  Alabama,  reached  Florence,  on  the  Tennessee,  and  pressed  on 
towards  Nashville.  General  Thomas,  with  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  had  in  the  mean- 
time been  detached  from  Sherman's  army  and  sent  northward  to  confront  Hood.  General 
Schofield  with  the  Federal  forces  in  Tennessee  fell  back  before  the  Confederates  and  took 
post  at  Franklin,  eighteen  miles  distant  from  Nashville.  Hood  pressed  on,  and  on  the  30th 
of  November  attacked  the  Federal  position.  A  hard  battle  was  fought,  and  the  Con- 
federates were  held  in  check  until  Schofield  succeeded  during  the  night  in  crossing  the 
river  and  making  himself  secure  within  the  defences  of  Nashville.  At  that  place  General 
Thomas  also  concentrated  his  forces  and  a  line  of  intrenchments  was  drawn  around  the  city 
on  the  south. 

Hood  came  on  confident  of  victory-.  He  began  a  siege  by  blockading  tlie  Cumberland, 
and  there  was  general  alarm  through  the  North  lest  Thomas  might  be  pressed  to  the  wall. 
That  commander,  however,  on  the  15th  of  December,  moved  out  from  his  works,  attacked 
the  Confederate  army  and  routed  it  with  a  loss  in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners,  of  fully 
twenty-five  thousand  men!  For  many  days  of  freezing  weather  he  pursued  the  disorganized 
Confederate  forces,  until  the  remnants  found 
refuge  in  Alabama.  Hood's  division  of  the 
Confederate  forces  was  ruined,  and  he  him- 
self, with  the  misfortune  of  unsuccess,  was 
relieved  of  his  command. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  14th  of  November, 
General  Sherman  burned  Atlanta  and  set  out 
on  his  famous  march  to  the  sea.  His  army 
of  veterans  numbered  sixty  thou.sand  men. 
The  advance  was  begun  with  confidence,  for 
Shennan  expected  the  destruction  of  Hood's 
anny  in  Tennessee.  It  was  clear  that  the  Con- 
federates had  no  adequate  force  with  which 
to  oppose  him  in  front.  He  accordingly  cut 
his  communications  with  the  North,  abandoned  his  base  of  supplies,  and  struck  out  for 
the  sea-coast,  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away.  On  leaving  Atlanta,  he  was 
lost  to  sight  in  the  forests  of  Georgia,  but  was  followed  by  the  unwavering  faith  of 
General  Grant  and  of  the  people  of  the  North. 

The  Confederates  were  able  to  offer  no  further  successful  resistance.  The  Union  army 
swept  on  through  Macon  and  Milledgeville,  crossed  the  Ogeechee,  captured  Gibson  and 
Waynesborough,  and  on  the  loth  of  December  arrived  in  the  vicinity  of  Savannah.  Three 
days  afterwards  Fort  Mc.Alister,  below  that  city,  was  carried  b\-  the  division  of  General 
Hazen.  On  the  night  of  the  20th,  General  Hardee,  the  Confederate  commandant,  escaped 
from  Savannah,  and  with  fifteen  thousand  men  made  liis  way  to  Charleston.  On  the  next 
morning  Sherman  entered  the  city,  and  on  the  22d  established  there  his  headquarters.  His 
total  losses  from  Atlanta  to  the  coast  had  been  but  five  hundred  and  sixty-seven  men. 
THE  TRAIL  OF  DESTRUCTION  AND    SURRENDER  OF   CHARLESTON. 

The  Union  army  remained  in  Savannaii  during  llie  monlli  ol  January,  1S65.  On  the 
1st  of  Febniary,  General  Slierman  began  his  campaign  against  Columbia,  the  capital  of 
South  Carolina.     To  the  Confederates  the  further  progress  of  the  Union  army  through  the 


SHERMAN'S    MARCH   TO   THE   SEA, 


682 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


swamps  and  morasses  of  the  State  had  seemed  an  impossibility;  bnt  the  veteran  legions 
were  now  thoroughly  hardened  to  all  forms  of  exposure  and  trial,  and  their  progress  was 
little  impeded.  Alarm  and  terror  pervaded  the  country.  Governor  Magrath  summoned 
into  the  field  every  white  man  in  the  State  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  sixty  ;  but  the 
requisition  was  comparatively  ineffectual.  The  Confederates  formed  a  line  of  defence  on 
the  Salkehatchie,  but  were  unable  to  prevent  Sherman's  progress.  The  river  was  crossed 
by  the  Federals  on  the  nth  of  February,  and  Charleston  and  Augusta  were  cut  off  from 
Confederate  support.  On  the  i2th,  the  city  of  Orangeburg  was  taken  by  the  seventeenth 
corps.     Two  days  afterwards  the  Federal  army  crossed  the  Congaree,  on  the  high  road  to 

Columbia.     Then   followed  the 


passage  of  the  Broad  and  Saluda 
Rivers.  On  the  1 7th  ]\Iayor  Good- 
win and  a  committee  of  the  Com- 
mon Council  of  Columbia  came 
out  and  surrendered  the  city. 

Hereupon  General  Hardee 
determined  to  abandon  Charleston 
and  to  join  Beauregard  and  John- 
ston in  North  Carolina.  On  the 
day  of  the  capture  of  Columbia  he 
detailed  guards  to  destroy  the  ware- 
houses, stores  of  cotton  and  depots 
of  the  city.  The  station  of  the 
Northwestern  Railroad,  where 
magazines  were  stored,  blew  up 
with  terrific  violence,  and  two  hun- 
dred people  were  buried  in  the 
ruins.  Four  squares  in  the  best 
part  of  the  city  were  laid  in  ashes. 
Hardee,  with  fourteen  thousand 
men,  escaped  and  made  his  way 
northward.  On  the  next  morning 
the  national  forces  on  James  and 
Morris  Islands  learned  of  the  evacua- 
tion, and  before  noon  the  stars  and 
Ripley  and  Pinckney.  Mayor  Macbeth 
sent  over  from  Morris    Island.      As  much 


GENKRAL  JOSEPH    E.   JOHNSTON. 

raised  over   Forts    Sumter, 


stripes   were  again 

surrendered  Charleston  to  a  force  which  was 
as  might  be  saved  from  the  conflagration  was  rescued  by  citizens  and  Federal  soldiers  work- 
ing together.  The  principal  arsenal  and  a  storehouse  of  rice  were  presei-\'ed  and  the 
contents  of  the  latter  distributed  to  the  poor.  Colonel  Stewart  h.  Woodford,  of  New 
York,  was  appointed  military  governor  of  the  city. 

At  Columbia  Sherman  gave  orders  for  the  destruction  of  all  public  property  and  then 
immediately  renewed  his  march  northward.  His  course  was  now  in  the  direction  of  Char- 
lotte, North  Carolina.  The  Federals  swept  on  unopposed  to  Winnsborough,  where  a  junc- 
tion was  effected  with  the  twentieth  corps  under  Slocum.  The  march  was  continued  to 
Fayetteville,  where  Sherman  arrived  and  took  possession  on  the  nth  of  March. 

In  the  meantime  a  dashing  cavalry  battle  had  occurred  between  the  forces  of  Generals 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


683 


Hampton  and  Kilpatrick.  The  former  officer  had  been  directed  to  defend  tlie  rear  of 
Hardee's  cohnnn  on  its  retreat  from  Charleston.  In  the  first  enjja<rcment  Kilpatrick  suc- 
ceeded in  cutting  through  the  Confederate  lines,  but  on  the  next  morning  he  was  in  turn 
attacked  in  his  quarters,  routed  and  reduced  to  the  straits  of  making  his  escape  on  foot  into 
a  swamp.  He  succeeded  at  length,  however,  in  rallying  his  forces,  returning  to  the  conflict 
and  scattering  the  Confederates  in  a  brilliant  charge.  Hampton  then  rallied,  but  Kil- 
patrick was  able  to  hold  his  ground  until  reinforced  by  a  part  of  the  twentieth  corps  when 
the  Confederates  were  finally  repulsed.  Kilpatrick  reached  Fayetteville  without  further 
attack  and  joined  the  other  divisions  of  the  army. 

CLOSING  BATTLES  OF  THE   WAR. 

The  destruction  of  Hood  in  Tennessee  was  the  signal  for  a  reaction  in  favor  of  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston.  That  officer  was  recalled  to  the  command.  His  influence  now  began 
to  be  felt  in  front  of  Sherman.  The  Union  advance  was  rendered  more  difficult  by  the 
vigilance  of  the  Confederate  General.  At 
Averasborough,  a  sJiort  distance  north  of 
Fayetteville,  Hardee  made  a  stand,  but  was 
repulsed  with  considerable  loss.  On  the 
19th  of  March  Shennan's  advance  was 
furiously  assailed  by  the  Confederates  at 
Bentonville.  For  the  hour  it  seemed  that 
the  Union  army,  after  all  its  battles  and 
victories,  was  in  danger  of  defeat,  but  the 
brilliant  fighting  of  the  division  of  General 
Jefferson  C.  Davis  saved  the  day,  and  on  the 
twenty-first  of  the  month  Shennan  entered 
Goldsborough  unopposed.  Here  he  was  re- 
inforced by  the  division  of  Schofield,  from 
New  Berne,  and  that  of  Terrj-,  from  Wil- 
mington. 

The  Federal  army  now  set  out  for  Raleigh, 
and  reached  that  city  on  the  13th  of  April. 
This  was  the  end  of  the  great  march,  and 
here  General  Sherman  met  his  antagonist, 
and  entered  into  negotiations  for  the  surrender 
of  the  Confederate  anny.  Lee  had  already 
surrendered  to  Grant  at  Appomatto.x.  Sherman  agreed  with  Johnston,  most  unfortunately, 
to  discuss  the  terms  of  a  general  settlement  of  civil  affairs  in  the  South,  but  these  negotiations 
were  suddenly  cut  off  by  dispatches  from  the  Government  at  Washington  and  by  the  arrival 
of  General  Grant,  who  was  directed  to  grant  to  Johnston  the  same  terms  already  conceded 
to  Lee.  This  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  Confederate  army  was  surrendered  on  the  26th 
of  April. 

While  the.se  decisive  events  were  taking  place  in  Carolina  the  great  cavalr>'  raid  of 
General  Stoneman  was  in  progress.  About  the  middle  of  March  that  officer  left  Knoxville 
with  six  thousand  men,  crossed  the  mountains,  and  captured  Wilke.sborough.  He  then 
crossed  the  Yadkin,  and  turning  to  the  north  traversed  the  western  end  of  North  Carolina. 
He  entered  Virginia,  destroyed  the  railway  at  Wytheville,  and  as  far  as  within  four  miles 


ADMIRAL   DAVID   G.    FARRAGUT. 


684 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


of  Lynchburg.  Christiansburg  was  captured,  and  other  railway  tracks  destroyed  for  a 
distance  of  ninety  miles.  The  expedition  turned  thence  to  Jacksonville  ;  thence  south- 
ward to  the  North  Carolina  Railwa}-  between  Danville  and  Greensborough.  This  track 
also  was  destroyed  and  the  factories  at  Salem  burned.  Stoneman  then  captured  Salisbury 
and  the  great  Confederate  prison  for  Federal  soldiers,  but  the  prisoners  were  removed  before 
fhe  arrival  of  the  Union  cavalr\-.  On  the  19th  of  April  the  great  bridge  of  the  South 
Carolina  Railway,  spanning  the  Catawba  river,  was  set  on  fire  and  destroyed.  The  Federals 
then  concentrated  at  Dallas  and  the  raid  was  at  an  end.  Stoneman  had  taken  during  the 
campaign  six  thousand  prisoners,  forty-six  pieces  of  artillery  and  immense  quantities  of 

small  arms  and  munitions. 

FARRAGUT   BEFORE    MOBILE. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  sea-coast  events  of  great  importance  had  occurred.  Early  in 
August,  1864,  Admiral  David  G.  Farragut  made  a  descent  with  a  powerful  squadron  upon 
Mobile.  The  harbor  of  that  city  was  strongly  defended  by  a  Confederate  fleet,  by  bat- 
teries on  the  shore  and  by  the  monster  ironclad  ram   Tennessee.      On  the  5th  of  August, 

Farraeut    succeeded    in 


running   past     Forts 
Gaines    and    Morgan. 
Once  in  the  harbor  with 
his  fleet,  he  mounted  to 
the  maintop  of  his  flag- 
ship, the    Hartford., 
where  he  was   lashed  to 
the  rigging.      From  this 
high  perch   he  gave  his 
commands    during    the 
battle.     One  Union  ship 
struck    a     torpedo    and 
went     to     the    bottom. 
The    rest   attacked    and 
dispersed   the    Con- 
federate   squadron,     but 
in  the  midst  of  success 
the  ram  Tennessee  came 
down  at  full  speed   to    strike  and   sink  the  Hartford. 
Then  followed  one  of  the  fiercest  conflicts  ever  known 
at  sea.      The  Union  ironclads  closed  around  their  black 
antagonist  and  battered  her  with  their  beaks  and  fifteen- 
inch  bolts  of  iron  until  she  surrendered.      The  harbor 
On  the  7th  of  August  Fort  Gaines  was  taken  and  on  the  23d  Fort  Morgan 
capitulated.     Mobile  was  thus  effectually  sealed  up  to  the  Confederates. 

Of  like  importance  was  the  capture  of  Fort  Fisher.  This  powerful  fortress  standing 
at  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River  commanded  the  entrance  to  Wilmington — the  last  seaport 
held  by  the  Confederacy.  In  December,  1864,  Admiral  Porter  was  sent  with  the  greatest 
American  armament  ever  afloat  to  besiege  and  capture  the  fort.  General  Butler  accom- 
panied the  expedition  with  a  division  of  six  thousand  five  hundred  men.  On  the  day 
before  Christmas  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Fisher  was  begun.       General  Weitzel  was  sent 


NAVAI,  BATTLE   IN  TMOBII.E    BAY 

was  cleared. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  085 

ashore  to  earn*  the  place  by  storm,  but  coining  near  to  tlie  fort  he  decided  that  an  assdnlt 
conld  only  end  in  the  destruction  of  his  army.  This  belief  was  shared  by  General  Butler 
and  the  enterprise  was  abandoned.  Admiral  I'orter,  however,  remained  before  the  fort  with 
his  fleet,  while  the  land  forces  under  Butler  returned  to  Fortress  Monroe. 

The  result  of  the  expedition  was  considered  humiliating  by  the  national  authority. 
Early  in  Januar\-  of  1865  the  same  troops  were  sent  back  to  Wilmington  under  General 
Terr\-.  The  siege  was  renewed  by  the  combined  army  and  fleet,  and  on  the  15th  of  the 
month  Fort  Fisher  was  taken  by  assault.  It  was  the  last  seaport  of  the  Confederates,  and 
their  outlet  to  the  ocean  and  foreign  nations  was  thus  forever  closed. 

In  the  meantime  the  control  of  Albemarle  Sound  had  been  recovered  by  a  daring 
exploit  of  Lieutenant  Gushing  of  the  Federal  navy.  The  sound  was  held  by  a  tremendous 
Confederate  iron  ram  called  the  Albemarle.  Cushing  gathered  a  band  of  volunteers  and 
on  the  night  of  the  27th  of  October  entered  the  Roanoke  and  approached  the  ram  lying  at 
anchor  at  Plymouth.  He  managed  to  draw  alongside  and  with  his  own  hands  sank  a  ter- 
rible torpedo  under  the  Confederate  ship,  exploded  it  and  left  the  ram  a  ruin.  All  of  the 
attacking  party  except  Cushing  and  one  other  were  either  killed  or  taken  in  the  adventure. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  Confederate  Congress  authorized  the  fitting  out  of 
privateers  to  prey  npon  the  commerce  of  the  United  States.  True,  the  independence  of  the 
Confederacy  was  not  acknowledged  by  foreign  nations  and  the  Confederate  cruisers  were 
therefore  not  allowed  to  earn,-  their  prizes  into  neutral  ports.  The  work  of  capture  was 
thus  of  little  direct  benefit  to  the  Confederacy,  but  of  prodigious  injur\-  to  the  United  States. 

DAMAGE   INFLICTED   BY    THE  PRIVATEERS. 

The  first  Confederate  pri\ateer  was  tlie  Saiaiinah  ;  but  this  ship  was  captured  on  the 
ver>-  day  of  her  escape  from  Charleston.  In  June  of  1861  the  Sumter,  under  command  of 
Captain  Raphael  Semmes,  ran  the  blockade  of  New  Orleans,  and  for  seven  months  wrought 
havoc  with  the  merchant  ships  of  the  United  States.  In  February  of  1862  Semmes  was 
chased  into  the  harbor  of  Gibraltar  and  was  obliged  to  .save  himself  by  selling  his  vessel 
and  discharging  his  crew.  Meanwhile  in  October,  1S61,  the  Nashville  escaped  from 
Charleston,  went  on  a  cruise  to  England,  and  returned  with  a  cargo  worth  $3, 000,000.  In 
March  of  1863,  this  vessel  was  sunk  by  a  Union  ironclad  in  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah. 

The  Federal  blockade  soon  closed  around  the  Confederate  ports.  It  became  more  and 
more  difficult  for  privateers  to  break  through  and  gain  the  freedom  of  the  seas.  The  Con- 
federates now  sought  the  shipyards  of  Great  Britain,  and  in  spite  of  all  remonstrances  were 
pennitted  to  use  that  vantage  ground  for  the  building,  the  purchase  and  equipment  of 
privateers.  In  the  harbor  of  Liverpool  the  Florida  was  fitted  out.  In  the  summer  of 
1862,  this  ship  ran  into  Molbile  Bay  and  in  the  following  January-  escaped  therefrom  to 
destroy  fifteen  Union  merchantmen.  She  was  finally  captured  in  the  harbor  of  Bahia, 
Brazil,  brought  into  Hampton  Roads,  and  there  by  an  accidental  collision  was  sent  to  the 
bottom. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  shipyards  of  Glasgow  were  built  tlie  Georgia,  the  Olustee,  the 
Shenandoah  and  the  Chickamauga.  .Ml  these  went  to  sea  and  made  havoc  with  the  com- 
merce of  the  United  States.  When  Fort  Fisher  was  taken  the  Chickamauga  and  another 
privateer  called  the  Tallahassee  were  blown  up  by  the  Confederates.  The  Georgia  had 
already  been  captured  and  the  Shenandoah  continued  afloat  until  the  end  of  the  war. 

The  most  famous  and  destructive  of  all  Confederate  cruisers  was  the  Alabama.  Her 
commander  was  Raphael  Semmes,  who  had  lost  the  .Sumler  at  Gibraltar.  A  majoritv  of 
the  crew  of  the  Alabama  were   British  subjects.      Her  armament  was  wholly  British,  and 


686 


COLUiMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


whenever  the  occasion  required  the  British  flag  was  carried  !  During  her  career  she  destroyed 
sixty-six  vessels,  entailing  a  loss  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  to  the  merchant  ser^'ice  of  the 
United  States  ;  but  she  never  once  entered  a  Confederate  port.  The  difference  between  such 
work  and  piracy  would  be  far  to  seek. 

In  the  summer  of  1864  Semmes  was  followed  to  the  harbor  of  Cherbourg,  France,  by 
Captain  John  A.  Winslow,  of  the  steamer  Kearsarge.  Semmes  was  soon  ordered  by  the 
French  government  to  leave  the  port.  On  the  19th  of  June  he  sailed  out  and  gave  battle. 
Seven  miles  from  shore  tlie  two  ships  closed,  and  after  a  desperate  battle  of  an  hour's  dura- 


SINKING  OF  THE   ALABAMA    BY   THE   KEARSARGE. 

tion  the  Alabama  was  shattered  and  sunk.  Semmes  and  a  part  of  his  officers  and  crew  were 
picked  up  by  the  English  yacht  Greyhound^  which  had  come  out  to  witness  the  fight, 
and  carried  to  Southampton  where  they  were  set  at  liberty  ! 

CLOSING  BATTLES  OF  THE  WAR. 
We  now  turn  to  the  critical  and  final  campaigns  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  of 
those  divisions  of  the  Union  forces  which  were  associated  with  it.  After  Gett}-sburg,  Lee 
withdrew  into  the  Shenandoah  valley,  whither  he  was  followed  by  the  Union  cavalr>'  under 
General  Gregg  as  far  as  Shepherdstown,  where  an  advantage  was  gained  over  General 
Fitzhugh  Lee  with  the  cavalry  of  the  Confederates.  General  Meade  with  the  army  of  the 
Potomac  entered  Virginia   and   moved   forward   to  Warrenton.     The  Blue  Ridge  was  thus 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  687 

inteq)osed  between  the  two  armies,  and  it  was  the  hope  of  Meade  to  prevent  the  return  of 
his  antagonist  to  Riclunond  ;  but  Lee  with  his  usual  sagacity  made  a  feint  towards  Manassas 
Gap  and  then  by  a  rapid  march  gained  Front  Royal  and  Chester  Gap,  passed  through 
and    reached  Culpeper.     Meade  took    up  his  old    position  on  the   Rappahannock. 

A  lull  now  followed  during  the  summer  of  1863.  Both  armies  were  greatly  weakened 
by  battle  and  the  withdrawal  of  troops  for  campaigns  in  distant  parts.  Longstreet  was 
detached  from  Lee  to  assist  Bragg  and  Howard  and  Slocuni  were  detached  from  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac.  Active  operations  were  not  resumed  until  October,  when  both  Generals 
assumed  the  offensive  ;  but  Meade  was  after  much  manoeuvring  obliged  to  post  himself  on 
the  heights  of  Centreville.  Lee  rested  on  the  Upper  Rappahannock.  And  so  came  the 
winter  of  1864. 

BATTLES  OF    THE  WILDERNESS. 

With  the  following  spring  General  Grant  became  commander-in-chief  of  the  Union 
armies.  He  retained  Meade  in  the  immediate  command  of  the  Anny  of  the  Potomac,  but 
made  his  own  headquarters  with  that  army  during  the  remainder  of  the  war.  The  campaign 
which  was  now  to  ensue  was  destined  to  be  one  of  the  most  memorable  of  modem  warfare. 
The  forward  movement  of  the  Ann\-  of  the  Potomac  was  undertaken  with  the  beginning  of 
May.  On  the  3d  of  that  month  the  national  camp  at  Culpeper  was  broken  up  and  the 
march  on  Richmond  begfun.  On  the  first  day  Grant  crossed  the  Rapidan  and  entered  that 
countn-  of  oak  woods  and  thickets  called  the  Wilderness,  lying  west  of  Chancellorsville. 
Here  the  Union  anny  was  confronted  and  attacked.  Through  the  5th,  6th  and  7th  of  May 
the  fighting  continued  incessantly  with  terrible  losses  on  both  sides,  but  with  indecisive 
results.  Lee  retired  within  his  intrenchments  and  Grant  made  a  flank  movement  in  the 
direction  of  Spottsylvania  Courthouse.  On  the  8th  there  was  a  lull,  but  from  the  morning 
of  the  9th  to  the  night  of  the  12th  ensued  one  of  the  bloodiest  struggles  of  the  war.  The 
Federals  gained  some  ground  and  the  division  of  General  Ewell  was  captured.  But  the 
losses  of  Lee  who  fought  on  the  defensive  were  less  dreadful  than  those  of  his  antagonist 

While  this  stmggle  of  the  Wilderness  was  going  on.  General  Sheridan  with  the  cavalry 
of  the  Army  of  Potomac  had  conducted  a  raid  around  Lee's  army  against  Richmond.  The 
movement  was  executed  with  all  the  audacity  for  which  Sheridan  had  become  famous.  He 
crossed  the  North  Anna,  retook  a  large  detachment  of  Union  prisoners  and  on  the  lotli  of 
May,  at  Yellow  Tavern,  fought  a  victorious  battle  with  the  Confederate  cavalry  under 
General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  who  was  mortally  wounded  on  the  field. 

Grant  now  continued  to  move  slowly  by  the  left  flank.  He  crossed  the  Pamunkev  to 
Hanovertown  and  reached  Cold  Harbor,  twelve  miles  northeast  of  Richmond.  Here  on  the 
1st  of  June  he  attacked  the  Confederates  and  was  repulsed  with  heaN'j'  loss.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  3d  the  assault  was  renewed  and  in  the  brief  space  of  half  an  hour  nearlv  ten 
thousand  Union  soldiers  were  killed  or  wounded  before  the  Confederate  intrenchments.  The 
Federal  repulse  was  complete,  but  the  grim  commander  held  his  lines  as  firmly  as  ever  and 
continued  the  campaign. 

Since  the  crossing  of  the  Rapidan  the  Arm\-  of  the  Potomac,  including  the  corps  of 
Bumside,  had  now  lost  the  enonnous  aggregate  of  sixty  thousand  men.  During  the  same 
period  the  Confederates  had  lost  in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners,  about  thirt\-five  thousand. 
Nevertheless,  the  fight  was  going  against  the  Confederacy.  The  weight  of  the  Union  pres- 
sure was  ever  increased  and  the  power  of  resistance  was  ever  weakened.  Grant  was  imper- 
turbable. After  his  nnsuccess  at  Cold  Harbor  he  determined  to  change  his  base  to  James  River, 
with  a  view  to  the  capture  of  Petersburg  and  the  subsequent  conquest  of  Richmond  from  this 
direction. 


688 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


BEFORE  THE  OUTPOSTS  OF   RICHMOND. 

In  that  part  of  the  field  General  Butler  had  moved  up  with  a  strong  division  from 
Fortress  Monroe.  On  the  5th  of  May  that  officer  captured  Bermuda  Hundred  and  City 
Point  at  the  mouth  of  the  Appomattox.  He  then  advanced  in  the  direction  of  Petersburg, 
but  was  met  on  the  i6th  by  the  corps  of  General  Beauregard  and  was  driven  back  to  Ber- 
muda Hundred.  There  he  entrenched  himself  and  stood  on  the  defensive.  On  the  15th 
of  June  General  Grant  efiected  a  junction  with  Butler  and  again  advanced  against  Peters- 
burg. On  the  17th  and  i8th  the  Confederate  entrenchments  about  that  city  were  several 
times  assaulted,  but  could  not  be  taken.  Lee's  army  was  hurried  into  the  defences  and  by 
the  end  of  June  Petersburg  was  invested. 

Meanwhile,  before  moving  from  the  Rapidan,  General  Grant  had  despatched  Sigel  into 
the  Shenandoah  Valley  with  a  division  of  eight  thousand  men.  On  the  15th  of  May  that 
officer  was  met  at  New  Market,  fifty  miles  above  Winchester,  by  the  Confederate  cavalrj-  divi- 
sion of  General  Breckinridge.  The  Federals  were  routed  and  the  command  of  the  flying  divi- 
sions was  transferred  to  General  Hunter.  Breckinridge  returned  to  Richmond,  whereupon 
Hunter  again  advancing  up  the  valley  struck  the  Confederates  at  Piedmont  and  gained  a  signal 

victor}'.  From  this 
point  he  advanced  with 
the  cavalry-  of  General 
Averill  against  Lynch- 
burgh,  but  in  this 
adventure  he  got  into 
such  peril  that  he  was 
obliged  to  retreat  across 
the  mountains  into 
West  Virginia. 

jiiLKs"      10 -^ILIZ^      "^'L *'}  ^!2^__      *''} "'^  w  so  General     Lee     was 

FROM  RICHMOND  TO  APPOMATTOX,  1865.  uow able  to  scud  Earl v's 

command  into  the  Shenandoah  Valley  with  orders  to  press  down  to  the  Potomac,  invade 
Mar>dand  and  threaten  Washington  City.  The  object  of  the  campaign  was  to  oblige 
Grant  to  loose  his  hold  on  Petersburg  for  the  defence  of  the  National  capital.  The 
situation  indeed  was  sufficiently  alanning.  Early,  with  twents'  thousand  men,  gained 
the  Potomac  and  on  the  5th  of  July  crossed  into  Mar-dand.  On  the  9th  he  was  confronted 
by  the  division  of  General  Lew  Wallace,  on  the  Monocacy  ;  biit  the  latter  was  able  with 
the  force  at  his  command  to  do  no  more  than  hold  the  Confederates  in  check  until  Wash- 
ington and  Baltimore  could  be  put  into  a  more  defensible  condition.  Earh-  came 
ivithin gunshot  of  both  of  these  cities;  but  on  the  12th  of  the  month  fell  back  and  recrossed 
the  Potomac. 

The  Union  command  on  the  Shenandoah  was  now  transferred  from  Hunter  to  Wright. 
The  latter  pursued  Early  as  far  as  Winchester,  where  on  the  24th  of  Jul}-  he  fought  with 
him  a  successful  engagement.  But  Early  turned  upon  his  antagonist  and  the  Union  troops 
were  driven  back  across  the  Potomac.  Following  up  his  advantage,  the  Confederate  leader 
pressed  on  into  Pennsylvania,  burned  Chambersburg  and  returned  into  Virginia  with  vast 
quantities  of  phinder. 

General  Grant  was  greatly  vexed  with  these  successful  raids  of  the  Confederates.  In 
the  beginning  of  August  he  consolidated  the  Union  divisions  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  and 
on  the  upper  Potomac  into  a  single  army,  and  gave  the  command  to  General   Philip  H. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


689 


Sheridan.  It  was  the  destiny  of  this  yonng  and  brilliant  officer  to  rise  above  the  chaos  in 
the  conclnding  scenes  of  the  war  and  to  contribnte  much  by  his  daring  and  genius  to  the 
final  success  of  tlie  Union  cause. 

BATTLE  OF  WINCHESTER. 

On  the  19th  of  September  Sheridan  witii  an  arni>-  of  about  forty  thousand  men  came 
upon  Early  at  Winchester.  A  hard  battle  ensued  in  which  the  Confederates  were  decisively 
defeated.  The  Union  General  followed  his  anta<j;onist,  and  on  the  2 2d  of  the  month  again 
routed  him  at  Fisher's  Hill.  Then  came  one  of  the  saddest  episodes  of  the  war  in  which 
the  fruitful  Shenandoah  \'alley  was,  as  a  military  measure,  laid  waste  and  ravaged.  Grant 
ordered  Sheridan  to  spare  nothing 
from  destruction  that  might  any 
longer  furnish  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence to  the  enemy.  The 
ruinous  work  was  fearfully  well 
done  and  little  was  left  worth 
fighting  for  between  the  Blue 
Ridge  and  the  Alleghanies. 

Earl\-,  maddened  by  this 
destruction  and  stung  by  his 
defeats,  rallied  his  forces, 
gathered  reinforcements  and  re- 
turned into  the  desolated  valley. 
Sheridan  at  this  juncture,  hav- 
ing posted  his  army  on  Cedar 
Creek  and  feeling  secure  in  the 
situation,  went  to  Washington. 
Early  seized  the  opportunity  and 
on  the  19th  of  October  surprised 
the  Union  camp,  captured  most 
of  the  artillery-  and  sent  the 
anny  in  rout  and  confusion 
toward  Winchester.  The  pursuit 
was  continued  as  far  as  Middle- 
town.  The  Confederates  believ- 
ing themselves  completely 
triumphant  paused  to  eat  and 
rest.  On  the  previous  night, 
however,  Sheridan  returning  from  Washington  reached  Winchester,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
rout  of  his  army  was  on  his  way  to  the  front.  While  riding  for\vard  he  heard  the  sound  of 
battle,  spurred  on  for  twelve  miles  at  full  speed,  met  the  panic-stnick  fugitives,  rallied 
them  at  his  call,  turned  upon  the  Confederates  and  gained  one  of  the  most  signal  victories 
of  the  war.  Early's  anny  was  disorganized  and  mined.  It  was  the  end  of  strife  in  the 
valley  of  the  Shenandoah. 

Grant  having  thus  cleared    the  horizon  of  Virginia  and  confident  of  the  success  of 

Sherman's  expedition   to   the  sea,  now  sat  grimly  down  to  the  investment  of  Petersburg. 

All  fall  and  winter  long  he  jjressed   the  siege  with  var\iug  succe.ss.      .-\s  early  as    the    v'th 

of  July,  1864,  an  attempt  was  made  to  carr\'  the  Confederate  defences  by  assault.      .V  mine 

44 


GENKKM,     I'llir.ll'     II.     SIIHKin.'VN. 


690 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


was  exploded  under  one  of  the  forts,  and  a  column  sprang  forward  at  full  charge  to  gain  the 
lines  of  Petersburg;  but  the  attack  failed,  and  that  with  serious  losses.  On  the  i8th  of 
August  a  division  of  the  Union  army  succeeded  in  seizing  the  Weldon  Railroad.  The  Con- 
federates made  several  courageous  assaults  to  regain  their  lost  ground,  but  were  beaten  back 
with  losses  of  thousands  on  both  sides.  On  the  26th  of  September,  the  Federals  carried 
Battery  Harrison,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  James,  and  on  the  next  day  Paine' s  brigade  of 

colored  soldiers  carried 
a  strong  Confederate 
position  on  Spring 
Hill.  On  the  27th  of 
October  a  bloody  battle 
was  fought  on  the 
Boydton  road,  south  of 
Petersburg. 

CAPTURE   OF  PETERS- 
BURG. 

Both  armies  now 
rested  for  the  winter. 
Not  until  the  27th  of 
February-,  1S65,  was 
the  struggle  renewed. 
On  that  day  General 
Sheridan  attacked  the 
forces  of  Early  at 
AVa}-nesborough,  d  e  - 
feated  them,  and  then 
joined  the  commander- 
in-chief  at  Petersburg. 
During  March,  General 
Grant  pressed  the  siege 
of  that  important  posi- 
tion, gathered  strong 
reinforcements,  and 
waited  impatiently  for 
the  opening  of  spring. 
On  the  ist  of  April 
the  campaign  began 
with  a  severe  battle  at 
Five  Forks,  on  the 
Southside     Railroad — 

an  engagement  in  which  the  Confederates  were  defeated  with  a  loss  of  six  thousand 
prisoners.  On  the  next  day  Grant  ordered  an  assault  along  the  whole  line  in  front  of 
Petersburg,  and  the  Confederate  works  were  carried.  The  rim  of  iron  and  valor  whicli 
Lee  had  so  long  maintained  around  the  Confederate  capital  was  shattered  by  the 
tremendous  blow.  On  that  night  he  with  his  army  and  the  members  of  the  Con- 
federate government  fled  from  Richmond,  and  on  the  next  morning  that  city,  together 
with    Petersburg,    was  entered  by  the  Federal  army.       The  warehouses  of   the    ill-fated 


SHERIDAN'S    RIDE. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


691 


capital  were  fired   by  the    retreating  Confederates,    and  the  better  parts  of  the   Sontliern 
metropolis  was  reduced  to  ruins. 

The  final  catastrophe  of  the  Confederate  cause  was  now  not  far  away.  All  men  per- 
ceived that  the  struggle  could  last  but  a  few  days  longer.  General  Lee  retreated  as  rapidly 
as  possible  to  the  .southwest,  in  the 
hope  of  effecting  a  junction  with 
the  army  of  General  Johnston,  on 
its  emergence  from  Carolina  ;  but 
that  army  was  destined  never  to 
emerge.  The 
Confederates 
from  Peters- 
burg  and  Rich- 
mond joined 


to  be  stationed, 
ing  this  duty  in 
foolishly  mistook 
dro\e   the    train    in 


each     other   at 

Amelia    Court 

House,     whitlier 

Lee  had  ordered 

his  supply  trains 

The  officer  hav- 

charge,  howe\er, 

his    orders  and 

the  direction 


of  Danville.  Nearly  one-half  of 
tlie  Confederate  anny  had  to  be 
dispersed  tlirough  the  country  to 
gather  supplies  by  foraging.  Tlie 
4th  and  5th  of  April,  days  most 
precious  to  the  sinking  heart  of 
Lee,  were  consumed  with  this 
delay.  The  heavy  Federal  columns 
pressed  on  in  full  and  close 
pursuit.  On  the  morning  of 
tlie  6th  of  April  the  greater 
jiart  of  the  Union  ainn-  was 
at  Jettersville,  on  the  Danville 
railroad,  ready  to  strike  the 
Confederates  at  Amelia. 
Sheridan  was  on  the  extreme  left  flank,  and  pressing  forward  in  the  direction  of 
Deatonsville.  Ord  came  up  with  his  division  by  way  of  the  Southside  railroad  to 
Burke's  Station.       IvCe    fell    back    to  the  west  from    Amelia    Court    House,    and    reached 


AK.MV    ON    TliH     RI.TKl.r 


692  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Deatonsville.  Here,  however,  he  found  the  vigilant  Sheridan  planted  squarely  in  his 
course.  The  division  of  Ewell,  six  thousand  strong,  was  flung  against  the  Federal 
position,  but  was  broken  to  pieces  and  captured  in  the  charge. 

General  Lee  still  hoped  to  make  a  detour  to  the  west  and  south  around  the  Federal 
left.  By  strenuous  exertions  he  succeeded  in  gaining  the  Appomattox,  at  Fannville, 
crossed  to  the  other  side,  and  burned  the  bridges.  He  thus  sought  to  interpose  a  con- 
siderable stream  between  himself  and  his  pursuers;  but  the  effort  was  in  vain.  Lee  next 
made  a  desperate  effort  to  hold  the  Lynchburgh  railroad;  bwt  Sheridan  was  there  before 
him.  On  the  7th  of  April  the  Confederates  had  their  last  slight  success.  But  all  hope  of 
^•ictor}-,  or  even  escape,  was  soon  blown  out  in  despair.  On  that  day  Grant,  from  Farm- 
ville,  addressed  a  note  to  the  Confederate  commander,  expressing  a  desire  that  further 
sacrifice  of  life  and  waste  of  war  might  be  avoided  by  a  surrender.  To  this  Lee  replied 
declaring  his  desire  for  peace,  but  adding  that  the  occasion  for  the  surrender  of  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia  had  not  arrived. 

THE  SURRENDER  OF  LEE. 

On  the  8th  of  April  the  process  of  surrounding  the  Confederate  ann}-  went  vigorously 
forward.  On  the  morning  of  the  9th,  when  it  became  known  that  the  left  wing  of  the 
Union  army  had  secured  the  line  of  the  Lynchburg  railroad — when  the  wrecks  of  Long- 
street's  veterans  covering  the  retreat  were  confro.ited  and  driven  back  by  Sheridan,  the  soul 
of  the  Confederate  leader  failed  him.  Seeing  the  utter  uselessness  of  a  further  struggle,  he 
sent  to  General  Grant  a  note  asking  for  a  meeting  preliminary  to  a  surrender. 

The  Union  commander  immediately  complied  with  the  request.  At  two  o'clock  on  the 
afternoon  of  that  day,  Palm  Sunday,  April  9th,  1865,  the  two  generals — two  of  the  greatest 
of  modern  times — met  each  other  in  the  parlor  of  William  McLean,  at  Appomattox  Court 
House.  There  the  tenns  of  surrender  were  agreed  upon.  General  Grant  put  his  propo- 
sition in  the  form  of  a  military-  note,  to  which  General  Lee  returned  a  formal  answer.  The 
note  of  the  Union  commander  was  as  follows: 

Appomattox  Codrt  House,  Va.,  .A.pril  9,  1865. 
Generai,, — In  accordance  witb  the  substance  of  my  letter  to  you  of  the  8th  instant,  I  propose  to  receive  the 
surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  on  the  following  terms,  to  wit :  Rolls  of  all  the  officers  and  men  to 
be  made  in  duplicate ;  one  copy  to  be  given  to  an  officer  to  be  designated  by  me,  the  other  to  be  retained  by  such 
other  officer  or  officers  as  you  may  designate.  The  officers  to  give  their  individual  paroles  not  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  Government  of  the  United  States  until  properly  exchanged,  and  each  company  or  regimental  com- 
mander to  sign  a  like  parole  for  the  men  of  their  commands.  The  arms,  artillery  and  public  property  to  be 
parked  and  stacked,  turned  over  to  the  officers  appointed  by  me  to  receive  them.  This  will  not  embrace  the  side- 
arms  of  the  officers  nor  their  private  horses  or  baggage.  This  done,  each  officer  and  man  will  be  allowed  to  return 
to  his  home,  not  to  be  disturbed  "by  United  States  authority  so  long  as  they  observe  their  paroles  and  the  laws  in 
force  where  they  reside. 

U.  S.  Grant,  Lieutenant-General. 

To  this  memorandum  General  Lee  responded  as  follows  : 

HE.4.DOUARTERS  ARMY   OF    NORTHERN    VIRGINIA,  .-^pril  9,   1S65. 

Generai, — I  received  your  letter  of  this  date,  containing  the  terms  of  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  as  proposed  by  you.  .\s  they  are  substantially  the  same  as  those  expressed  in  your  letter  of  the  Sth 
instant,  they  are  accepted.     I  will  proceed  to  designate  the  proper  officers  to  carry  the  stipulations  into  effect. 

R.  E.  Lee,  General. 

After  the  capitulation  of  Lee's  army  a  general  collapse  rapidly  followed  throughout  the 
States  in  rebellion.  The  destruction  of  the  militar.-  power  signified  the  overthrow  of  the 
government  and  the  ultimate  obliteration  of  all  that  had  been  done  against  the  national 


o 
n 

3 

SO 

> 


o 


(693) 


694 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


authority.      The  surrender  of  Johnston  to  Sherman  followed  on  the  26th  of  April, 
overthrow  of  their  two  great  armies  all  reasonable  Confederates  foresaw  the  end. 
four  dreadful  years  of  bloodshed,  deva-  ,,, 

station  and  sorrow,   the  civil  war  had 
ended  with  the  complete  triumph  of 
the  Union  cause. 
CAPTURE  OF  DAVIS. 
It  now  remained 
to    reestablish    the  ■r-'i-'ta^^- 

Federal     authority 


In  the 
After 


over  the    Southern 
States.        On      the 
part    of    the    Con- 
federates   there    was    no    serious 
effort   to  prolong  resistance.      Lee 
bade  adieu  to  his  army  and  retired 
with  shattered   fortunes  to  private 
life.  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  cabinet 
made  their  escape  from  Richmond 
THE  LAST  MEETING  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  CABINET.  (-q  Dauvillc    and  there    for  a   few 

days   kept  up    a   form   of  government.       They  then    fled  into    North   Carolina  and    were 
scattered.      The  ex-President,  with   a  few  friends,    made   his  way  into  Georgia,    where  he 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  6Uo 

was  captured  near  the  villajre  of  Irwinville,  on  the  loth  of  May,  b\'  a  part  of  the  command 
of  General  Wilson.  Davis  was  at  once  taken  as  a  captive  to  Fortress  Monnje,  and  was  kept 
in  confinement  for  two  years.  He  was  then  removed  to  Richmond,  to  be  tried  on  a  charge 
of  treason,  but  the  cause  remained  untried  for  about  a  year  and  a  half,  and  was  then  dis- 
missed from  court.  It  thus  happened  that  the  legal  status  of  that  error,  fault  or  crime 
which  the  Confederate  leaders  had  committed  was  never  established  in  American  juris- 
prudence, but  left  rather  to  dangle  contentiously  in  the  political  sky  of  after  times. 

In  the  autumn  preceding  the  downfall  of  the  Confederacy  Lincoln  had  been  rechosen 
President  for  a  second  tenu.  As  Vice-President,  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  was 
elected  in  place  of  Hannibal  Hamlin.  The  opposing  Democratic  candidates  were  General 
George  B.  McClellan  and  George  H.  Pendleton,  of  Ohio.  The  partisan  fires  were  rekindled 
on  ever\'  hilltop,  and  the  North  became  a  scene  of  turmoil.  The  Democratic  leaders  were 
rampant  in  their  denunciation  of  the  methods  upon  which  the  war  was  conducted  and  the 
war  itself  In  the  National  comention  of  that  party  at  Chicago  a  resolution  was  adopted 
declaring  the  war  a  failure  and  demanding  a  cessation  of  hostilities  until  a  peaceable  solution 
of  the  trouble  might  be  reached. 

The  effort  to  defeat  Lincoln,  however,  could  end  only  in  confusion  and  failure.  His 
majority  was  ver>-  heavy.  Only  the  States  of  Kentucky,  Delaware  and  New  Jersey  gave 
their  electoral  votes  to  McClellan.  Meanwhile  the  people  of  Nevada  had  in  accordance 
with  an  act  of  Congress  prepared  a  State  constitution,  and  on  the  31st  of  October,  1864, 
that  territor>-  was  admitted  as  the  thirty-sixth  member  of  the  Union. 

Great  were  the  financial  embarrassments  of  the  government  during  the  progress  of  the 
Civil  War.  The  organization  of  the  army  and  navy  entailed  enormous  expenses  which  had 
to  be  met  at  a  time  when  the  credit  of  the  United  States  had  sunk  to  the  lowest  ebb.  The 
price  of  silver  and  gold  rose  so  rapidly  that  the  redemption  of  bank-notes  in  coin  soon 
became  impossible.  On  the  30th  of  December,  1861,  the  banks  of  New  York  suspended 
specie  payment,  and  this  action  was  soon  followed  by  all  the  banks  of  the  countr\-.  The 
premium  on  gold  and  silver  rose  to  such  a  figure  that  the  transaction  of  public  and  private 
business  on  a  basis  of  coin  was  no  longer  possible. 

FINANCIAL   MEASURES  TO   MEET  THE  EXPENSES  OF  THE  WAR.  ' 

At  this  time  Salmon  P.  Chase  was  Secretar},-  of  the  Treasury.  To  his  genius  in  large 
measure  were  due  the  various  expedients  which  were  adopted  to  uphold  the  National  credit, 
and  which  were  destined  in  the  future  to  enter  into  not  only  the  industrial  conditions,  but 
also  the  political  issues  of  the  United  States.  Old  things  passed  rapidly  away.  As  a  tem- 
poran.'  expedient  the  Secretan,-  of  the  Treasury  first  sought  relief  by  issuing  Tre.^sI'RY 
Notes  receivable  as  money  and  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of  seven  and  three-tenths  per 
cent  The  expedient  was  successful,  but  the  expenses  of  the  government  rose  higher  and 
higher,  until  by  the  beginning  of  1862  more  than  a  million  of  dollars  dail\-  was  required  to 
meet  the  outlay. 

Congress,  on  the  recommendation  of  Secretar\'  Chase,  now  made  haste  to  provide  an 
I.NTKR.NAi,  Rkvkntk.  This  was  made  up  from  two  general  sources:  first,  a  tnx  on  manu- 
factures, incomes  and  salaries;  and  second,  a  s/t7»//>-i////yon  all  legal  documents.  The  next 
step  in  the  financial  evolution  was  the  issuing  by  the  Treasur\'  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  of  dollars  in  non-interest-bcaring  Lkcai.  Tkndkk  Notk.s  of  the  United  States  to 
be  used  as  money.  Such  was  the  beginning  of  that  famous  currency  which  under  the  name 
of  Greenbacks  sustained  the  nation  during  the  war,  survived  the  shocks  of  the  epoch  and 


69(3  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

continued  for  a  long  time  after  the  subsidence  of  the  conflict  to  constitute  one-half  of  the 
paper  money  used  by  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

But  the  greenback  currency,  issued  again  and  again  as  the  emergencies  multiplied,  was 
not  of  itself  suflicient.  A  third  great  measure  recommended  by  the  Secretary  provided  for 
the  issuance  and  sale  of  United  States  Bonds.  The  first  series  of  these,  redeemable  at 
an}'  time  after  fi\'e  }ears  and  under  twenty  years  from  date,  was  called  the  Fi\'E-twenty 
Bonds.  The  interest  upon  them  was  fixed  at  six  per  cent. ,  payable  semi-annually  in  gold. 
The  event  showed  that  the  clause  making  the  interest  payable  in  gold  rather  than  in  the 
greenback  currenc}'  tended  to  aggravate  the  disparit\-  in  the  value  of  coin  and  paper  money. 
The  second  series,  called  the  Ten-forties,  was  next  issued,  being  redeemable  at  any  time 
after  ten  and  under  fort)'  years  from  date.  The  interest  on  this  series  was  fixed  at  five  per 
cent,  and  both  principal  and  interest  were  made  payable  in  coin.  Then  came  at  a  later 
period  the  issue  of  the  Four  Percents,  and  finally  of  the  Three  and  .a  Half  Percents 
and  Three  Percents,  into  which  the  higher  priced  bonds  were  for  the  most  part  converted. 

THE  NATIONAL  BANK  ACT. 

The  old  banks  of  the  United  States  soon  disappeared.  It  seemed  necessary  that  the 
place  of  local  banking  institutions  should  be  taken  by  something  else  of  like  character.  An 
act  was  accordingly  passed  for  the  establishment  of  N.\tion.\l  Banks.  The  constitution 
of  these  was  peculiar  in  the  last  degree.  The  new  banks  were  born  out  of  the  exigency  of 
the  times  and  their  anomalous  character  must  be  explained  from  the  existing  conditions. 
The  National  Bank  Act  of  May,  1862,  provided  that  the  new  banks  might  use  National 
bonds  as  the  basis  of  their  currency  instead  of  gold  and  silver.  Each  bank  must  purchase 
and  deposit  with  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  the  requisite  amount  of  bonds  and 
receive  thereon  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  valuation  of  the  bonds  deposited  in  a  National 
Currency,  such  currency  to  bear  the  name  of  the  particular  bank  from  which  issued,  but 
otherwise  to  be  of  a  common  type  for  the  whole  countr}-. 

Tlie  new  banks  were  rapidly  organized  in  all  the  States  under  National  authority.  In 
a  short  time  a  mixed  currency,  composed  about  half  and  half  of  Greenbacks  and  National 
Bank  bills,  took  the  place  of  the  old  local  paper  money  which  had  formerly  constituted  the 
bulk  of  the  currency.  Gold  and  silver  soon  disappeared  from  sight.  All  financial  trans- 
actions swam  henceforth  for  about  seventeen  years  in  an  ocean  of  self-sustaining  paper 
money.  The  precious  metals  became  mere  merchandise;  but  their  fictitious  connection 
with  the  National  currency  constituted  a  dangerous  element  of  monetary  speculation  which 
the  financial  jobbers  of  the  countr}-  were  not  slow  to  discover  and  use  with  fatal  effect. 
The  currency  of  the  National  banks  was  furnished  and  the  redemption  of  the  same  guaran- 
teed by  the  Treasur}'  of  the  United  States.  By  the  various  measures  above  described  the 
means  for  prosecuting  the  Civil  War  were  provided.  At  the  end  of  the  conflict  the  National 
debt  proper  had  reached  the  astounding  sum  of  nearly  three  thousand  millions  of  dollars, 
and  to  this  prodigious — almost  incalculable — aggregate  the  exigencies  of  the  war  were  add- 
ing more  than  two  millions  daily  !  Had  the  war  continued  another  year  National  bank- 
ruptcy must  have  ensued. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  for  his  second  term.  The 
brief  address  which  he  delivered  on  the  occasion  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  ever  pro- 
duced by  a  great  man  in  a  trying  ordeal.  He  sought  by  sympathetic  utterances  to  call 
back  to  royalty  the  infatuated  people  of  the  Southern  States,  exhorting  his  countr}-men, 
"with  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all,"  to  go  about  the  work  of  healing  the 
Nation's  wounds  and  restoring  political  and  social  fellowship  throughout  the  Union. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


697 


jii  foot  to  destro\'  the 


ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

At  the  time  of  his  second  inaugiinilioii  the  <;rcal  Rcl)elliini  was  in  the  throes  of  disso- 
lution. Within  a  month  the  militan-  power  of  the  Confederacy  was  broken.  Three  days 
after  the  evacuation  of  Richmond  by  Lee's  arm\-  the  President  visited  that  city,  conferred 
with  the  authorities  and  then  returned  to  Washington;  but  in  the  strange  vicissitude  of 
things  the  tragedy  of  his  own  sad  life  had  already  entered  its  last  act.  On  the  evening  of 
the  14th  of  April  he  attended  Ford's  Theatre  with  Mrs.  Lincohi  and  a  party  of  friends. 
As  the  play  drew  near  its  close  a  disreputable  actor,  named  John  Wilkes  Booth,  stole 
unnoticed  into  the  President's  box,  levelled  a  pistol  at  his  head  from  behind  and  shot  him 
through  the  brain.  Lincoln  fell  forward  in  liis  seat,  was  borne  unconscious  from  the  build- 
ing, lingered  until  the  following  morning  and  died.  It  was  the  greatest  personal  tragedy 
of  modern  times — the  most  atrocious  and  diabolical  murder  of  histor)-.  The  assassin 
leaped  out  of  the  bo.v  upon  the  stage,  escaped  into  the  darkness,  mounted  a  waiting  horse 
and  fled  across  the  Long  Bridge  of  tlie  Potomac  into  \'irgiina. 

It  was  immediately  perceived  that  a  murderous  conspiracy  was 
Government  bv  assassina- 


tion. In  the  same  hour 
of  the  shooting  of  Lincoln 
another  murderer  named 
Louis  Payne  Powell  burst 
into  the  bed-chamber  of 
Secretary-  Seward,  who 
had  recently  been  disabled 
by  an  accident,  sprang 
upon  the  couch  of  the 
sick  man,  stabbed  him 
nigh  unto  death  and  made 
his  escape  into  the  night. 
The  cit>'  was  thrown  into 
the  wildest  alann  and  ex- 
citement. The  telegraph 
flashed  the  news  through- 
out the  land  and  a  tremor 
of  rage  ran  through  all  hearts.  Troops  of  cavalry-  and  the  police  of  Washington  departed 
in  all  directions  to  hunt  down  the  conspirators.  On  the  26th  of  April,  Booth  was  found 
concealed  in  a  barn  south  of  Fredericksburg.  He  refused  to  surrender  even  when  the  bam 
was  set  on  fire.  The  object  was  to  drive  him  forth  alive;  but  Sergeant  Boston  Corbett, 
gaining  sight  of  the  assa.ssin  through  the  wall  of  the  building,  shot  him  down  and  he  was 
dragged  forth  to  die.  Powell  was  caught,  convicted  and  hanged.  The  other  conspirators 
— David  E.  Herrold  and  George  A.  Atzerott,  together  with  Mrs.  Mary  E.  vSurratt,  at  whose 
house  the  plot  was  formed — were  also  condemned  and  executed.  Michael  O'Laughlin,  Dr. 
Samuel  A.  Mudd  and  Samuel  .\rnold  were  condemned  to  imprisonment  for  life  in  the  Dr>- 
Tortugas,  and  Edward  Spangkr  for  a  term  of  six  years. 

UNIVERSAL  GRIEF  OVER  THE  DEATH  OF  LINCOLN. 
Thus  in  darkness,  but  not  in  sliame,  ended  tlie  strange  career  of  Abraham  Lincoln.    He 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  any  age  or  countr\- — a  man  in  whom  the  qualities 
of  genius  and   common  sen.se  were  strangely  mingled.      He  was  prudent,  far-sighted  and 


ASSASSINATION   OF   PRl>i: 


698  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

resolute;  thoughtful,  calm  aud  just;  patient,  tender-hearted  and  great.  The  manner  of 
his  death  consecrated  his  memory.  Thrown  by  murder  from  the  high  seat  of  power,  he 
fell  into  the  arms  of  the  American  people,  who  laid  him  down  as  tenderly  as  children  lay 
their  father  on  the  couch  of  death.  The  funeral  pageant  was  prepared  on  a  scale  never 
before  equalled  in  the  New  World.  From  city  to  city  in  one  vast  procession  the  people  fol- 
lowed his  remains  to  their  last  resting  place  in  Springfield.  From  all  nations  went  up 
the  cry  of  sympathy  and  shame — sympathy  for  his  death,  and  shame  for  the  dark  crime  that 
caused  it. 

It  would  appear  that  Lincoln  fell  in  an  inauspicious  hour.  The  great  Rebellion  of  the 
Southern  States  was  tottering  into  oblivion;  but  the  restoration  of  the  Union  remained  to 
be  effected.  Who  but  Lincoln  in  such  a  crisis  was  fitted  for  such  work?  His  temper, 
after  the  surrender  of  Lee,  showed  clearly  the  trend  of  his  thoughts  and  sympathies — his 
sincere  desire  for  peace,  ^is  love  for  his  countr>-men  of  all  sections. 

The  words  of  mercy  were  upon  his  lips, 

Forgiveness  in  his  heart  aud  on  his  pen, 
When  the  vile  murderer  brought  swift  eclipse 

To  thoughts  of  peace  on  earth,  good-will  towards  men. 

The  Old  World  and  the  New,  from  sea  to  sea, 

Uttered  one  voice  of  sympathy  and  shame  ! 
Sore  heart,  so  stopped  when  it  at  last  beat  free ; 

Sad  life,  cut  short  just  as  its  triumph  came  ! 

A  deed  accursed  !     Strokes  have  been  struck  before 

By  the  assassin's  hand,  whereof  men  doubt 
If  more  of  horror  or  disgrace  they  bore  ; 

But  thj'  foul  crime,  like  Cain's,  stands  darkly  out. 

Vile  hand  !  that  branded  murder  on  a  strife, 

Whate'er  its  grounds,  stoutly  and  nobly  striven, 
Aud  with  the  martyr's  crown  crownest  a  life 

With  nmch  to  praise,  little  to  be  forgiven  !  * 

The  man  of  Europe  might  well  be  surprised  at  the  slight  disturbance  in  governmental 
affairs  produced  by  the  assassination  of  Lincoln.  The  public  credit  was  undisturbed.  It 
was  demonstrated  that  in  one  country  of  the  earth  the  Nation  is  the  Government. 

ACCESSION  OF  ANDREW  JOHNSON. 

The  death  of  the  President  called  Andrew  Johnson  to  the  chief  magistracy.  The 
latter  on  the  day  after  the  assassination  took  the  oath,  and  at  once  assumed  the  duties  of 
office.  He  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  born  in  Raleigh,  on  the  29th  of  December, 
1808.  His  boyhood  was  passed  in  obscurity,  poverty  and  neglect.  He  had  no  advantages 
of  education,  and  at  the  age  of  ten  was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor.  At  eighteen  he  removed 
with  his  mother  to  Tennessee,  and  made  his  home  at  Greenville,  in  that  State.  Here  he 
took  in  marriage  an  intelligent  lady,  who  taught  him  to  write  and  cipher.  Here  by  native 
talent,  will  and  strength  he  first  earned  the  applause  of  his  fellow-men.  Here  through  toils 
and  hardships  he  rose  to  distinction,  and  was  elected  to  Congress.  As  Senator  of  the 
United  States,  in  1860-61,  he  opposed  secession  with  all  his  vehemence,  even  after  the 
legislature  of  Tennessee  had  declared  that  State  out  of  the  Union.  Then  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1862,  he  was  appointed  military  governor  of  Tennessee,  and  established  himself  at 
Nashville.      He  administered  affairs  from  that  place  with  all  the  vigor  and  passion  of  his 

*  From  the  London  Punch,  of  May  6th,  1S65. 


THE  CLOSING   SCRNK   OF   THK   WAR— GRAM)    MILITARY    PAKADK    IN    WASHINGTON. 


(699) 


700  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

nature.  There  was  neither  quailing  nor  the  spirit  of  compromise.  His  life  was  imperilled, 
but  he  fed  on  danger  and  grew  strong.  In  1864  he  was  elected  to  the  Vice-Presidency  in 
place  of  Hannibal  Hamlin.  Now,  by  the  tragic  death  of  the  President,  he  was  called 
suddenly  to  the  assumption  of  responsibilities  almost  as  great  as  those  which  Lincoln  had 
borne  during  the  war. 

In  his  first  message  to  Congress,  Johnson  recommended  a  policy  of  extreme  severity 
toward  the  civil  and  military  leaders  of  the  Confederacy.  The  merciful  tones  of  Lincoln 
were  no  longer  heard  from  the  White  House,  and  there  were  dread  and  quaking  throughout 
the  seceded  States.  The  great  questions  entailed  by  the  war  were  at  once  taken  up.  On 
the  ist  of  Februar}',  1865,  a  Constitutional  Amendment  was  adopted  by  Congress,  formally 
abolishing  and  forbidding  human  slavery  in  all  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union. 
By  the  i8th  of  the  following  December  the  amendment  had  been  ratified  by  the  legislatures 
of  twenty-seven  States,  and  became  a  part  of  the  Constitution.  Thus  was  the  Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation  of  Lincoln  made  legal  by  the  representatives  of  the  people  and  the  people 
themselves,  and  thus  were  the  logical  results  of  the  war  incorporated  forever  in  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  land. 

THE  AMNESTV  PROCLAMATION. 

What  should  the  Government  do  with  the  leaders  of  the  late  Rebellion?  On  this 
question  the  voice  of  Lincoln  was  heard  out  of  the  grave.  Following  the  polic}'  of  that 
martyr.  President  Johnson,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1865,  issued  the  Amnesty  Proclamation, 
providing  a  general  pardon  for  all  persons — except  those  specified  in  certain  classes — who 
had  participated  in  the  organization  and  defense  of  the  Confederacy.  The  condition  of 
pardon  was  simply  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States.  The  excepted  persons  might 
be  pardoned  on  special  application  to  the  President. 

As  soon  as  practicable  the  great  armies  were  disbanded.  General  Grant  hurried  from 
the  field  and  lent  his  aid  and  influence  to  the  work.  One  of  the  most  striking  scenes  ever 
witnessed  was  the  great  military  parade  and  review  at  Washington  City.  It  was  the  closing 
pageant  of  the  war.  Seventy-five  thousand  Union  soldiers,  including  Sherman's  veterans 
from  Carolina,  paraded  the  streets  and  passed  the  reviewing  stand,  where  the  President  and 
the  principal  civil  and  militar\-  officers  of  the  United  States  occupied  the  platfonn.  After 
this  the  soldiers  as  an  organized  force  melted  rapidly  away,  and  were  resolved  into  the 
citizenship  out  of  which  they  sprang. 

By  the  end  of  the  war  the  National  debt  had  piled  up  mountains  high.  It  went  on 
increasing  in  proportions  until  the  beginning  of  1866.  The  yearly  interest  rose  to  the 
enormous  sum  of  1133,000,000  in  gold.  The  expenses  of  the  Government  had  reached  an 
aggregate  of  two  hundred  millions  annually.  The  augmented  revenues  of  the  Nation,  how- 
ever, and  the  energy  of  the  financial  management,  proved  sufficient  to  meet  the  enonnous 
outlay,  and  at  last  the  debt  began  to  be  slowly  diminished.  On  the  5th  of  December, 
1865,  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  House  of  Representatives  pledging  the  faith  of  the 
United  States  to  the  full  payment  of  the  National  debt,  both  principal  and  interest. 

EXECUTION   OF   MAXIMILIAN. 

During  the  progress  of  the  M^ar  the  Government  had  been  constantly  menaced  by  the 
hostility  of  foreign  Powers.  Onh'  Russia,  of  all  the  great  governments  of  Europe,  had 
been  at  heart  favorable  to  the  Union  cause.  Great  Britain  from  first  to  last  sympathized 
with  the  Confederacy  and  hoped  for  the  dismemberment  of  the  American  Republic. 
Napoleon  III.,  Emperor  of  the  French,  sought  to  aid  the  Confederate  States  and  to  precipitate 
the  downfall  of  the  Union.      In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  he  set  up  a   French   empire  in 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


JO] 


Mexico.  The  condition  of  affairs  in  that  countn-  favored  his  schemes.  There  was  a 
Mexican  revohition  and  civil  war.  .-V  French  army  was  sent  to  Mexico.  An  Imperial 
government  was  organized,  and  early  in  1864  the  Crown  was  offered  to  Maximilian,  .\rch- 
dnke  of  Austria.  The  latter  accepted,  and  repairing  to  Mexico  set  up  his  government  with 
the  aid  of  French  and  Austrian  soldiers. 

The  Mexican  President  Juarez,  however,  headed  a  counter-revolution  against  the  foreign 
usurpation,  and    the  Government  of  the  United  States  sent    a   rebuke  to  France  for   her 


EXECUTION   OF  MAXIMILIAN. 


violation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
Napoleon,  becoming  alarmed, 
withdrew  his  army.  Maximilian 
was  overthrown  and  driven  from 
the  capital.  He  fled  to  Queretaro,  where  he  was  besieged  and  taken  prisoner.  On  the 
13th  of  June,  1867,  he  was  tried  by  court-martial  and  condemned  to  be  shot.  On  the  19th 
he  was  led  to  execution.  He  met  his  fate  like  a  hero.  His  death  and  the  insanity  of  the 
Empress  Carlotta  awakened  the  commiseration  of  mankind.  The  scheme  of  Napoleon 
collapsed  and  his  hope  of  gaining  a  footliold  in  the  New  World  and  of  "restoring  the 
ascendancy  of   the  Latin  race"  was  brought   to  .shame  and  contempt. 

The  summer  of  1865  was  noted  for  the  laying  of  the  second  .\tlantic  cable.  The  first 
line,  laid  in  1858,  had  failed  after  a  few  weeks  of  operation.  Cynis  W.  Field  never  aban- 
doned the  enterprise,  but  held  on   persistently  till  fame  and  success  came  together,      .\fter 


702 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


the  steamer  Great  Eastern  had  proceeded  twelve  hundred  miles  on  her  way  to  America  the 
second  cable  parted  and  was  lost.  The  enterprise  was  renewed  for  the  third  time  in  July 
of  1 865  and  the  work  was  successfully  done.  The  lost  cable  was  also  recovered  and  that 
line  completed.      After  twelve  years  of  unremitting  efforts  Mr.  Field  received  a  gold  medal 

from  Congress  and  the 
plaudits  of  all  civilized 
nations. 

It  was  during  the  ad- 
ministration of  J  o  h  n  s  o  n 
that  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States  were  given 
approximately  their  final 
forms.  The  vast  domains 
west  of  the  IMississippi 
were  reduced  to  proper 
limits  and  organized  for 
early  admission  into  the 
Union.  In  ]\Iarch  of  1861 
Dakota,  destined  after 
twenty-seven  }ears  to  be- 
come two  great  States, 
was  detached  from  Ne- 
braska on  the  north  and 
gi\"en  a  political  organi- 
zation. The  Territory 
embraoed  an  area  of  a 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
square  miles.  Kansas 
had  at  last,  on  the  29th 
of  Januar}-,  1861,  been  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union 
under  a  constitution  framed 
at  Wyandotte.  In  Feb- 
ruary of  1863  Arizona, 
with  an  area  of  a  hundred 
and  thirteen  thousand 
square  miles,  was  separated 
from  New  ^Mexico  on  the 
west,  and  organized  as  an 
independent  Territon,-.  On 
the  3d  of  INIarch  in  the 
same  year  Idaho  was 
constructed  out  of  por- 
tions of  Dakota,  Nebraska  and  Washington  Territory.  On  the  26th  of  May,  1864, 
Montana,  with  an  area  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  square  miles,  was  cut  off 
from  the  eastern  part  of  Idaho.  On  the  ist  of  March,  1867,  the  Territor>- of  Nebraska, 
reduced  to  an  area  of  seventy-six  thousand  square  miles,  was  admitted  into   the   Union  as 


TRIUJIPH   OF    FAITH    -AND   GENIUS. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


F()3 


the  thirty-seventh  State.     Ou  the  26th  of  July,  1868,  Wyoniing,  with  an  area  of  ninety- 
eight  thousand  square  miles,  was  orc;anizeri  out  of  portions  of  Dakota,  Idaho  and  Utah. 

PURCHASE  OF  ALASKA. 

Meanwhile,  in  1867,  the  far-off  region  of  the  northwestern  extremity  of  our  continent, 
known  as  Alaska,  was  purchased  b>-  the  United  States.  Two  years  previousl)-  this  conntrj- 
had     been    explored     by 

a  corps  of  scientific  men,  --  «-^   ""-ii  .  .^^> 

A\-ith  a  view  of  estab- 
lishing telegraphic  com- 
nuinication  between  the 
United  States  and  Asia. 
Alaska  was  found  to  be 
by  no  means  the  wortli- 
less  countr}-  of  popul 
belief.  The  coast  fisher- 
ies, including  the  pro- 
duct of  the  seal  islands, 
were  found  to  be  of  ver\- 
great  %-alue  and  the  pine 
and  cedar  forests  were 
among  the  finest  in  the 
world.  Negotiations  for 
the  purchase  of  the  coun- 
tr>-  were  opened  with  Russia  by  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary-  of  State,  and  on  the  30th 
of  March,  1867,  the  treaty  was  concluded  by  which  for  seven  million  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  Alaska  was  purchased  by  the  United  States,  thus  adding  to  our  territories 
an  area  of  five  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  square  miles  and  a  population  of  twenty-nine 
thousand,  souls. 


THE   GREAT   EASTERN    LAVING   THE  .ATLANTIC    CABLE. 


j>=- 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 


EPOCH  OF  RECONSTRUCTION. 

DUTY  now  devolved  upon  the  Government  to  recon- 
struct the  American  Union.  How  to  do  it  was  the 
issue  of  the  day.  On  that  question  a  break  soon 
appeared  between  the  President  and  Congress.  The 
former  held  that  the  ordinances  of  secession  had 
been  invalid  and  of  no  effect,  and  that  the  restoration 
of  the  Southern  States  to  their  place  in  the  Union  was 
a  matter  of  executive  authority  and  management. 
The  President  accordingly  proceeded  on  the  9th  of 
May,  1865,  to  issue  a  proclamation  for  the  restora- 
tion of  \^irginia  to  her  place  in  the  Union.  Twenty 
daj'S  afterwards  he  issued  a  second  proclamation  for 
the  setting  up  of  a  provisional  government  in  South  Carolina,  and  at  brief  inter\'als  for  all 
the  other  States  of  the  Confederacy.  On  the  24th  of  June  he  proclaimed  the  removal  of 
all  restrictions  from  commerce  with  the  Southern  States.  On  the  7th  of  September  he 
completed  the  cycle  of  manifestoes  by  issuing  a  second  Amnesty  Proclamation,  whereby  all 
persons  who  had  upheld  the  Confederate  cause,  except  a  few  leaders,  were  unconditionally 
pardoned. 

Meanwhile  Tennessee  was  reorganized,  and  in  1866  restored  to  her  place  in  the  Union. 
All  the  while,  how-ever.  Congress,  falling  more  and  more  into  hostility  with  the  President, 
pursued  its  own  line  of  policy  with  regard  to  reconstniction.  During  the  session  of  1865-66 
a  Committee  of  Fifteen  was  appointed  to  consider  nil  questions  relating  to  the  reorganization 
of  the  Southern  States.  Soon  afterwards  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  w-as  passed  with  a  view  to 
securing  to  the  freedmenof  the  South  full  exercise  of  citizenship.  This  measure  was  vetoed 
by  the  President,  but  was  immediately  repassed  by  a  two-thirds'  Congressional  majoritj'. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  open  break  between  the  two  departments  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  summer  of  1866  witnessed  a  call  for  a  National  Peace  Convention  to  be  held  in 
Philadelphia  on  the  14th  of  August.  The  project  appears  to  have  originated  in  a  sentiment 
of  the  President.  The  objects  of  the  meeting  were  not  clearly  defined,  but  the  immediate 
purpose  was  to  get  together  the  representatives  from  all  parts  of  the  country-  for  a  fraternal 
political  meeting.  To  this  extent  the  scheme  was  siiccessful.  At  the  appointed  time  dele- 
gates from  all  the  States  and  Territories  came  together.  President  Johnson  attended  the 
Convention,  and  the  meeting  was  tiot  wanting  in  spirit;  but  it  proved  to  be  a  factitious 
enthusiasm,  springing  from  the  effort  of  those  who  clung  to  the  administration. 

Johnson  in  the  next  place  sought  to  rally  public  opinion  by  a  journey  through  the 
States.  In  the  after  part  of  summer  he  set  out  from  Washington,  taking  with  him  General 
Grant,  Admiral  Farragut,  the  leading  members  of  the  Cabinet  and  a  retinue  of  other  celebri- 
ties.     With  these  he  departed  for  Chicago  to  be  present  at  the  laying  of  the  conier-stone  of 

(704) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  705 

a  momunent  to  Senator  Stephen  A.  Uouj^las.  Tlie  jiartx  ])as.se(l  tlirough  Pliiladelphia, 
New  York  and  Alban\-  and  after  participating^  in  the  ceremonies  atCliicago  retnrned  b>-  way 
of  St.  Louis,  Indianapolis,  Louisville,  Cincinnati  and  Pittsburg.  At  all  the  principal 
towns  and  cities  througli  which  he  pa.s.sed  the  President  delivered  addresses,  which  in  some 
instances  took  the  character  of  harangues  in  which  he  defended  his  own  policy  and 
denounced  that  of  Congress.  The  result,  however,  was  unfavorable  to  the  chief  actor,  and 
in  the  following  elections  Congress  was  sustained  by  increased  popular  majorities.  The 
stubborn  nature  of  the  President  would  not  yield  and  the  affairs  of  the  administration 
came  to  a  crisis.  It  began  to  appear  that  Johnson  had  gone  over  to  the  Confederate 
party.  Congress  abandoned  him  and  with  him  the  milder  principles  of  reconciliation 
which  Lincoln  had  profes.sed,  and  became  relentlessly  hostile  towards  the  lately  rebellious 
party  of  the  South. 

AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

The  Committee  of  Fifteen  nicanwhilf  brought  forward  their  report  and  that  report 
became  the  basis  of  the  reconstruction  of  the  Union.  The  terms  were,  first  of  all,  that  the 
people  of  any  rebellious  State  should  ratify  by  the  legislature  thereof  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  which  declared  the  citizenship  of  all  persons  born  or 
naturalized  in  the  United  States.  After  tital  elections  might  be  held  and  representatives  to 
Congress  chosen,  with  the  full  restoration  of  State  autonomy.  Meanwhile  an  act  was  passed 
forbidding  the  restriction  of  suffrage  on  the  score  of  race  or  color  in  all  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States.  To  all  the.se  measures  the  President  opposed  his  veto  ;  but  in  everv  case 
his  objection  was  overcome  b>-  the  two-thirds'  majority  in  Congress. 

The  question  at  issue  now  began  to  clear.  It  was  simply  this,  whether  a  ch'il  or  a 
iiiilitary  plan  of  reconstruction  should  be  adopted  for  the  lateh-  rebellious  States.  The 
latter  view  gained  the  day,  and  it  was  detennined  in  Congress  that  the  military-  and  suppres- 
sive method  should  be  employed  in  the  South,  securing  a  prospective  alliance  politically 
between  the  Black  Republicans  of  the  old  slave  States  and  the  White  Republicans  of  the 
North.  The  Presidential  policy  favored  the  resurrection  of  the  old  white  leadership  of  the 
South — a  measure  which  would  probably  have  been  fatal  to  the  ascendancy  of  th.e  Repub- 
lican party  in  the  government. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  1867,  an  act  was  passed  by  Congress  for  the  organization  of  the 
ten  seceded  States  into  five  militan,-  districts,  each  district  to  be  under  control  of  a  governor 
appointed  by  the  President.  The  latter  appointed  the  governors,  but  appealed  to  his 
Attorney-General  and  secured  from  that  official  an  answer  that  most  of  the  reconstruction 
acts  of  Congress  were  mill  and  void.  The  President  hereupon  is.sued  such  ordere  to  tht- 
military  governors  as  \irtually  made  their  offices  of  no  effect.  The  counsels  in  the  govern- 
ment became  more  and  more  distracted  ;  but  in  course  of  time  the  States  of  .\rkansas, 
.\labama,  Georgia,  Florida,  Louisiana,  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina  were  reconstructed 
and  in  June  and  July  of  1868  were  readmitted  into  the  Union.  In  each  case,  however, 
the  readmission  was  effected  o\cr  the  \Tto  of  the  President. 

IMPEACHMENT  TRIAL  OF  JOHNSON. 

Matters  in  the  administration  now  became  critical.  .\  difficulty  arose  in  the  Cabinet, 
which  led  to  the  impeachment  of  the  Pre.sident.  On  the  21st  of  p-ehruary,  1S68,  he  notified 
Pvdwin  M.  Stanton,  Secrctar\  of  War,  of  his  dismis.sal  from  office.  The  act  was  regardt-d 
by  Congress  as  not  only  unprecedented,  but  in  violation  of  law,  and  was  made  the  basis  of 
the  measures  that  were  adopted  against  the  K.xecutive.  On  the  3d  of  March  articles  of 
impeachment  were  agreed  to  by  the   Mousi-  of  Re|)resfntatives,  and  the  cause  .igainst  the 

45 


706 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


President  was  remanded  to  the  Se.iate  for  trial.  The  proceedings  began  on  the  23d  of 
March  and  extended  to  the  26th  of  May,  when  the  question  was  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the 
Senators  acting  as  judges,  and  Johnson  was  acquitted.  His  escape  fro'.n  an  adverse  verdict, 
however,  was  perilously  narrow.     A  two-thirds'  majority  was  required  to  convict,  and  but 

ci  single  vote  was 
Avanting  to  that  re- 
sult. The  trial  war 
the  most  remarkable, 
and  perhaps  the 
most  dangerous, 
which  had  ever  dis- 
tracted, not  to  say 
disgraced,  the  his- 
ton,'  of  the  country. 

ELECTION    OF   GENERAL 
GRANT. 

After  this  event 
Johnson  went  on 
sullenly  to  the  close 
of  his  administra- 
tion, but  the  time  of 
another  Presidential 
election  was  at  hand, 
and  General  Ulysses 
S.  Grant  was  named 
by  the  Republicans 
.IS  their  standard- 
hearer.  On  the 
Democratic  side 
Horatio  Seymour  of 
New  York  was  nomi- 
nated. The  ques- 
tions dividing  the 
people  arose  out  of 
the  issues  of  the 
Civil  War.  Should 
the  measures  of  the 
recent  Congress  be 
upheld  and  carried 
into  eflFect  ?  On  that 
question  General 
Grant  was  elected 
by  a  large  majority. 

The  electoral  '■.  otes  of  twenty-six  States,  amounting  to  two  hundred  and  fourteen  ballots. 

were  cast  in  his  favor,  while  his  competitor  received  only  the  eighty  votes  of  eleven  States. 

Of  the  popular  vote  Grant  received  3,013,188,  against  2,703,600  f)r  Seymour.     Th".  choice 

for  the  Vice- Presidency  fell  on  Schuyler  Colfax,  of  Indiana. 


-^^^^.^--^ 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


707 


The  new  President  was  a  native  of  Point  Pleasant,  Ohio,  where  he  was  born  on  the 
27th  of  April,  1822.  His  boyhood  was  uneventful,  but  nut  without  promise.  At  seventeen 
he  entered  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  and  was  graduated  in  1843. 
He  served  with  distinction  in  the  Mexican  War,  in  which  he  was  promoted  to  a  captaincy 
for  gallantr\'  in  the  field.  After  that  conflict  he  became  a  merchant  in  St.  Louis,  but 
afterwards  resided  at  Galena,  Illinois.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  he  was  living  in 
obscnrit}',  following  the  vocation  of  tanner  and  leather-merchant.  Nor  could  any  have 
foreseen  the  probabilitj-  of  his  emergence  to  fame.  His  militar)'  career  has  been  recited  in 
the  preceding  pages.  At  the  close  of  the  war  his  reputation  was  ver\'  great,  and  during 
the  difficulties  between  President  Johnson  and  Congress  the  fame  of  Grant  rose  still  higher 
in  the  estimation  of  his  countr)-men.  At  the  Republican  Convention  in  Chicago,  on  the 
2 1st  of  May,  1868,  he  had  no  competitor  ;  he  was  unanimously  nominated  on  the  first  ballot. 

Entering  on  his  duties  as  President,  the  new  E.xecutive  sent  to  the  Senate  the  follow- 
ing nominations  :  For  Secretary  of  State,  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  of  Illinois  ;  for  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury-,  Alexander  T.  Stewart,  of  New 
York  ;  for  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Jacob 
D.  Cox,  of  Ohio  ;  for  Secretary-  of  the  Navy, 
Adolph  E.  Borie,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  for  Secre- 
tar>'  of  War,  John  M.  Schofield,  of  Illinois  ; 
for  Postmaster-General,  John  A.  J.  Cresswell, 
of  Maryland  ;  for  Attorney-General,  E.  R. 
Hoar,  of  Massachusetts.  The  nominations 
were  at  once  confirmed,  but  it  was  soon  dis- 
covered that  Mr.  Stewart,  being  an  importer  of 
foreign  goods,  was  ineligible  to  a  position  in 
the  Cabinet.  George  S.  Boutwell,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, was  accordingly  appointed  to  the 
vacant  position.  ^Ir.  Washburne  also  gave  up 
his  place  to  become  ]\Iinister  of  the  United 
States  to  France;  the  vacancy  was  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Hamilton  Fish,  of  New  York. 

Now  came  the  completion  of  the  Pacific  railway.  The  first  division  of  that  great  trans- 
continental line  extended  from  Omaha,  Nebraska,  to  Ogden,  Utah,  a  distance  of  a  thousand 
and  thirty-two  miles.  This  span  was  known  as  the  Union  Pacific  Railway.  The  western 
division,  called  the  Central  Pacific,  stretched  from  Ogdeir  to  San  Francisco,  a  distance  of 
eight  hundred  and  eighty-two  miles.  On  the  loth  of  May,  1869,  the  great  work  was  com- 
pleted with  appropriate  ceremonies. 

The  Civil  War  entailed  the  necessity  for  certain  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  The  first  of  these,  known  as  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  extended  the 
rights  of  citizenship  to  all  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  declared 
the  validity  of  the  public  debt.  Just  before  the  expiration  of  Johnson's  tenn  in  the  Presi- 
dency, the  Fifteenth  Amendment  was  adopted,  providing  that  the  right  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States  /o  vole  should  not  be  denied  or  abridged  on  account  of  race,  color  or  previous 
condition  of  servitude.  This  article  received  the  sanction  of  three-fourths  of  the  legisla- 
tures, and  on  the  30th  of  March,  1870,  was  proclaimed  by  the  President  as  a  part  of  the 
Constitution. 

BLACK    FRIDAY. 

Great  opportunities  for  frauds  and  speculations  were  furnished  b\-  the  financial  con- 
ditions now  present  in  the  country.      The  buying  and  selling  of  gold    became  a  business. 


GENERAL  GRANT'S    HOME   IN   GALENA,    lS6o. 


708  COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  art  of  manipulating  the  gold  market  was  acquired  to  perfection,  and  the  Gold  Room  in 
New  York  City  became  the  scene  of  such  audacious  transactions  as  had  never  been  known 
before.  In  the  fall  of  1869  occurred  the  most  extraordinary  event  of  all.  No  other  scheme 
of  equal  extent  and  audacity  was  ever  concocted  in  the  financial  marts  of  the  world.  A 
conspiracy  was  laid  under  the  leadership  of  Jay  Gould  and  James  Fisk,  Jr.,  to  produce  what 
is  known  as  a  corner  in  the  gold  market,  and  the  success  of  the  scheme  was  so  considerable 
as  to  bring  the  business  interests  of  the  metropolis  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  The  conspirators 
managed  to  advance  the  price  of  gold  from  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  to  one  hundred 
and  sixtj'-five,  at  which  time  the  managers  of  the  corner  had  virtiial  control  of  the  market, 
and  openly  boasted  that  they  would  put  up  the  price  of  gold  to  two  hundred  !  On  the  24th 
of  September,  known  as  Black  Friday,  the  crisis  was  broken  by  the  action  of  the  govern- 
ment. Mr.  Boutwell  unsealed  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  poured  the  gold  reser\-e 
on  the  heads  of  the  gamblers,  and  forced  down  the  price  of  their  phantom  gold  twentv  per 
cent,  in  less  than  as  many  minutes  !  The  speculators  were  blown  away  in  an  uproar,  but 
managed  by  fraud  and  corruption  to  carrj-  off  with  them  more  than  eleven  million  dollars 
as  the  profits  of  their  game  ! 

At  this  time  was  completed  the  reconstruction  of  the  Southern  States.  On  the  24th 
of  January,  1870,  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of  Virginia  were  readmitted  to  Con- 
gress. On  the  23d  of  February,  like  action  was  taken  in  the  case  of  Mississippi;  and  on 
the  30th  of  March  the  work  was  completed  by  the  read  mission  of  Texas,  last  of  the  seceded 
States.  After  a  period  of  nearly  ten  years,  the  people  of  all  the  States  were  again  repre- 
sented in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

The  vast  work  of  taking  and  publishing  the  ninth  census  of  the  United  States  was 
completed  in  the  }ears  1870-71.  The  results  were  of  the  most  encouraging  character. 
Notwithstanding  the  ravages  of  war,  the  last  decade  had  been  one  of  wonderful  growth  and 
progress.  The  population  had  increased  from  31,433,000  to  38,587,000.  The  centre  of 
population  had  moved  westward  to  a  point  fifty  miles  east  of  Cincinnati.  The  National 
debt  had  been  somewhat  reduced  as  to  the  figures  in  which  it  was  expressed,  but  perhaps 
not  at  all  in  its  value;  for  the  currency  had  raised  in  value  more  rapidly  than  the  debt  had 
fallen  off.  The  products  of  the  United  States  had  reached  an  enormous  aggregate;  even 
the  cotton  crop  of  the  Southern  States  had  regained  much  of  its  importance  in  the  markets 
of  the  world.  The  Union  now  embraced  thirt>' -seven  States  and  eleven  Territories,  and 
the  latter  were,  as  we  have  seen,  rapidly  approaching  Statehood. 

President  Grant  was  perhaps  the  least  visionar}-  of  all  the  great  Americans  who  have 
risen  to  distinction  in  our  political  history.  In  one  particular  he  had  a  favorite  project,  and 
that  was  the  annexation  of  Santo  Domingo  to  the  United  States.  He  also  sought  to  extend 
and  amplify  the  relations,  civil,  social  and  commercial,  between  the  American  Republic 
and  Mexico.  His  project  for  annexing  Santo  Domingo  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a 
Board  of  Commissioners,  composed  of  Senator  Ben  Wade,  of  Ohio,  President  Andrew  D. 
White,  of  Cornell  University,  and  Dr.  Samuel  Howe,  of  Massachusetts, — to  visit  Santo 
Domingo  and  report  upon  the  desirability  of  annexation.  The  commissioners  spent  three 
months  abroad,  and  reported  in  favor  of  the  President's  scheme.  The  matter  was  laid 
before  Congress,  but  the  opposition  excited  in  that  body  was  so  great  that  the  measure  was 
defeated. 

SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  AUBAMA  CLAIMS. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  when  Great  Britain  was  to  be  brought  to  the  bar  of  justice 
for  the  wrongs  which  she  had  committed  against  the  United  States  during  the  Civil  War. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  709 

The  account  held  against  that  country  by  our  Government  was  sufficiently  serious.  The 
gravamen  of  the  charges  was  the  connivance  of  England  in  fitting  out,  equipping  and 
encouraging  the  Confederate  cniisers  which  preyed  upon  our  connnerce  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  war.  The  conduct  of  Great  Britain  was  in  plain  violation  of  the  law  of  nations. 
Time  and  again  Mr.  Seward  remonstrated  with  the  British  authorities  on  account  of  their 
conduct.  Great  Britain,  however,  in  common  with  all  the  monarchies  of  Western  Europe, 
sympathized  with  the  Confederacy,  and  desired  the  destruction  of  the  American  Republic — 
a  type  of  government  most  dangerous  to  themselves. 

After  the  war  Great  Britain  became  alarmed  at  her  own  conduct,  and  sought  a  settle- 
ment. In  Februar\-  of  1871  a  Joint  High  Commission,  composed  of  five  British  and  five 
American  statesmen,  assembled  at  Washington  Cit\'.  The  particular  thing  complained  of 
by  the  United  States  was  the  so-called  Alabama  Claims,  that  is,  claims  arising  from  the 
ravages  committed  by  the  Confederate  privateer,  the  Alabama.  The  commissioners  suc- 
ceeded in  framing  a  treaty-  known  as  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  wherein  it  was  agreed  that 
all  claims  of  either  nation  should  be  submitted  to  a  Board  of  Arbitration,  to  be  appointed 
by  friendly  nations.  The  high  court  thus  provided  for  met  in  Geneva,  Switzerland,  in  the 
summer  of  1872.  The  cause  of  the  two  nations  was  impartially  heard,  and  on  the  14th  of 
December  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  United  States.  The  verdict  was  that  Great  Britain 
for  the  wrong  she  had  done  should  pay  to  the  treasury  of  the  American  Government 
15,500,000  dollars. 

It  was  at  this  epoch  that  the  railroad  enterprises  of  the  United  States  were  carried  to 
the  high-water  mark  of  activity  and  success.  In  1871  no  less  than  seven  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  seventy'  miles  of  railroad  were  constnicted.  There  is  perhaps  no  other  single  fact 
in  the  history-  of  the  world  which  exhibits  so  mar\-ellous  a  development  of  the  physical 
resources  of  a  nation.  In  1830  there  were  but  twenty-three  miles  of  railway  track  in  the 
New  World;  in  1840,  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighteen  miles;  in  1850,  nine  thou- 
sand and  twenty -one  miles;  in  i860,  thirty  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-five  miles;  in 
1870,  more  than  sixty  thousand  miles.  In  the  single  year  of  1871  more  miles  of  railway 
were  built  in  the  United  States  than  Spain,  whose  navigators  had  discovered  the  New  World, 
has  built  in  her  whole  career! 

THE  BURNING  OF  CHICAGO. 

The  same  year  witnessed  a  calamity  almost  as  vast  as  the  enterprise  just  referred  to  was 
astonishing.  The  event  in  question  was  the  burning  of  Chicago.  On  the  evening  of  the 
8th  of  October  a  fire  broke  out  in  De  Koven  Street  and  was  driven  by  a  high  wind  into  the 
lumber  yards  and  wooden  houses  of  the  neighborhood.  The  conflagration  spread  with 
great  rapidity  across  the  south ,  branch  of  the  Chicago  river  and  thence  into  the  business 
parts  of  the  city.  .\11  that  night  and  the  ne.xt  day  the  deluge  of  fire  rolled  on,  sprang 
across  the  main  channel  of  the  river  into  North  Chicago  and  swept  ever>thing  away  as  far 
as  Lincoln  Park.  The  area  burned  over  was  two  thousand  one  hundred  acres,  or  three  and 
a  third  square-miles  I  .\bout  two  hundred  lives  were  lost  and  propertv  dcstroved  to  the  value 
of  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  No  such  devastation  by  fire  had  been  witnessed  since  the 
burning  of  Moscow.  The  ravaged  di.strict  was  the  greatest  ever  swept  over  by  fire  in  a  city; 
the  amount  of  property  was  .second  in  value,  and  the  suffering  occasioned  tliird  among  the 
great  conflagrations  of  the  world. 

In  the  fall  of  1822  the  dispute  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  relative  to 
our  northwestern  boundar>-  was  settled  by  arbitration.  The  treaty  of  1846  had  defined 
that  line  as  extending  to  the  middle  of  the  channel  which  separates  the  continent   from 


710  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Vancouver's  Island  and  tlience  southerly  through  the  middle  of  said  channel  and  of  Fuca's 
Straits  to  the  Pacific.  But  what  was  "the  middle  of  said  channel"  ?  There  were  several 
channels,  and  the  British  Government  claimed  the  Straits  of  Rosario  as  the  true  line.  The 
contention  of  the  United  States  was  for  the  channel  called  the  Canal  de  Haro.  After  a 
quarter  of  a  centur}-  the  question  was  finally  referred  for  arbitration  to  William  I. ,  Emperor 
of  Germany.  That  monarch  heard  the  cause  and  on  the  2ist  of  October,  1S72,  decided  in 
favor  of  the  United  States,  thus  denoting  the  Canal  de  Haro  as  the  international  boundar\-. 

President  Grant  was  by  education  and  habit  a  military  man,  a  general  of  armies  rather 
than  a  statesman.  It  was  natural,  from  the  conditions  present  at  the  epoch,  that  the  military 
spirit  should  strongly  express  itself  in  the  administration.  Major-generals  and  brigadiers- 
swarmed  in  the  halls  of  Congress  and  thronged  the  White  House.  The  President  was  not 
at  all  desirous  of  introducing  militar\-  methods  into  the  government;  but  on  the  other  hand 
he  had  no  sympathy  with  political  methods  and  knew  nothing  of  the  arts  of  the  demagogue. 
As  a  natural  result  he  fell  back  upon  the  manners  and  usages  with  which  he  was  acquainted. 
This,  however,  did  not  injure  his  popularity.  He  retained  his  hold  upon  the  people,  and 
with  the  approach  of  the  presidential  election  it  was  evident  that  he  would  be  renominated 
by  his  party. 

TROUBLES  ARISING  FROM  CARPET-BAG  RULE. 

The  political  questions  of  the  day  were  still  those  which  had  issued  from  the  Civil  War. 
The  Congressional  plan  of  reconstruction  had  been  unfavorably  received  in  the  South  and 
was  attacked  by  the  Democratic  party.  Tlie  raising  of  the  Negro  race  to  the  full  rank  of 
citizenship  with  the  right  or  suffrage  had  created  bitter  opposition.  In  the  South  the  civil 
government  had  been  disorganized,  and  the  attempt  to  establish  military  government  in  its 
stead  virtually  failed.  The  enmity  of  the  Southern  leaders  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
whites  who  had  participated  in  the  Rebellion  was  fanned  to  a  flame  by  the  presence  of  a 
governmental  organization  in  which  they  did  not,  and  would  not,  participate.  A  lawless 
secret  society,  called  the  Ku-Klux  Klan  spread  through  a  greater  part  of  the  Southern 
States,  its  object  being  to  harass  and  extinguish  what  were  called  the  carpet-bag  govern- 
ments. These  had  been  in  large  part  instituted  by  political  adventurers  from  the  North  who 
had  gone  South  at  the  close  of  the  war  with  their  politics  and  other  fortunes  in  their 
carpct-hags  !  It  was  now  discovered  what  the  Northern  statesmen  had  failed  to  apprehend, 
namely,  that  the  freedmen  of  the  South  had,  for  the  time,  little  or  no  capacit}-  for  self- 
government. 

Such  were  the  questions  which  divided  the  people  in  the  quadrennial  election  of  1872. 
General  Grant  was  renominated  by  the  Republicans.  Henn.-  Wilson,  of  ^Massachusetts, 
was  chosen  as  the  Vice-Presidential  candidate  in  place  of  ]\Ir.  Colfax.  On  the  Democratic 
side  there  was  much  confusion  of  counsels.  It  was  foreseen  that  a  leader  of  that  party  on 
the  issue  presented  to  the  American  people  would  have  small  show  of  success  against  the 
great  Union  captains  of  the  Civil  War.  ^Meanwhile  a  large  number  of  prominent  Repub- 
licans, dissatisfied  with  the  administration,  formed  a  Liberal  Republican  party,  and 
nominated  for  the  presidency  Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune.  Alter 
some  beating  about,  this  nomination  was  accepted  and  ratified  by  the  Democratic  party, 
together  with  the  platform  of  the  Liberal  Republicans,  which  was  anything  else  than 
Democratic  in  its  character.  Greeley  had  for  more  than  thirty  years  been  an  acknowledged 
leader  of  public  opinion  in  Aiperica.  He  had  been  the  champion  of  human  rights, 
advocate  of  progress,  idealist,  philanthropist,  a  second  Franklin  born  oi:t  of  due  season. 
He  had  discussed  with  vehement  energ}-  and  enthusiasm  almost  ever}-  question  in  whick 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


'11 


the  people  of  the  United  States  had  any  interest.      \o\v  at  tlie  age  of  si.\ty-one  he  was 
made  the  standard-bearer  of  a  party  of  political  extremes  marvellously  mixed. 

This  strange  candidate  of  a  strange  party  went  before  the  people  and  spoke  on  the 
questions  involved  in  the  contest;  but  everything  was  adverse  to  his  prospects.  His  own 
utterances,  his  strange  personality,  his  former  bitter  contentions  with  the  Democratic  j^arty, 
and  many  other  things  were  paraded  against 
him.  He  was  overwhelmingly  defeated. 
Grant's  majority  was  almost  unprecedented 
in  the  political  history  of  the  country-.  Mr. 
Greeley,  who  had  for  the  time  relinquished 
the  editorial  management  of  the  Tribune^ 
veturned  to  his  duties;  but  he  went  back  a 
broken  man,  and  died  in  less  than  a  month 
after  the  election.  With  hira  ended  the 
career  of  the  greatest  journalist  which 
America  had  ever  produced. 

Just  after  the  presidential  election,  the 
cit>-  of  Boston  was  visited  with  a  conflagra- 
tion which  but  for  the  recent  burning  of 
Chicago  would  have  been  legarded  as  the 
greatest  disaster  of  its  kind  ever  known  in 
the  United  States.  On  the  evening  of  the 
9th  of  Xovember  a  fire  broke  out  on  the 
corner  of  Kingston  and  Summer  streets, 
from  which  nucleus  it  spread  in  a  north- 
easterly direction,  and  continued  to  rage 
with  unabated  fur>-  until  the  morning  of  the  i  itli.  The  best  portion  of  the  city,  embrac- 
ing some  of  the  most  valuable  blocks  of  buildings,  was  laid  in  ashes.  The  burnt  district 
covered  an  area  of  sixty-five  acres.  Fifteen  lives  were  lost,  and  property  to  the  value 
of  eighty  millions  of  dollars. 

THE  MODOC    INDIAN  WAR. 

In  the  meantime  a  dreadful  incident  had  occurred  on  the  Pacific  slope.  In  the  spring 
of  1872,  Superintendent  Odneal  undertook  to  remove  the  Modoc  Indians  from  their  lands 
on  Lake  Klamath,  Oregon,  to  a  new  reser\-ation.  The  Indians  were  alread\  embittered 
against  the  Goveniment  on  account  of  the  mistreatment  and  robberies  to  which  they  had 
been  subjected  by  the  National  officers.  .Vt  length  in  November  of  1872  a  body  of  troops 
was  sent  to  force  the  Modocs  into  compliance  with  the  official  order.  They  resisted,  went 
on  the  warpath,  and  during  the  winter  fixed  themselves  in  an  almost  inaccessible  region 
known  as  the  Lava  Beds.  Here  in  the  following  spring  they  were  surrounded.  On  the 
nth  of  April,  1873,  six  members  of  the  Peace  Commission  went  to  a  conference  with  the 
Modocs,  hoping  to  prevail  upon  them  to  yield  to  the  demands  of  the  Ciovcrnment,  and  to 
cease  from  hostilities.  The  Modocs  dissembled,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  conference  sprang 
up  and  fired  on  the  Commissioners.  General  Canby  and  Dr.  Thomas  fell  dead  on  the  spot. 
Mr.  Meacham  was  shot  and  stabbed,  but  escaped  with  his  life.  The  Modoc  stronghold  was 
then  besieged  and  bombarded;  but  it  was  not  until  the  ist  of  June  tliat  General  Davis, 
with  a  force  of  regidars,  was  able  to  compel  the  Indians  to  surrender.  Jack  liimsclf  and 
several  of  his  chiefs  were  tried  by  court-martial,  and  executed  in  the  following  October. 


HORACE   r.RKELEV. 


712  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  system  of  goveriiineiit  instituted  in  the  Southern  States  became  more  and  more 
unsatisfactor\-.  The  best  elements  of  Southern  society  were  against  it.  The  white  Repub- 
licans, who  for  the  most  part  had  gone  into  the  South  after  the  war,  were  affiliated 
politicalh-  with  the  negroes.  Against  such  a  party  the  old  Confederates  had  nothing  but 
enmity  and  hatred..  In  1873  a  difficulty  arose  in  Louisiana  by  which  the  State  was  thrown 
into  turmoil.  At  the  election  of  1872,  two  sets  of  presidential  electors  had  been  chosen. 
There  were  two  election  boards.  Two  governors — William  P.  Kellogg  and  John  McEnery 
— were  elected  and  rival  legislatures  were  set  xip.  Two  State  governments  were  constituted 
and  everything  was  dual. 

The  dispute  was  carried  to  the  Federal  government  and  the  President  decided  in  favor 
of  Kellogg  and  his  part}-.  The  rival  government  was  dispatched,  but  in  December  of  1874 
the  ]\IcEnerv  party  revived,  and  Lieutenant-Governor  Penn,  who  had  been  with  McEnery, 
gained  possession  of  the  State  capitol.  Kellogg  fled  to  the  custom-house  and  appealed  to 
the  President  for  aid.  The  latter  ordered  a  body  of  troops  to  be  sent  to  Ne\v  Orleans  and 
issued  a  proclamation  against  the  adherents  of  Penn.  With  the  assembling  of  the  legisla- 
ture, in  December  following,  the  difficulty  broke  out  more  violently  than  ever,  and  the 
insurgent  party  had  to  be  put  down  by  the  military. 

THE  CREDIT  MOBILIER  SCANDAL. 

Early  in  President  Grant's  second  term  occurred  the  Credit  Mobilier  investigation  in 
Congress — a  thing  scandalous  to  national  honor.  The  Credit  Mobilier  of  America  was  a 
joint-stock  company  organized  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  construction  of  public 
works.  Four  years  afterwards,  namely,  in  1867,  a  company  which  had  been  organized  to 
build  the  Pacific  Railroad  purchased  the  charter  of  the  Credit  Mobilier  and  increased  the 
capital  to  $3,750,000.  The  Railway  Company  sublet  the  work  of  building  the  Pacific 
railway  under  contract  for  the  government  to  the  Credit  IMobilier  organization,  and  that 
body  ci,'as  composed  Jiiosily  of  themselves !  The  railwa>-  depended  largely  upon  subsidies  to 
be  granted  by  the  government.  It  became,  therefore,  of  the  vastest  importance  to  the 
managers  that  favorable  legislation  should  continue  until  they  had  gathered  the  proceeds. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  door  which  was  thus  opened  into  the  treasury  should  not  be 
closed.  To  prevent  such  possible  obstruction  the  management  resorted  to  wholesale  cor- 
ruption. In  1872  a  law-suit  in  Pennsylvania  developed  the  startling  fact  that  much  of  the 
stock  of  the  Credit  Mobilier  ivas  oiancd  by  members  of  Congress  !  The  managers,  under  the 
leadership  of  Oakes  Ames,  of  Massachusetts,  had  placed  the  stock-certificates  of  the  Credit 
Mobilier  in  wholesale  quantities  to  the  credit  of  Representatives,  Senators  and  other  high 
officers  of  the  government.  The  certificates  cost  the  holders  not  a  cent.  In  some  instances 
the  holders  were  not  aware  that  the}-  were  the  owners  of  any  such  stock  until  large  dividends 
were  declared  and  tendered  to  them  as  profits  !  Not  a  few  persons  were  thus  enriched  with- 
out the  expenditure  of  a  dollar.  The  suspicion  flashed  through  the  public  mind  that  the 
holders  of  such  stock  had  been  corrupted,  and  that  legislature  favorable  to  the  Pacific  rail- 
way had  been  secured  thereby.  Many  political  fortunes  were  suddenly  wrecked  in  the 
scandal,  and  public  faith  was  greatly  shaken  in  the  representatives  of  the  people. 

In  the  fall  of  1873  a  disastrous  financial  panic  overtook  the  country.  The  alarm  was 
given  by  the  unexpected  failure  of  the  great  Banking  House  of  Jay  Cooke  and  Company, 
of  Philadelphia.  Other  failures  followed  in  rapid  succession.  Depositors  hurried  to  the 
banks  and  withdrew  their  funds.  A  sudden  paralysis  fell  on  ever}-  department  of  business 
and  many  months  elapsed  before  confidence  was  sufficiently  restored  to  bring  about  the 
usual  transactions  of  trade. 


COLr.MHrS   AND   COLl'MHIA. 


•i:i 


TRANS-CONTINENTAL   RAILWAY    LINES. 

One  of  the  results  of  this  liuaucial  crisis  was  the  siuldcn  clieck  given  to  tlie  construc- 
tion of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway.  This  great  work  had  been  undertaken  by  sub- 
sidies from  Congres-s.  Jay  Cooke's  Banking  House  made  heavy  loans  to  the  Company  and 
accepted  the  bonds  of  the  Company  as  security.  When  the  Credit  Mobilier  scandal  was 
blown  abroad,  Congress  suddenl\'  shrank  back,  even  from  such  encouragement  as  it  might 
have  properly  given  to  the  Northern  Pacific  enterprise. 

Work  of  construction  on  that  line  was  suddenly  arrested,  not  to  be  revived  until  after 
years  of  tedious  delay.  In  1875  *^'^^  section  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Duluth  to 
Bismarck,  Dakota,  was  put  into  operation.  The  second  span,  one  hundred  and  five  miles 
in  length,  between  Kalama  and  Tacoma,  in  Washington,  was  completed  next,  and  finally 
the  whole  line.  Meanwhile  railway  capitalists  had  turned  to  the  south,  and  the  Te.xas  and 
Pacific  Railway  was  projected,  from  Shreve- 
port,  Louisiana,  and  Texarkana,  .-Vrkansas, 
by  way  of  El  Paso,  to  San  Diego,  California, 
a  distance  from  Shreveport  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred and  fourteen  miles.  This  trans-con- 
tinental line  was  completed  before  the 
close  of  the  eighth  decade,  and  furnished 
the  second  through  line  of  travel  and  com- 
merce between  the  old  United  States  and 
the  Pacific  coast. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1875,  an  Enabling 
Act  was  passed  by  Congress  authorizing  the 
people  of  Colorado  to  prepare  a  State  con- 
stitution. On  the  1st  of  July,  1876,  the 
instrument  thus  provided  for  was  ratified  by 
the  people.  .\  month  later  the  President 
issued  his  proclamation,  and  Colorado  took 
her  place  as  the  Centennial  State  in  the 
Union.  The  new  commonwealth  came  with 
an  area  of  a  hundred  and  four  thousand  five 
hundred  square  miles,  and  a  population  of 
forty-two  thousand.  Public  attention  had 
first  been  drawn  to  Colorado  by  the  discovery  of  gold  in  1852.  Sihcr  mines  were  found 
soon  afterwards,  and  in  1858-59  the  first  colony  of  miners  was  established  on  Clear  Creek 
and  in  Gilpin  County,  .\lready  before  her  admission  as  a  State,  Colorado  had  yielded  from 
her  treasures  more  than  seventy  millions  of  dollars  in  gold.  Immigration  became  rapid  ; 
Denver  grew  into  an  important  city  ;  and  the  new  State  entered  the  Union  under  the 
most  favorable  auspices. 

DEATH'S  HARVEST  AMONG  THE  GREAT. 
By  this  epoch  the  great  men  whose  character  and  genius  had  been  developed  in  the 
times  of  the  Civil  War,  began  to  drop  rapidly  from  the  ranks  of  the  living.  One  of  the 
most  conspicuous  of  these  personages  was  Kdwin  M.  Stanton,  Socrctar\  of  War  under 
Lincoln,  and  more  recenth'  appointed  Justice  of  tiie  Supreme  Court.  He  died  on  the  24th 
of  December,  1869,  only  four  days  after  his  appointment  to  the  Supreme  Bench,  nor  has 
the  manner  or  immediate  occasion  of  his  death  ever  been  ascertained.      On  the   12th  of 


CH.\RI.ES   SVMNER. 


714 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


October,  1870,  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  President  of  Washington  and  Lee  University,  passed 
away.  In  the  same  year  General  George  H.  Thomas  and  Admiral  Farragiit  died.  In  1872 
William  H.  Seward,  Professor  Morse,  Horace  Greeley  and  General  Meade  were  called  from 
the  scenes  of  their  earthly  labors.  On  the  7th  of  May,  1873,  Chief  Justice  Chase  fell  under 
a  stroke  of  paralysis,  at  the  home  of  his  daughter  in  New  York  city,  and  on  the  nth  of 
March,  1874,  Senator  Charles  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  died  at  Washington.  He  was  a 
native  of  Boston  ;  born  in  181 1  ;  liberally  educated  at  Harvard  College.  He  entered  public 
life  at  the  age  .of  thirty-five  and  at  thirty-nine  succeeded  Daniel  Webster  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  vStates — a  position  which  he  retained  until  the  time  of  his  death.  On  the  2 2d 
of  November,  1875,  Vice-president  Henr)-  Wilson  died  in  Washington  city.  He,  like 
Roger  Sherman,  had  risen  from  the  shoemaker's  bench  to  the  highest  honors  of  his  country. 
He  possessed  great  abilities,  true  patriotism  and  man}-  public  and  personal  merits  which  will 
transmit  his  name  to  posterit}-. 

The  Centennial  of  American  Independence  was  now  at  hand.     As  the  event  drew  near 
the  people  made  ready  to  celebrate  it  with  appropriate  ceremonies.      It  was  determined  to 

hold  in  Philadelphia  a  great  International  Exposition 
of  Arts  and  Industries,  the  exhibition  to  continue 
from  the  loth  of  May  to  the  loth  of  November,  1876. 
An  appropriation  of  a  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  was  voted  by  Congress  to  promote 
the  enterprise,  and  the  sum  was  increased  b}-  contribu- 
tions from  ever\-  State  and  Territor}-  of  the  Union. 
The  city  of  Philadelphia  opened  for  the  Exposition 
Fairmount  Park,  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
beautiful  in  the  world.  A  commission  was  con- 
stituted with  General  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  of  Con- 
necticut, as  President  ;  Alfred  T.  Goshom,  of  Ohio, 
as  Director-general,  and  John  L.  Campbell,  of 
Indiana,  as  Secretar\-. 

THE  CENTENNIAL  EXPOSITION. 
Under  direction  of  this  commission  five  princi- 
pal buildings  were  projected  and  brought  to  com- 
pletion by  the  spring  of  1876.  The  largest  struc- 
ture, called  the  Main  Building,  was  eighteen  hundred 
and  seventy-six  feet  in  length  within  the  walls 
and  four  hundred  and  sixty-four  feet  wide,  covering  an  area  of  more  than  twenty  acres. 
The  cost  of  the  structure  was  $1,580,000  Second  in  importance  was  the  Memorial  Hall, 
or  art  gallerj',  built  of  granite,  iron  and  glass,  and  covering  an  area  of  seventeen 
thoiisand  six  hundred  and  fifty  square  feet.  This  was  by  far  the  most  elegant  and  pennanent 
of  all  the  Centennial  buildings.  Machinery'  Hall,  third  of  the  great  edifices,  had  the  same 
form  and  appearance  of  the  Main  Building,  but  was  less  grand  and  beaiitiful.  The 
ground  floor  covered  an  area  of  nearly  thirteen  acres.  The  cost  of  the  stnicture  was 
$542,000.  Agricultural  Hall  occupied  a  space  of  a  little  more  than  ten  acres,  and  was 
built  at  a  cost  of  $260,000.  Horticultural  Hall  was  an  edifice  of  the  Moorish  pattern, 
covering  a  space  of  one  and  three-fifths  acres,  costing  about  $300,000.  To  these  five 
principal  structures  others  of  interest  were  added  :  the  United  States  Government  Build- 
ing;   the    Woman's     Pavilion  ;    the    Department   of    Public    Comfort  ;    the     Government 


JOSEPH   R.    HAWLEY. 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


15 


Buildings  of  Foreign  Nations;  Modern  Dwellings  and  Bazaars;  School  Houses,  Restaurants 
and  Model  Factories. 

The  reception  of  articles  for  the  Exposition  was  begun  as  earh  as  Januar}',  1876.  A 
system  of  awards  was  adopted,  and  on  the  loth  of  May  the  inaugural  ceremonies  were  held 
under  direction  of  the  Centennial  Commission,  President  Grant  making  the  opening  address. 
The  attention  of  the  people  was  fully  aroused  to  the  importance  of  the  event  and  the  grounds 
were  crowded  from  the  first  day  with  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  visitors.  The 
Exposition  was  perhaps  the  grandest  and  most  interesting  of  its  kind  ever  witnessed  up  to 
that  vear  of  history.  All  summer  long  citizens  and  strangers  from  every  clime  poured  into 
the  spacious  and  beautiful  park.  Distinguished  personages,  among  them  Dom  Pedro  II., 
Emperor  of  Brazil,  came  from  abroad  to  gather  instruction  from  the  arts  and  industries  of 
mankind. 

The  Fourth  of  Juh",  centennial  anniversar>-  of  the  great  Declaration,  was  celebrated 
throughout  the  countr\-.  In  Philadelphia  on  that  day  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
strangers  were  present.  The  Declaration  was  read 
in  Independence  Square  by  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
grandson  of  him  by  whom  the  resolution  to  be  free 
was  first  offered  in  Congress — read  from  the  original 
manuscript.  A  Xational  Ode  was  recited  b\  the  poet 
Ba\ard  Taylor,  and  a  Centennial  Oration  delivered 
bv  William  M.  Evarts.  At  night  the  city  was 
illuminated  and  the  ceremonies  were  concluded  with 
fireworks  and  jubilee. 

The  Centennial  grounds  were  opened  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  days.  The  dail\-  attendance 
varied  from  five  thousand  to  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five  thousand  persons.  The  total  receipts 
for  admission  were  $3,761,000.  The  total  number 
of  visitors  was  nine  million  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-six  thousand.  On  the  loth  of  November 
the  Exposition  was  formally  closed  by  President 
Grant,  attended  by  General  Hawley  and  Director 
Goshorn,  of  Cincinnati.  The  Memorial  building 
was  preser\'ed  intact  as  a  permanent  ornament  of  Fainnount  Park.  The  Main  Building 
was  sold  bv  auction  and  the  materials  removed.  Machinery  Hall  was  purchased  by 
Philadelphia  and  afterwards  removed  from  the  grounds.  The  Wonjan's  Pa\ilion  was 
presented  to  Philadelphia,  together  with  most  of  the  government  buildings  of  foreign 
nations.  It  can  not  be  doubted  that  the  Centennial  Exposicion  left  a  permanent  impres.sion 
for  good  and  contributed  to  the  harmonv  of  the  civilized  States  of  the  world. 

THE  SIOUX  WAR  OF  1876. 
In  the  last  year  of  Grant's  administration  a  war  broke  out  with  the  Sioux  Indians. 
This  fierce  nation  had  in  1S67  agreed  with  the  Government  to  relinquish  all  of  the  lcrritor>- 
-outh  of  the  Niobrara,  west  of  the  one  hundred  and  fourth  uKridiaii  and  north  of  the  torty- 
-ixth  parallel  of  latitude.  The  terms  were  such  as  to  confine  the  Sioux  to  a  large  reser\a- 
tion  in  Southwestern  Dakota.  To  this  reservation  they  agreed  to  retire  b\  the  ist  of 
January,  1S76.      Meanwhile  gold  was  disc .'t,-.!  among  th--    Pin  I    Hill-.,  ]\ing  within   the 


ALFRED   T.   GOSHORX. 


Ui6) 


PRESIDENT    GRANT    FORMALLY  OPENING  THE    CENTENNIAL    EXPOSITION. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  .  717 

limits  of  the-  Sioux  reservation.  Xo  treat\  could  keep  the  huufj^y  horde  of  white  gold- 
diggers  and  adventurers  from  overrunning  the  interdicted  region.  This  gave  the  Siou.x 
good  cause  for  breaking  over  the  limits  of  their  reservation  and  roaming  at  large,  and  also 
a  certain  excuse  for  the  ravages  which  they  committed  in  Wyoming  and  Montana. 

The  Government,  however,  must  needs  drive  the  Sioux  back  upon  their  reservation.  .\ 
force  of  regulars  under  Generals  Terry  and  Crook  was  sent  into  the  mountainous  countr\' 
of  the  Upper  Yellowstone  and  the  Indians,  numbering  several  thousand,  led  by  their  chief- 
tain. Sitting  Bull,  were  crowded  back  against  the  Big  Horn  mountains  and  river.  Generals 
Custer  and  Reno  were  sent  forward  with  the  Seventh  Cavalry  to  discover  the  whereabouts 
of  the  Indians.  They  came  upon  the  Siou.x  in  a  large  valley  extending  along  the  left 
bank  of  the  Little  Big  Horn.     Custer  led  the  advance.     It  was  the  25th  of  June,  1876. 

W'ith  Custer,  to  see  the  enemy  was  to  fight.  What  ensued  has  never  been  adequately 
determined.  It  appears  that  the  General,  iniderestimating  the  number  of  the  Indians  with 
whom  he  had  to  contend,  charged  headlong  with  his  division  of  the  cavalry  into  the  upper 
end  of  the  town.  He  was  at  once  assailed  by  thousands  of  yelling  warriors.  Custer  and 
every  man  in  his  command  fell  in  the  fight.  The  conflict  surpassed  in  desperation  and 
disaster  any  other  battle  ever  fought  between  the  whites  and  Indians.  The  whole  loss  of 
the  Seventh  Cavalry  was  two  hundred  and  si.xty-one  killed  and  fifty-two  wounded.  Reno, 
who  engaged  the  savages  at  the  lower  end  of  their  town,  held  his  position  on  the  bluffs  of 
the  Little  Big  Horn  until  General  Gibbon  arrived  with  reinforcements  and  saved  the  rest 
from  destruction. 

Other  detachments  of  the  army  were  hurried  to  the  scene  of  war.  During  the  summer 
and  autumn  the  Indians  were  routed  in  several  engagements.  Negotiations  were  opened 
with  the  chiefs  for  the  removal  of  the  Sioux  nation  to  the  Indian  Territory;  but  desperate 
bands  of  the  Red  men  still  remained  on  the  warpath.  The  civilized  Indians  of  the  Terri- 
tor\'  objected  to  having  the  fierce  savages  out  of  the  North  sent  into  their  country.  The 
war  went  on  till  the  24tli  of  November,  when  the  Sioux  were  decisively  defeated  by  the 
Fourth  Cavalry  in  a  pass  of  the  Big  Horn  Mountains.  The  Indians  suffered  heav\-  losses 
and  their  town  of  a  hundred  and  seventy-three  huts  was  totally  destroyed.  Active  opera- 
tions continued  until  the  6th  of  January,  iJSjj,  when  the  remnant  of  the  Sioux  was  com- 
pletely routed  by  the  division  of  General  Miles. 

The  remaining  bands  of  Sitting  Bull  and  Crazy  Horse  now  made  their  escape  into 
Canada.  There  they  remained  until  the  following  fall  when  a  commission,  headed  by 
General  Terr\%  met  Sitting  Bull  and  his  principal  warriors  at  Fort  Walsh,  on  the  Canadian 
frontier.  A  conference  was  held  on  the  8th  of  October  and  pardon  was  offered  the  Indians 
for  all  past  offences,  on  condition  of  future  good  behavior.  But  Sitting  Bull  and  his  chiefs 
rejected  the  proposals.  The  conference  was  broken  off  and  the  Sioux  remained  in  the 
British  Dominions,  north  of  Milk  River.  Not  until  1880 — and  then  through  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Canadian  government — were  Sitting  Bull  and  his  band  induced  to  return  to 
the  reservation  of  the  Yankton  Sioux,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Missouri  River,  Dakota. 

THE   PRESIDENTIAL   ELECTION   OF  1876. 

Before  the  end  of  the  war  tiie  tweuty-lhird  Presideiilial  election  liad  been  held.  Ai  the 
Republican  National  Convention  of  1876  General  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  of  ( )hio,  and  William 
A.  Wheeler,  of  New  York,  were  chosen  as  the  standard-bearers  of  their  party.  Sanniel  J. 
Tilden,  of  New  York,  and  Thomas  .\.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana,  were  nominated  by  the  Demo- 
crats. The  Independent  Greenback  party  appeared  in  the  field  and  presented  as  candidates 
Peter  Cooper,  of  New  York,  and  Samuel  F.  Cary,  of  Ohio. 


(7i«) 


HEROIC    DEATH   OF    CUSTER. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


■19 


The  canvass  began  early  and  was  conducted  with  much  asperity.  The  Democratic 
battle-cp.-  was  Reform — reform  in  the  public  service  and  in  all  the  methods  of  administra- 
tion. The  Republicans  answered  back  with  the  cry  of  Reform — averring  their  anxiety  to 
correct  public  abuses  of  whatever  sort,  and  to  bring  to  punishment  all  who  had  been  corrupt 
in  the  offices  of  tlie  government.  To  this  was  added  a  declaration  in  favor  of  National 
sovereignty  against  the  old  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  which  was  still  vital  in  the  South. 
The  Greenback  party  also  cried  Reform — monetar\'  reform  first  and  all  other  refonns  after- 
wards. It  was  alleged  by  the  leaders  of  this  party  t!iat  the  redemption  of  the  National 
legal-tenders  and  other  obligations  of  the  United  States  in  gold  was  a  project  unjust  to  the 
debtor  class  and  iniquitous  from  ever}'  point  of  view.  The  advocates  of  this  theory,  how- 
ever, had  but  a  slight  political  organization  and  did  not  succeed  in  securing  a  single 
electoral  vote. 

The  canvass  drew  to  a  close;  the  election  was  held;  the  general  result  was  ascertained, 
and  both  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  claimed  the  victor}-.  The  electoral  votes 
of  Florida,  Louisiana,  South  Carolina  and  Oregon  were  claimed  by  both.  In  all  those 
States  there  had  been  great  irregularity  and  fraud  at  the  election.  The  powers  of  Congress 
in  such  cases  were  so  vaguelv  defined  that  no  declaration  of  the  result  could  be  made. 
There  was  great  confusion  in  the  countr\-  and  the  premonition  of  civil  war. 

THE  JOINT  HIGH  ELECTORAL  COMMISSION. 

With  the  meeting  of  Congress  in  December,  1876,  the  question  of  the  disputed  Presi- 
dency came  at  once  before  that  body  for  settlement.  The  situation  was  complicated  by  the 
political  complexion  of  the  two  Houses.  In 
the  Senate  the  Republicans  had  a  majority, 
and  in  the  House  the  Democrats.  Acrimonious 
debates  began  and  seemed  likely  to  be  inter- 
minable. Should  the  electoral  votes  of  the 
several  States  be  opened  and  counted  by  the 
presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  in  accordance 
with  Constitutional  usage  in  such  cases?  Or 
should  some  additional  court  be  constituted 
to  consider  and  pass  upon  the  spurious  re- 
turns from  the  States  where  frauds  and  irregu- 
larities had  occurred  ? 

The  necessity  of  doing  something  became 
imperative.  The  business  interests  of  the 
countn,'  grew  clamorous  for  a  speedy  adjust- 
ment of  the  difficulty.  The  spirit  of  compro- 
mise gained  ground  in  Congress  and  it  vv-as 
agreed  that  a  Joint  High  Commission  should 
be  constituted  to  which  all  the  disputed  election 
returns  should  be  referred  for  decision.  The 
body  was  to  consist  of  five  members  chosen  from 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  five  from  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  five  from  the 
Supreme  Court.  The  judgment  of  the  tribunal  was  to  be  final  in  all  matters  referred 
thereto  for  decision. 

The  commission  was  accordingly  constituted.     The  counting  of  the  electoral  votes  was 


HH.MiRlCKS. 


720 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


begun  as  usual  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  When  any 
disputed  or  duplicate  returns  were  reached  they  were  referred  State  by  State  to  the  Joint 
High  Commission,  by  which  body  the  decision  was  made.  On  the  2d  of  March,  1877,  only 
two  days  before  the  time  for  the  inauguration,  the  final  judgment  of  the  court  was  rendered. 
The  Republican  candidates  were  declared  elected.  One  hundred  and  eighty-five  electoral 
votes  were  counted  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  for  Tilden  and 
Hendricks.  The  most  dangerous  political  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  countrj'  thus  passed 
harmlessly  by  without  violence  or  bloodshed.* 

*  The  complete  dominatiou  of  party  politics  in  the  United  States  was  never  more  unhappily  illustrated  than 
in  the  work  of  tlie  Joint  High  Commission.  This  is  not  said  in  judgment  of  the  result  which  was  reached,  but 
of  the  features  and  methods  and  principles  revealed  in  the  work  of  the  Commission.  The  five  members  of  the 
court  from  the  House  of  Representatives — that  body  being  Democratic — were  of  course  three  Democrats  and  two 
Republicans ;  the  five  from  the  Senate — that  body  being  Republican— were  three  Republicans  and  two  Demo- 
crats ;  the  five  from  the  Supreme  Court  were  two  Republicans,  two  Democrats  and  Judge  David  Davis,  an  Inde- 
pendent. It  was  clear  from  the  first  that  the  decision  was  likely  to  rest  with  the  probity,  conscience  and  fearless- 
ness of  Judge  Davis.  But  before  the  issue  came  to  trial,  by  a  sudden  whirl  in  the  politics  of  lUinois,  the  legislature 
of  that  State  elected  Judge  Davis  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  thus  relie\-ing  him  of  the  fearful  responsibility 
under  which  he  was  about  to  be  placed.  Judge  Joseph  P.  Bradley,  who  was  called  an  Independent,  but  whose 
political  antecedents  and  proclivities  were  Republican,  was  accordingly  appointed  by  the  Supreme  Court  as  the 
fifth  member  from  that  body. 

When  the  proceedings  began  it  was  at  once  manifest  that  every  Democratic  member  would  vote  for  his  can- 
didates whatever  might  be  the  proofs  ;  that  every  Republican  would  support  Hayes  and  Wheeler  whatever  might 
be  the  facts,  and  that  Judge  Bradley,  who  constituted  the  real  court,  would  decide  according  to  his  antecedents 
and  proclivities.  In  no  single  instance  during  the  proceedings  did  any  member  of  the  court  rise  above  his  political 
bias.  The  decision,  therefore,  happy  enough  in  the  sequel,  was  simply  a  gigantic  political  intrigue — a  work  in 
which  on  the  whole  the  Republican  leaders  were  more  sagacious  and  skilftil  than  their  antagonists. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 
PERIOD  OF  RECOVERY. 


^^ 


T-THKRFURD  BURCHARD  HAVES,  ninoteenth  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  was  born  in  Delaware, 
Ohio,  on  the  4th  of  October,  1822.  His  primary' 
education  was  received  in  the  public  schools,  .\fter 
j^reparatory  study  at  Norwalk  .\cadeiny  and  Webb's 
Preparator>-  School,  in  Connecticut,  he  entered  the 
Freshman  class  at  Kenyon  College,  Ohio,  and  was  gradu- 
ated with  high  honors  in  1842.  In  1S45  he  completed 
his  legal  studies  at  Harvard  College.  He  then  began 
the  practice  of  law,  first  at  Marietta,  then  at  Fremont, 
and  finally  in  Cincinnati.  Here  he  won  a  distin- 
guished reputation.  In  the  Civil  War  he  rose  to  the 
rank  of  Major- General,  and  in  1864,  being  still  in 
the  field,  was  elected  to  Congress.  In  1867  he  was  chosen  governor  of  Ohio,  and  was 
twice  reelected.  At  the  Republican  convention  of  1876  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  be 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  over  several  c"  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  nation. 

President  Hayes  was  inaugurated  on  th  5th  of  March,  1877.*  He  delivered  for  his 
inaugural  a  conciliatory  and  patriotic  address.  On  the  8th  of  the  month  he  sent  to  the 
Senate  the  names  of  his  cabinet  officers,  as  follows  :  Secretar%-  of  State,  William  M.  Evarts, 
of  Xew  York  ;  Secretan-  of  the  Treasim-,  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio  ;  Secretary-  of  War, 
George  W.  McCrar\\  of  Iowa  ;  Secretan.-  of  the  Xavy,  Richard  W.  Thompson,  of  Indiana  ; 
Secretarx  of  the  Interior,  Carl  Schurz,  of  Missouri  ;  Attorney-General,  Charles  E.  Devens, 
of  Massachusetts  ;  Postmaster-General,  David  M.  Kee,  of  Tennessee.  These  nominations 
were  duly  ratified  by  the  Senate,  and  the  new  administration  was  ushered  in  under  not 
unfavorable  auspices. 

The  first  notable  event  under  the  new  administration  was  the  great  Railroad  Strike  of 
1877.  Hitherto  that  action  of  workingmen  which  has  now  pa.ssed  into  the  phraseology 
of  the  times  as  striking  had  been  little  known,  and  that  only  in  Eastern  manufactories  and 
in  the  mining  districts  of  the  countrv-.  At  length,  however,  more  complex  conditions  of 
industr>'  had  supervened  in  the  United  States,  and  capitalists  and  employes  had  come  to 
entertain  towards  each  other  a  sentiment  and  attitude  of  armed  neutralit>'. 

Early  in  1877  the  managers  of  the  great  railways  leading  from  the  seaboard  to  the 
West  declared  a  reduction  of  ten  per  cent,  in  the  wages  of  their  workmen.  The  measure 
was  to  take  effect  on  the  first  of  July,  at  the  precise  time  when  the  removal  of  the  enonnous 
^rain  products  of  the  West  would  put  upon  the  operatives  of  the  railways  the  most  excessive 
labors.      It  was  the  season  of  the  year  when  receipts  from  railway  freights  were  largest,  and 

*  The  fourth  of  March  fell  on  Suiulay.     The  same  IhiiiK  has  happened  in  the  following  years  ;   175.^,  17S1, 
iHzr  iMonrf>e's  inauguration,  second  tcrmi,  1S49  iTaylors  inaujiniri^tion).  1877  (Hayes's  inau^ration)  ;  and  the 
same  will  occur  hereafter  as  follows  :  1917,  1945,  1973,  2oor,  2029,  2057,  2085,  2125,  2153. 
46  (721) 


722  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

when,  therefore,  there  was  least  rational'  ground  for  a  reduction  of  wages.      The  re.siytance 
of  the  workingmen  to  the  action  of  the  managers  was  as  natural  as  it  was  just. 

THE   GREAT    RAILROAD   STRIKE. 

The  strike  began  on  the  line  of  the  Baltimore  and  Uhio  Railroad  on  the  i6th  of  July. 
The  workmen  did  not  content  themselves  with  ceasing  to  work,  but  gathered  with  such 
strength  and  spirit  in  Baltimore  and  Martinsburg,  West  Virginia,  as  to  prevent  the  running 
of  trains.  The  militia  was  called  out  by  Governor  Matthews,  only  to  be  dispersed  by  the 
strikers.  The  President  ordered  General  French,  with  a  bod}-  of  regulars,  to  raise  the 
blockade  of  the  road,  and  that  officer  succeeded  at  length  in  performing  his  duty.  On  the 
20th  of  the  month  a  strikers'  riot  occurred  in  Baltimore,  and  nine  of  the  rioters  were  killed 
and  many  others  wounded  by  the  troops  before  order  could  be  restored. 

Meanwhile  the  strike  spread  rapidly  to  other  and  distant  localities.  In  less  than  a 
week  trains  on  all  the  important  railways  between  the  Hudson  and  the  Mississippi  were 
stopped.  Except  in  the  cotton-growing  States,  the  labor-insurrection  was  universal.  In 
Pittsburg  the  strikers  gathered  to  the  number  of  twenty  thousand,  obtained  control  of  the 
city,  and  for  two  days  held  a  reign  of  terror.  The  Union  depot,  machine-shops  and  all  the 
railway  buildings  of  the  city  were  burned.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  locomotives  and 
two  thousand  five  hundred  cars  laden  with  valuable  merchandise  were  destroyed  with  wild 
havoc  and  uproar.  The  insurrection  was  at  last  suppressed  by  the  soldiers,  but  not  until 
nearly  a  hundred  lives  had  been  lost  and  property  destroyed  to  the  value  of  more  than  three 
million  dollars. 

By  this  time  travel  had  ceased.  The  mails  were  stopped.  Freights  perished  en  route. 
Business  was  paralyzed  throughout  the  country.  On  the  25th  of  July  a  terrible  riot 
occurred  in  Chicago.  Fifteen  of  the  insurgents  were  killed  by  the  police.  On  the  next 
day  St.  Louis  was  imperilled  b\-  a  mob.  San  Francisco  was  the  scene  of  a  dangerous  out- 
break, which  was  here  directed  against  the  Chinese  immigrants  and  the  managers  of  the 
lumber-yards.  Cincinnati,  Columbus,  Indianapolis,  Louisville  and  Fort  Wayne  were 
seriously  endangered,  but  escaped  without  loss  of  life  or  property.  By  the  end  of  July  the 
insurrection  had  run  its  course.  Business  and  travel  revived,  but  the  outbreak  had  shocked 
the  public  mind  into  a  sense  of  hidden  peril  to  Amencan  institutions. 

WAR  WITH  THE  NEZ   PERCES  INDIANS. 

The  war  with  the  Sioux  was  soon  followed  by  that  with  the  Nez  Perces.  These 
Indians  had  their  haunts  in  Idaho.  Since  1806  they  had  been  known  to  the  government. 
Lewis  and  Clarke  had  made  a  treaty  with  them  and  missionaries  had  been  sent  among  them. 
In  1854  a  part  of  the  Nez  Perce  territory  was  purchased  by  the  United  States,  but  large 
reservations  were  made  in  Northwestern  Idaho  and  Northeastern  Oregon.  Some  of  the 
chiefs  refused  to  ratify  the  purchase,  and  came  at  length  into  conflict  with  white  settlers 
who  had  entered  the  disputed  regions. 

War  ensued. '  General  Howard,  with  a  small  force  of  regulars,  was  sent  against  the 
hostile  tribes,  but  the  latter,  under  their  noted  chief,  Joseph,  fled  in  this  direction  and  that, 
avoiaing  battle.  The  pursuit  was  kept  up  until  fall,  when  the  Nez  Perces  were  hemmed  in 
in  Northern  Montana  by  the  command  of  Colonel  Miles.  Driven  across  the  Missouri  River, 
the  Indians  were  surrounded  in  their  camp  north  of  the  Bear  Paw  Mountains.  A  hard 
battle  was  fought,  and  only  a  few  braves,  led  by  the  chief.  White  Bird,  succeeded  in 
escaping.  All  the  rest  were  either  killed  or  taken.  Three  hundred  and  seventy-five  of  the 
captive  Nez  Perces  were  brought  back  to  the  military  posts  on  the  Missouri.      The  troops 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  723 

of  General  Howard  had  made  forced  marches  tlirough  a  mountainous  countrj-  for  a  distance 
of  six/cen  hundred  miles. 

The  year  1878  was  noted  in  our  financial  history  for  the  passage  of  the  Congressional 
measure  known  as  the  Remonetization  of  Silver.  When  the  American  Republic  was  foundeil 
in  1789,  one  of  the  most  important  matters  imposed  on  the  treasury  was  the  establishment 
of  a  system  of  coinage.  At  that  time  there  might  be  said  to  be  no  unit  of  value  in  the  Old 
Thirteen  States.  For  the  most  part  the  British  Pound  Sterling,  with  its  subdivisions  of 
shillings  and  pence,  was  recognized  as  the  money  of  account.  The  Revolution  had  driven 
coin  from  the  country',  and  the  devices  of  paper  money,  used  in  the  epoch  of  Independence, 
were  \arious  and  uncertain. 

B\-  the  first  coinage  regulations  of  the  United  States  the  standard  unit  of  value  was 
the  American  Silver  Dollar,  containing  three  hundred  and  seventy-one  and  a  fourth  grains  of 
pure  silver.  The  Spanish-American  dollar  had  this  value,  and  Hamilton,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  adapted  the  new  standard  to  the  existing  dollar.  Hy  this  measure  it  was  practic- 
able to  recoin  Spanish  dollars  into  the  American  denomination  without  loss  or  inconvenience. 

From  the  adoption  of  this  standard  in  1792  until  1S73  the  quantity  of  pure  metal  in 
the  standard  unit  had  never  been  changed,  though  the  amount  of  alloy  was  several  times 
altered.  From  1792  until  1834  the  American  silver  dollar  was  virtually  the  only  standard 
unit.  In  the  year  just  named  the  coinage  scheme  was  enlarged  and  adjusted  on  a  basis  of 
sixteen  to  one  of  gold  and  silver.  In  1849  ^'^^  coinage  of  a  gold  dollar  was  provided  for; 
and  from  that  time  forth  the  standard  miit  existed  in  both  metals.  Nor  might  it  be  deter- 
mined whether  in  accounting  in  the  United  States  gold  was  measured  by  the  silver  standard 
or  silver  by  the  standard  of  gold. 

DEMONETIZATION   AND   REMONETIZATION   OF  SILVER. 

With  the  coming  of  the  Civil  War  both  metals  disappeared  from  circulation  and  became 
a  commodity  of  commerce.  In  the  years  1873-74  at  a  time  when  owing  to  the  premium 
on  gold  and  silver  both  metals  were  out  of  circulation,  a  series  of  acts  was  passed  b>-  Con- 
gress bearing  upon  the  standard  of  value  whereby  the  legal-tender  quality  of  silver — ver\- 
adroitly — was  first  abridged  and  then  abolished.  These  enactments  were  completed  by  the 
report  of  the  coinage  committee  in  1874,  by  which  it  was  provided  that  the  silver  dollar 
should  henceforth  be  omitted  from  the  list  of  coins  to  be  struck  at  the  national  mints.  The 
effect  of  these  acts  was  to  leave  the  gold  dollar  of  twenty-three  and  twenty-two-hundredths 
grains  the  single  standard  unit  of  value  in  the  United  States.  In  other  words,  the  effect — 
coincident  with  the  intent — was  to  destroy  the  bi-metallic  and  to  introduce  the  mono- 
metallic system  of  money  into  our  country. 

The  ulterior  object  was  not  far  to  seek.  The  time  was  near  at  hand  when  specie  pay- 
ments must  be  resumed  by  the  government.  The  debts  of  the  nation  were  payable  in  coin; 
that  is,  in  both  gold  and  silver  coin,  at  the  option  of  the  pa>er.  Meanwhile  the  great 
silver  mines  of  the  Western  Mountains  were  discovered.  It  was  foreseen  by  the  debt- 
holding  classes  that  silver  was  likely  to  become  abinulant  and  cheap.  If  that  metal  should 
be  retained  in  the  coinage,  therefore,  the  payment  of  the  national  debt  would  be  propor- 
tionallv  easy.  It  was  deemed  expedient  to  strike  down  ///  time  tiie  legal-tender  quality  of 
silver  in  order  that  the  whole  payment  of  the  bonded  intlebtedncss  of  the  I'nited  States 
nuist  be  made  by  the  standard  of  a  dollar  worth  more  than  the  dollar  of  the  law  and  the 
contract;  namely,  by  the  single  standard  of  gold. 

The  next  step  in  this  prodigious  scheme  was  the  passage  of  the  Resumption  .\ct.  This 
measure  was  adopted  in  1875.      By  it  provision  was  made  that  on  the  ist  of  Januar>-,  1879, 


724  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  government  of  the  United  States  should  begin  to  redeem  its  outstanding  obligations  in 
coin.  As  the  time  for  resumption  drew  near  the  premium  on  gold  fell  off,  and  at  length 
the  question  was  raised  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  coin  '"  in  the  act  of  resuming  specie 
payment  Now  for  the  first  time  the  attention  of  the  people  at  large  was  aroused  to  the 
fact  that  by  the  acts  of  1873—74  the  privilege  and  right  of  paying  debts  in  silver  had  been 
taken  away!  It  was  perceived  that  after  the  beginning  of  1879  all  obligations,  both  public 
and  pri\-ate,  must  be  discharged  according  to  the  measure  of  the  gold  dollar  only. 

The  situation  justified  the  tumult  that  followed.  A  cr}-  for  the  remonetization  of 
siher  was  heard  even-where.  Vainly  did  the  bond-holding  interest  of  the  countr}-  exert 
itself  to  stay  the  tide.  The  question  reached  the  government,  and  early  in  1878  a  measure 
was  passed  by  Congress  for  the  restoration  of  the  legal-tender  quality  of  the  old  silver  dollar 
and  providing  for  the  compulsory  coinage  of  that  unit  at  the  mints,  at  the  rate  of  not  less 
than  two  millions  of  dollars  a  month.  Notwithstanding  the  unanimit}'  of  the  country-  in 
favor  of  the  measure,  the  President  vetoed  it;  but  the  veto  was  crushed  under  a  tremendous 
majority,  for  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  members  of  Congress,  wathout  respect  to  party 
affiliations,  gave  their  support  to  the  bill.  The  old  double  standard  of  values  was  thus 
measurably  restored,  but  the  fight  for  the  preservation  of  silver  as  a  monetar}-  unit  was  only 
begun. 

THE  YELLOW  FEVER  PLAGUE. 

The  year  1878  was  noted  for  the  prevalence  of  yellow  fever  in  the  Gulf  States  of  the 

Union.     The  disease  appeared  first  at  New  Orleans,  but  was  quickly  scattered  among  the 

other  towns  of  the  Lower  Mississippi.     The  terror  spread  from  place  to  place,  and  people 

began  to  fly  from  the  pestilence.     The  cities  of  Memphis  and  Grenada  became  scenes  of 

desolation.      At  Vicksburg  the  plague  was  almost  equally  terrible.      The  malady  extended 

into  the  parish  towns,  and  as  far  north  as  Nashville  and   Louisville.      Throughout   the 

summer  months  the  helpless  population  of  the  infested   districts   languished  and  died  by 

thousands.      In  the  North  a  system  of  contributions  was  established,  and  men  and  treasure 

were  poured  out  without  stint.     The  efforts  of  the  Howard  Association  at  New  Orleans, 

Memphis  and   other  cities  were  almost  unequalled   in  heroism  and  sacrifice.      More  than 

twenty  thousand  people  fell  victims  to  the  plague,  and  its  ravages  were  not  staid  until  the 

coming  of  frost. 

HALIFAX    FISHERY  AWARD. 

The  eighteenth  article  of  the  Treaty  of  Washington  conceded  an  enlargement  of  rights 
to  the  fishermen  of  the  United  States  in  certain  waters  hitherto  controlled  exclusively  by 
Great  Britain.  The  privilege  of  taking  fish  of  ever\-  kind — excepting  shellfish — along 
certain  shores  and  in  the  bays  and  harbors  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Bnmswick,  Prince  Edward's 
Islands  and  Quebec  was  guaranteed  to  American  fishermen.  Our  government,  on  the 
other  hand,  agreed  to  relinquish  the  duties  hitherto  charged  on  certain  kinds  of  fish  imported 
into  American  markets.  In  order  to  balance  any  difference  which  might  appear  in  the 
aggregate  of  such  mutual  concessions,  it  was  further  agreed  that  any  total  advantage  to  the 
United  States  arising  from  the  treaty  might  be  balanced  by  the  payment  of  a  sum  in  gross 
to  Great  Britain.  To  determine  what  such  siim  might  be  a  commission  was  provided  for. 
One  member  of  the  body  should  be  appointed  by  the  Queen,  one  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  case  the  Queen  and  the  President  should  not  agree  on  the  third,  he 
was  to  be  selected  by  the  Austrian  ambassador  at  the  court  of  St.  James.  The  provision  for 
the  third  commissioner  was  one  of  the  strangest  incidents  of  diplomatical  histor>-.  It 
chanced  that  the  appointment  of  umpire  was  given  to  Count  Von  Buest,  a  Saxon  renegade 
and  hater  of  republican  institutions,  temporarily  resident  as  Austrian  ambassador  /;/  London. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


72.3 


The  commission  was  constituted  in  the  summer  of  1877,  at  Halifax.  Little  attention 
was  given  to  the  proceedings  until  November,  when  it  was  announced  tliat  h\-  the  casting 
vote  of  Herr  Delfosse,  Belgian  Minister  to  the  United  States,  who  had  been  named  as  umpire 
by  the  Austrian  ambassador,  the  sum  of  five  million  dollars  had  been  awarded  against 
the  American  government.  Tlie  decision  was  received  with  the  utmost  surprise,  both  in 
the  United  States  and  Europe.  The  National  government,  however,  decided  to  stand  by 
the  award  rather  than  renounce  tlie  principle  of  arbitration.  The  result  was  such  as  to 
warrant  the  sarcasm  of  the  times  that  Great  Britain  had  got  even  with  the  United  States  on 
the  score  of  the  Alabama  award. 

It  was  in  this  year  that  a  Resident  Chinese  Embassy  was  established  at  Washington 
City.  For  twenty  years  the  Burlingame  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  China  had 
been  in  force.  Commercial  intercourse  had  been  enlarged  between  the  two  countries,  and 
race  prejudice  was  to  a  certain  extent  broken  down.  At  length  the  Chinese  Emperor  was 
assured  that  his  minister  would  be  received  at  Washington  with  all  the  courtesv  shown  to 
the  representative  of  the  most  favored  nation.  Official  representatives  were  accordingly 
sent  from  the  Imperial  government  to  the  United  States.  These  were  Chen  Lan  Pin, 
Minister  Plenipotentiary;  Yun  Wing,  Assistant  Envoy,  and  Yun  Tsang  Sing,  Secretan.-  of 
Legation.  On  the  28th  of  September  the  embassy  was  received  by  the  President;  the  cere- 
monies of  the  occasion  being  the  most  novel  ever  witnessed  in  Washington  City. 

LIFE-SAVING  SERVICE   AND  SPECIE    RESUMPTION. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  a  bill,  introduced  by  Honorable  Samuel  S.  Cox,  of  New  York, 
for  the  organization  of  the  Life-saving  Ser\-ice  of  the  United  States,  was  brought  before 
Congress,  and  on  the  1 8th  of  June, 
1878,  was  adopted  by  that  body.  The 
act  provided  for  the  establishment  of 
stations  and  light-houses  on  all  the 
exposed  parts  of  the  Atlantic  coast 
and  along  the  great  lakes.  Each 
station  was  to  be  manned  by  a  com- 
pany of  experienced  surfmen,  drilled 
in  the  best  methods  of  rescue  and 
resuscitation.  All  manner  of  appli- 
ances known  to  the  science  of  the  age 
was  added  to  the  equipment  of  the 
stations,  and  the  success  of  the  work 
was  such  as  to  reflect  the  highest 
credit  upon  its  promoters.  For  the  ' 
day  the  question  of  giving  succor  to 
shipwrecked  sailors  engros.sed  the 
attention  of  the  (Tovernnient,  and 
tiie  people  grew  anxious  to  provide 
against  the  perils  of  "them  that  go 
down  to  the  sea  in  ships." 

In  accordance   with    the  legisla- 
tion of  1875  the  Resumption  of  Specie 
Payments  was  effected  on  the   ist  of  January,  1879.       During  the  four  years  of  interim 
the   premium   on   gold  had  gradually  declined.      In  the  last   month  of  187S  the  difference 


JAMKS 


726 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


between  the  value  of  gold  and  paper  dollars  was  so  slight  as  to  be  scarcely  perceptible  in 
business.  For  a  few  days  the  premium  hovered  about  one  per  cent.,  then  sank  to  the  level 
and  disappeared.  The  Gold  Room  of  New  York  City  was  closed  and  metallic  money  reap- 
peared on  the  counters  of  banks  and  in  the  safes  of  merchants.  For  seventeen  years  gold 
and  silver  had  been  used  in  merchandise,  the  legal-tender  dollar  of  the  Government  con- 
stituting the  standard  of  value.  The  fact  of  resumption  was  hailed  by  many  as  the  end  of 
the  epoch  of  speculation  and  the  beginning  of  a  better  financial  era. 

Thus  passed  away  the  administration  of  Hayes.  It  was  a  peculiar  quadrennium  in 
American  history.  The  methods  of  the  President  lacked  emphasis,  and  there  was  nothing 
spectacular  in  the  Government  during  his  occupancy  of  the  presidential  chair.  ^lany  doubts 
entered  into  the  public  mind  concerning  the  legality  of  his  election.  It  should  be  said, 
however,  that  his  administration  had  in  it  more  of  the  genuine  elements  of  refonn  than  had 
existed  in  any  other  since  the  days  of  Fillmore.  His  Cabinet  was  the  ablest  of  its  kind 
since  the  ascendancy  of  Webster  as  Secretary  of  State.  Nevertheless,  both  the  President 
and  his  work  were  unpopular.  The  Congressional  elections  of  1878  went  strongly  against 
the  Republicans.      Ever}thing  seemed  to  foretoken  the  restoration  of  the  Democratic  party 

to  power.  The  Republican  National  Con- 
vention of  1880  was  held  in  Chicago,  on  the 
2d  and  3d  of  June.  The  platform  adopted 
was  retrospective.  The  party  in  power 
looked  to  the  past  for  its  renown  and  honor. 
After  two  days  of  balloting.  General  James  A. 
Garfield,  of  Ohio,  was  nominated  for  Presi- 
dent, and  Chester  A.  Arthur,  of  New  York, 
for  Vice-President. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1880. 
On  the  22d  of  June  the  Democratic 
National  Convention  assembled  in  Cincinnati. 
The  platform  adopted  declared  adherence  to 
the  doctrines  and  traditions  of  the  party  ; 
opposed  centralization  ;  adhered  to  gold  and 
silver  money  and  paper  convertible  into  coin  ; 
advocated'  a  tariff  for  revenue  only  and  de- 
nounced the  part}'  in  power.  On  this  plat- 
form the  convention  nominated  for  the  presi- 
dency General  Winfield  S.  Hancock,  of  New 
Yoik.  and  for  the  vice-presidency  William  H. 
English,  of  Indiana. 

The  convention  of  the  National' Greenback  party  was  held  in  Chicago  on  the  9th  of 
June.  General  James  B.  Weaver,  of  Iowa,  and  Benjamin  J.  Chambers,  of  Texas,  were 
named  as  the  standard-bearers.  The  platform  declared  for  the  rights  of  labor  as  against 
the  exactions  of  capital  ;  denounced  monopolies  ;  proclaimed  the  sovereign  power  of  the 
Government  over  the  coinage  of  metallic  and  the  issuance  of  paper  money  ;  advocated  the 
abolition  of  national  banks  ;  declared  for  the  payment  of  the  bonded  debt  of  the  United 
States ;  denounced  land-grants  ;  opposed  Chinese  immigration,  and  favored  the  equal 
taxation  of  all  property-. 

It  was  at  this  time,  namely,  in  the  canvass  of  1880,  that  the  Third-party  movement 


I 


GENERAL   WINFIELD   HANCOCK. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  727 

reached  its  climax  for  the  decade.  The  more  rational  part  of  the  principles  of  the  Green- 
back partv  had  in  them  a  qnality  which  demanded  the  assent  of  a  respectable  minority  of 
the  American  people.  The  correctness  of  these  principles  was  afterwards  carried  for  judg- 
ment to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  was  there  argued  by  the  ablest  Constitu- 
tional lawvers  before  a  full  Bench,  and  was  decided  with  only  a  single  dissenting  opinion  in 
favor  of  the  Greenback  theor\-  of  legal-tender  paper  money,  and  its  validity  ^s  money,  inde- 
pendent of  coin  redemption.  But  politically  tlie  part\-  representing  these  ideas  was  doomed 
to  failure.  The  contest  of  1880  lay  as  usual  between  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties. 
The  long-standing  sectional  division  into  North  and  South  once  more  decided  the  contest  in 
favor  of  the  former.  That  clause  of  the  Democratic  platform  which  declared  for  a  tariff  for 
revenue  onlv  alarmed  the  manufacturing  interests  and  consolidated  them  in  favor  of  the 
Republican  candidates.  The  banking  and  bond-holding  classes  rallied  to  the  same  .standard, 
and  the  old  war  spirit  against  the  "Solid  South"  did  the  rest.  Garfield  and  Arthur  were 
elected  bv  an  electoral  vote  of  two  hundred  and  fourteen  against  one  Inindred  and  fifty-five 
votes  for  Hancock  and  English.  General  Weaver  received  no  electoral  votes,  though  the 
popular  vote  given  to  him  reached  an  aggregate  of  three  hundred  and  seven  thousand. 

The  closing  session  of  the  forty-si.xth  Congress  was  mostly  occupied  with  the  work  of 
refunding  the  national  debt.  About  $750,000,000  of  the  five  and  six  per  cent,  bonds  now 
reached  maturity,  and  it  became  necessary-  for  the  government  to  take  them  up  either  by 
payment  or  refunding.  As  for  payment,  that  was  in  part  impracticable.  As  matter  of 
fact,  payment  was  not  desired  by  the  bond-holders,  and  was  not  contemplated  by  the  gov- 
ernment. A  bill  was  passed  for  the  issuance  of  new  bonds  of  two  classes,  both  bearing  three 
per  cent,  interest ;  the  first  class  payable  in  from  five  to  twenty  years,  and  the  second  class 
in  from  one  to  ten  years.  The  latter  bonds  were  to  be  issued  in  small  denominations,  to 
give  the  measure  the  appearance  of  a  popular  loan.  One  provision  of  the  bill  required  the 
national  banks  to  surrender  their  high-rate  bonds  and  accept  the  new  three  per  cents, 
instead.  This  clause  aroused  the  antagonism  of  the  banks,  and  they  sought  in  ever\-  pos- 
sible way  to  prevent  the  passage  of  the  bill.  The  measure  as  proposed  was  repugnant  to 
capitalists  and  bond-holders  as  a  class.  These  forces  at  length  prevailed,  and  though  the 
bill  was  passed  by  Congress,  the  President  returned  it  with  his  objections,  and  the  measure 
failed.      The  question  of  refunding  was  thus  carried  over  to   the  next  administration. 

GRANT'S  TOUR  AROUND  THE  WORLD. 

At  the  end  of  his  Presidential  term  General  Grant  with  his  family  and  a  company  of 
personal  friends  set  out  to  visit  the  countries  of  Europe  and  Asia.  The  party  left  Phila- 
delphia in  May  of  1877.  The  event  immediately  demonstrated  the  fact  that  General  Grant 
was  regarded  by  the  world  as  one  of  the  most  important  personages  of  modern  times.  His 
procession  from  place  to  place  became  a  constant  pageant,  such  as  was  never  before  accorded 
to  a  private  citizen  of  any  nation  of  the  earth.  The  journey  of  the  ex-President  was  first 
through  the  principal  cities  of  England,  and  afterwards  to  Belgium,  Switzerland,  Prussia 
and  France.  The  company  then  made  a  brief  stay  in  Italy,  and  from  thence  went  by 
voyage  to  Alexandria  ;  thence  to  Palestine  ;  and  afterwards  to  Greece.  In  the  following 
year  the  General  returned  to  Italy,  and  passed  the  summer  in  Denmark,  Sweden  and 
Norway.  He  then  visited  Austria  and  Russia,  but  returned  for  the  winter  to  the  south  of 
France  and  Spain.  In  January  of  1879  the  party  embarked  for  the  East.  The  following 
year  was  spent  in  India,  Burniah,  Siam,  China  and  Japan.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  the 
company  reached  San  Francisco,  bearing  the  highest  tokens  of  esteem  which  the  nations 
of  the  Old  World  could  bestow  on  the  honored  representative  of  the  Xew. 


728 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


The  census  of  1880  was  conducted  under  the  skilful  superintendency  of  Professor 
Francis  A.  Walker,  who  had  already  directed  the  census  of  the  previous  decennium.  More 
than  ever  before  was  the  astonishing  progress  of  the  United  States  now  revealed  and  illus- 
trated. The  population  had  increased  to  50,152,866,  showing  an  increase  for  the  decade 
of  a  million  inhabitants 
a  )ear.  The  population 
of  the  State  of  New 
York  had  risen  to  more 
than  five  millions.  Ne- 
vada, least  populous  of 
the  States,  showed  an 
enumeration  of  62,265. 
Of  the  increment  of  popu- 
lation 2,246,551  had  been 
contributed  b>-  immigra- 
tion, of  whom  about 
eight\--five  thousand  an- 
nually came  from  Ger- 
many. The  number  of 
cities  having  a  population 
of  over  a  hundred  thou- 
sand had  increased  in  ten 
years  from  fourteen  to 
twenty-five.  The  centre 
of  population  had  moved 
westward  to  a  point  near 
the  city  of  Cincinnati. 

It  was  at  this  time, 
namely,  in  1880,  that  the 
current  of  the  precious 
metals  turned  once  more 
towards  America.  In  that 
year  the  imports  of  specie 
exceeded  the  exports  b>- 
more  than  seventy-five 
million  dollars.  Mean- 
while abundant  crops 
had  followed  in  almost 
unbroken  succession,  and 
the  overplus  of  American 
products  had  gone  to 
enrich  the  country  and  to  stimulate  those 
dustries  upon  which  the  nation  rests. 

The   necrolog}'  of  this  epoch  shows    man)-  distinguished 
names.      Among  these  maybe  mentioned  Senator  Oliver  P.  I\Iorton,  of  Indiana,  who  after 
battling  for  years  against  the  encroachments  of  paralysis,  died  at  his  home  in  Indianapolis, 
November  ist,  1877.      1"^^  great  poet  William  Cullen  Br}-ant,  now  at  the  advanced  age  of 


1  ROM    I.  \N  KI 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


729 


eighty-four,  passed  away  on  tlie  i2th  of  June,  1878.  On  the  igtli  of  December,  in  the 
same  year,  the  illustrious  Bayard  Ta\lor,  recently  appointed  American  Minister  to  the 
Crennan  empire,  died  suddenly  at  Berlin.  On  the  ist  of  November,  1879,  Senator  Zachariah 
Chandler,  of  Michigan,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Republican  party,  died,  after  a  brief 
illness  in  Chicago.  On  the  24th  of  February,  1881,  another  vSenator,  Matthew  H. 
Carpenter,  of  Wisconsin,  after  a  long  sickness  at  Washington  City,  passed  away. 

LIFE   OF   GARFIELD. 

Garfield  was  the  twentieth  President  of  the  United  States.  He  was  born  at  Orange, 
Cuyahoga  countv,  Ohio,  November  19th,  1831.  He  was  left  in  infancy  to  the  care  of  his 
mother  and  the  rude  surroundings  of  a  backwoods  home.  There  he  found  the  rudiments 
of  an  education.  Further  on  in  \outh  he  ser\-ed  as  a  pilot  on  a  canal  boat  phing  the  Ohio 
and  Pennsvlvania  canal.  At  se\cnteen  he  entered  the  high  school  in  Chester,  and  in  his 
twentieth  vear  became  a  student  at  Hiram  College.  In  that  institution  he  was  chosen  as 
an  instructor  until  1854.  He  then  went  to  Williams  College,  and  from  that  institu- 
tion was  graduated  with  honor.  Returning  to  Ohio,  he  was  first  a  professor  and  afterwards 
president  of  Hiram  College.  This  position  he  gave  up  to  become  a  soldier  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War.  In  the  meantime  he  had  studied  law,  imbibed  a  love  for  politics,  and 
been  elected  to  the  Senate  of  Ohio. 

As  a  soldier  Garfield  rose  through  the  grades  of  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Colonel,  and 
Brio-adier-General,  to  become  Chief  of  Staff  to  General  Rosecrans.  In  that  relation  he 
bore  a  distinguished  part  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga. 
While  still  in  the  field  he  was  elected  by  the  people  of 
his  home  district  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  in 
which  body  he  served  continuously  for  seventeen  years. 
In  1879  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States; 
but  before  entering  upon  his  duties  was  nominated  and 
elected  to  the  presidency. 

The  inaugural  address  of  March  4th,  1881,  was  a 
paper  of  high  grade.  A  retrospect  of  American  progress 
was  given.  The  countr\'  was  congratulated  on  its  rank 
among  the  nations.  The  topics  of  politics  were  reviewed, 
and  the  policy  of  the  incoming  executive  defined  with 
clearness  and  precision.  The  public-school  system  of  the 
United    States  was   defended.       Some   kind   words   were  J"^*'^  «^-  blaine. 

spoken  for  the  South,  as  if  to  assuage  the  heartburnings  of  the  Cix'il  War.  The  main- 
tenance of  the  National  Bank  system  was  recommended,  and  the  equal  political  rights  of 
the  Black  Men  of  the  South  advocated. 

The  new  cabinet  was  constituted  as  follows  :  Secretary  of  State,  James  G.  Blaine,  of 
Maine  ;  Secretary  of  the  Treasur>-,  William  Windom,  of  Minnesota  ;  Secretary-  of  War, 
Robert  T.  Lincoln,  of  Illinois  ;  Secretor>-  of  the  Navy,  William  H.  Hunt,  of  Louisiana  ; 
Secretan,-  of  the  Interior,  Samuel  J.  Kirkwood,  of  Iowa  ;  .Attorney-General,  Wayne 
Mac\'eagh,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Postmaster-General,  Thomas  L.  James,  of  New  York.  The 
nominations  were  at  once  confirmed,  and  the  new  administration  was  establi.shed  in   office. 

CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 
Now  arose  the   great  question   of  a  Reform  of  the  Civil   Service.      This  matter  had 
been  handed  down  from  the  administration  of  Haves,  under  whom  efforts  hail  l>cen  made  to 


730 


COLUAIBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


'rs^ 


introduce  better  methods  of  selecting  persons  for  the  appointive  offices  of  the  government. 
Tlie  real  issue  was — and  has  always  been — whether  the  choice  of  the  officials  of  the  govern- 
ment should  be  made  on  the  ground  of  the  character  and  fitness  of  the  candidates,  or  on 
the  principle  of  distributing  political  patronage  to  those  who  had  best  ser\'ed  the  party  ; 
whether  men  should  be  promoted  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  grades  of  official  life  and 
retained  according  to  the  value  and  proficiency  of  their  ser\'ices,  or  whether  the}',  should  be 
elevated  to  positions  in  proportion  to  their  success  in  carrying  elections  and  maintaining  the 
part}"  in  power. 

The  members  of  Congress  held  strongly  to  the  old  order  of  things,  being  unwilling  to 
give  up  their  influence  over  the  appointive  power.  To  them  it  seemed  essential  that  the 
spoils  should  belong  to  the  victors.  President  Hayes  had  attempted  to  establish  the  oppo- 
site policv,  but  near  the  close  of  his  term  had  been  driven  from  the  field.  The  Republican 
platform   of  1880  vaguely  indorsed   civil  service  reform,  and  some  expectation  existed  that 

Garfield  would  attempt  to  promote  that  policy  ;  but  the 
rush  of  office-seekers  at  the  beginning  of  his  term  was  over- 
whelming. Washington  Cit\-  was  thronged  by  the  hungry 
horde  who  had  "carried  the  election;"  and  all  plans  and 
purposes  of  reform  in  tjie  civil  ser\-ice  were  crushed  out  of 
sight  and  trampled  under  feet  of  men. 

This  break  from  the  declared  principles  of  the  party 
was  soon  followed  by  a  serious  political  disaster.  A  division 
arose  in  the  Republican  ranks  threatening  disruption  to  the 
organization.  Two  wings  of  the  party  appeared,  nicknamed 
respectively  the  "Half-breeds"  and  the  "Stalwarts."  The 
latter  faction,  headed  by  Senator  Roscoe  Conkling,  of  New 
York,  had  recently  distinguished  itself  by  supporting  General 
Grant  for  a  third  tenn  in  the  presidenc}-.  The  Half-breeds 
regarded  James  G.  Blaine,  now  Secretary  of  State,  as  their 
leader,  supported  and  endorsed  as  he  was  by  the  President. 
The  Stalwarts  claimed  their  part  of  the  spoils,  that  is,  of 
the  appointive  offices  of  the  Government.  The  President, 
however,  leading  the  professed  reform  element  in  politics, 
insisted  on  naming  the  officers  in  the  various  States  independently  of  the  wishes  of  the 
Congressmen  therefrom. 

This  policy  brought  on  a  crisis.  The  collectorship  of  customs  for  the  port  of  New 
York,  being  the  best  appointive  office  in  the  gift  of  the  government,  was  contended  for  by 
both  factions.  The  President  appointed  to  this  position  Judge  William  Robertson,  and  the 
appointment  was  antagonized  by  the  New  York  Senators,  Roscoe  Conkling  and  Thomas  C. 
Piatt;  but  Robertson's  appointment  was  nevertheless  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  whereupon 
Conkling  and  Piatt  resigned  their  seats,  returned  to  their  State,  and  failed  of  reelection. 
The  breach  became  so  wide  as  to  threaten  the  dismemberment  of  the  Republican  party. 

ASSASSINATION  OF  GARFIELD. 

Just  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  in  June,  President  Garfield  made  arrangements 
to  visit  Williams  College,  where  his  two  sons  were  to  be  placed  as  students.  The  President 
also  contemplated  a  short  vacation  with  his  wife,  who  was  sick  at  the  seaside.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  July  2d,  accompanied  by  Secretary  Blaine  and  a   few  friends,  the  President  entered 


ROSCOK   CONKLING. 


COLUMBUS   AXD   COLUMHIA. 


^31 


tlie  Baltimore  railway  station  at  \Vashiii<;tt)n,  preparatory  to  taking  the  train  for  Lono- 
Hranch,  New  Jerse\-.  A  moment  afterwartls  he  was  approaclied  bv  a  miserable  political 
miscreant  named  Charles  Jnles  Cinitean,  who  came  unseen  behind  the  President,  drew  a 
pistol,  and  tired  upon  him.  The  aim  of  the  assassin  was  too  well  taken,  and  the  second 
shot  struck  the  President  centrally  in  the  right  side  of  the  back.  The  bleeding  man  was 
quickly  borne  away  to  the  Executive  Mansion  and  the  vile  criminal  was  hurried  to  prison. 
The  be.st  surgical  aid  was  at  once  summoned  and  bulletins  were  issued  daily  containing 
a  brief  account  of  the  President's  condition.  After  three  days  the  conviction  gained  ground 
that  he  would  ultimately  recover.  Two  surgical  operations  were  performed  in  the  hope  of 
saving  his  life  ;  but  a  series  of  relapses  occurred,  and  blood-poisoning  .set  in.  The  Presi- 
dent weakened  luider  his  suffering.  As  a  last  hope,  he  was  on  the  6tli  of  September  care- 
fully conveved  from  Washington  City  to  Elberou,  where  he  was  placed  in  a  cottage  near  the 
surf.  For  a  few  days  hope  revived  ; 
but  the  patient  sank  away.  On  tla 
eightieth  day  after  the  shot  was  fired, 
namely,  on  the  evening  of  September 
19th,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga,  in  which  Garfield  had 
gained  his  principal  military  reputa 
tion,  his  vital  powers  suddenly  ga\i 
way,  and  death  closed  the  seem. 
Through  the  whole  period  of  his 
suffering  he  had  borne  the  pain  and 
anguish  of  his  situation  with  tin 
greatest  fortitude  and  heroism.  Tlu 
great  crime  which  now  laid  him  low 
heightened  rather  than  eclipsed  tlu 
lustre  of  his  life. 

Chester  A.  Arthur,  Vice-president, 
at  once  took  the    oath   of  oflJice  and 
became     President     of     the    United 
States.      For  the   fourth   time    in   the 

i-    . „r    ii,„     D l,i;„    »1,„   A.    »■  r  ASSASSINATION    OF    I'RKSinKNT   CAKIIl  I.I' 

history  01  tlie    Kepubhc  tlie  duties  of 

the  chief  magistracy  were  devolved  on  the  second  oflScer.  As  for  the  dead  Garfield  his 
funeral  was  ob.served  first  at  Washington,  whither  his  body  was  taken  and  placed  in  state 
in  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol.  Here  it  was  viewed  by  tens  of  thousands  of  people  on  the 
2 2d  and  23d  of  September.  The  dead  President  had  chosen  Lake  View  cemetery  at 
Cleveland  as  the  place  of  his  burial.  The  remains  were  conveyed  thither  by  way  of 
Philadelphia  and  Pittsburg.  As  in  the  case  of  Lincoln's  death  there  was  a  continuous 
pageant  on  the  way.  The  body  was  laid  to  rest  on  the  26th  of  September,  the  day 
being  obser\'ed   as  one  of  mourning  throughout  the  country. 

GUITEAU,  THE  ASSASSIN,   AND   HIS    MISERABLE  END. 

The  assas.sin  Gnitcau  proved  to  Ik  a  iiaif-crazy  advciUurcr — a  fool.  He  loudly  pro- 
claimed his  deed,  saying  that  he  had  shot  the  President  in  order  to  "remove  him,"  and  save 
the  country  !  Here  began  the  extreme  unwisdom  of  the  authorities  in  regard  to  what  should 
bt  done  with  this  crazed  moral  idiot.      Two  constructions  of  the  case  were  possible  :    P'itlier 


732 


COLUMBUS    AND    COLUMBIA 


Guiteau  was  a  sane  inau  and  had  committed  the  greatest  and  ^vilest  of  political  assassina- 
tions, or  else  he  was  a  lunatic,  who  under  the  influence  of  an  insane  hallucination  had  shot 
and  killed  the  President.  Common  sense,  prudence,  patriotism,  political  sagacity  and  the 
whole  array  of  facts  regarding  the  prisoner's  character  and  conduct  pointed  unmistakably 
to  his  lunacy  and  to  the  second  construction  given  above.  But  prejudice,  anger,  folly, 
shortsightedness,  newspaper  sensationalism  and  the  vengeful  passions  which  flamed  up  in  the 
excitement  of  the  hour,  conspired  to  establish  the  theory  of  Guiteau' s  sanity,  with  the 
appallino-  conclusion  that  the  President  of  tlie  United  States  had  been  politically  assassinated. 
This  theor^•  was  taken  up  and  preached  with  insane  ferocity  until  it  prevailed.  The  voice 
of  reason  was  drowned  and  the  opportunity  to  save  the  American  people  from  the  stain  of 

political  assassination  was  put  aside  in 
sheer  passion.  Guiteau  was  indicted 
and  tried  for  murder.  During  the 
trial  the  crowds  around  the  courthouse 
at  Washington  were  little  less  than  a 
mob.  The  proceedings  must  perforce 
end  with  a  conviction  and  condemna- 
tion to  death.  Then  followed  a  second 
sensational  imprisonment,  and  on  the 
30th  of  June,  1882,  Guiteau  was  taken 
from  the  jail  and  hanged. 

Chester  A.  Arthur  was  a  native 
of  Franklin  county,  Vermont,  where 
he  was  bom  October  5th,  1830.  He 
was  of  Irish  parentage,  was  educated 
at  Union  College,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1849.  For  a  while  he 
taught  school  in  Vermont  and  then 
went  to  New  York  City  to  study  law. 
He  soon  rose  to  distinction.  During 
the  Civil  War  he  was  quartermaster- 
eeneral  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
In  1 87 1  he  was  appointed  collector  of 
CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR.  customs  for  the  port  of  New  York,  a 

position  which  he  held  until  1878,  when  he  was  removed  from  office  by  President  Hayes. 
Two  years  afterwards  he  was  nominated  and  elected  Vice-president.  Then  followed  the 
killing  of  Garfield  and  the  accession  of  Arthur  to  the  chief  magistracy. 

On  the  22d  of  September  the  oath  of  oflice  was  a  second  time  administered  to  the  new 
President  at  the  Capitol  bv  Chief  Justice  Waite.  Arthur  delivered  a  brief  address;  but  the 
ceremonies  were  few  and'  simple.  General  Grant,  ex-President  Hayes,  Senator  Shennan 
and  his  brother,  the  General  of  the  Army,  were  present  and  paid  their  respects  to  the  Presi- 
dent; but  the  circumstances  forbade  any  elaborate  or  joylul  display. 

The  members  of  the  cabinet,  in  accordance  with  custom,  at  once  resigned  their  oflSces. 
The  resignations,  however,  were  not  accepted,  the  President  inviting  all  the  members  to 
retain  their  places.  For  the  present  all  the  members  remained  except  Windoni,  Secretary 
of  tlie  Treasury,  who  retired,  and  was  succeeded  by  Judge  Charies  J.  Folger,  of  New  York. 
Mr.  MacVeagli  also  resigned  in  a  short  time,  and  was  succeeded  by  Benjamin  H.  Brewster, 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  T.i'.i 

of  Philadelphia.  Tliese  changes  were  soon  followed  b\-  the  resignations  of  Mr.  Blaine, 
Secretary  of  State,  and  Mr.  James,  Postmaster-General,  who  gave  place  to  Frederick  T. 
Frelinghuysen,  of  Xew  Jersey,  and  Timothy  O.  Howe,  of  Wisconsin.  Robert  T.  Lincoln 
remained,  as  by  connnon  consent,  at  the  head  of  the  Department  of  War.  Though  Gar- 
field and  Arthur  had  come  from  opposite  wings  of  the  Republican  party,  there  was  littlo 
tendency  shown  by  the  latter  to  revolutionize  the  policy  of  his  predecessor. 

THE  STAR  ROUTE  SCANDAL. 

Arthur's  administration,  however,  inlierited  llic  Iruubles  and  complications  ot  the  pre- 
ceding. One  of  the  first  of  these  was  the  important  State  trial  relating  to  the  alleged  Star 
Route  Conspiracy.  There  had  been  organized  in  the  post-office  department  a  class  of  fast 
mail  routes  known  as  the  Star  Routes,  the  object  being  to  earn.-  the  mails  with  rapidity  and 
certainty  into  distant  and  almost  inaccessible  portions  of  the  Western  States  and  Territories. 
There  was  a  restriction  as  to  expenditure,  but  the  law  gave  the  Postmaster-General  a  certain 
discretion  in  the  matter  of  expediting  such  mail  routes  as  seemed  to  be  less  efficient  than 
the  service  required.  This  gave  to  certain  officers  of  the  go\ernment  the  opportunity  to  let 
the  contracts  for  many  mail  lines  at  a  minimum,  and  then — under  their  discretionary'  power 
— to  "expedite"  the  same  lines  into  efficiency  at  exorbitant  rates,  the  end  and  aim  being 
to  divide  the  spoils  among  the  parties  to  the  contract. 

This  conspiracy  was  unearthed  before  the  death  of  Garfield,  and  Attorney-General 
Mac\'eagh  was  directed  to  prosecute  the  reputed  conspirators.  Indictments  were  found  by 
the  Grand  Jury  against  ex-United  States  Senator  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  of  Arkansas;  Second 
Assistant  Postmaster-General  Thomas  J.  Brady,  of  Indiana,  and  several  others  of  less 
note.  Mr.  MacVeagh,  however,  seemed  to  act  with  little  spirit  and  no  success  in  the  prose- 
cution. Attorney-General  Brewster  then  took  the  question  up,  and  those  indicted  for  con- 
spiracy were  brought  to  trial.  After  several  weeks  the  cause  went  to  the  jury,  who  absurdh' 
brought  in  a  verdict  convicting  certain  subordinates  of  participating  in  a  conspiracy  wliich 
could  not  have  existed  without  the  guilt  of  their  superiors!  The  people,  however,  were 
angered  at  the  scandal,  and  the  Republican  defeat  in  the  State  elections  of  1882  was  attri- 
buted in  part  to  popular  disgust  over  the  Star  Route  Conspiracy. 

GREAT  INVENTIONS  OF  THE  EPOCH. 

We  may  avail  ourselves  of  the  space  here  affijrded  to  note  briefly  a  few  of  the  features 
of  the  progress  of  physical  science  in  recent  times.  It  has  now  been  perceived  that  the 
sources  of  human  happiness  lie  far  removed  from  the  fictitious  splendors  of  public  life. 
History  is  departing  more  and  more  from  the  methods  of  the  old  annalists  to  depict  the 
movements  of  human  thought  and  the  adaptation  of  the  physical  means  of  amelioration  and 
progress.  It  is  safe  to  aver  that  the  recent  additions  by  inveutixe  processes  to  the  resources 
of  physical  happiness  are  the  most  striking  and  valuable  feature  of  the  civilization  of  our 
times.  .\t  no  other  age  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  nature  been  so  widely  and  so  rapidly  diffused.  .\t  no  other  epoch  has  the  subjection  of 
natural  agents  to  the  will  of  man  been  so  wonderfully  displayed.  The  old  life  of  the  human 
race  is  giving  place  to  a  new  life  based  on  scientific  research  and  energized  by  the  knowledge 
that  the  conditions  of  our  environment  are  as  benevolent  as  they  are  unchangeable. 

It  has  remained  for  American  genius  to  .solve  the  problem  of  oral  communication 
between  persons  at  a  distance  from  each  other.  The  scientistsof  our  day,  kmnving  the  laws 
of  sound  and  electricity,  have  devised  an  apparatus  for  transmitting  the  human  voice  to  a 
distance  of  hundreds,    or  even   thou.sands.   of  miles.      The  Tki.KI'IIo.nk  must  stand  as  a 


734  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

reminder  to  after  ages  of  the  genius  and  skill  and  progress  ot  our  countr>'  in  the  last  quarter 
of  tlie  nineteenth  century.  This  instrument  seems  to  have  been  the  work  of  several  ingenious 
minds  directed  to  the  same  problem  at  the  same  time.  The  solution  of  the  problem,  how- 
ever, should  be  accredited  to  Elisha  P.  Gray,  of  Chicago,  and  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  of 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technolog)'.  It  should  be  mentioned  also  that  Amos  E. 
Dolbear,  of  Tufft's  College,  Massachusetts,  and  Thomas  A.  Edison,  of  New  Jersey,  like- 
wise succeeded  in  solving  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  telephonic  communication,  or  at 
least  in  answering  practically  some  of  the  minor  questions  in  the  way  of  success. 

The  telephone  is  an  instrument  for  the  reproduction  of  sound,  particularly  of  the 
human  voice,  by  the  agency  of  electricity,  at  long  distances  from  the  origin  of  vocal  pro- 
duction. The  phenomenon  called  sound  consists  of  a  wave  agitation  communicated  through 
the  particles  of  some  medium  to  the  organ  of  hearing.  Every  particular  sound  has  its  own 
physical  equivalent  in  a  system  of  waves  in  which  it  is  written.  The  only  thing,  therefore, 
that  is  necessary  in  order  to  carr}^  a  sound  in  its  integrity  to  any  distance,  is  to  transmit  its 
physical  equivalent  and  to  redeliver  that  equivalent  to  some  organ  of  hearing  capable  of 
receiving  it. 

Upon  these  scientific  principles  the  telephone  has  been  produced.  Even,-  sound  which 
falls  upon  the  sheet-iron  disc  of  the  instrument  communicates  thereto  a  sort  of  tremor. 
This  tremor  causes  the  disc  to  approach  and  recede  from  the  magnetic  pole  placed  just 
behind  the  diaphragm.  A  current  of  electricity  is  thus  induced,  pulsates  along  the  wire  to 
the  other  end,  and  is  delivered  to  the  metallic  disc  of  the  second  instrument  many  miles 
away  just  as  it  was  produced  in  the  first.  The  ear  of  the  hearer  receives  from  the  second 
instrument  the  exact  physical  equivalent  of  the  sound  or  sounds  which  were  delivered 
against  the  disc  of  the  first  instrument,  and  thus  the  utterance  is  received  at  a  distance  just 
as  it  was  given  forth. 

The  telephone  stands  to   the  credit  of  Professors  Gray  and  Bell.      Long  before   their 

day,   however,   some    of   the  principles  on  which   the  instrument  has  been    created  were 

known.      As  early  as  1837  the  philosopher  Page  succeeded  in  transmitting  musical  tones  to 

a  distance.      Fortv  vears  afterwards,  namely,  in  1877,  Professor  Bell,  in  a  public  lecture  at 

Salem,  Massachusetts,  astonished  his   audience  and   the  whole   country  by  receiving  and 

transmitting  vocal  messages  from  Boston,  twenty  miles  away.      Incredulity  was  dispelled  in 

the  face  of  the  fact  that  persons  far  away  were  actually  conversing  with  each  other  b)-  means 

of  the  telephone.      The  experiments  of  Gray  at  Chicago,  only  a  few  days  later,  were  equally 

successful.      Messages  between  that  city  and  Milwaukee,  a  distance  of  eighty-five  miles, 

were  plainly  delivered.      Nor  could   it  be  longer  doubted  that  a  new  era   in  the  means  of 

communication  had  come. 

THE  PHONOGRAPH. 

The  telephone  was  soon  followed  by  the  Phonograph.  Both  inventions  are  based  on 
the  same  principle  of  science.  The  discover}-  that  ever>'  sound  has  its  physical  equivalent 
in  a  wave  or  agitation  led  almost  inevitably  to  the  other  discovery  of  catching,  or  retaining, 
that  equivalent,  or  wave,  in  the  surface  of  some  body,  and  to  the  reproduction  of  tlie 
original  sound  therefrom. 

The  phonograph  consists  of  three  principal  parts  ;  the  sender,  or  funnel-shaped  tube, 
with  its  open  mouthpiece,  standing  toward  the  operator  ;  the  diaphragm  and  stylus  con- 
nected therewith,  which  receive  the  sound  spoken  into  the  tube  ;  and  the  revolving  c>lin- 
der,  with  its  sheet  coating  of  tinfoil  laid  over  the  surface  of  a  spiral  groove,  to  receiye  the 
indentations  of  the  point  of  the  stylus.     The  mode'of  operation  is  simple  :  The  cylinder  is 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  735 

revolved  and  a  sound  thrown  into  the  mouthpiece  causes  the  iron  disc,  or  diaphrajjni,  to 
vibrate,  or  tremble.  This  agitation  is  carried  through  the  stylus  to  the  tinfoil,  and  written 
upon  it  in  irregular  marks,  dots  and  figures.  When  the  utterance  is  to  be  reproduced  the 
instrument  is  stopped,  the  stylus  lifted  from  the  groove,  and  the  cylinder  revolved  back- 
wards to  the  place  of  starting.  The  stylus  is  returned  to  its  place  and  the  cylinder  set  to 
revolving  forward.  As  the  stylus  plays  up  and  down  in  the  identations,  lines  and  figures 
in  the  tinfoil,  a  quiver  exactly  equivalent  to  that  produced  by  the  utterance  in  the  moutli- 
piece  is  communicated  back-wards  to  the  diaphragm  and  thrown  into  the  air.  This  agita- 
tion being  the  equivalent  of  tne  original  sound,  reproduces  that  sound  as  perfectly  as  the 
machinery-  of  the  instrument  will  permit.  Thus  the  phonograph  is  made  to  talk,  to  .sing, 
to  cry,  to  utter  any  sound  sufficiently  powerful  to  produce  a  perceptible  tremor  in  the 
mouthpiece  and  diaphragm  of  the  instrument.  Tlie  phonograph  makes  it  po.ssible  to  read 
by  the  ear  instead  of  by  the  eye,  and  it  is  not  beyond  the  range  of  probability  that  tlie  book 
of  the  future  will  be  written  in  ]ili<>n<)L^raphic  plates. 

EVOLUTION  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  LIGHT. 

Probably  the  most  marked  and  valuable  invention  of  the  age  is  the  Electric  Light. 
The  introduction  of  this  system  of  illumination  marks  an  important  epoch  in  the  histor)'  of 
our  country.  The  project  of  introducing  the  electric  light  was  agitated  for  the  first  time 
about  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  decade  of  the  centur}'.  The  advantages  of  such  lighting, 
could  the  same  be  attained,  were  as  many  as  they  were  obvious.  The  light  is  so  powerful 
as  t(i  render  practicable  many  operations  as  easily  by  night  as  by  da\-.  The  danger  bv  fire 
Irom  illuminating  sources  is  almost  wholly  obviated  by  the  new  system.  A  given  amount 
of  illumination  can  be  produced  much  more  cheaply  by  electricity  than  by  any  means  of 
gas-lighting  or  ordinary,-  combustion. 

Early  in  1875  the  philosopher  Gramme,  of  Paris,  succeeded  in  lighting  his  laboratorv 
by  means  of  electricity.  Soon  afterwards  the  foundry-  of  Dncommun  and  Company,  of 
Mulhouse,  was  similarly  lighted.  In  the  following  year  the  apparatus  for  lighting  by 
means  of  carbon  candles  was  introduced  in  many  of  the  factories  of  France  and  other  coun- 
tries of  Europe. 

Lighting  by  electricity  is  accomplished  in  several  ways.  In  general,  however,  the 
principle  by  which  the  result  is  effected  is  one,  and  depends  upon  the  resistance  which  the 
electrical  current  meets  in  its  transmission  through  various  substances.  There  are  no  per- 
fect conductors  of  electricity.  In  proportion  as  the  non-conducti\e  qualit\-  is  prevalent  in 
a  substance,  especially  in  a  metal,  the  resistance  to  the  passage  of  electricity  is  pronounced, 
and  the  consequent  disturbance  among  the  molecular  particles  of  the  substance  is  great. 
Whenever  such  resistance  is  encountered  in  a  circuit,  the  electricity  is  converted  into  heat, 
and  when  the  resistance  is  great,  the  heat  is,  in  turn,  converted  into  light,  or  rather  the 
heat  becomes  phenomenal  in  light;  that  is,  the  substance  which  offers  the  resistance  glows 
with  the  transformed  energ)'  of  the  impeded  current.  Upon  this  simple  principle  all  the 
apparatus  for  the  production  of  the  electric  light  is  produced. 

.Vmong  the  metallic  substances,  the  one  best  adapted  b>-  its  low  condnctivitv  to  such 
resistance  and  transformation  of  force,  is  platinum.  The  high  degree  of  lieat  nece.ssarv  to 
fuse  this  metal  adds  to  its  usefulness  and  availability  for  the  purpo.se  indicated.  When  an 
electrical  current  is  forced  along  a  platinum  wire  too  small  to  transmit  the  entire  \oluinc, 
it  becomes  at  once  heated — first  to  a  red,  and  then  to  a  white  glow — and  is  thus  made  to 
send  forth  a  radiance  like  that  of  tiiu  sun.      Of  the  non-metallic  elements  which  offer  sinii- 


736  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

lar  resistance,  the  best  is  carbon.      The  infusibility  of  this  substance  renders  it  greatly 
superior  to  platinum  for  purposes  of  the  electric  light. 

Near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  it  was  discovered  by  Sir  Humphrey  Da\v 
that  carbon  points  mav  be  rendered  incandescent  by  means  of  a  powerful  electric  current. 
The  discover}-  was  fully  developed  in  1869,  while  the  philosopher  just  referred  to  was 
experimenting  with  the  great  batter}-  of  the  Royal  Institution  of  London.  He  obser\-ed — 
rather  by  accident  than  by  design,  or  previous  anticipation — that  a  strong  volume  of  elec- 
tricity passing  between  two  bits  of  wood  charcoal  produces  tremendous  heat,  and  a  light 
like  that  of  the  sun.  It  appears,  however,  that  Davy  at  first  regarded  the  phenomenon 
rather  in  the  nature  of  an  interesting  display  of  force  than  as  a  suggestion  of  the  possibility 
of  turning  night  into  day. 

For  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  centur\-  the  discover}-  made  by  Sir  Humphre}-  Davy  la}- 
donnant  among  the  great  mass  of  scientific  facts  revealed  in  the  laboratory.  In  course  of 
time,  however,  the  nature  of  the  new  fact  began  to  be  apprehended.  The  electric  lamp  in 
many  fonns  was  proposed  and  tried.  The  scientists,  Niardet,  Wilde,  Bnish,  Fuller,  and 
many  others  of  less  note,  busied  themselves  with  the  work  of  invention.  Especially  did 
Gramme  and  Siemens  devote  their  scientific  genius  to  the  work  of  turning  to  good  account 
the  knowledge  now  fully  possessed  of  the  transformabilit}-  of  the  electric  current  into 
light. 

The  experiments    of  the  last  named   two  disciuguished  inventors  brought   us  to  the 
dawn  of  the  new  era  in  artificial  lighting.      The  Russian   philosopher,  JablochkofiF,  carried 
the  work  still  further  by  the  practical  introduction  of  the  carbon  candle.      Other  scientists- 
Carre,  Foucault,  Serrin,  RapiefF,  and  Werdennann — had,  at  an  earlier  or  later  day,  throw 
much  additional  information  into  the  common  stock  of  knowledge   relative   to  the  illumi 
nating  possibilities  of  electricity.      Finally,  the  accumulated  materials  of  science  fell   into 
the  hands  of  that  untutored  but  remarkably  radical  inventor,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  who  gave 
himself  with   the   utmost  zeal   to  the  work   of  removing  the  remaining  difficulties  in  the 

problem. 

EDISON,  THE  WIZARD   OF  THE  AGE. 

Edison  began  his  investigations  in  this  line  of  invention  in  September  of  1878,  and  in 
December  of  the  following  year  gave  to  the  public  his  first  fonnal  statement  of  the  results. 
After  many  experiments  with  platinum,  he  abandoned  that  material  in  favor  of  the  carbon- 
arc  in  vacuo.  The  latter  is,  indeed,  the  essential  feature  of  the  Edison  light.  A  small 
semi-circle,  or  horseshoe,  of  some  substance,  such  as  a  filament  of  bamboo  reduced  to  the 
form  of  pure  carbon,  the  two  ends  being  attached  to  the  poles  of  the  generating-machine, 
or  dynamo,  as  the  engine  is  popularly  called,  is  enclosed  in  a  glass  bulb  from  which  the 
air  has  been  carefully  withdrawn,  and  is  rendered  incandescent  b}-  the  passage  of  an  elec- 
tric current.  The  other  important  features  of  Edison's  discover}-  relate  to  the  divisibility 
of  the  current,  and  its  control  and  regulation  in  volume  by  the  operator.  These  matters 
were  fully  mastered  in  the  Edison  invention,  and  the  apparatus  rendered  as  completeh- 
-subject  to  management  as  are  other  varieties  of  illuminating  agencies. 

The  question  of  artificial  light  has  much  to  do  with  the  progress  of  mankind,  and  par- 
ticularly with  the  government  and  welfare  of  cities.  The  old  systems  of  illumination  must 
soon  give  place  to  the  splendors  of  the  electric  glow.  This  change  in  the  physical  condi- 
tions of  society  must  be  as  marked  as  it  is  salutar}'.  Darkness  has  always  been  the  enemy 
of  good  government.  The  ease,  happiness  and  comfort  of  the  human  race  must  be  vastly 
multiplied  by  the  dispelling  of  darkness  and  the  distribution  of  light  by  night.     The  progress 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  737 

of  civilization  depends  in  a  large  measure  upon  a  knowledge  of  nature's  laws  and  a  diffusion 

of  that  knowledge  among  the  people.     One  of  the  best  examples  ever  furnished   in    the 

whole  history  of  human  progress  of  the  results  of  such  knowledge  has  been  the  invention 

of  the  electric  light. 

GREAT  FEATS  OF   ENGINEERING. 

The  bridge-building  of  our  age  furnishes  another  example  of  physical  progress  and 
amelioration.  At  no  other  time  in  modern  histor\'  has  civil  eii>rineering  been  turned  to  so 
good  an  account.  The  principal  place  among  the  recent  public  works  in  the  United  States 
may  well  be  given  to  the  great  Suspension  Bridge  over  the  strait  known  as  Kast  River, 
between  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  The  completion  and  fonnal  opening  of  this  work 
occurred  on  the  24tli  of  May,  1883,  exciting  universal  attention  and  eliciting  many 
descriptions. 

The  Brooklyn  bridge  is  the  longest  and  largest  structure  of  the  kind  in  the  world.  It  was 
designed  by  John  A.  Roebling,  originator  of  wire  suspension  bridges.  Under  his  super- 
vision and  that  of  his  son,  Washington  A.  Roebling,  the  bridge  was  completed.*  The 
elder  of  these  two  eminent  engineers  was 
already  known  to  fame  as  the  builder  of 
the  first  suspension  bridge  across  the  chasm 
of  Niagara,  and  of-  the  still  greater  struc- 
ture of  the  .same  character  across  the  Ohio 
River,  between  Cincinnati  and  Covington. 
The  Cincinnati  bridge  was  at  the  time  of 
its  erection  the  longest  by  a  thousand 
feet  of  any  of  its  kind.  The  younger 
Roebling  inherited  his  father's  genius,  and 
after  the  death  of  the  latter  showed  hini- 
.self  equal  to  the  great  task  imposed  upon 
him  in  preparing  the  plans  and  superintending  the  constniction  of  the  East  River  bridge. 

This  bridge  is  a  structure  supported  by  four  enormous  wires,  or  cables,  stretching  in  a 
single  span  from  pier  to  pier  a  distance  of  1,595  ^^^^-  From  the  main  towers  to  the  anchor- 
ages on  either  side  is  930  feet;  from  the  anchorages  outward  to  the  termini  of  the  approaches 
is,  on  the  New  York  side,  a  distance  of  1,562  feet,  and  on  the  Brooklyn  side  972  feet,  making 
the  total  length  of  the  bridge  and  approaches  5,989  feet.  The  total  weight  of  the  structure 
is  64,700  tons;  the  estimated  capacity  of  support  is  1,740  tons,  and  the  ultimate  resistance 
is  calculated  at  49,200  tons.  The  Brooklyn  bridge  was  formally  opened  in  May  of  1883. 
The  event  drew  to  the  metropolis  the  attention  of  the  .\merican  people,  and  excited  some- 
what the  admiration  of  foreign  nations. 

Perhaps  the  finest  example  of  cantilever  bridge  in  America  is  the  great  structure  of  that 
order  over  the  Niagara  River  ju.st  above  the  village  of  Suspension  Bridge,  New  York.      The 

*  The  personal  historj-  of  the  Roeblings.  father  and  son,  in  connection  with  their  j;reat  work,  is  as  pathetic  as 
it  is  interesting.  The  elder  engineer  was  injured  while  laying  the  foundation  of  one  of  the  shore-piers  on  the  22d 
of  July.  1869,  and  died  of  lockjaw.  W.  A.  Roebling  then  look  up  his  father's  unfinished  task.  He  continued 
the  work  of  super\'ision  for  about  two  years,  when  he  was  prostrated  with  a  peculiar  fonn  of  paralysis  known  as 
the  "Caisson  disease,"  from  which  he  never  fully  recovered.  His  mental  faculties,  however,  remained  unimpaired, 
and  he  was  able  to  direct  with  his  eye  what  his  hands  could  no  longer  execute.  While  thus  prostrate<i,  his  wife 
developed  a  genius  almost  equal  to  that  of  her  husband  and  her  father  in-law.  The  pal.sied  engineer,  thus  rein- 
forced, continued  for  five  years  to  furnish  the  plans  for  the  work.  These  plans  were  almost  all  drawn  bv  his  wife, 
who  never  flagge<l  uniler  the  t.isks  imposed  ujxjn  her.  In  1S76  Roebling  was  partly  restore<l  to  health,  and  lived 
to  hear  the  applause  which  his  genius  and  enterprise  had  won. 

47 


THE  BROOKLYN    BRIDGE. 


738  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

architect  was  the  distinguished  civil  engineer  C.  E.  Schneider.  The  bridge  has  a  total 
length  of  910  feet,  and  crosses  the  river  with  a  single  span  of  470  feet.  The  roadway  is 
239  feet  above  the  water  level  in  the  chasm  below.  The  materials  are  steel  and  iron.  The 
bridge  as  a  work  of  architecture  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

Another  notable  example  of  recent  bridge  building  is  the  new  Washington  bridge 
extending  from  the  upper  extremity  of  Manhattan  Island  across  the  gorge  of  the  Harlem 
River  to  Westchester  county,  on  the  other  side.  The  work  is  regarded  as  the  finest  and 
grandest  of  its  kind  ever  erected  in  America.  The  structure  is  of  steel  and  granite  and 
bronze.  The  chasm  is  spanned  by  two  magnificent  arches  having  plate  girders  of  steel, 
each  arch  being  from  foot  to  foot  a  distance  of  510  feet.  The  piers  are  of  solid  masonry-, 
rising  to  the  level  of  the  roadway.  The  viaduct  is  supported  on  vertical  posts  which  rise 
from  the  arches.  The  height  of  the  roadway  above  the  level  of  tide- water  in  the  Harlem  is 
152  feet,  being  40  feet  in  excess  of  the  corresponding  measurement  under  the  East  River 
suspension  bridge.  All  of  the  ornamentation  of  the  Washington  bridge  is  of  bronze.  The 
work  was  constructed  in  1888-89,  under  the  direction  of  the  eminent  civil  engineer  William 
R.  Hutton. 

In  civil  affairs  the  administration  of  Arthur  proved  to  be  uneventful.  In  the  domain 
of  politics  might  be  noted  the  gradual  obliteration  of  those  sharply  defined  issues  which  for 
the  last  quarter  of  a  centiiry  had  divided  the  two  great  parties.  There  was  a  healthful 
abatement  of  partisan  rancor.  It  became  each  year  more  apparent  that  the  questions  at 
issue  in  the  political  arena  were  merely  factitious — devised  by  those  interested  for  the  hour 
and  the  occasion.  Nor  might  any  discern  in  this  decade  how  much  longer  this  ill-founded 
method  of  political  division  might  be  maintained  among  the  American  people. 

TARIFF  QUESTION— THE  ARGUMENT  FOR  FREE  TRADE. 

To  the  general  fact  that  party  questions  were  no  longer  vital  and  distinct  there  was  one 
notable  exception.  The  American  people  were  from  1880  to  1892  really  and  sincerely 
divided  on  the  question  of  the  TariflF.  Whether  the  true  policy  of  the  United  States  is  that 
of  free  trade  or  a  protective  system  was  a  fundamental  issue,  and  the  decision  was  long 
postponed.  The  policy  of  gathering  immense  revenues,  from  customs-duties  during  the 
Civil  War,  and  in  the  decade  thereafter,  had  become  firmly  imbedded  as  a  factor  in  the  indus- 
trial and  commercial  systems  of  the  countn'.  A  great  manufacturing  interest  had  been 
stimulated  into  unusual,  not  to  say  inordinate,  activity.  Practically  the  political  parties 
had  become  so  much  entangled  with  the  finances  and  the  industries  of  the  countr>'  that  no 
party  discipline  could  withdraw  and  align  the  political  forces  in  columns  and  battalions  as 
of  old.  The  question  was  fundamentally  as  ancient  as  the  republic.  Ever  and  anon,  from 
the  foundation  of  the  government,  the  tariff  issue  liad  obtruded  itself  upon  the  attention  of 
the  people.  It  may  not  be  deemed  inappropriate  in  this  connection  to  state  and  briefly 
elucidate  the  various  views  which  have  been  entertained  on  the  subject. 

First,  we  have  what  is  called  the  doctrine  of  Free  Trade,  pure  and  simple.  The 
theor\'  is,  in  a  word,  as  follows  :  The  indications  of  profitable  industry'  are  found  in  nature. 
The  hints  and  suofo-estions  of  the  natural  world  are  the  tnie  indications  to  mankind  as  to 
how  the  various  industries  which  human  genius  has  devised  are  to  be  most  profitably 
directed.  Thus,  a  rich  soil  means  agriculture.  A  barren  soil  is  the  indication  of  nature 
against  agricultural  pursuits.  Beds  of  ore  signify  mining  ;  veins  of  petroleum,  oil-wells  ; 
a  headlong  river,  water-power  ;  hills  of  silica,  glass-works  ;  forests  of  pine,  ship-masts  and 
coal-tar ;  bays  and  ha\'ens  and  ri\'ers,  commerce.      Free  trade  saj's  that  these  things  are  the 


COT.UMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA^  739 

voice  and  edict  of  the  natural  world  as  to  how  human  industn-  shall  be  exerted.  The  way 
to  wealth,  prosperity,  happiness,  is  to  follow  the  edict  of  nature  whithersoever  it  calls.  To 
go  against  nature  is  to  go  against  common  sense.  Laissc:: /airi\  that  is,  "  Let  alone,"  is 
the  fundamental  motto  of  the  system — hands  off,  and  no  meddling  with  plain  conditions 
which  are  imposed  on  man  by  his  environments.  Let  him  who  lives  in  the  fecund  valley 
till  the  soil  and  gather  a  hundred  fold.  Let  him  who  inhabits  the  rocky  upland,  bv  river- 
side or  bed  of  pent-up  coal,  devote  his  energies  to  manufacture.  Let  each  procure  from  the 
other  by  exchange  the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  life  which  he  could  not  himself  pro- 
duce but  at  great  disadvantage,  and  an  irrational  and  needless  expenditure  of  toil.  The  theory 
continues  thus  :  Let  the  producer  of  raw  material  send  it  near  or  far  to  the  manufacturer,  and 
receive  in  turn  the  fabric  which  he  must  wear,  even  the  food  wherewith  he  must  sustain 
his  life.  Why  should  he  do  otherwise  ?  Why  should  either  the  man  or  the  community 
struggle  against  the  conditions  of  nature,  and  the  immutable  laws  of  industr>-,  to  produce 
the  entire  supph-  of  things  necessarj-  for  human  comfort,  convenience  and  welfare  ?  It  is 
intended  that  men  should  live  together  in  amity  ;  that  they  should  mutually  depend  one 
upon  the  other  ;  that  each  should  gain  from  the  other's  genius  and  e.xertion  what  he  is 
unable  to  procure  by  his  own  endeavor  and  skill.  Neighbors  should  be  at  peace.  Different 
communities  should  not  quarrel  ;  should  not  put  interdicts  and  checks  upon  the  natural 
laws  of  intercourse  and  mutual  dependency.  Nations  should  not  fight  The  hannonious 
order  of  civilization  requires  a  world-wide  exchange  of  products.  Men  are  happier  and 
richer,  and  nations  are  more  powerful,  when  they  give  themselves  freely  to  the  laws  of  their 
environments,  and  toil  in  those  fields  of  industn,-  to  which  both  their  own  dispositions  and 
the  benevolent  finger  of  nature  point  the  way. 

The  theor}'  continues  :  All  contrivances  of  human  law  which  controvert  or  oppose 
these  fundamental  conditions  of  legitimate  industry  are  false  in  principle  and  pernicious  in 
application.  If  civil  society  assumes  to  direct  the  industries  of  her  people  against  the  plain 
indications  of  nature,  then  society  becomes  a  tyrant.  The  rule  of  action  in  such  case  is  no 
longer  free  but  despotic.  All  laws  which  tend  to  divert  the  industries  of  a  nation  from 
those  pursuits  which  are  indicated  by  the  natural  surroundings  are  hurtful,  selfish,  self- 
destructive,  and,  in  the  long  nni,  weakening  and  degrading  to  the  people.  A  tariff  duty 
so  laid  as  to  build  up  one  industry  at  the  expense  of  another  is  a  piece  of  barbarous  inter- 
meddling with  both  the  principles  of  common  sense  and  the  inherent  rights  of  man.  If 
free  trade  makes  one  nation  dependent  on  another,  then  it  also  makes  that  other  nation 
deixmdent  on  the  first.  The  one  can  no  more  afford  to  fight  the  other  than  the  other  can 
afford  to  fight  it  Hence,  free  trade  is  the  great  economic  law  among  the  nations.  It  is 
"both  sound  in  tlieory  and  beneficial  in  application.  Hence,  a  tariff  for  revenue  only  is  the  tnie 
principle  of  national  action.  It  is  the  bottom  economic  policy  of  government  relative  to  the 
interests  of  the  people.  Such  is  the  general  theory  to  which  has  been  given  the  name  of 
Laissez  fairt\  but  which  is  known  among  the  English-speaking  peoples  bv  the  more  limited 
term  Free  Trade. 

THE  ARGUMENT  FOR  PROTECTION. 

The  first  remove  from  the  doctrim-s  aljove  set  forlli  is  tliat  of  Incidental  Protection.  The 
primar>-  assumptions  of  this  theor>-  are  more  nearly  identical  with  those  of  free  trade 
than  is  commonly  supposed.  Nearly  all  of  the  propositions  advanced  by  the  free-trader  are 
accepted  a.s  correct  by  the  incidental  protectionist.  The  latter,  however,  holds  some  pecu- 
liar doctrines  of  his  own.  He  claims  that  men,  as  the  doctrine  of  futissiz  /aire  teaches, 
should  labor  according  to  the  indications  of  nature,  and  that  every  attempt  on  the  part  of 


740  .COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

government  to  divert  the  industries  of  the  people  from  one  channel  to  another  is  contrary 
to  right,  reason  and  sound  policy.  But  he  also  holds  that  since  a  tariff  is  the  common 
means  adopted  by  most  of  the  civilized  States  of  the  world  to  produce  the  revenue  whereby 
the  expenses  of  government  are  met  and  sustained,  the  same  should  be  so  levied  as  to  be 
incidentally  favorable  to  those  industries  of  the  people  which  are  placed  at  a  natural  disad- 
vantage. He  does  not  hold  that  any  tariff  should  be  levied  with  the  intention  of  protecting 
and  fostering  a  given  industry,  but  that  in  every  case  the  tax  should  be  laid  for  public  pur- 
poses only  ;  that  is,  with  the  intention  of  sustaining  the  State,  and  be  only  incidentally 
directed  to  the  protection  of  the  weaker  industry. 

These  last  assumptions  furnish  the  ground  of  political  divergence  between  free-traders 
proper  and  incidental  protectionists.  The  latter  take  into  consideration  both  the  fundamental 
conditions  of  the  argument  and  the  peculiar  character  of  the  industries  of  the  people.  They 
claim  that  given  pursuits  may  thus  be  strengthened  and  encouraged  by  legislative  provisions, 
and  that  natural  and  political  laws  may  be  made  to  co-operate  in  varying  and  increasing  the 
productive  resources  of  the  State. 

The  third  general  view  relative  to  this  question  is  known  as  the  doctrine  of  Limited 
Protection.  The  word  "  limited,"  in  the  definition,  has  respect  to  a  time  relation.  The 
fundamental  difference  between  this  theory  and  the  preceding  is  this  :  The  incidental  pro- 
tectionist denies,  and  the  limited  protectionist  affinns,  the  wisdom  of  levying  tariff  duties 
with  the  intention  and piifpose  of  protecting  home  industries.  The  limited  protectionist 
would  have  the  legislation  of  the  State  take  particular  cognizance  of  the  character  and 
varietv  of  the  industries  of  the  people,  and  would  have  the  laws  enacted  with  constant 
reference  to  the  encouragement  of  the  weaker — generally  the  manufacturing — pursuits. 
The  doctrine  of  incidental  protection  would  stop  short  of  this  ;  would  adopt  the  theory  of 
"let  alone,"  so  far  as  the  original  purpose  of  legislation  is  concerned  ;  but  would,  at  the 
same  time,  so  shape  the  tariff  that  a  needed  stimulus  would  be  given  to  certain  industries. 
The  limited  protectionist  agrees  with  the  free-trader  in  certain  assumptions.  The  former, 
as  well  as  the  latter,  assents  to  the  proposition  that  the  original  condition  of  industry'  is 
found  in  nature — in  the  environment  of  the  laborer.  But  he  also  urges  that  the  necessity  for 
a  varied  industry  is  so  great,  so  important,  to  the  welfare  and  independence  of  a  people,  as 
to  justify  the  deflection  of  human  energy  by  law  to  certain  pursuits,  which  could  not  be 
profitabh-  followed  but  for  the  fact  of  protection. 

This  principle  the  limited  protectionist  gives  as  a  reason  for  the  tariff  legislation,  which 
he  advocates.  He  would  make  the  weaker  industry  live  and  thrive  by  the  side  of  the  stronger. 
He  would  modify  the  crude  rules  of  nature  by  the  higher  rules  of  human  reason.  He 
wotild  not  only  adapt  man  to  his  environment,  but  would  adapt  the  environment  to  him. 
He  would  keep  in  view  the  strength,  the  dignit}',  the  independence,  of  the  State,  and  would 
be  willing  to  incur  temporary  disadvantages  for  the  sake  of  permanent  good.  In  the  course 
of  time,  when,  under  the  stimulus  of  a  protective  system,  the  industries  of  the  State  have 
become  sufficiently  varied  and  sufficiently  harmonized  with  original  conditions,  he  would 
allow  the  system  of  protective  duties  to  expire,  and  freedom  of  trade  to  supervene.  But 
until  that  time  he  would  insist  that  the  weaker,  but  not  less  essential,  industries  of  a  people 
should  be  encouraged  and  fostered  by  law.  He  would  deny  the  justice  or  economy  of  that 
system  which,  in  a  new  countr>-,  boundless  in  natural  resources,  but  poor  in  capital,  would 
constrain  the  people  to  bend  themselves  to  the  production  of  a  few  great  staples,  the  manu- 
facture of  which,  b\-  foreign  nations,  would  make  them  rich  and  leave  the  original  producers 
in  perpetual  vassalage  and  poverty. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  741 

The  fourth  general  view  is  embodied  in  tlie  theory  of  High  Protection.  In  this  the 
doctrine  is  boldly  advanced  that  the  bottom  assumptions  of  free  trade  are  specious  and  false. 
The  iufluence  of  man  upon  his  environment  is  so  great  as  to  make  it  virtually  whatever  the 
law  of  right  reason  would  suggest.  The  suggestion  of  right  reason  is  this  :  Every 
nation  should  be  independent.  Its  complete  sovereignty  and  equality  should  be  secured  by 
every  means  short  of  injustice.  In  order  that  a  State  may  be  independent  and  be  able  to 
mark  out  for  itself  a  g^eat  destiny,  its  industries  must  afford  employment  for  all  the  talents 
and  faculties  of  man  and  yield  products  adapted  to  all  his  wants.  To  devote  the  energies 
of  a  people  to  those  industries  only  which  are  suggested  by  the  situation  and  environment 
is  to  make  man  a  slave  to  nature  instead  of  nature's  master.  It  may  be  sound  reasoning 
for  the  people  inhabiting  a  fertile  valley  to  devote  themselves  principally  to  agricultural 
pursuits;  but  to  do  this  to  the  exclusion  of  other  industries  is  merely  to  narrow  the  energies 
of  the  race,  make  dependent  the  laborer  and  finally  exhaust  those  ver}-  powers  of  nature 
which  for  the  present  seem  to  suggest  one  pursuit  and  forbid  all  others. 

The  theory-  of  high  protection  continues  thus  :  It  is  the  duty  of  societ>-  to  build  up 
many  industries  in  ever}-  locality,  whatever  may  be  the  environment.  If  nature  furnishes 
no  suggestion  of  blast-furnaces  and  iron-works,  then  nature  must  be  constrained  by  means 
of  human  law.  The  production  of  manufactured  values  should  be  so  encouraged  by  tariff 
duties  as  to  become  profitable  in  all  situations.  Not  only  should  ever)-  State,  but  every 
comraunit}-  and  ever>'  man  be  made  comparatively  independent  Ever>'  community  should 
be  able  by  its  own  industry-  to  supply  at  least  the  larger  part  of  its  own  wants.  The  spindle 
should  be  made  to  turn;  the  forge  made  to  glow;  the  mill-wheel  7)iade  to  turn;  the  engine 
made  to  pant;  the  towering  funiace  viade  to  fling  up  into  the  darkness  of  midnight  its 
volcanic  glare — all  this  whether  nature  has  or  has  not  prepared  the  antecedents  of  such 
activity.  And  this  cannot  be  accomplished,  or  at  least  not  well  accomplished,  in  any  other 
way  than  by  legal  protection  of  those  industries  which  do  not  flourish  under  the  action  of 
merely  natural  law.  It  is,  in  brief,  the  theory  of  the  high  protectionist  that  everv  comiini- 
nity  of  men,  by  means  of  its  own  varied  and  independent  activities,  fostered  and  encouraged 
by  the  protective  system  of  industries,  should  become  in  the  body  politic  what  the  ganglion 
is  in  the  nerve  system  of  man — an  independent,  local  power,  capable  of  originating  its  own 
action  and  directing  its  own  energies. 

THE  PROHIBITORV  TARIFF. 

There  is  still  a  fifth  position  sometimes  assumed  by  publicists  and  acted  on  by  nations. 
This  is  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  Prohibitor\'  Tariffs.  The  idea  here  is  that  the  mutual 
interdependence  of  nations  is  on  the  whole  mutually  disadvantageous,  and  that  each  should 
be  rendered  wholly  independent  of  the  other.  Some  of  the  oldest  peoples  of  the  world  have 
adopted  this  doctrine  and  policy.  The  Oriental  nations  as  a  rule  have  until  recent  times 
followed  persistently  the  exclusive  theor\-  in  their  national  affairs.  The  principle  is  that  if 
in  any  State  or  nation  certain  industrial  conditions  and  powers  are  wanting,  then  those 
powers  and  conditions  should  be  produced  by  means  of  law.  Internal  trade  is,  according 
to  this  doctrine,  the  principal  thing  and  commercial  intercourse  with  foreign  States  a  matter 
of  secondary'  or  even  dubious  advantage.  If  the  price  of  the  given  liomc  product  be  not 
sufficient  to  stimulate  its  production  in  such  quantities  as  to  meet  all  the  rociuirements  of 
the  market,  then  that  price  should  be  raised  by  means  of  legislation  and  raised  again  and 
again,  until  the  foreign  trade  shall  cease  and  home  manufacture  be  supplied  in  its  place. 

True,  there  are  not  many  of  tht  modern  peoples  who  now  earn'  the  doctrine  of  protec- 
tion to  this  extreme.      But  it  is  also  true  that  in  the  attempt  to  prepare  protective  schedules 


742  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

under  the  system  of  limited  or  high  protection,  it  has  not  infrequently  happened  that  the 
tariff  has  been  fixed  at  such  a  scale  as  to  act  as  a  prohibitory  duty  and  turn  aside  entirely 
foreign  commerce  in  the  article  on  which  the  tariff  is  laid. 

Such,  then,  are  the  fundamental  principles  which  underlie  the  great  controversy  and 
furnish  the  issues  of  political  divergence  in  the  United  States.  The  question  is  as  old  as 
the  beginnings  of  civil  progress  in  the  New  World.  No  sooner  was  the  present  govern- 
mental system  in  our  country-  instituted  than  the  controversy  broke  out  in  the  halls  of 
legislation.  Hamilton  as  first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  took  the  question  up  and  adopted 
the  policy  of  limited  protection  as  that  of  the  Federal  party.  He  advocated  this  policy 
most  ably  in  the  papers  which  he  sent  at  inter\'als  from  the  Department  of  the  Treasury-. 
On  his  recommendation  the  second  statute  ever  enacted  by  Congress  under  the  Constitution 
was  prepared  and  passed  for  the  purpose  of  ' '  providing  a  revenue  and  affording  protection 
to  American  industry.'''  The  ver^'  necessities  which  gave  rise  to  the  Constitution  were  those 
relating  to  commerce  and  interwoven  with  the  tariff.  From  the  beginning  the  question 
would  not  down.  During  the  fourth  and  fifth  decades  of  the  centur}-  the  leading  political 
agitations,  that  is,  those  that  were  real,  were  produced  by  the  revival  of  the  tariff  issue  in 
our  system.  During  the  ascendancy  of  Henry  Clay  his  ' '  American  s3-stem  ' '  became  for  a 
season  the  bottom  principle  of  Whig  politics. 

In  the  ante-bellum  epoch  the  Whig  party  continued  to  favor  the  protective  svstem, 
while  the  Democratic  party  espoused  free  trade.  After  the  Civil  War  the  question  slumbered 
for  a  season.  Men  forgot  its  import,  and  reckoned  not  that  it  would  ever  arise  again  to 
trouble  party  discipline.  In  1880  a  paragraph  in  the  national  Democratic  platfonn  was- 
inserted — not  indeed  with  the  intention  of  evoking  an  old  controversy  from  oblivion — 
which,  by  declaring  in  favor  of  a  tariff  for  revenue  only,  unexpectedly  precipitated  the 
whole  issue  anew,  and  contributed  to,  perhaps  determined,  the  defeat  of  the  Democratic 
ticket.  Even  in  those  States  where  Democracy  was  in  the  ascendant  the  growth  of  great 
manufacturing  establishments  had  brought  in  a  vast  army  of  artisans,  who  in  spite  of  all 
party  affiliation  refused  to  support  a  platform  which,  according  to  their  belief,  was  calculated 
to  impair,  if  not  destroy,  the  ver\'  business  in  which  they  were  engaged. 

PARTIES  DIVIDED  AMONG  THEMSELVES  ON  THE  QUESTION. 

In  the  ensuing  quadrennium  both  Democrats  and  Republicans  made  strenuous  efforts 
to  align  their  party  followers  on  this  question,  but  neither  was  successful.  The  event 
showed  that  the  Democrats  were  by  no  means  unanimous  for  free  trade,  and  that  the 
Republicans  were  far  from  unanimity  in  their  support  of  protection.  Large  numbers  of 
Republican  leaders  whose  financial  interests  la\-  in  the  direction  of  agricultural  production 
or  of  commerce  rather  than  in  the  line  of  manufactures  espoused  the  doctrine  of  free  trade. 
Never  was  party  discipline  more  strained  on  any  subject  than  in  the  presidential  campaigns 
from  1876  to  1888.  Especially  during  the  administration  of  Arthur  and  his  successor  did 
the  tariff  question  gather  head,  and  the  white  crests  of  conflicting  tides  were  seen  along  the 
whole  surface  of  political  controversy.  Nor  may  the  publicist  and  historian  of  the  passing 
age  clearly  foresee  the  solution  of  the  problem.  One  thing  may  be  safely  predicted,  that 
the  question  in  America  will  be  decided,  as  it  has  already  been  decided  in  Great  Britain, 
according  to  self-interest.  No  people  will,  in  the  long  run,  act  against  what  it  conceives  to 
be  its  interest  for  the  sake  of  supporting  a  given  theon,'.  When  some  party  in  power, 
whatever  that  party  may  be,  shall  become  convinced  Lliat  the  interest  of  the  United  States 
requires  the  abolition   of  all   protective  diities  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  system  of 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


r43 


tariff  for  revenue  only,  tlien,  and   not   till    then,  will   the  /ui/ssc-yhtn-  theor\-  of  political 
econonu-  take  the  place  of  that  which  has  thus  far  prevailed  as  the  policy  of  our  countrj-. 

Hardly,  b\-  the  crime  of  Garfield's  murder,  had  the  presidency  been  transferred  to 
Arthur  before  the  issue  of  naniinj:^  his  successor  was  raised  bs'  the  ever-busy  swarm  of 
politicians.  To  the  calm-minded  observer  it  appears  a  thinjj  of  wonder  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  so  far  pennitted  themselves  to  be  cajoled,  hoodwinked,  brow-beaten, 
converted  into  camp-followers  and  slaves,  by  the  ignorant  horde  of  interested  ad\enturers 
who  have  arrogated  to  themselves  the  right  of  civil  and  political  control  over  the  destiny 
of  the  American  Republic.  It  can  hardly  be  wondered  that  under  the  continuance  of  such 
a  system  a  spirit  of  political  pessimism  has  gained  ground  to  the  ver\-  verge  of  preval- 
ence in  the  United  States.  Of  a  certainty  the  party  newspaper  has  been  and  continues  to 
be  the  abettor  and  agent  of  Kakistocracy  in  America.  And  until  the  reign  of  that  exangel 
of  evil  is  ended  the  people  of  the  United  States  must  continue  to  beat  about  blindh-,  moping 
and  groaning  under  the  despotism  of  the  bad. 

The  year  1882  hardly  furnished  breathing  time  for  the  subsidence  of  political  passion. 
The  great  army  of  the  interested  went  forth  to  arouse  the  country  for  another  contest.  In 
this  haste  might  be  seen  the  symptoms  of  fear  ;  for  it  could  not  be  doubted  that  both  politi- 
cal organizations  had  become  alarmed  lest  through  the  failure  of  living  issues  the  old  com- 
binations which  had  divided  the  country  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  should  go  to  pieces  and 
leave  the  field  to  the  people.  But  the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  the  breaking  up  of  the 
political  deeps,  and  the  masses  were  still  inade  to  believe  that  the  old  questions  were  vital 
to  the  welfare  of  the  country. 

PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGN  OF  1884. 

The  political  parties  made  ready  for  the  work  before  them.  Early  in  1884  Chicago 
was  selected  as  the  place  of  both  the  national  conventions.  The  Greenback-Labor  party 
held  its  convention  at  Indianapolis  in  the  month  of  April, 
and  nominated  General  Butler  for  the  Presidency,  with  A. 
M.  West,  of  Mississippi,  for  the  Vice- Presidency'.  The 
Republican  convention  met  on  the  3d  of  May,  and  after  a 
spirited  session  of  three  days'  duration,  nominated  James 
G.  Blaine,  of  Maine,  and  General  John  A.  Logan,  of 
Illinois.  The  Democratic  delegates  assembled  on  the  9th 
of  July  and  on  the  nth  completed  their  work  by  nominat- 
ing Grover  Cleveland,  of  New  York,  and  Thomas  A. 
Hendricks,  of  Indiana.  The  nominations  were  received 
with  considerable  enthusiasm  by  the  respective  party  follow- 
ings,  but  large  factions  in  each  party  refused  to  support 
the  national  tickets. 

With  the  progress  of  the  campaign  it  became  evident 
that  the  result  must  depend  on  the  electoral  votes  of  New 
York  and  Indiana.  The  preliminary  counting  showed  the 
latter  State  for  the  Democrats.  New  York  thus  became 
the  single  battle-field,  and  there  the  respective  parties 
concentrated  their  forces.  The  event  proved  favorable  to 
the  Democrats,  though  their  majority  in  the  popular  vote  of  New  York  was  onl\'  1142. 
This  small  prejxtnderancc  determined   the  result.      The  vote  of  the  Empire  State  went  to 


JiiHN    A.     I.dC.AN. 


744  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

Cleveland  and  Hendricks,  assnring  to  them  219  ballots  in  the  electoral  college  against  182 
votes  for  Blailie  and  Logan. 

The  seqnel  of  the  presidential  election  of  this  j'ear  was  less  happy  than  generally 
happens  under  like  circumstances.  The  Republican  party  had  been  in  power  continuously 
for  twentv-four  vears.  During  that  time  great  and  salutary  changes  had  taken  place  in  the 
<^ocial  condition  and  ci\il  polity  of  the  American  people.  It  was  natural  that  the  Repub- 
lican leaders  should  claim  the  result  as  their  work,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  simply 
the  evolution  of  the  age.  The  great  men  of  that  party  were  honest  in  claiming  that  the 
tremendous  and  beneficial  changes  which  had  passed  like  the  shadows  of  great  clouds  over 
the  American  landscape  were  attributable  to  the  long  period  of  Republican  ascendancy. 
To  lose  power,  therefore,  was  political  bitterness  itself.  It  was  only  b}'  degrees  that  this 
feeling  subsided,  and  that  the  office-holders  near  the  close  of  Arthur's  administration  began 
to  trim  their  sails  with  the  evident  hope  that  the  breezes  of  civil  service  refonn,  to  which 
the  President-elect  was   pledged,  might  waft  them  somewhat  further  on  the  high  seas  of 

emolument. 

DEDICATION  OF  THE  WASHINGTON   MONUMENT. 

The  recurrence  of  the  birthday  of  Washington,  1SS5,  was  noted  for  the  dedication  of 
the  great  monument  which  had  been  building  for  so  many  years  at  the  Capital.  The  erec- 
tion of  such  a  structure  had  been  suggested  as  early  as  1799.  Nor  could  it  well  be  doubted 
that  the  American  people  would,  in  due  time,  rear  some  appropriate  memorial  to  the  Father 
of  his  Country-.  The  work  was  not  undertaken,  however,  until  1835.  In  that  year  an 
organization  was  effected  to  promote  the  enterprise.  But  for  a  long  time  after  the  begin- 
nino^,  the  work  of  buildins:  lag-ged,  and  it  was  not  until  Congress,  taunted  at  last  into  action  " 
by  the  animadversions  of  the  press  and  people,  undertook  the  prosecution  of  the  enterprise 
that  it  was  brought  to  completion. 

The  cost  of  the  Washington  Monument  was  about  $1,500,000.  It  stands  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Potomac,  in  the  southern  outskirts  of  Washington  Cit\-.  The  structure  was, 
at  the  time  of  its  erection,  the  highest  in  the  world.  The  shaft  proper,  without  reckoning 
the  foundation,  is  555  feet  in  height,  being  thirty  feet  higher  than  the  Cathedral  at 
Cologne,  and  seventy-five  feet  higher  than  the  pyramid  of  Cheops  in  its  present  condition. 
The  great  obelisk  is  composed  of  more  than  eighteen  thousand  blocks  of  stone.  They  are 
mostl)^  of  white  marble,  and  weigh  several  tons  each.  One  hundred  and  eighty-one  memo- 
rial stones,  contributed  by  the  different  States  of  the  Union  and  by  friendly  foreign  nations, 
are  set  at  various  places  in  the  structure. 

The  dedication  of  the  monument  occurred  on  Saturday,  the  21st  of  Febniar\'.  The 
ceremonies  were  of  the  most  imposing  character.  A  procession  of  more  than  six  thousand 
persons  marched  from  the  base  of  the  monument,  along  Pennsylvania  Avenue  to  the  Capi- 
tol, while  salutes  were  fired  from  the  batteries  of  the  navy  j^ard.  At  the  Capitol  the  pro- 
cession was  reviewed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The  concluding  ceremonies 
were  held  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  where  a  great  throng  of  distinguished  people 
had  assembled — not  so  much  to  do  honor  to  the  occasion  as  to  be  honored  by  it.  The 
principal  oration,  written  by  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  as  well  as  the  less  formal  addresses 
of  the  day,  was  well  worthy  of  the  event,  and  calculated  to  add — if  aught  could  add — to 
the  fame  of  him  who  was  "first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  -his  fellows 
citizens." 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


THE    DEMOCRATIC  RESTORATION. 


ROVER  CLEVELAND,  twenty-second  President  of  the 
riiited  States,  was  born  at  Caldwell,  New  Jersey, 
March  iS,  1S37.  Three  years  afterwards  he  was  taken 
by  his  father  and  mother  to  Fayetteville,  near  Syracuse, 
New  York.  Here,  in  his  boyhood,  he  received  such 
limited  education  as  the  .schools  of  the  place  afforded. 
For  a  while  in  his  youth  he  was  clerk  in  a  village  store. 
Afterwards  the  family  removed  first  to  Clinton  and  then 
to  Holland  Patent.  At  the  latter  place  his  father  died, 
and  young  Cleveland,  left  to  his  own  resources,  went  to 
New  York  and  became  a  teacher  in  an  asylum  for  the 
blind.  After  a  short  time,  however,  the  young  man, 
finding  such  pursuits  uncongenial  to  his  tastes,  went  to 
""^'  "  Buffalo   and    engaged    in   the    study  of  law.      He    was 

admitted  to  the  bar  in  1859,  and,  four  years  afterwards, 
began  his  public  career  as  Assistant  District  Attorney.  In  1869  he  was  elected  Sheriff  of 
Erie  county,  and  in  iSSr  was  chosen  Mayor  of  Buffalo.  His  next  promotion  bv  his  fellow- 
citizens  was  to  the  governorship  of  New  York,  to  which  position  he  was  elected  in  1882, 
by  the  astonishing  majority  of  192,854 — the  majority  being  perhaps  unparalleled  in  the 
histon*-  of  American  elections.  It  was  w-hile  he  still  held  this  oflfice  that,  in  July  of  1884, 
he  was  nominated  by  the  Democratic  part\'  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States. 

Much  interest  was  manifested  by  the  public  in  the  constitution  of  the  new  Cabinet. 
On  the  day  following  the  inauguration  the  nominations  were  seut  to  the  Senate,  and  were 
as  follows  :  For  Secreta.r\-  of  State,  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  of  Delaware  ;  for  Secretarj-  of  the 
Treasun.-,  Daniel  Manning,  of  New  York  ;  for  Secretar\-  of  the  Interior,  Lucius  Q.  C. 
Lamar,  of  Mississippi  ;  for  Secretar}-  of  War,  William  C.  Endicott,  of  Ma.>;.sachusetts  ;  for 
Secretan,-  of  the  Navy,  William  C.  Whitney,  of  New  York  ;  for  Postmaster-General,  William 
F.  Vilas,  of  Wisconsin  ;  for  .\ttorney-General,  Augustus  H.  Garland,  of  Arkansas.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  appointments  was  that  two  of  them  were  from  New  York.  But  the  preju- 
dice which  might  arise  on  this  account  was  fully  counterbalanced  by  the  high  character  and 
undoubted  abilities  of  the  men  whom  the  President  had  chosen  as  the  responsible  advisers 
of  his  administration. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  administration  the  President  was  confronted  with  the  irrepres- 
sible question  of  the  di.stribution  of  patronage.  His  party  had  come  into  power  on  a  plat- 
fonn  declaring  for  civil-.ser\Mce  reform.  Of  late  years  the  political  opinion  of  the  countrv 
had  begun  to  turn  with  disgust  from  the  gross  practice  of  rewarding  men  for  mere  jxirty 
ser\ices.  In  the  evenly  balanced  presidential  contests  of  1880  and  1884  it  became  all-im- 
portant to  conciliate,  at  least  by  profession,  the  growing  phalanx  of  civil-service  reformers. 

(745) 


746 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUMBIA. 


They  it  was  to  whom  Cleveland  owed  his  election;  for  they  accepted  his  pledges  and 
principles.  Their  views  and  the  President's  were  in  accord,  and  the  new  administration  was 
launched  with  civil-service  reform  inscribed  on  its  pennon. 

The  event  showed,  however,  that  the  Democratic  party  was  not  equal  to  its  pledges 
and  not  up  to  the  President's  level  of  principle.  It  was  clear  that  the  Democratic  leaders 
had  in  large  part  upheld  the  banner  of  civil  service  merely  as  an  expedient.  The  Presi- 
dent's sincere  attempt  to  enforce  the  principles  of  the  party  platform  by  an  actual  refonn 

became  appalling  to  the  captain-generals  of  his  party.-  To 
them  the  declaration  in  favor  of  a  new  and  better  system 
was  purely  nominal.  They  made  a  rush  to  gather  the 
spoils  of  victor}',  and  were  astounded  that  the  Chief 
Magistrate  should  presume  to  refuse  them.  From  the  outset 
it  was  a  grave  question  whether  the  President  would  be 
able  to  stand  by  the  flag  of  reform  or  rather  be  driven  to 
readopt  the  cast-off  system  of  spoils. 

MEMORIAL  LITERATURE  OF  THE  WAR. 
It  was  a  peculiarity  of  this  epoch  that  the  deeds  and 
memories  of  the  Civil  War  revived  in  public  interest.  The 
circumstance  was  attributable  perhaps  to  the  fact  that  the 
ereat  men  of  that  conflict  now  entered  the  shadows  of  old 
age  and  became  talkative  about  the  stirring  e^-ploits  of 
their  youth  and  manhood.  Now  it  was  that  the  series  of 
authoritative  publications  concerning  the  war  for  the 
Union,  written  by  the  leading  participants,  began  to 
appear.  This  work,  so  important  to  a  true  knowledge 
of  the  great  struggle  for  and  against  the  Union,  was 
Sherman,  who  in  1875  published  his  Memoirs  narrating 
the  story  of  that  part  of  the  war  in  which  he  had  been  a  leader.  This  publication  had 
indeed  been  preceded  by  some  years  by  that  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  late  Vice-president 
of  the  Confederacy,  who  in  1870  completed  his  two  vohmies  entitled  The  War 
between  the  States.  In  1884  General  Grant  began  the  publication,  in  the  Century 
Magazine,  of  a  series  of  war  articles  which  attracted  universal  attention,  and  which  led  to 
the  preparation  and  issuance  of  his  Memoirs  in  1885-6.  Similar  contributions  by  man>- 
other  eminent  commanders  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  armies  followed  in  succession, 
until  a  large  literature  of  the  Civil  War  was  left  on  record  for  the  instruction  of  after  times. 

DEATH  OF  GENERAL  GRANT. 
The  interest  in  these  publications  was  heightened  by  the  death  within  a  limited  period 
ot  a  large  number  of  the  great  generals  who  had  led  armies  in  the  war  for  the  Union.  It 
was  earlv  in  the  summer  of  1885  that  the  attention  of  the  people  was  called  away  from 
public  affairs  by  the  announcement  that  the  veteran  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  had  been 
stricken  with  a  fatal  malady  ;  that  his  days  would  be  few  among  the  living.  ^  The  hero  of 
Vicksburg  and  Appomattox  sank  under  the  ravages  of  a  malignant  cancer  which  had  fixed 
itself  in  his  throat,  and  on  the  23d  of  July  he  died  quietly  at  a  summer  cottage  on  Mount 
McGregor,  New  York.  For  some  months  the  silent  hero,  who  had  commanded  the  com- 
bined Armies  of  the  United  States  had  been  engaged  in  the  pathetic  work  of  bringing  to 
completion  his  two  volumes  of  Memairs,  from  the  sale  of  which— such  is   the  gratitude  of 


begun 


GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

by    General  William  T. 


B 
Z 


(747) 


748 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


republics — the  resources  of  his  family  must  be  chiefly  drawn.  It  was  a  race,  with  death 
for  the  goal.  Scarcely  had  the  enfeebled  general  laid  down  his  pencil  until  the  enemy 
knocked  at  the  door. 

The  last  da\s  of  Grant  were  hallowed  by  the  s>'mpathies  of  the  nation  which  he  had 
so  o-loriously  defended.  The  news  of  his  death  passed  over  the  land  like  the  shadow  of  a 
"•reat  cloud.  Almost  ever}-  city  and  hamlet  showed  in  some  appropriate  wa\-  its  emblems  of 
grief.    The  funeral  ceremonies  equalled,  if  they  did  not  surpass,  any  which  have  ever  been 

witnessed.  The  procession 
in  New  York  City  was  per- 
haps the  most  solemn,  elab- 
orate, and  imposing  pageant 
ever  exhibited  in  honor  of 
the  dead,  at  least  since  the 
funeral  of  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington. On  August  8th, 
1885,  the  body  of  General 
Grant  was  laid  to  rest  in 
Riverside  Park,  overlooking 
the  Hudson.  There,  on  a 
summit  from  which  may  be 
seen  the  great  river  and  the 
metropolis  of  the  nation,  is 
the  tomb  of  him  whose 
courage  and  magnanimity 
in  war  will  forever  give  him 
rank  with  the  few  master 
spirits  who,  by  their  heroic 
deeds,  have  honored  the  hu- 
man race,  and  by  their  ge- 
nius have  changed  some- 
what the  course  of  histor}'. 

The  enterprise  of  rear- 
ing a  suitable  monument  to 
General  Grant  was  delayed 
by  untoward  circumstances. 
The  General  had  himself 
designated  Riverside  Park 
as  his  last  resting-place.  Soon  after  his  death  a  Monument  Commission  was  organized  in 
New  York  City,  and  subscriptions  taken,  but  the  work  lagged.  The  question  of  removing 
his  remains  to  Washington  City  was  once  and  again  agitated.  At  length,  however,  the 
Commission  was  reorganized,  with  General  Horace  Porter  as  chairman.  From  that  time 
the  enterprise  was  pressed,  and  on  the  27th  day  of  April,  1892,  the  corner-stone  of  what 
is  destined  to  be  the  most  elaborate  and  artistic  mausoleum  in  the  New  World  was  laid. 
The  oration  of  the  occasion  was  delivered  by  Hon.  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  of  New  York. 

OTHER  DISTINGUISHED   DEAD. 
The  death  of  General  Grant  was  quickly  followed  by  that  of  another  distinguished 
Union    commander.      On    the    29th    of    October,    1885,    General    George    B.    IMcClellan, 


I.  BIRTHPLACE   OK    CliXI.RAl.     ^.RANT.        2.    HIS lARK, 

NEW  YORK   CITY.      3.    VIEW    FROM   RIVERSIDE   P.AKK,  LOOKING    XORTH. 

4.    FLEET    FIRING    SALUTE    IN     THE    HUDSON     RIVER  ON    THE   DAY    OF 
HIS  FUNERAL. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Ji9 


organizer  of  tlie  Aniiy  of  the  Potomac,  at  one  time  general-in-chief,  subsequently 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  at  a  later  period  go\ernor  of  New  Jersey, 
died  at  his  home  in  St.  Cloud,  in  that  State.  The  conspicuous  part  borne  by  him  during 
the  first  two  years  of  the  war,  his  eminent  abilities  as  a  soldier  and  civilian,  his  unblemished 
character  as  a  citizen,  heightened  the  popular  estimate  of  his  life,  and  evoked  the  sincerest 
expressions  of  national  sorrow  for  his  death.* 

The  next  great  Union  commander  to  pass  away  was  General  Winfield  S.  Hancock. 
This  brave  and  generous  officer  was  at  the  time  of  his  death  senior  major-general  of  the 
American  anny.  Always  a  favorite  with  the  people  and  the  soldiers,  he  had,  since  the 
close  of  the  war,  occupied  a  conspicuous  place  before  the  public.  In  1880  he  was  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and,  though  defeated  by  General  Garfield,  the 
defeat  was  without  dishonor.  His  death,  which  occurred  at  his  home  on  Governor's  Island 
on  the  9th  of  February,  1886,  was  universally  deplored,  and  the  people  omitted  no  mark 
of  respect  for  the  memory  of  him  who,  in  the  great  struggle  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union,  had  won  the  title  of  "Hero  of  Gettysburg."  Thus  have  passed  away  the  gallant 
generals  of  the  Anny  of  the  Potomac.  George  B.  McClellan,  Ambrose  E.  Burnside, 
Joseph  Hooker,  George  G.  Meade,  and  Winfield  S.  Hancock  have,  one  by  one,  joined 

"The  innumerable  caravan  that  moves 

To  that  mysterious  realm,  where  each  shall  take 

His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  Death." 

In  1886  General  John  A.  Logan,  Senator  of  the  United  States  from  Illinois,  sickened 
and  died  at  his  home  called  Calumet  Place,  in  Washington  City.  His  career  had  been 
di.stinguished  in  the  highest  degree.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  civil  war  few  men  did  more 
than  Logan  to  strengthen  the  Union  sentiment 
in  the  wavering  Border  States.  Resigning  his 
seat  in  Congress,  he  joined  the  first  advance,  and 
fought  as  a  private  at  Bull  Run.  Without  pre- 
vious militar>'  training,  he  rose  rapidly  to  dis- 
tinction, and  became  par  excellence  the  volun- 
teer general  in  the  war  for  the  Union.  He  re- 
turned to  political  life,  and  was  chosen  to  the 
United  States  Senate.  He  remained  at  his  post 
until  his  death,  passing  away  with  unmistak- 
able evidences  of  the  enduring  place  which  he 
had  won  in  the  affections  of  the  American 
people. 

Meanwhile  a  distinguished  civilian  had  fal- 
len from  high  office.  On  November  25th,  1885, 
Vice-president  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  after  an 
illness  of  but  a  single  day,  died  suddenly  at 
his  home  in  Indianapolis.  Not  a  moment's 
warning  was  given  of  the  approach  of  the  fatal 
paralysis.  The  life  of  Hendricks  liad  been  one  of  singular  purity,  and  tlie  amenities  of  his 
character  had   been  conspicuous  in  the  stormy  arena  of  American  politics.     The  body  of 

*  The  posthumous  publication  of  McClellan's  Own  Story,  under  the  auspices  of  his  l)ereavc<l  wife,  is  on  the 
whole  to  be  renrettcil.  .As  a  contribution  to  the  military  and  civil  histc)r>-  of  the  lime,  th^-  work  is  valuable  ;  but 
to  McClellan's  memory  the  l»ook  is  ilamapiuK-  '"  •'  few  matters  the  civilians  in  au'lmrity  over  .McClcllan  (but 
not  I.,incoln)  are  put  on  the  defensive  ;  but.  taken  altoKetlier.  tliv  apology  mars  the  General's  fame. 


GRANT'S   TOMn    IN    RIVERSIDE   PARK. 


750  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

the  dead  statesman  was  buried  in  Crown  Hill  Cemetery,  near  Indianapolis,  the  funeral 
pageant  surpassing  in  grandeur  and  solemnity  any  other  display  of  the  kind  ever  witnessed 
in  the  Western  States,  except  the  funeral  of  Lincoln. 

The  next  distinguished  citizen  to  pass  away  was  Horatio  Seymour,  of  New  York. 
On  the  1 2th  of  February,  i8S6,  this  noted  leader  and  politician,  who  had  been  governor 
of  the  Empire  State,  and  Democratic  candidate  for  the  presidency  against  General  Grant, 
died  at  his  home  in  Utica.  He  had  reached  the  age  of  seventy-six,  and  though  living  in 
retirement,  never  ceased  to  hold  a  large  share  of  the  attention  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

Much  more  eminent  than  he,  however,  was  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  who  died  at  his  home 
called  Greystone,  at  Yonkers,  near  New  York  City,  on  the  4th  of  August,  1 886.  Tilden 
had  lived  to  make  a  marked  impression  on  the  political  thought  of  the  epoch.  His 
intellect  was  of  the  highest  order,  and  his  attainments  unquestionable.  At  the  time  of 
his  death  he  was  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age.  For  forty  years  he  had  been  a 
prominent  figure  in  his  own  State  and  before  the  nation.  In  1870-71  he  was  among 
the  foremost  in  unearthing  the  astounding  frauds  and  robberies  which  had  been  perpe- 
trated on  the  city  treasury  of  New  York.  In  the  following  year  he  was  sent  to  the 
General  Assembly,  where  his  services  were  invaluable.  In  1874  he  was  elected  governor 
of  New  York  by  a  majority  of  more  than  fifty  thousand  votes. 

In  the  executive  office  Tilden  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  who  ever  occupied  the  guber- 
natorial chair  of  the  State.  In  1876  he  came  marvellously  near  reaching  the  presidency. 
The  popular  vote  was  largely  in  his  favor,  and  the  majority  in  the  electoral  college  was 
lost  through  the  superior  tactics  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  in  power.  Neither  Tilden  nor 
Hayes  was  clearly  elected,  the  Democrats  having  carried  two  or  three  States  with  the 
shot-gun,  and  the  Republicans,  by  the  aid  of  the  Electoral  Commission,  having  "counted 
in"  one  or  two  States  which  they  did  not  carry  at  all.  Tilden  in  private  life  continued  to 
guide  the  counsels  of  his  party.  In  1880  he  would  have  been  re-nominated  but  for  the 
enfeebled  condition  of  his  health.  One  of  his  ablest — as  it  was  his  last — public  paper, 
was  a  general  letter  on  "The  Coast  and  Harbor  Defences  of  the  United  States,"  a  publi- 
cation which  led  to  the  legislation  of  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  on  that  important  subject. 

DEATH   OF  BEECHER  AND  CHIEF  JUSTICE  WAITE. 

To  this  mortuary  list  of  military  heroes  and  great  civilians  must  be  added  the  illus- 
trious name  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  To  him,  with  little  reservation,  we  may  assign  the 
first  place  among  our  orators  and  philanthropists.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  his  equal  in  most 
of  the  sublime  qualities  of  energy  and  manhood  will  soon  be  seen  again  on  the  stage  of 
life.  His  personality  was  so  large,  so  unique  and  striking,  as  to  constitute  the  man  in 
some  sense  sui  generis.  His  kind  is  rare  in  the  world,  and  the  circumstances  which  aided 
in  his  development  have  passed  away.  That  fact  in  American  history — the  institution  of 
slavery — which  brought  out  and  displayed  the  higher  moods  of  his  anger  and  stonny 
eloquence,  cannot  again  arouse  the  indignation  of  genius.  The  knight  and  his  dangerous 
foil  .sleep  together  in  the  dust. 

Mr.  Beecher  had  the  happy  fortune  to  retain  his  faculties  unimpaired  to  the  very  close 
of  his  career.  On  the  evening  of  the  5th  of  March,  1887,  at  his  home  in  Brooklyn,  sur- 
rounded by  his  family,  without  premonition  or  portent,  the  message  came  by  apoplexy. 
An  artery  broke  in  that  magnificent  heavy  brain  that  had  been  for  more  than  forty  years 
one  of  the  greatest  batteries  of  thought  and  action  in  the  world  ;  and  the  aged  orator, 
nearing  the  close  of  his  seventy-fourth  year,   sank  into  that  deep  .sleep  from   which  no 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


751 


power  on  earth  could  wake  him.  He  lived  until  the  morning  of  the  8th,  and  quietly 
entered  the  shadows.  The  .sentiments  awakened  by  his  death,  the  circumstances  of  his 
sepulture,  and  the  common  eulogium  of  mankind,  proved  beyond  doubt  the  supreme  place 
which  he  had  occupied  in  the  admiring  esteem,  not  only  of  his  countrymen,  but  of  all  the 
great  peoples  of  the  world. 

In  order  of  occurrence  the  next  two  deaths  of  men  of  national  reputation  were  those 
of  Chief  Justice  Morrison  R.  Waite,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and 
ex-Senator  Roscoe  Conkliug,  of  New  York.  The  fonner  died  at  his  home  in  Washington 
Citv  on  the  23d  of  March,  1888.  The  Chief  Justice  was  a  native  of  Lyme,  Connecticut; 
bom  on  the  29th  of  November,  1816.  His  education  was  first  of  the  public  school  and 
afterwards  of  Yale  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1837.  He  became  a 
student  of  law,  removed  to  Ohio,  and  practiced  his  profession  at  Maumee  City.  In  1S49 
he  entered  public  life,  serving  in  the  legislature  of  the  State.  He  then  made  his  home  at 
Toledo,  where  he  remained  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  until  he  was  called  bv  General 
Grant  to  sit  at  the  head  of  the  Supreme  Bench  of  the  United  States.  Meanwhile  he  had 
ser\-ed  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Arbitration  sitting  at 
Geneva  for  the  adjudication  of  the  Alabama  claims.  He 
brought  to  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  a  character,  talents 
and  attainment  equal  to  the  responsibilities  of  the  position. 
The  death  of  Waite  may  well  suggest  a  brief  notice  of  that 
Great  Court  over  which  he  presided  during  the  last  fourteen 
years  of  his  life. 

SKETCH  OF  THE  SUPREME  COURT. 

In  the  fonnation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  it  was  intended  that  the  three  General  Departments 
of  the  government  should  be  of  correlative  rank  and 
influence.  The  sequel,  however,  as  developed  in  the  actual 
working  of  our  National  system,  has  shown  that  the 
Executive  and  Legislative  departments  predominate,  natur- 
all\- — perhaps  inevitably — over  the  judicial  branch,  and 
that,  in  the  popular  estimate  at  least,  the  Supreme  Court  is 
of  small  importance  as  compared  with  the  presidency  and 
the  two  Houses  of  Congress. 

This  disesteem  of  the  judiciary  is  not  verified  by  a 
broader  and  more  philosophical  view  on  the  subject.  The  importance,  especially,  of  the 
conser\-ative  opinion  of  our  great  National  Court  in  determining,  at  least  negatively,  the 
final  validity  of  all  legislation  and  all  subordinate  judicial  decisions,  can  hardly  be  over- 
estimated. The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Supreme  Bench  considered  as  the  only  immovable 
breakwater  against  the  unscnipulous  and  rampant  spirit  of  party.  It  is  fortunate  that  the 
offices  of  our  Chief  Justice  and  of  the  Associate  Justices  are  appoiiitiz'c,  and  are  thus 
removed,  in  great  measure,  from  the  perfidy  of  the  convention  and  the  passion  of  a 
partisan  election. 

It  n:ay  be  of  interest  to  glance  for  a  moment  at  some  of  tlie  vici.ssitudes  through  which 
the  Supreme  Court  has  pa.ssed  since  its  organization  in  1789.  The  Court  was  then 
in.stituted  by  the  appointment  of  John  Jay  as  Chief  Justice,  who  held  the  office  until  1796, 
when  he  gave  place  to  Oliver  Ell.sworth.  The  latter  remained  in  office  until,  in  1800,  the 
infinnities  of  age  compelled  his  resignation.      Then  came  the  long  and  honorable  a.scendancy 


HENRV    WAKIJ    BEKCHER., 


752  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

of  Chief  Justice  John  Marshall,  who  presided  over  the  Court  from  his  appointment  in  i8oi 
to  his  death  in  1835.  This  was  the  Golden  Age  of  the  American  Supreme  Court.  From 
1835  to  1837  there  was  an  interregnum  in  the  Chief  Justiceship,  occasioned  by  the  disagree- 
ment of  President  Jackson  and  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  But  in  the  latter  year  the 
President  secured  the  confirmation  of  Judge  Roger  B.  Taney  as  Chief  Justice,  who  entered 
upon  his  long  tenn  of  twenty-  seven  years.  It  was  his  celebrated  decision  in  case  of  the 
negro  Dred  Scott,  relative  to  the  status  of  the  slave-race  in  America,  that  applied  the  torch 
to  that  immense  heap  of  combustibles  whose  explosion  was  the  Civil  War. 

After  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Taney,  in  1864,  President  Lincoln  appointed,  as  his 
successor,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  recently  Secretary'  of  the  Treasury,  and  author  of  most  of  the 
financial  measures  and  expedients  by  which  the  National  credit  had  been  buoyed  up  and 
preserved  during  the  Rebellion.  His  official  term  extended  to  his  death,  in  1873,  and 
covered  the  period  when  the  important  issues  arising  from  the  Civil  War  were  under 
adjudication.  To  Chief  Justice  Chase  fell  also,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  the  duty  of  presiding 
at  the  impeachment  of  President  Andrew  Johnson.  In  1874  the  appointment  of  Morrison 
R.  Waite  as  Chief  Justice  was  made  by  President  Grant. 

The  death  of  Chief  Justice  Waite  made  way  for  the  return  to  the  supreme  judicial 
office  in  the  United  States  of  some  member  of  the  political  party  which  had  long  been  out 
of  power.  Since  the  epoch  of  the  Civil  War  the  court  had  been  filled  almost  exclusively 
with  judges  who,  by  political  affiliation,  belonged  to  the  Republican  party.  The  first 
distinctly  Democratic  appointment  which  was  made  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  was  the 
recent  one  of  Judge  Lucius  O.  C.  Lamar,  who,  by  the  nomination  of  President  Cleveland, 
was  transferred  from  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Interior  to  the  Supreme  Bench.  It  thus 
happened,  in  the  vicissitude  of  things,  that  the  two  political  theories  which  were  opposed 
to  each  other  in  the  War  for  the  Union,  and  are  still  opposed  by  party  name,  became 
confluent  in  the  High  Court  of  the  Nation.  This  circumstance  was  to  some  a  source  of 
alarm  and  prejudice  ;  but  the  fear  was  not  well  founded.  Partisan  dispositions  are  less 
potent  and  dangerous — if,  indeed,  they  assert  themselves  at  all — on  the  Supreme  Bench  of 
the  United  States.  Thus  far  in  its  history-  the  Court  has,  as  a  rule,  been  as  pure  in  its 
administration  and  methods  as  it  has  been  great  in  reputation.  The  muddy  waters  of  party 
conflict  have  only  occasionally  reached  as  high  as  the  chambers  of  our  honored  tribunal  ; 
and  the  fear  that  it  may  be  otherwise  hereafter  may  hopefully  be  put  aside  as  a  groundless 
and  spectral  chimera  of  the  hour.  On  May  ist,  1888,  the  President  appointed  Judge 
Melville  W.  Fuller,  of  Chicago,  to  the  vacant  Chief  Justiceship. 

ROSCOE  CONKLING,   THE  GREAT   LEADER. 

The  impression  produced  by  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Waite  had  scarcely  passed  when 
the  decease  of  another  citizen,  most  noted  for  high  character  and  great  talents,  called  the 
public  attention  to  the  rapid  disappearance  of  the  Nation's  most  distinguished  represent- 
atives. On  the  1 8th  of  April,  at  the  Hoffinan  House,  New  York  City,  Honorable  Roscoe 
Conkling,  ex-Senator  of  the  United  States,  died  after  a  brief  and  painful  illness.  A  local 
inflammation,  resulting  in  the  formation  of  a  pus-sack  under  the  mastoid  bone  of  the  skull, 
led  to  the  cutting  of  the  skull  in  hope  of  saving  Mr.  Conkling's  life  ;  but  he  succumbed  to 
the  fatal  malady  and  the  shock  of  the  operation. 

Roscoe  Conkling  was  born  in  Albany,  New  York,  on  the  30th  of  October,  1829.  After 
the  completion  of  an  academic  course  of  study,  he  went  as  a  student  of  law  to  Utica,  in 
1846.     On  reaching  his  majority  he  was  admitted    to  the  bar,    and  was  soon  afterward 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  753 

appointed  to  the  office  of  County  Attorney.  From  the  beginninjj  of  his  career  his  great 
talents  and  remarkable  force  of  character  were  manifest.  He  made  a  profound  impression, 
first  upon  the  local,  and  then  upon  the  general  society  of  New  York.  In  1858  he  was 
mayor  of  Utica,  and  in  the  same  year  was  sent  to  the  National  House  of  Representatives. 
He  had  already  become  an  able  politician,  and  was  soon  recognized  as  the  leader  of  the 
Republican  party  in  his  native  State.  His  rise  was  rapid,  and  his  influence  became  marked 
in  the  affairs  of  the  government.  He  served  for  six  years  in  the  Lower  House,  and  in  1866 
was  elected  to  the  Senate.  In  that  body  he  aspired  to  leadership,  and  gradually  attained 
it,  though  not  without  man\-  struggles  and  contests  with  the  great  men  of  the  epoch.  He 
was  twice  reelected  Senator — in  1872  and  1878;  but  in  the  third  tenn,  namely,  in  1881, 
he  found  himself  in  such  relations  with  the  Garfield  Administration  as  induced  him  to 
resign  his  seat.  This  step  was  regarded  by  many  as  the  mistake  of  his  political  life.  At 
any  rate  he  failed  of  a  reelection,  the  Administration  party  getting  control  of  the  Legisla- 
ture of  New  York,  and  sending  another  in  his  place.  After  this,  Mr.  Conkling  retired  to 
private  life,  and  took  up  with  great  success  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  New  York  City. 

Roscoe  Conkling  was  a  man  of  the  highest  courage  and  stanchest  convictions.  He 
never  shone  to  greater  advantage  than  when  leading  the  forces  of  General  Grant  in  the 
Chicago  Convention  of  1880.  He  was  a  born  political  general.  His  will  and  persistency 
and  pride  gave  him  a  power  which,  if  it  had  been  tempered  with  greater  urbanity,  could 
hardly  have  failed  to  crown  his  life  with  the  highest  honors  of  the  Nation.  His  talents 
rose  to  the  region  of  genius,  and  his  presence  was  magnificent — an  inspiration  to  his  friends, 
a  terror  to  his  enemies.  .\s  a  summary  of  the  results  of  his  career,  it  may  be  said  that, 
at  the  time  of  his  death,  none  except  his  eminent  rival,  Mr.  Blaine,  might  successfully  con- 
test with  him  the  proud  rank  of  the  most  distinguished  private  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  spring  of  1886  had  occurred  one  of  the  most  serious  labor  agita- 
tions which  had  ever  been  witnessed  in  the  United  States.  It  were  difficult  to  present  an 
adequate  statement  of  the  causes,  general  and  special,  which  produced  these  alarming- 
troubles.  Not  until  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  did  there  appear  the  first  s>inptoms 
of  a  renewal,  in  the  New  World,  of  the  struggle  which  has  been  going  on  for  so  long  a 
time  in  Europe  between  the  laboring  classes  and  the  capitalists.  It  had  been  hoped  that 
such  a  conflict  would  never  be  renewed  in  the  countries  west  of  the  .\tlantic.  Such  a 
hope,  however,  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  first  well-marked  symptoms  of  the 
appearance  of  serious  labor  strikes  and  insurrections  occurred  as  early  as  1867.  The  origin 
of  these  difficulties  was  in  the  coal  and  iron  prodticing  regions  of  Pennsylvania  and  in 
some  of  the  great  manufactories  of  New  England.  For  a  while  the  disturbances  produced 
but  little  alann.  It  was  not  until  the  great  railroad  strike  of  1877  that  a  general  appre- 
hension was  excited  with  respect  to  the  unfriendh-  relations  of  labor  and  capital.  In  the 
following  year  much  uneasiness  exi.sted;  but  the  better  times,  extending  from  1879  to 
1882,  with  the  consequent  favorable  rate  of  wages,  tended  to  remove,  or  at  least  to  post- 
pone, the  renewal  of  trouble. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  LABOR. 
A  .series  of  bad  crops  ensued,  and  tlic  axerage  ability  of  the  people  to  purchase  was 
correspondingly  dimini.shed.  The  speculative  mania,  however,  did  not  cease,  and  the  large 
amounts  of  capital  withdrawn  from  legitimate  production  and  lost  in  \isionar\-  enterprises, 
still  further  reduced  the  means  o{  employing  labor.  Stagnation  ensued  in  business;  stocks 
declined  in  value,  manufactories  were  closed,  aufl  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  employment 
was  greatlv  incrca.sed. 
48    ' 


754  COLUMBUvS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

While  these  -causes — half-natural,  half-artificial — were  at  work,  others,  wholly  ficti- 
tious, but  powerful  in  their  evil  results,  began  to  operate  in  the  creation  of  strife  and  ani- 
mosity. Monopolies  grew  and  flourished  to  an  extent  hitherto  unknown  in  the  United 
States.  On  the  other  hand,  labor  discovered  the  salutary  but  dangerous  power  of  combi- 
nation. A  rage  for  organizing  took  possession  of  the  minds  of  the  laboring  men  of  the 
country,  and  to  the  arrogant  face  of  nionopoh-  was  opposed  the  insurrectionar)-  front  of 
the  working  classes. 

More  serioTis  still  than  the  causes  here  referred  to  was  the  introduction  into  the  United 
States  of  a  large  mass  of  ignorant  foreign  labor.  The  worst  elements  of  several  European 
States  contributed  freely  to  the  manufactories  and  workshops  of  America,  and  a  class  of 
ideas  utterly  un-American  became  dominant  in  many  of  the  leading  establishments  of  the 
•country.  Communistic  theories  of  society  and  Anarchistic  views  of  government  began  to 
-clash  with  the  more  sober  republican  opinions  and  practices  of  the  people.  To  all  this 
must  be  added  the  evils  and  abuses  which  seem  to  be  incident  to  the  wage-system  of  labor, 
and  are,  perhaps,  inseparable  therefrom.  The  result  has  been  a  growing  jealous)-  of  the 
.two  great  parties  to  production,  the  laborer  and  the  capitalist. 

The  opening  of  trade  for  the  season  of  1886  witnessed  a  series  of  strikes  and  labor 
imbroglios  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Stich  troubles  were,  however,  confined  for  the  most 
part  to  the  cities  and  towns  where  labor  was  aggregated.  The  first  serious  trouble  occurred 
on  what  is  known  as  the  Gould  System  of  railways,  reaching  from  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Southwest.  A  single  workman,  belonging  to  the  Knights  of  Labor,  and  emploved  on  a 
branch  of  the  Texas  and  Pacific  Railway,  at  that  time  under  a  receivership,  and  therefore 
beyond  the  control  of  Jay  Gould  and  his  subordinates,  was  discharged  from  his  place.  This 
action  was  resented  b\'  the  Knights,  and  the  laborers  on  a  great  part  of  the  Gould  System 
were  ordered  to  strike.  The  movement  was,  for  a  season,  successful,  and  the  transportation 
of  freights  from  St.  Louis  to  the  Southwest  ceased.  Gradually,  however,  other  workmen 
-were  substituted  for  the  striking  Knights  ;  the  movement  of  freights  was  resumed,  and  the 
strike  ended  in  a  comparative  failure;  but  this  end  was  not  reached  until  a  severe  riot  in 
East  St.   Louis  had  occasioned  the  sacrifice  of  several  innocent  lives. 

ANARCHY  IN   CHICAGO. 

Par  more  alarming  was  the  outbreak  in  Chicago.  In  that  city  the  Socialistic  and 
Anarchistic  elements  were  sufficiently  powerful  to  present  .a  bold  front  to  the  authorities. 
Processions  bearing  red  flags  and  banners  with  Communistic  devices  and  mottoes,  frequently 
paraded  the  streets,  and  were  addressed  by  demagogues  who  avowed  themselves  the  open 
enemies  of  society  and  the  existing  order.  On  the  4th  of  May,  1886,  avast  crowd  of  this 
reckless  material  collected  in  a  place  called  the  Haymarket,  and  were  about  to  begin  the 
usual  inflammatory  proceedings,  when  a  band  of  policemen,  mostly  officers,  drew  near,  with 
the  evident  purpose  of  controlling  or  dispersing  the  meeting. 

A  terrible  scene  ensued.  Dynamite  bombs  were  thrown  from  the  crowd  and  exploded 
among  the  officers,  several  of  whom  were  blown  to  pieces  and  others  shockingly  mangled. 
The  mob  was,  in  turn,  attacked  by  the  police,  and  many  of  the  insurgents  were  shot  down. 
Order  was  presently  restored  in  the  city;  several  of  the  leading  Anarchists  were  arrested, 
brought  to  trial,  condemned,  and  executed  on  the  charge  of  inciting  to  murder.  Many  pre- 
cautionary measures  were  also  taken  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such  tragedies  as  had  been 
witnessed  in  the  Haymarket  Square.  On  the  following  day  a  similar,  though  less  danger- 
ous outbreak  occurred  in  Milwaukee;  but  in  this  city  the  insurrectionary  movement  was 
suppressed  without  serious  loss  of  life.      The  attention  of  the  American  people — let  us  hope 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  755 

to  some  good  end — was  recalled,  as  never  before,  to  the  dangerous  relations  existing  between 
the  upper  and  nether  sides  of  our  numicipal  populations. 

THE  CHARLESTON   EARTHQUAKE. 

The  summer  of  i886  was  iiRuu)ral)k-  in  American  annals,  on  account  of  that  great 
natural  phenomenon  known  as  the  Charleston  Earthquake.  On  the  night  of  the  31st  of 
August,  at  ten  minutes  before  ten  o'clock,  it  was  discovered  .->t  Washington  Cit\-,  and  at 
several  other  points  where  weather  and  signal  stations  were  established,  that  communica- 
tion with  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  was  suddenl\-  cut  off.  The  discover\'  was  made  by 
inquiries  relative  to  the  origin  of  a  shock  which  had  that  moment  been  felt,  with  varying 
degrees  of  violence,  throughout  nearly  the  whole  country  east  of  the  Mi.ssissippi  and  south 
of  the  Great  Lakes.  In  a  few  minutes  it  was  found  that  no  telegraphic  communication 
from  any  side  could  be  had  with  Charleston,  and  it  was  at  once  perceived  that  that  city  had 
suffered  from  the  convulsion.  Measures  were  hastily  devised  for  further  investigation,  and 
the  result  showed  that  the  worst  apprehensions  were  verified.  Without  a  moment's  warn- 
ing the  city  had  been  rocked  and  rent  to  its  very  foundations.  Hardly  a  building  in  the 
limits  of  Charleston,  or  in  the  country  surrounding,  had  escaped  serious  injury,  and  perhaps 
one-half  of  all  were  in  a  state  of  semi-wreck  or  total  niin.  With  the  exception  of  the  great 
earthquake  of  New  Madrid,  in  181 1,  no  other  such  scene  of  devastation  and  terror  had  ever 
been  witnessed  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States. 

Many  scientists  of  national  reputation  hurried  to  the  scene,  and  made  a  careful  scrutiny 
of  the  phenomena,  with  a  view  of  contributing  something  to  the  exact  knowledge  of  man- 
kind respecting  the  causes  and  character  of  earthquakes.  A  few  facts  and  principles  were 
determined  with  tolerable  accuracy.  One  was,  that  the  point  of  origin,  called  the  epicentre^ 
of  the  great  convulsion  had  been  at  a  place  about  twenty  miles  from  Charleston,  and  that 
the  motion  of  the  earth  immediately  over  this  centre  had  been  nearly  up  and  down — that  is, 
vertical.  A  second  point,  tolerably  well  established,  was  that  the  isoseismic  lines,  or  lines 
of  equal  disturbance,  might  be  drawn  around  the  epicentre  in  circles  very  nearly  concentric, 
and  that  the  circle  of  greatest  disturbance  was  at  some  distance  from  the  centre.  Still  a 
third  item  of  knowledge  tolerably  well  established  was  that  away  from  the  epicentre — as 
illustrated  in  the  ruins  of  Charleston — the  agitation  of  the  earth  was  not  in  the  nature  of  a 
single  shock  or  convulsion,  as  a  dropping  or  sliding  of  the  region  to  one  .side,  but  rather  a 
series  of  ven-  quick  and  violent  oscillations,  by  which  the  central  conntr\'  of  the  disturb- 
ance was,  in  the  course  of  some  five  minutes,  settled  somewhat  to  seaward. 

The  whole  coast  in  the  central  region  of  the  shock  was  modified  with  respect  to  the 
sea,  and  the  ocean  itself  was  thrown  into  turmoil  for  leagues  from  the  shore.  The  people 
of  the  city  were  in  a  state  of  the  utmost  consternation.  They  fled  from  their  falling  houses 
to  the  public  squares  and  parks  and  far  into  the  country.  Afraid  to  return  into  the  ruins 
they  threw  up  tents  and  light  booths  for  protection,  and  abode  for  weeks  away  from  their 
homes. 

The  disaster  to  Charleston  served  to  bring  out  some  of  the  better  qualities  of  our  civiliza- 
tion. Assistance  came  from  all  (piarters,  and  contributions  poured  in  for  the  support  and 
encouragement  of  the  afflicted  people.  For  several  weeks  a  .series  of  diminishing  shocks  con- 
tinued to  terrify  the  citizens  and  paralyze  the  efforts  at  restoration.  Hut  it  was  discovered 
in  the  course  of  time  that  these  shocks  were  only  the  dying  away  of  the  great  convulsion, 
and  that  they  gave  cause  for  hope  of  entire  ces.sation  rather  than  continued  alarm.  In  the 
lapse  of  a  few  months  the  debris  was  cleared  away,  business  was  resumed,  and  the  people 
were  again  safe  in  their  homes. 


756  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1887,  the  second  session  of  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  expired  by 
statuton.'  limitation.  The  work  of  the  body  had  not  been  so  fruitful  of  results  as  had  been 
desired  and  anticipated  by  the  friends  of  the  government;  but  some  important  legislation 
had  been  eflFected.  On  the  question  of  the  tariff  nothing  of  value  was  accomplished.  True, 
a  serious  measure  of  revenue  reform  had  been  brought  forward  at  an  early  date  in  the 
session,  but  owing  to  the  opposition  of  that  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  headed  by 
Samuel  J.  Randall,  and  committed  to  the  doctrine  of  protection,  as  well  as  to  the  antago- 
nism of  the  Republican  majority  in  the  Senate,  the  act  failed  of  adoption.  In  fact,  by  the 
beginning  of  1887,  it  had  become  apparent  that  the  existing  political  parties  cotild  not  be 
forced  to  align  on  the  issue  of  free  trade  and  tariff,  and  as  a  result  no  legislation  looking  to 
any  actual  refonn  in  the  current  revenue  system  of  the  United  States  could  be  carried 
through  Congress. 

THE  PENSION   LIST. 

On  the  question  of  extending  the  Pension  List,  however,  the  case  was  different.  A 
great  majority  of  both  parties  could  always  be  counted  on  to  favor  such  measures  as  looked 
to  the  increase  of  benefits  to  the  soldiers.  At  the  first  only  a  limited  number  of  pensions 
had  been  granted,  and  these  only  to  actually  disabled  and  injured  veterans  of  the  war  for 
the  Union.  With  the  lapse  of  time,  however,  and  the  relaxation  of  party  allegiance,  it 
became  more  and  more  important  to  each  of  the  parties  to  secure  and  hold  the  soldier  vote, 
without  which  it  was  felt  that  neither  could  maintain  ascendancy  in  the  government.  Nor 
can  it  be  denied  that  genuine  patriotic  sentiment  and  gratitude  of  the  Nation  to  its  defenders 
coincided  in  this  respect  with  political  ambition  and  selfishness.  The  Arrears  of  Pensions 
Act,  making  up  to  those  who  were  already  recipients  of  pensions  such  amounts  as  would 
have  accrued  if  the  benefit  had  dated  from  the  time  of  disability,  instead  of  from  the  time 
of  granting  the  pension,  was  passed  in  1879,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  list  of  beneficiaries 
was  greatly  enlarged. 

The  measure  presented  in  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  was  designed  to  extend  the  Pension 
List  so  as  to  include  all  regularly  enlisted  and  honorably  discharged  soldiers  of  the  Civil  War, 
who  had  become,  in  whole  or  in  part,  dependent  upon  the  aid  of  others  for  their  maintenance 
and  welfare.  The  measure  was  known  as  the  Dependent  Pensions  Bill,  and  though  many 
opposed  the  enactment  of  a  law  which  appeared  to  fling  away  the  bounty  of  the  government 
to  the  deserving  and  undeserving,  the  evil  and  the  just  alike,  yet-  a  majority  was  easily 
obtained  for  the  measure  in  both  Houses,  and  the  act  was  passed.  President  Cleveland, 
however,  interposed  his  veto,  and  the  proposed  law  fell  to  the  ground.  An  effort  was  made 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  to  pass  the  bill  over  the  veto,  but  the  movement  failed. 

THE  INTERSTATE  COMMERCE   BILL. 

By  far  the  most  important  and  noted  piece  of  legislation  of  the  session  was  embodied 
in  the  act  known  as  the  Interstate  Commerce  Bill.  For  some  fifteen  years  complaints 
against  the  methods  and  management  of  the  railways  of  the  United  States  had  been  heard 
on  many  sides,  and  in  cases  not  a  few  the  complaints  had  originated  in  actual  abuses,  some 
of  which  were  wilful,  but  most  were  merely  incidental  to  the  development  of  a  system  .so 
vast  and,  on  the  whole,  so  beneficial  to  the  public.  In  such  a  state  of  affairs  the  lasting 
benefit  is  always  forgotten  in  the  accidental  hurt.  That  large  class  of  people  who,  in  despite 
of  the  teachings  of  history-,  still  believe  in  the  cure  of  all  things  by  law,  and  that  mankind 
are  always  about  to  perish  for  want  of  more  legislation,  becan:e  clamorous  in  their  demand 
that  Congress  should  take  the  railways  by  the  throat  and  compel  them  to  accept  what  may 
be  called  the  system  of  uniformity  as  it  respects  all  charges  for  service  rendered. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  7o7 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  the  very  natnre  of  things  railways  are  unable  to  carry- 
freight  at  as  small  a  rate  per  hnndred,  or  passengers  at  as  small  a  charge  per  mile,  between 
places  approximate  as  between  places  at  great  distances.  It  must  be  remembered,  also, 
that  in  some  regions  it  is  many  times  more  expensive  to  build  and  operate  a  road  than  ic 
others.  To  carry-  one  of  these  great  thoroughfares  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  stretching  a  similar  track  across  the  level  prairies  of  Illinois.  It  nuisl 
still  further  be  considered  that,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  competition  will  do  its  legitimate 
and  inevitable  work  at  an  earlier  date  and  more  thoroughly  between  great  cities,  even  when 
remotelv  situated,  than  between  unimportant  points,  however  near  together.  The  traffic 
and  travel  between  two  villages  is  not  sufficient  to  create  competition  among  carriers.  It  is 
as  absurd  to  suppose  that  railway  tariffs  can  be  the  same  between  New  York  and  Chicago 
as  thev  are  between  two  Missouri  towns  as  it  is  to  suppose  that  butter  can  command  the 
same  price  in  an  Iowa  village  that  it  does  in  the  Quincy  Market  of  Boston.  What  should 
be  said  of  an  attempt  in  Congress  to  make  the  price  of  wheat  and  pork  uniform  throughout 
the  United  States  ? 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Bill  w'as  conceived  against  all  the  natural,  manifest  and 
iindeniable  principles  of  the  commercial  world.  It  was  passed  with  the  belief  that  all  dis- 
criminations in  the  charges  made  by  railways  doing  business  in  more  than  one  State  could 
be  prevented  by  law.  It  was  passed  as  if  to  amend  or  abrogate  those  natural  laws  of  trade 
and  traffic  which,  in  their  kind,  are  as  absolute  and  beneficial  as  the  law  of  gravitation. 
It  was  passed  with  the  ulterior  design  of  securing  to  its  promoters  the  support  of  that  ignor- 
ant and  embittered  race  of  men  whose  prejudices  are  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  know- 
ledge of  human  rights,  or  their  recognition  of  the  paramount  interests  of  the  whole  people. 
It  was  pa.ssed  under  the  pernicious  anti-democratic  theory  of  governmental  paternalism, 
which  says  that  men  are  infants  or  imbeciles,  unable  to  care  for  themselves  unless  they  are 
fed  and  led  and  coddled  by  some  motherly  government,  of  which  they  are  the  irresponsible 
offspring.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  other  measure  ever  adopted  by  the  American  Congress 
was  so  difficult  of  application,  or  was  so  barren  of  results  with  respect  to  the  interests 
which  it  was  intended  to  promote.  Disorder  was  the  first-born  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Bill,  and  its  last  offspring  wa.s — Apathy. 

ISSUES  OF  THE  CAMPAIGN   OF    1888. 

During  the  whole  of  Cleveland's  .Administration  the  public  mind  was  .swayed  and 
excited  by  the  movements  of  politics.  The  universality  of  partisan  newspajjcrs,  the  com- 
bination in  their  columns  of  all  the  news  of  the  world  with  the  invectives,  misrepresenta- 
tions, and  coimter-charges  of  party  leaders,  kept  political  questions  constanth'  uppermost, 
to  the  detriment  of  social  progress  and  industrial  interests.  Scarcely  had  President  Cleve- 
land entered  upon  his  office  as  Chief  Magistrate  when  the  question  of  succession  to  the 
presidency  was  agitated.  The  echoes  of  the  election  of  1884  had  not  died  away  before  the 
rising  murmur  of  1888  was  heard. 

By  the  last  year  of  the  current  .\dministration  it  was  seen  that  there  would  be  no  general 
break-up  of  the  existing  parties.  It  was  also  perceived  that  the  issues  between  them  must 
be  made,  rather  than  found  in  the  existing  .state  of  affairs.  The  sentiment  in  the  United 
States  in  favor  of  the  Constitutional  prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors  had  become  somewhat  extended  and  intensified  since  the  last  quadrennial  election. 
But  the  discerning  eye  might  perceive  that  the  real  issue  w.is  between  the  Republican  and 
Democratic  parties,  and  that  the  questions  iiuolved  were  to  be  rather  tliose  of  the  ])ast  than 
of  the  future. 


758  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

One  issue,  however,  presented  itself  which  had  a  living  and  practical  relation  to 
affairs,  and  that  was  the  question  of  Protection  to  American  Industp*'.  Since  the  campaign 
of  1884,  the  agitation  had  been  gradually  extended.  At  the  opening  of  the  session  in  1887, 
the  President,  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress,  departed  from  all  precedent,  and  devoted 
tlie  whole  document  to  the  discussion  of  the  single  question  of  a  Refo7-m  of  the  Reveuiie 
System  of  the  United  States.  The  existing  rates  of  duty  on  imported  articles  of  commerce 
had  so  greatly  augmented  the  income  of  the  Government  that  a  large  surplus  had  accumu- 
lated, and  was  still  accumulating,  in  the  National  Treasur}-.  This  fact  was  made  the  basis 
of  the  President's  argument  in  fa\'or  of  a  new  s\stem  of  revenue,  or,  at  least,  an  ample 
reduction  in  the  tariff  rates  under  the  old.  It  was  immediately  charged  by  the  Republicans 
that  the  project  in  question  meant  the  substitution  of  the  system  of  free  trade  in  the  United 
States,  as  against  the  system  of  protective  duties.  The  question  thus  involved  was  made 
the  bottom  issue  in  the  presidential  campaign  of  1888. 

As  to  the  nominees  of  the  various  parties,  it  was  from  the  first  a  foregone  conclusion 
that  Mr.  Cleveland  would  be  nominated  for  re-election  by  the  Democrats.  The  resiilt  justi- 
fied the  expectation.  The  Democratic  National  Convention  was  held  in  St.  Louis,  on  the  5th 
day  of  June,  1888,  and  Mr.  Cleveland  was  renominated  by  acclamation.  For  the  \'ice- 
presidential  nomination  there  was  a  considerable  contest ;  but  after  some  balloting  the  choice 
fell  on  ex-Senator  Allan  G.  Thuniian,  of  Ohio.  The  Republican  National  Convention  was 
held  in  Chicago,  on  the  19th  day  of  June.  Many  candidates  were  ardently  pressed  upon  the 
body,  and  the  contest  was  long  and  spirited.  It  was  believed .  up  to  the  time  of  the  Con- 
vention that  James  G.  Blaine,  who  was  evidently  the  favorite  of  the  great  majority,  would  be 
again  nominated  for  the  presidency.  But  the  antagonisms  against  that  statesman  in  his  own 
party  were  thought  to  make  it  inexpedient  to  bring  him  forward  again  as  the  nominee.  His 
name  was,  accordingh- — at  his  own  request — not  presented  to  the  convention.  The  most 
prominent  candidates  were  Senator  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio;  Judge  Walter  Q.  Gresham,  of 
Chicago;  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  of  New  York;  ex-Governor  Russell  A.  Alger,  of  Michigan; 
ex-Senator  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Indiana,  and  Senator  William  B.  Allison,  of  Iowa.  The 
voting  was  continued  to  the  eighth  ballot,  when  the  choice  fell  upon  Benjamin  Harrison,  of 
Indiana.  In  the  evening,  Levi  P.  Morton,  of  New  York,  was  nominated  for  the  vice- 
presidency  on  the  first  ballot. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Prohibition  party  had  held  its  National  Convention  at  Indian- 
apolis, and  on  the  30th  of  May  had  nominated  for  the  presidency  General  Clinton  B.  Fisk, 
of  New  Jersey,  and  for  the  vice-presidency  John  A.  Brooks,  of  INIissouri.  The  Democratic 
platfonn  declared  for  a  reform  of  the  revenue  system  of  the  United  States,  and  reaffirmed 
the  principle  of  adjusting  the  tariff  on  imports,  with  strict  regard  to  the  actual  needs  of 
governmental  expenditure.  The  Republican  platfonn  declared  also  for  a  refonn  of  the 
tariff  schedule,  but  at  the  same  time  stoutly  affinned  the  maintenance  of  the  protective 
system,  as  such,  as  a  part  of  the  permanent  policy  of  the  United  States.  Both  parties 
deferred  to  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  the  countr>-  in  favor  of  the  soldiers,  their  rights  and 
interests,  and  both  endeavored,  by  the  usual  incidental  circumstances  of  the  hour,  to  gain 
the  advantage  of  the  other  before  the  American  people.  The  Prohibitionists  entered  the 
campaign  on  the  distinct  proposition  that  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
should  be  prohibited  throughout  the  United  States  by  constitutional  amendment.  To  this 
was  added  a  clause  in  favor  of  extendinsf  the  right  of  suffrage  to  women. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  759 

ELECTION    OF   HARRISON. 

As  the  canvass  progressed  during  the  sunnner  and  autumn  of  1888,  it  hecame  evident 
that  the  result  was  in  doubt.  The  contest  was  exceedingly  close.  As  in  1880  and  1884, 
the  critical  States  were  New  York,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey  and  Indiana.  In  all  of  the  other 
Northern  States  the  Republicans  were  almost  certain  to  win,  while  the  Democrats  were 
equally  certain  of  success  in  all  the  South.  In  the  last  weeks  of  the  campaign,  General 
Harrison  grew  in  favor,  and  his  party  gained  perceptibly  to  the  close.  The  result  showed 
success  for  the  Republican  candidate.  He  received  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  electoral 
votes,  against  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  votes  for  Cleveland.  The  latter,  however, 
appeared  to  a  better  advantage  on  the  popular  count,  having  a  considerable  majority  over 
General  Harrison.  General  Fisk,  the  Prohibition  candidate,  received  nearly  three  hundred 
thousand  votes,  but  under  the  system  of  voting  no  electoral  vote  of  any  State  was  obtained 
for  him  in  the  so-called  "College"  by  which  the  actual  choice  is  made.  As  soon  as  the 
result  was  known  the  excitement  attendant  upon  the  campaign  subsided  and  political  ques- 
tions gave  place  to  other  interests. 

The  last  days  of  Cleveland's  administration  and  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress  were  signalized 
by  the  admission  into  the  Union  of  four  new  States,  making  the  number  forty-two.  Since 
the  incoming  of  Colorado,  in  1876,  no  State  had  been  added  to  the  Republic.  Meanwhile 
the  tremendous  tides  of  population  had  continued  to  flow  to  the  West  and  Northwest,  rapidly 
filling  up  the  great  territories.  Of  these  the  greatest  was  Dakota,  with  its  area  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-two  square  miles.  In  1887  the  ques- 
tion of  dividing  the  territory  by  a  line  running  east  and  west  was  agitated,  and  the  measure 
finally  prevailed.  Steps  were  taken  by  the  people  of  both  sections  for  admission  into  the 
Union.  Montana,  with  her  one  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
si.x  square  miles  of  territory,  had  meanwhile  acquired  a  sufficient  population;  and  Wash- 
ington Territon,-,  with  its  area  of  si.xty-nine  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-four  square 
miles,  also  knocked  for  admission.  In  the  closing  days  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress  a  bill  was 
passed  raising  all  these  four  territories — South  Dakota,  North  Dakota,  Montana  and  Wash- 
ington— to  the  plane  of  Statehood.  The  Act  contemplated  the  adoption  of  State  Constitu- 
tions and  a  proclamation  of  admission  by  the  next  President.  It  thus  happened  that  the 
honor  of  bringing  in  this  great  addition  to  the  States  of  the  Union  was  divided  between  the 
outgoing  and  incoming  administrations. 

Another  .\ct  of  Congress  was  also  of  National  importance.  Hitherto  the  government 
had  been  administered  through  seven  departments,  at  the  head  of  each  of  which  was  placed 
a  Cabinet  officer,  the  seven  together  constituting  the  advisers  of  the  President.  No  pro- 
vision for  such  an  arrangement  exists  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  but  the 
statutes  of  the  Nation  provide  for  such  a  sj'stem  as  most  in  accordance  with  the  Republican 
fonn  of  government.  Early  in  1889  a  measure  was  brought  forward  in  Congress,  and 
adopted,  for  the  institution  of  a  new  department,  to  be  called  the  Department  of  .\gricul- 
ture.  Practically  the  mea.sure  involved  the  elevation  of  what  had  previously  been  an 
agricultural  bureau  in  the  Department  of  the  Interior  to  the  rank  of  a  Cabinet  office. 
Among  foreign  nations,  France  has  been  conspicuous  for  the  patronage  which  the  govern- 
ment has  given  to  the  agricultural  pursuits  of  that  countr>'.  Hitherto  in  the  Ignited  States, 
though  agriculture  had  been  the  greatest  of  all  the  producing  interests  of  the  people,  it  had 
been  neglected  for  more  political  and  less  useful  dcpartmeuLs  of  .\merican  life  and  enter- 
prise. By  this  act  of  Congress  the  Cabinet  offices  were  increased  in  number  to  eight  instead 
of  seven. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  PRESENT, 

^ENJAMIN   HARRISON,    twenty-third  President  of  the 
»  United  States,  was  born   at  North  Bend,  Ohio,  on   the 

20th  of  August,  1833.  He  is  the  son  of  John  Scott 
Harrison,  a  prominent  citizen  of  his  native  State  ;  grand- 
son of  President  William  Henr>'  Harrison  ;  great-grand- 
son of  Benjamin  Harrison,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  In  countries  where  attention  is  paid  to 
honorable  lineage,  the  circumstances  of  General  Harri- 
son's descent  would  be  considered  of  much  importance, 
but  in  America  little  attention  is  paid  to  one's  ancestry 
and  more  to  himself 

Harrison's  early  life  was  passed  as  that  of  other 
American  boys,  in  attendance  at  school  and  at  home 
duties  on  the  farm.  He  was  a  student  at  the  institution  called  Fanners'  College  for  two 
years.  Afterwards  he  attended  Miami  University,  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  and  was  graduated 
therefrom  in  June,  1852.  He  took  in  marriage  the  daughter  of  Dr.  John  W.  Scott,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Oxford  Female  College.  After  a  course  of  study  he  entered  the  profession  of 
law,  removing  to  Indianapolis  and  establishing  himself  in  that  city.  With  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  he  became  a  soldier  of  the  Union,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Brevet  Brigadier- 
General  of  Volunteers.  Before  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  elected  Reporter  of  Decisions 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Indiana. 

In  the  period  following  the  Civil  War,  General  Harrison  rose  to  distinction  as  a  civilian. 
In  1876  he  was  the  unsuccessful  candidate  of  the  Republican  party  for  governor  of  Indiana. 
In  1 88 1  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  where  he  won  the  reputation  of  a  leader 
and  statesman.  In  1884  his  name  was  prominently  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
presidential  nomination  of  his  party,  but  Mr.  Blaine  was  successful.  After  the  lapse  of  four 
years,  however,  it  was  found  at  Chicago  that  General  Harrison  more  than  any  other  combined 
in  himself  all  the  elements  of  a  successful  candidate;  and  the  event  justified  the  choice  of 
the  party  in  making  him  the  standard-bearer  in  the  ensuing  campaign. 

General  Harrison  was,  in  accordance  with  the  usages  of  the  government,  inaugurated 
President  on  the  4th  of  March,  1889.  He  had  succeeded  better  than  any  of  his  predecessors 
in  keeping  his  own  counsels  during  the  interim  between  his  election  and  the  inauguration. 
No  one  had  discerned  his  purposes,  and  all  waited  with  interest  the  expressions  of  his 
Inaugural  Address.  In  that  document  he  set  forth  the  policy  which  he  would  favor  as  the 
Chief  Executive,  recommending  the  same  general  measures  which  the  Republican  party 
had  advocated  during  the  campaign. 

On  the  day  following  the  inaugural  ceremonies.  President  Harrison  sent  in  the  nomi- 
nations for  his  Cabinet  officers,  as  follows  :  For  Secretary  of  State,  James  G.  Blaine,  of 
Maine;  for   Secretary^  of  the  Treasury-,   William  Wiudom,  of  Minnesota;  for  Secretan,-  of 

(760) 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA.  701 

War,  Redfield  Proctor,  of  \*ennoiit;  for  Secretarv  of  the  Xa.v\ ,  Benjamin  F.  Tracy,  of 
New  York;  for  Postmaster-General,  John  Wanamaker,  of  Pennsylvania;  for  Secretarjof  the 
Interior,  John  W.  Xoble,  of  Missonri;  for  Attorney-General,  William  H.  H.  Miller,  of 
Indiana,  and  for  Secretary  of  Agricultnre, — the  new  department — Jeremiah  Rnsk,  of  Wis- 
consin. These  appointments  >vere  immediately  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  and  the  members 
of  the  new  administration  assumed  their  respective  official  duties. 

Within  two  months  after  Harrison's  inauguration,  an  event  occurred  which  recalled 
the  mind  of  the  American  people  to  the  striking  incidents  of  the  Revolutionar\-  epoch. 
The  event  in  question  was  the  great  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  Institution  of  the 
American  Republic.  The  particular  date  selected  was  the  30th  of  April,  1889,  being  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of  Washington,  at  New  York  City.  All  of  the 
ceremonies  connected  with  the  commemoration  in  1889  were  associated,  as  far  as  practicable, 
with  the  scenes  of  the  first  inauguration.  The  event  was  so  interesting  and  so  distinct!)- 
National  as  to  warrant  a  few  paragraphs  descriptive  of  the  incidents  of  the  celebration. 

EPOCHS  IN  OUR  NATIONAL  LIFE. 

The  Revolutionary-  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  was  marked  by  several 
crises  worthy  of  commemoration  by  people  of  another  age.     These  periods  were  : 

1.  The  Declaration  of  Independence. 

2.  The  fonnation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

3.  The  adoption  of  the  Constitution  by  the  States. 

4.  The  Institution  of  the  American  Republic. 

Of  the  first  of  these  crises  we  should  note  the  fact  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  a  democratic  and  popular  revolution.  It  was  essentially  destructive  in  character.  It 
was  designed  to  break  the  union  with  the  ]\Iotlier  Country-,  to  throw  off  the  fetters — real  or 
imaginar>- — which  bound  us  to  the  Old- World  order. 

The  second,  or  Constitutional  crisis,  was  reactionar>-  and  constructive.  It  was  the 
epoch  of  formation.  The  Fathers,  acting  from  sentiments  of  common  motive  and  common 
hope,  began  to  consult  about  rebuilding,  or  building  anew,  a  structure  in  which  civil  liberty 
in  America  might  abide.  Washington  and  his  friends  earnestly  debated  the  feasibility  of 
a  system  of  government  better  than  tlie  old  Confederation.  The  first  conferences  looking 
to  this  end  were  held  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  then  at  Annapolis.  Finally,  a  great  conven- 
tion of  delegates  was  assembled  at  Philadelphia.  The  sittings  were  held  in  the  summer 
of  1787.  That  strange  compromise  called  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  pro- 
duced and  signed  b\-  the  delegates,  with  Washington  as  their  President. 

This  work  was  followed  by  a  great  political  agitation.  Should  the  new  Constitution 
be  adopted;  or,  should  it  be  rejected  and  the  old  Confederative  system  be  continued  ?  On 
these  questions  there  was  a  division  of  parties,  the  lines  of  which  have  not  been  wholly 
obliterated  to  the  present  day. 

The  story  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  has  already  been  given  in  its  own  place 
in  the  preceding  narrative,  .\fter  the  adoption  by  nine  or  ten  States,  came  the  striking 
event  of  the  institution  of  the  new  government.  Washington  was  made  President.  \ 
Congress  was  constituted  by  an  election  of  a  House  of  Representatives  and  a  Senate,  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  the  new  instrument.  The  actual  setting-up  of  the  goveniment 
occurred  on  the  30th  of  .\pril,  1789.  Tliis  was  the  particular  event  which,  after  a  lapse 
of  a  hundred  vears,  the  people  and  government  of  the  United  States  determined  to  celebrate 
with  suitable  centennial  and  commemorative  exercises. 


762  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

It  was  decided  that  the  intended  celebration  should  conform  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the 
ceremonies  attending  the  actual  inauguration  of  Washington.  There  was  a  departure  from 
the  tvpe  of  World's  Fairs  which  had  already  been  celebrated  several  times  in  Europe  and 
America.  In  the  commemoration  of  the  institution  of  the  government  the  feature  of  expo- 
sition was  wholly  omitted.  Even,'thing  was  designed  to  point  backwards  to  the  events  of 
a  century  ago,  and  to  bring  to  vivid  recollection  the  manners  and  condition  of  the  American 
people  when  the  republic  of  1789  was  instituted. 

CELEBRATION  OF  THE  INSTITUTION  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 

The  movement  for  the  celebration  began  in  New  York  City.  A  committee  was  raised 
and  a  plan  outlined  for  the  coming  event.  It  was  decided  to  devote  two  days,  namely  the 
30th  of  April  and  the  ist  of  May,  1889,  to  the  celebration.  Everything  was  accordingly 
arranged  for  a  great  military  and  civic  parade  in  New  York  on  the  days  indicated.  For  a 
fortnight  before  the  event  the  great  trains  on  the  railwaj-s  centring  in  the  metropolis  began 
to  pour  out  an  unusual  cargo  of  human  life.  The  throngs  were  gathered  from  all  parts  of 
the  republic,  but  principally  from  the  old  Thirteen  States. 

The  rise  of  the  Centennial  morning  was  auspicious,  and  the  general  appearance  of  New 
Y'ork  City  was  such  as  to  excite  the  liveliest  admiration.  Never  was  a  great  citj'  more 
completely  clad  in  gay  apparel.  Ever%-  street  on  both  sides  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach 
was  ornamented  with  flags  and  streamers,  mottoes  and  emblems  of  jubilee.  Broadway  and 
Fifth  Avenue  were  the  most  elaborately  adorned.  It  is  doubtful  whether  a  finer  display  has 
ever  been  made  in  the  streets  of  any  city.  The  decorations  covered  all  public  and  private 
edifices.  Scarcely  a  house  on  Manhattan  Island  but  had  its  share  in  the  display.  Could 
one  have  been  lifted  in  a  balloon  above  Castle  Garden,  sweeping  northward  with  his  glass, 
he  would  have  seen  flags  on  flags  from  the  Battery  to  Spuyten  Duyvil.  Along  both  sides 
of  the  North  and  East  Rivers,  and  in  the  islands  of  the  bay,  the  universal  emblems  were 
flung  to  the  breeze,  and  the  purest  of  sunshine  glorified  the  scene  with  a  blaze  of  morning 
light. 

Arrangements  had  been  made  for  the  President,  Vice-President  and  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  with  other  prominent  officers  of  the  government,  to  participate  in  the  exercises. 
The  part  assigned  President  Harrison  was  the  part  of  Washington  in  the  first  inauguration. 
On  the  arrival  of  the  Chief  ^Magistrate,  he  was  tendered  a  public  reception  at  several  places 
in  the  cit)-.  In  the  evening  he  attended  a  great  ball  in  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House, 
prepared  in  imitation  of  the  Washingtonian  ball  of  1789. 

On  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  April,  the  streets  of  New  York  quickly  filled  with 
people.  The  exercises  in  commemoration  of  the  institution  of  the  government  were  held 
in  Wall  Street,  where  a  platform  had  been  erected  in  front  of  the  Treasury-  building, 
occupying  the  site  of  the  Old  Federal  Hall,  and  marked  by  the  presence  of  Ward's  colossal 
statue  of  Washington,  on  the  spot  where  the  Father  of  his  Countn,'  had  been  inaugurated. 
Here  was  delivered  the  Centennial  Oration,  by  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  an  address  by  Presi- 
dent Harrison,  and  a  poem  written  for  the  occasion  b\-  John  Greenleaf  Whittier.  ]\Iean- 
while,  the  military-  parade,  greatest  of  all  such  displays  in  the  United  States  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  review  of  the  soldiers  at  Washington  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  had 
been  prepared  for  the  march.  The  procession  was  under  the  command  of  Major-General 
John  M.  Schofield.  The  line  of  march  was  from  Wall  Street  into  Broadway,  up  Broadway 
to  Wa^•erly  Place,  through  Waverh'  Place  into  Fifth  Avenue,  along  that  thoroughfare  to 
Fourteenth  Street,  thence  around  Union  Square  to  Fifth  Avenue,  and  thence  northward  to 
Central  Park. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA  763 

Through  all  this  distance  and  on  both  sides  of  the  procession  the  streets  were  a  solid 
wall  of  human  beings,  rising  to  the  rear  by  ever)-  kind  of  contrivance  which  ingenuity- 
could  invent.  The  mass  on  the  sidewalks  was  from  twenty  to  fifty  persons  deep.  In  all 
advantageous  positions  scaffolding  with  ascending  seats  had  been  erected  for  the  acconnno- 
dation  of  the  multitudes.  At  ever)-  street  crossing  vehicles  were  drawn  up  in  a  solid  mass, 
and  the  privilege  of  standing  in  these  or  on  bo.xes  or  carts  was  sold  at  high  figures  to  eager 
people  not  better  pro\ided  with  a  point  of  view.  Housetops,  balconies,  stoops,  and 
verandas  were  crowded  to  their  utmost  capacity.  On  came  the  procession,  headed  by  the 
President  and  the  commanding  general.  At  the  head  of  the  column  were  two  thotisand 
regulars  from  the  anny.  Then  came  the  cadets  from  West  Point,  with  their  splendid 
marching  ;  then  the  artiller)-  of  the  regular  anny-  ;  then  the  marines  and  naval  cadets,  whose 
peculiar  rolling  movement  showed  that  they  had  been  recently  gathered  from  the  decks  of 
ships. 

After  this  division  came  the  militiamen  and  volunteers  of  the  National  Guards  from 
the  different  States  of  the  Union.  Behind  this  magnificent  display  followed  the  veterans 
of  the  Civil  War — the  men  of  the  Grand  Anny  of  the  Republic,  headed  by  their  comman- 
der-in-chief. General  William  Warner.  The  old  soldiers  were  in  column  to  the  number  of 
twelve  thousand,  arranged  according  to  the  locality  from  which  they  came,  the  rear  being 
closed  with  a  magnificent  body  numbering  nearly  four  thousand  from  Brooklyn  and 
Kings  County,  Xew  York.  It  was  already  nightfall  when  this  extreme  left  of  the  column 
passed  the  reviewing  stand  on  Fifth  Avenue,  where  the  President  and  the  chief  men  of  the 
Nation  were  gathered. 

The  programme  prepared  by  the  Citizens'  Committee  embraced  a  general  holida)-  of 
three  days'  duration,  during  which  business  was  suspended  throughout  the  city.  On  the 
29th  and  30th  of  April  and  on  the  ist  day  of  May  the  restriction  was  faithfully  regarded. 
One  might  traverse  Broadway  and  find  but  few  business  establishments  open  to  the  public. 
This  was  true  particularly  of  the  two  principal  days  of  the  festival. 

THE  GREAT  CIVIC  DISPLAY. 

It  now  remains  to  notice  the  great  ci\ic  parade  on  the  ist  of  May,  with  which  the 
commemorative  exercises  were  concluded.  The  design  was  that  this  should  represent  the 
industries,  the  progress,  and  in  general  the  civic  life  of  the  Metropolis  of  the  Nation  and 
of  the  countr)-  at  large,  as  distingiiished  from  the  militarj-  display  of  the  preceding  day. 
It  was  found  from  the  experience  of  the  30th  that  the  line  of  march  was  too  long,  and  the 
second  day's  course  was  somewhat  shorter.  It  is  not  intended  in  this  connection  to  enter 
into  any  elaborate  account  of  the  civic  procession  of  the  third  day.  It  was  second  only  in 
importance  to  the  great  militar\-  parade  which  had  preceded  it.  The  procession  was 
composed,  in  large  part,  of  those  various  civic  orders  and  brotherhoods  with  which  modem 
societ>-  so  much  abounds.  In  these  the  foreign  nationalities  which  ha\e  obtained  so  strong 
a  footing  in  New  York  City  were  largely  prevalent.  The  German  societies  were  out  in  full 
force.  Companies  representing  almost  ever)-  nation  of  the  Old  World  were  in  the  line, 
carrying  gay  banners,  keeping  step  to  the  nnisic  of  the  magnificent  bands,  and  proudly 
lifting  their  mottoes  and  emblems  in  the  May-day  moniing. 

The  second  general  feature  of  this  procession  was  the  historical  part.  The  primitive 
life  of  Manhattan  Island,  the  adventures  of  the  early  explorers  and  discoverers  along  the 
American  coast,  the  striking  incidents  in  the  early  annals  of  the  Old  Thirteen  States,  were 
allegorized  and  mounted  in  visible  fonn  on  chariots  and  drawn  through  the  streets.  All 
the  old  heroes  of  American  history  from  Cohunbus  to  Peter  Stuyvesant  were  seen  again  in 


764  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

mortal  fonn,  received  obeisance,  and  heard  the  shouts  of  the  multitudes.  From  ten  o'clock  in 
the  forenoon  till  half-past  three  in  the  afternoon  the  procession  was  under  way,  the  principal 
line  of  march  being  down  Fifth  Avenue  and  throiigh  the  noted  squares  of  the  city. 
With  the  coming  of  evening  the  pyrotechnic  display  of  the  preceding  night  was  renewed  in 
many  parts  of  the  metropolis,  though  it  could  hardly  be  said  that  the  fire-works  were  equal 
in  brilliancy,  beauty  and  impressiveness  to  the  magnificent  daj-pageants  of  the  streets. 

One  of  the  striking  features  of  the  celebration  was  the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  the 
vast  multitudes  were  breathed  into  and  breathed  out  of  the  city.  In  the  principal  hotels 
fully  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  strangers  were  registered  as  guests.  More  than  twice 
this  nmnber  was  distributed  in  the  smaller  lodging  houses  and  private  dwellings  of  New 
York  and  Brooklyn.  Yet  the  careful  observer  abroad  in  the  streets  saw  neither  the  coming 
nor  the  going.  With  the  appearance  of  the  days  of  the  celebration  the  throngs  were 
present  ;  on  the  following  days  they  were  gone.  The  great  railways  centring  in  the 
metropolis  had  done  their  work  noiselessly,  speedily,  eflFectively.  It  may  well  be  recorded 
as  one  of  the  marvels  of  modem  times  that  only  two  persons  are  said  to  have  lost  their  lives 
in  this  tremendous  assemblage,  extending  through  several  days,  and  that  at  least  one  of 
these  died  suddenh'  from  heart  disease,  while  the  mamjer  of  the  death  of  the  other  was 
unknown.  Such  is  the  triumph  which  the  master}-  of  the  4iuinan  mind  over  the  forces  of 
the  material  world  has  easily  achieved  in  our  age,  under  the  guidance  of  that  beneficent 
science  by  which  the  world  is  at  once  enlightened  and  protected  from  danger. 

THREATENINGS  OF  WAR  BETWEEN  GERMANY  AND  AMERICA. 

The  close  of  the  year  1888  and  the  beginning  of  1889  were  marked  by  a  peculiar  epi- 
sode in  the  history  of  the  country.  An  unexpected  and  even  dangerous  complication  arose 
between  the  United  States  and  Germany  relative  to  the  Samoan  Islands.  This  compara- 
tively unimportant  group  of  the  South  Pacific  lies  in  a  southwe^t^y  direction,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  about  five  tiiousand  miles  from  San  Francisco,  and- nearli-  two  thousand  miles 
eastward  from  Australia.  The  long-standing  policy  of  the  government  established  under 
the  administration  of  Washington  and  ever  since  maintained,  to  have  no  entanglements 
with  foreign  nations,  seemed  in  this  instance  to  be  strangely  at  variance  with  the  facts. 

During  1888  the  civil  affairs  of  the  Samoan  Islands  were  thrown  into  extreme  confu- 
sion b}-  what  was  really  the  progressive  disposition  of  the  people,  but  what  appeared  in  the 
garb  of  an  insurrection  against  the  established  authorities.  The  government  of  the  islands 
is  a  monarchy.  The  country  is  ruled  by  native  princes,  and  is  independent  of  foreign 
powers.  The  capital,  Apia,  lies  on  a  bay  of  the  same  name  on  the  northern  coast  of  the 
principal  island.      It  was  here  that  the  insurrection  gained  greatest  headway. 

The  revolutionary  movement  was  headed  by  an  audacious  chieftain  called  Tamasese. 
The  king  of  the  island  was  Malietoa,  and  his  chief  supporter,  Mataafa.  At  this  time,  the 
German  Empire  was  represented  in  Samoa  by  its  Consul-General,  Herr  Weber,  and  the 
United  States  was  represented  by  Hon.  Harold  M.  Sewall.  A  German  armed  force  virtu- 
ally deposed  Malietoa  and  set  up  Tamasese  on  the  throne.  On  the  other  hand,  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  United  States,  following  the  policy  of  his  government,  stood  by  the  estab- 
lished authority,  supporting  the  native  sovereign  and  Mataafa.  The  American  and  German 
authorities  in  the  island  were  thus  brought  into  conflict,  and  serious  difficulties  occurred 
between  the  ships  of  the  two  nations  in  the  harbor. 

When  the  news  of  this  state  of  affairs  reached  Germany,  in  April,  1889,  several  addi- 
tional men-of-war  were  sent  out  to   the  island   to  uphold  the  German  cause.      Mataafa  and 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  765 

the  Germans  were  thus  brought  to  war.  Meanwhile  the  American  government  took  up 
the  cause  of  its  Consul  and  of  King  Malictoa,  as  against  the  insurrection.  A  section  of 
the  American  navy  was  despatched  to  the  distant  island,  and  the  ships  of  war  of  two  of  the 
greatest  nations  of  Christendom  w-ere  thus  set  face  to  face  in  a  harbor  of  the  South  Pacific 
Ocean. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs,  on  the  22d  of  March,  1889,  one  of  the  most  violent  hurri- 
canes ever  known  in  the  islands  blew  up  from  the  north,  and  the  American  and  German 
war  vessels  were  driven  upon  the  great  reef  which  constitutes  the  only  breakwater  outside 
of  the  harbor  of  Apia.  Here  the\-  were  wrecked.  The  American  war-ships  A'ipsic,  Trenton 
and  /  'niiiin/ia  were  dashed  into  ruins.  The  German  vessels,  Ad/cr,  Olga  and  Eber,  were 
also  lost.  The  English  vessel  Calliope^  which  was  caught  in  the  stonn,  was  the  only  war 
ship  which  escaped.  b>-  steaming  out  to  sea.  Serious  loss  of  life  accompanied  the  disaster: 
four  American  officers  and  forty-six  men,  nine  Gennan  officers  and  eightj-seven  men,  sank 
to  rise  no  more. 

Meanwhile  England  had  become  interested  in  the  dispute  and  had  taken  a  stand  with 
the  United  States  as  against  the  decision  of  Gennany.  The  matter  became  of  so  great 
importance  that  President  Harrison,  who  had  in  the  meantime  acceded  to  office  as  Chief 
Magistrate,  appointed,  with  the  advice  of  the  Senate,  an  Embassy  E.xtraordinar>-  to  go  to 
Berlin  and  meet  Prince  Bismarck  in  a  conference,  with  a  view  to  a  peaceful  solution  of  the 
difficulty.  The  Ambassadors  appointed  for  this  purpose  were  J.  A.  Kas.son,  of  Iowa; 
William  \V.  Phelps,  of  New  Jersey;  and  G.  H.  Bates,  of  Delaware.  The  Commissioners 
set  out  on  the  13th  of  April,  and  on  their  arrival  at  the  capital  of  the  German  Empire 
opened  negotiations  with  Chancellor  Bismarck  and  his  son.  The  attitude  and  demand 
of  the  American  government  was  that  the  independence  of  Samoa  under  its  native  sover- 
eign should  be  acknowledged  and  guaranteed  \>\  the  great  nations  concerned  in  the  contro- 
versy. The  conference  closed  in  May,  1889,  with  the  restoration  of  King  Malietoa  and 
the  recognition  of  his  sovereignty'  over  the  island. 

THE  JOHNSTOWN    FLOOD. 

The  closing  week  of  May,  1889,  was  made  forever  memorable  in  the  histon^  of  the 
United  States  by  the  destruction  of  Johnstown,  Pennsylvania.  The  calamity  was  caused 
by  the  bursting  of  a  reservoir  and  the  pouring  out  of  a  deluge  in  the  valley  below.  A  large 
artificial  lake  had  been  constructed  in  the  ravine  of  the  South  Fork  River,  a  tributar>'  of 
the  Conemaugh.  It  was  a  fishing  lake,  the  property  of  a  company  of  wealthy  sportsmen, 
and  was  about  five  miles  in  length,  var^-ing  in  depth  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet.  The 
countn,-  below  the  lake  was  thickly  peopled.  The  city  of  Johnstown  lay  at  the  junction 
of  the  South  P'ork  with  the  Conemaugh.  In  the  last  days  of  May  unusually  heavy  rains  fell 
in  all  that  region,  swelling  every  stream  to  a  torrent.  The  South  Fork  Lake  became  full 
to  overflowing.  The  dam  had  been  imperfectly  constructed.  On  the  afternoon  of  May 
31st  the  dam  of  the  reser\-oir  burst  wide  open  in  the  centre,  and  a  solid  wall  of  water  //(^w 
tiL'iniy  to  fifty  feel  in  height  rushed  down  the  valle\  with  terrific  violence. 

The  destruction  which  ensued  was  as  great  as  the  modern  world  has  witnessed.  In  the 
path  of  the  deluge  ever\thing  was  swept  away.  Johnstown  was  totalK'  wrecked  and  was 
thrown  ir  an  indescribable  heap  of  horror  against  the  aqueduct  of  the  Pennsylvania  railway 
below  the  towTi.  Here  the  niins  caught  fire,  and  the  shrieks  of  hundreds  of  victims  were 
drowned  in  the  holocaust.  About  three  thousand  people  perished  in  the  flood  or  were  bunied 
to  death  in  the  niins.  The  heart  of  the  Nation  responded  ciuickly  to  the  suflerings  of  the  sur- 
vivors, and  millions  of  dollars  in  money  and  supplies  were  poured  out  to  relieve  the  despair 
of  those  who  survived  the  calamitv. 


766  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  year  1889  witnessed  the  assembling  at  Washington  City  of  an  International  Con- 
gress. The  bodv  was  composed  of  delegates  from  the  Central  and  South  American  States, 
from  Mexico,  and  the  United  States  of  America.  Popularly  the  assembly  was  known  as 
the  "  Pan-American  Congress."  The  event  was  the  culmination  of  a  policy  adopted  by  the 
United  States  some  3  ears  previously.  General  Grant,  during  his  presidency,-  and  in  the 
subsequent  period  of  his  life,  had  endeavored  to  promote  more  intimate  relations  with  the 
Spanish-American  peoples.  James  G.  Blaine,  Secretary  of  State  under  Garfield,  entertained 
a  similar  ambition  and  was  the  principal  promoter  of  the  enterprise.  The  opposition  to  the 
movement  was  based  on  prejudice — mostly  political.  Mr.  Blaine  was  accused  unjustly  of  a 
purpose  to  create  in  the  United  States  a  policy  similar  to  Disraeli's  "high-jingoism  "  in 
Great  Britain.  The  United  States  was  to  become  the  arbiter  of  the  Western  nations.  To 
this  end  the  Central  American  and  South  American  States  must  be  brought,  first  into  inti- 
macy with  our  Republic,  and  afterwards  be  made  to  follow  her  lead  in  warding  off"  all 
Europeanism. 

The  death  of  Garfield  prevented  the  institution  of  some  such  policy  as  that  here  vaguely 
defined.  Nevertheless,  in  1884,  an  Act  was  passed  by  Congress  authorizing  the  President 
to  appoint  a  commission  "to  ascertain  and  report  upon  the  best  modes  of  securing  more 
intimate  international  commercial  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  several  coun- 
tries of  Central  and  South  America."  Commissioners  were  sent  out  to  the  countries  referred 
to,  and  the  movement  for  the  Congress  was  started.  Not  until  May  of  1 888,  however,  was 
the  Act  passed  providing  for  the  Congress.  The  Spanish- American  nations  responded  to  the 
overtures  and  took  the  necessary  steps  to  meet  the  United  States  in  the  conference.  The 
objects  contemplated  were,  first,  to  promote  measures  pertaining  to  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  peoples  concerned  ;  to  establish  customs-unions  among  them  ;  to  improve  the  means 
of  coaimunication  between  the  ports  of  the  States  represented,  and  to  advance  the  commer- 
cial interests  and  political  harmony  of  the  nations  of  the  New  World. 

ASSEMBLING  OF   THE  PAN-AMERICAN  CONGRESS. 

The  Spanish-American  and  Portuguese-American  States,  to  the  number  of  nine, 
appointed  their  delegates,  and  the  latter  arrived  in  the  United  States  in  theautunm  of  1889. 
President  Harrison  on  his  part  named  ten  members  of  the  Congress  as  follows  :  John  F. 
Hanson,  of  Georgia  ;  Morris  M.  Estee,  of  California  ;  Henry  G.  Davis,  of  West  Virginia  ; 
Andrew  Carnegie,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  T.  Jefferson  Coolidge,  of  Massachusetts  ;  Clement 
Studebaker,  of  Indiana  ;  Charles  R.  Flint,  of  New  York  ;  William  H.  Trescot,  of  South 
Carolina  ;  Cornelius  N.  Bliss,  of  New  York,  and  John  B.  Henderson,  of  Missouri.  Mexico 
sent  two  representatives,  namely  :  Matias  Romero  and  Enrique  A.  Maxia.  Brazil,  still  an 
Empire,  also  sent  two  delegates  :  J.  G.  de  Amaral  Valente,  and  Salvador  de  Mendonca. 
The  representative  of  Honduras  was  Jeronimo  Zelaya  ;  Fernando  Cruz,  was  delegate  of 
Guatemala,  and  Jacinto  Castellanos,  of  San  Salvador.  Costa  Rica  sent  as  her  representative 
Manuel  Aragon.  Horatio  Guzman,  Minister  of  Nicaragua,  represented  his  government  in 
the  Congress.  The  Argentine  Republic  had  two  delegates  ;  Roque  Saenz  Pena,  and  Manuel 
Quintana.  Chili  sent  two  delegates,  Emilio  C.  Varas,  and  Jose  Alfonso.  The  representa- 
tives of  the  United  States  of  Colombia  were  Jose  M.  Hurtado,  Carlos  Martinez  Silva,  and 
Climaco  Calderon.  The  delegates  of  Venezuela  were  Nicanor  Bolet  Peraza,  Jose  Andrade, 
and  Francisco  Antonio  Silva  ;  that  of  Pern  was  F.  C.  C.  Zegarra  ;  that  of  Ecuador,  Jose 
Maria  Placido  Caamano  ;  that  of  Uruguay,  Alberto  Nin  ;  that  of  Bolivia,  Juan  F.  Velarde  ; 
that  of  Hayti,  Arthur  Laforestrie,  and  that  of  Paraguay,  Jose  S.  Decoud. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  767 

The  representatives  met  in  Washington  City  in  October.  Committees  were  formed  to 
report  to  the  bodv  suitable  action  on  the  subjects  whicli  might  properly  come  before  it  for 
discussion.  From  the  first  the  proceedings  took  a  peculiarh-  practical  direction.  The  great 
questions  of  commerce  were  at  the  bottom  of  the  reports,  the  debates  and  the  actions  which 
followed.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  movement  as  a  whole  conduced  in  the  highest 
degree  to  the  friendship,  prosperity  and  mutual  interests  of  the  nations  concerned. 

At  the  same  time  an  International  Maritime  Conference,  for  which  provisions  had  been 
made  in  the  legislation  of  several  nations,  convened  at  Washington.  In  this  case  the  States 
of  Europe  were  concerned  in  common  with  those  of  the  New  World.  All  the  maritime 
nations  were  invited  by  the  act  of  Congress  to  send  representatives  to  the  National  Capital 
in  the  following  year,  to  consider  the  possibilitN-  of  establishing  unifonn  rules  and  regula- 
tions for  the  government  of  vessels  at  sea,  and  for  the  adoption  of  a  common  svstem  of 
marine  signals.  Twent\-si.x  nations  accepted  the  call  of  the  American  government,  and 
appointed  delegates  to  the  Congress.  They,  too,  as  well  as  the  representatives  of  the  Pan- 
American  Congress,  held  their  sittings  in  November  and  December  of  1889.  The  same 
practical  ability  and  good  sense  as  related  to  the  subjects  under  consideration  were  shown  by 
the  members  of  the  Maritime  Conference  as  by  those  of  the  sister  body,  and  the  results 
reached  were  equally  encouraging  and  equally  gratifying,  not  only  to  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  but  to  all  the  countries  wliose  interests  were  in\-ohcd  in  the  discussions. 
THE  TARIFF  DISPUTE  RENEWED— THE  McKINLEY  BILL. 

We  may  here  revert  briefl\-  to  the  work  of  the  Fifty -first  Congress.  The  proceedings 
of  that  branch  of  the  government  were  markedwith  much  partisan  bitterness  and  excite- 
ment. The  first  question  which  occupied  the  attention  of  the  body  was  the  revision  of  the 
tariff.  In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  developed,  with  sufficient  amplitude,  the  historv 
and  various  phases  of  this  question.  The  Civil  War  brought  in  a  condition  of  affairs  which 
must,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  entail  the  tariff  issue  on  the  rest  of  the  centurv.  More 
than  two  decades  elapsed  after  the  close  of  the  conflict  before  the  attention  of  the  American 
people  was  sufficiently  aroused  to  the  nature  of  the  laws  bearing  on  their  industrial  con- 
dition. Then  it  was  that  they  first  became  aware  of  the  fact  that  a  schedule  of  customs 
duties,  which  had  been  brought  forth  under  the  exigency  of  war,  still  existed,  and  that 
under  the  operation  of  this  schedule  a  vast  array  of  protected  industries  had  come  into 
existence.  vSuch  industries  had  grown  great  and  strong.  Around  them  consolidated 
corporations  had  been  formed,  having  millions  of  money  at  their  command  and  vast  rami- 
fications into  political  society.  As  a  consequence,  the  revenues  of  the  United  States  were 
swollen  to  mountainous  proportions.  The  treasury-  at  Washington  became  engorged,  and 
at  length  the  necessity  was  developed  of  doing  something  in  the  nature  of  refonn. 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  the  treasury — depending  as  it  did  upon  the  tariff  system — 
entailed  two  prodigious  evils  :  The  surplus  ser\ed  as  a  motive  in  Congress  for  all  manner 
of  jobber)-  and  extravagant  expenditure.  In  the  second  place,  it  enabled  the  combined 
monopolies  of  the  country- to  uphold  themselves  by  affecting  National  legislation  in  fiivor  of 
the  protected  industries  and  against  the  common  interest  of  the  people  as  a  whole.  The 
situation  was  really  a  danger  and  constant  menace.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  President 
Cleveland,  as  already  noted,  sent  his  celebrated  annual  message  to  Congress  touching  upon 
the  single  question  of  the  evils  of  the  existing  system,  and  asking  that  body  to  take  such 
steps  as  .should  lead  to  a  general  refonn. 

We  have  already  seen  how  this  question  was  uppermost  in  the  Presidential  contest  of 
1888.      The  Democratic  platfonn  boldly  espoused  the  doctrine  of  tariff  reform,  but  stopped 


768  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

short — out  of  an  expedient  deference  to  the  manufacturing  interests — of  absolute  free  trade. 
The  Republican  platform  declared  for  a  revision  of  the  tarifiF  system — such  a  revision  as 
might  preserve  the  manufacturing  interests,  but  favor  those  industries  which  seemed  to  be 
disparaged.  This  clause  of  the  platform  proved  to  be  wonderfully  effective  in  the  political 
campaign.  The  event  showed,  however,  that  it  was  a  shuffle.  A  very  large  part  of  the 
Republicans  understood  by  "revision  of  the  tariff'  such  legislation  as  should  reduce  and 
reform  the  existing  system,  not  merely  change  it  and  adapt  it  to  the  interests  of  the  pro- 
tected classes. 

With  the  opening  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress,  it  soon  became  apparent  that  "revision 
of  the  tariff' '  was  not  to  mean  a  reform  by  reduction  and  curtailments  of  the  schedule,  but 
that  the  actual  movement  was  in  the  other  direction.  Representative  William  McKinley, 
of  Ohio,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Wa>s  and  ]\Ieans,  brought  in  a  measure  which 
passed  into  history  under  the  name  of  the  McKinley  Bill,  and  which,  finally  adopted  by 
the  Republican  majority,  was  incorporated  as  a  part  of  the  governmental  system.  The 
policv  of  the  bill  was  to  abolish  the  existing  duties  on  a  few  great  articles  of  production, 
particularh-  raw  sugar  and  the  lower  grades  of  refined  sugar.  By  this  means  a  vast  reduc- 
tion was  secured  in  the  aggregate  revenues,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  average  rates 
of  import  duties  on  manufactured  articles  in  general  was  raised  from  about  forty-seven  per 
cent,  to  more  than  fifty-three  per  cent.  The  McKinley  Bill  became,  therefore,  efficient  by 
adroitly  drawing  to  its  principles  the  sympathies  of  the  protected  classes,  and  at  the  same 
time  bv  throwing  free — and  therefore  cheap — sugar  to  the  people,  attracted  not  a  little 
popular  sympathy.  The  contest  over  the  measure  was  extreme  in  animosity,  and  the  bill 
was  adopted  only  after  great  delay. 

The  sequel  showed  unusual  results.  The  tariff  legislation  of  the  Fift>- -first  Congress 
was  innnediately  attacked  by  the  Democratic  and  Independent  press  of  the  country-. 
Opinion  was  oven,vlielmingly  against  it.  The  general  elections  of  1890  brought  an 
astonishing  verdict  of  the  people  against  the  late  enactments.  There  was  a  complete 
political  revulsion  by  which  the  Republican  majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives  was 
replaced  bv  a  Democratic  majority  of  nearly  three  to  one.  At  a  later  period  a  second 
reaction  ensued  som-^what  favorable  to  the  McKinley  legislation,  and  the  author  of  the 
measures  referred  to  .ucceeded  in  being  chosen,  in  1891,  governor  of  Ohio,  attaining  his 
position  by  a  popular  majorit)-  of  o^■e^  twenty  thousand. 

EXCITEMENT  OVER  THE  RULINGS  OF  SPEAKER  REED. 

Another  incident  in  the  histor)'  of  the  same  Congress  relates  to  the  serious  difficulty 
which  arose  in  the  House  of  Representatives  between  the  Democratic  minority  and  the 
speaker,  Thomas  B.  Reed,  of  Maine.  The  Republican  majority  in  the  Fifty-first  House 
was  not  large,  and  the  minority  were  easily  able,  in  matters  of  party  legislation,  to  break 
the  quorum  by  refusing  to  vote.  In  order  to  counteract  this  policy,  a  new  system  of  rules 
was  reported,  empowering  the  speaker  to  count  the  minority  as  present,  whether  voting  or 
not  voting,  and  thus  to  compel  a  quorum.  These  rules  were  violently  resisted  b>-  the 
Democrats,  and  Speaker  Reed  was  denounced  by  his  opponents  as  an  unjust  and  arbitrar>- 
officer.  He  was  nick-named  in  the  jargon  of  the  times  "The  Czar,"  because  of  his 
rulings  and  strong-handed  method  of  making  the  records  of  the  House  show  a  majorit\- 
when  no  majority  had  actually  voted  on  the  pending  questions.  It  was  under  the  provision 
of  the  new  rule  that  nearly  all  of  the  party  measures  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress  were 
adopted. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  these  acts  was  the  attempt  to  pass  through  Congress  a 


COLUMBUS   AND  COLUMBIA.  769 

measure   bearing  radicallv  upon   the  election-system  of  the   United   States.       A  bill    was 

reported  by  which  it  was  proposed   virtually  to   transfer  the  control   of  the  Congressional 

elections  in  the  States  of  the  Union  from  State  to  National  authority.      It  cannot  be  doubted 

that  the  measure  reached  down  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  American  political  society. 

The  "Force  Bill,"  as  it  was  called,  brought  out  the  strongest  passions  of  the  da>.     The 

opposition  was  intense.      The  Republican  party  was  by  no  means  unanimous  in  support  of 

the  measure.      A  large  part  of  the  thinking  people  of  the  United  States,  without  respect  to 

political  affiliation,  doubted  the  expediency  of  this  additional  measure  of  centralization. 

Certain  it  was  that  serious  and  great  abuses  e.xisted  in   the  election  systems  of  the 

States.      In   many  parts  of   the   United   States  elections  were  not  free.      In    parts   of  the 

South   the    old    animosities    against  the  political    equality    of   the    black    man  were  still 

sufficiently  vital  to  prevent  the  freedom   of  the  ballot.      Congressmen  were  many  times 

chosen  by  a  small  minority  who,  from  their  social  and   political  superiority,  were  able  to 

baffle  or  intimidate  the  ignorant  many  at  the  polls.      Such  an  abuse  called   loudly  for  a 

reform,  but  the  measure  proposed  doubtless  contained  within  itself  the   potent  genns  of 

abuses  greater  than  those  which  it  was  sought  to  remove.      The  Elections  Bill  was  for  a 

long  time  debated  in  Congress,  and  was  then  laid  over  indefinitely  in  such  manner  as  to 

prevent  final  action    upon  it.      Certain   Republican  Senators  who  were    opposed    to    the 

measure  and  at  the  same  time  strongly  wedded  to  the  cause  of  the  free-coinage  of  silver 

money,  joined  their  votes  with  the   Democrats  and  the   so-called    "Force   Bill"    failed  of 

adoption. 

THE  SILVER  QUESTION. 

The  third  great  measure  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress  was  the  attempt  to  restore  silver  to 
a  perfect  equality  with  gold  in  the  coinage  system  of  the  United  States.  Since  1874  there 
had  been  an  increasing  departure  in  the  market  values  of  gold  and  silver  bullion,  though 
the  purchasing  power  of  the  two  money  metals  had  been  kept  equal  when  the  same  were 
coined  under  the  provisions  of  legal  tender.  The  purchasing  power  of  gold  bullion  had 
iti  the  last  fifteen  years  risen  about  sixteen  per  cent.,  while  the  purchasing  power  of  silver 
bullion  had  fallen  about  four  per  cent,  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  thus  producing  a  differ- 
ence of  twenty  per  cent,  or  more  in  the  purchasing  power  of  the  two  metals  in  bullion. 
One  class  of  theorists,  assuming  that  gold  is  the  only  standard  of  values,  insisted  that  this 
diflFerence  in  the  purchasing  power  of  the  two  raw  metals  had  arisen  wholly  from  a  deprecia- 
tion in  the  price  of  silver.  This  class  included  the  monometalists — those  who  desire  that 
the  monetary  system  of  the  United  States  shall  be  brought  to  the  single  standard  of  gold, 
and  that  silver  shall  be  made  wholly  subsidiary  to  the  richer  metal.  To  this  class  belonged 
the  fund-holding  syndicates,  and  indeed  all  great  creditors  whose  interest  it  is  to  have 
the  debts  due  them  discharged  in  as  costly  a  dollar  as  possible.  As  a  matter  of  course,  if  a 
debt  be  contracted  on  a  basis  of  two  metals,  that  fact  gives  to  the  debtor  the  valuable  option 
of  paying  in  the  cheaper  of  two  coins.  This  valuable  option  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  enjoyed,  greatly  to  their  advantage  and  prosperity.  The  silver  dollar  has  been 
for  precisely  a  hundred  years  (with  tlie  exception  of  the  quadrennium  extending  from  1S74. 
to  1878)  the  dollar  of  the  law  and  the  contract.  It  has  never  been  altered  or  abridged  to  the 
extent  of  a  fraction  of  a  grain  from  the  establishment  of  our  system  of  money  in  1792.  It 
has,  therefore,  been,  and  continues  to  be,  the  lawfid  and  undoubted  unit  of  all  money  and 
account  in  the  United  States,  ju.st  as  much,  and  even  more,  than  the  gold  dollar  with  which 
it  is  a.ssociated.  If  it  be  true,  therefore,  that  there  is  a  radical  and  irremediable  departure 
in  the  value  of  these  two  metals — if  it  be  true  that  we  have,  as  monometalists  assert,  an 
49 


770  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

8o-cent  dollar — it  is  clearly  and  demonstrably  true  that  we  also  have  a  "  long  dollar,"  a 
dollar  worth  more  than  par ^  a  120-cent  dollar,  which  the  creditor  classes  desire  to  have  sub- 
stituted for  the  dollar  of  the  law  and  the  contract. 

The  advocates  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver  ha\e  argued  that  the  difference  in  the 
iDullion  values  of  the  two  money  metals  has  arisen  most  largely  from  an  increase  in  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  gold,  and  that  equal  legislation  and  equal  favor  shown  to  the  two  nionev 
metals  would  bring  them  to  par  the  one  with  the  other,  and  keep  them  in  that  relation  in 
the  markets  of  the  world.  It  is  claimed,  with  good  reason,  that  the  laws  hitherto  enacted 
by  Congress  discriminating  against  silver  and  in  favor  of  gold,  were  impolitic,  unjust  and 
un-American.  It  was  urged  in  the  debates  of  1889-90  that  the  free  coinage  of  silver  would 
be  of  \-ast  advantage  to  the  financial  interests  of  the  countrj-.  This  view  and  argiiment, 
however,  w-ere  strenuously  opposed  by  the  money  centres  and  the  credit-holding  classes  of 
the  United  States,  to  whom  the  payment  of  all  debts  according  to  the  highest  standard  of 
value,  that  is  in  gold  only,  was  a  fundamental  principle. 

The  debates  for  a  while  seemed  likely  to  disrupt  the  existing  political  order.  Suddenly 
the  United  States  Senate,  by  a  combination  of  a  large  number  of  free-silver  Republicans 
with  the  great  majority  of  Democrats,  passed  a  bill  for  the  absolute  free  coinage  of  silver, 
and  for  the  day  it  seemed  that  the  measure  had  succeeded.  The  administration,  however, 
was  strongly  opposed  to  free  coinage.  The  Senate  bill  was,  therefore,  adroitly  arrested  by 
the  management  of  Speaker  Reed  and  the  Wa)-s  and  Means  Committee  of  the  House. 
Another  bill,  in  the  form  of  an  amendment  providing  for  the  purchase  (but  not  for  the 
coinage)  of  four  million  ounces  of  silver  monthly  by  the  treasury,-  of  the  United  States  and 
the  payment  therefor  in  silver  certificates  having  the  form  and  functions  of  money,  was 
passed  by  the  House  and  finally  accepted  by  the  Senate.  An  expansion  of  the  paper  money 
of  the  country  was  thus  effected,  while  at  the  same  tin:e  the  control  of  the  silver  bullion  was 
retained  in  the  treasury  under  the  management  of  those  who  were  opposed  to  free  coinage 
and  hopeful  ultimately  of  at  least  effecting  a  compromise  by  which  a  more  valuable  silver 
dollar  may  be  substituted  in  the  interest  of  the  creditor  classes  in  place  of  the  standard 
silver  dollar  which  has  borne  the  full  legal  tender  quality  since  the  foundation  of  the  gov- 
ernment. By  tiie  legislation  just  referred  to,  the  ultimate  decision  of  the  silver  question  was 
thrown  over  to  another  Congress,  to  constitxite  a  menace  and  terror  to  party  discipline  for 
both  the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties. 

In  addition  to  the  admission  of  four  new  States,  the  Fifty-first  Congress  passed  the 
necessar\'  acts  for  the  organization  of  Idaho  and  Wyoming.  These  were  destined  to  make 
the  forty-third  and  forty-fourth  members  of  the  Union.  Idaho  at  the  time  of  organization 
contained  a  population  of  84,385.  W>"oming  had  a  population  of  60,705.  The  acts  for 
Statehood  were  passed  for  the  two  new  commonwealths  on  the  3d  and  10th  of  July,  respec- 
tively, in  the  year  1890. 

THE  ELEVENTH  CENSUS,  AND   DEATH   OF  SHERIDAN. 

In  June  of  the  same  year  was  taken  the  eleventh  decennial  census  of  the  United  States. 
Its  results,  so  far  as  the  same  have  been  compiled,  indicate  that  the  aggregate  population 
of  the  countr^'  has  increased  to  62,622,250,  exclusive  of  Indians  not  taxed  and  whites  in 
Alaska  and  Indian  Territor\-.  These  additions  will  doubtless  increase  the  grand  total  to 
about  sixty-three  million  souls.  The  centre  of  population  had  continued  its  progress  west- 
ward, having  removed  dxiring  the  ninth  decade  from  the  vicinity  of  Cincinnati  to  a  point 
near  the  hamlet  of  Westport,  in  Decatur  county,  Indiana. 

The  period  which  is  here  before  us  was  marked  by  the  death  of  three  other  great  leaders 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  771 

of  the  Civil  War.  On  the  5th  of  August,  1888,  Lieuteiiant-General  Sheridan,  at  that  time 
comniander-iu-chief  of  the  American  army,  died  at  his  home  in  Xonquitt,  Massachusetts. 
Few  other  generals  of  the  Union  anny  had  won  greater  admiration  and  higher  honors.  He 
was  in  many  senses  a  model  soldier,  and  his  death  at  the  coniparati\ely  early  age  of  fifty- 
seven  was  the  occasion  of  great  grief  throughout  the  country.  Still  more  conspicuous  was 
the  fall  of  General  William  T.  Sherman.  Among  the  Union  commanders  in  the  great  Civil 
War  he  stood  easily  next  to  Grant  in  greatness  and  reputation.  In  vast  and  varied  abilities, 
particularly  in  military  accomplishments,  he  was  perhaps  superior  to  all.  It  may  well  be 
thought  that  he  was  more  fortunate  than  any  other — and  wiser.  After  the  war  he  steadily 
refused  to  be  other  than  a  great  soldier.  No  enticement,  no  blandishment,  no  fonn  of 
applause  or  persuasion,  could  induce  him  to  exchange  the  laurels  which  he  had  won  in  the 
immortal  contest  for  the  Union  for  any  other  fonn  of  chaplet  or  perishable  wreath.  Shennan 
might  have  been  President  of  the  United  States.  It  were  not  far  from  the  truth  to  believe 
that  he  was  the  only  man  in  America  who  ever  willingly  put  aside  that  glittering  prize. 
To  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  politicians,  place-hunters,  jobbers  and  connorants  would 
have  been  intolerable  to  that  brusque,  sturdy  and  truthful  nature.  With  a  clearer  vision 
even  than  the  vision  of  Grant,  he  perceived  that  to  be  the  unsullied  great  soldier  of  the 
Union  was  to  be  better  than  an\-  tiling  made  b>'  men  in  caucus  and  convention.  Bom 
in  1820,  he  reached  the  mature  age  of  seventy-one,  and  died  at  his  home  in  New  York 
City  on  the  14th  day  of  February-,  1891.  The  event  produced  a  profound  impression.  The 
General  of  the  Union  anny  who  had  fought  so  many  great  battles  and  said  so  man\-  great 
things  was  at  last  silent  in  death.  Of  his  sterling  patriotism  there  had  never  been  a  doubt. 
Of  his  prescience  in  war,  of  his  learning,  of  his  abilities  as  an  author,  there  could  be  as  little 
skepticism.  As  to  his  wonderful  faculties  and  achievements,  all  men  were  agreed.  His 
funeral  became  the  man.  He  had  provided  for  that  also  in  advance.  He  had  directed  that 
nothing  other  than  a  .soldier's  burial  should  be  reserved  for  him.  His  remains  were  taken 
under  escort  from  New  York  to  St.  Louis,  where  they  were  deposited  in  the  family  burn- 
ing grounds,  in  Mount  Calvar\-  Cemeter}-. 

After  the  death  of  General  Sherman,  only  two  commanders  of  the  first  class  remained 
on  the  stage  of  action  from  the  great  Civil  War — both  Confederates.  These  were  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston  and  James  Longstreet.  The  former  of  these  two  was  destitied  to  follow 
his  rival  and  conqueror  at  an  early  day  to  the  land  of  rest.  General  Johnston  had  been 
an  honoran.'  pall-bearer  at  the  funeral  of  Shennan,  and  contracted  a  heavy  cold  on  that 
occasion  which  resulted  in  his  death  on  the  20th  of  February,  1891,  at  his  home  in  Wash- 
ington City.  Strange  fatality  of  human  affairs  that  after  twenty-five  years  he  w^ho  surren- 
dered his  sword  to  Sherman  at  Raleigh  should  have  come  home  from  the  funeral  of  the 
victor  to  die!  General  Johnston  was  in  his  eighty-third  year  at  the  time  of  his  decease. 
.\mong  the  Confederate  commanders  none  were  his  superiors,  with  the  single  exception  of 
Lee.  After  the  close  of  the  war  his  conduct  had  been  of  a  kind  to  win  the  confidence  of 
Union  men,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  licld  in  almost  universal  honor. 

THE  NEW  ORLEANS   RIOT. 

It  was  at  this  time,  namely,  in  February  of  1.S91,  that  a  serious  event  reaching  upward 
and  outward,  first  into  national  and  then  into  international  proportions,  occurred  in  the  city 
■of  New  Orleans.  There  existed  in  that  metropolis  a  branch  of  the  secret  social  organization 
among  the  Italians  known  by  the  European  name  of  the  Mafia  Society.  The  principles  of 
the  brotherhood  involved  mutual  protection,  and  even  the  law  of  revenge  against  enemies. 
Doubtless  much  of  the  spirit  which  had  belonged  to  the  Italian  order  of  the  Mafia  had  been 


772  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

transferred  to  America.  At  any  rate,  some  of  the  features  of  the  order  were  tm-American 
in  character,  and  some  of  the  methods  dangerous  to  the  public  and  private  peace.  Several 
breaks  occurred  between  members  of  the  society  (not  the  society  itself)  and  the  police 
authorities  of  the  city;  and  the  latter,  by  arrest  and  prosecution,  incurred  the  dislike  and 
hatred  of  the  former.  The  difficulty  grew  in  animosity  until  at  length  Captain  David  C. 
Hennessev,  chief  of  the  police  of  New  Orleans,  was  assassinated  by  some  secret  murderer, 
or  murderers,  who  for  the  time  escaped  detection.  It  was  believed,  however,  that  the  Mafia 
Society  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  assassination,  and  several  of  the  members  of  the  brother- 
hood were  arrested  under  the  charge  of  murder. 

A  trial  followed,  and  the  circumstances  tended  to  establish — but  did  Jiot  establish — the 
guilt  of  the  prisoners.  The  proof  was  not  positive — did  not  preclude  a  reasonable  doubt 
of  the  guilt  of  those  on  trial,  and  the  first  three  of  the  Italian  prisoners  were  acquitted. 
The  sequel  was  unfortunate  in  the  last  degree.  A  great  excitement  followed  the  decision 
of  the  Court  and  jury,  and  charges  were  made  and  published  that  the  jury  had  been  bribed 
or  terrorized  with  threats  into  making  a  false  verdict.  These  charges  were  never  substan- 
tiated, and  were  doubtless  without  authenticity.  But  on  the  day  following  the  acquittal 
of  the  Italians  a  public  meeting,  having  its  origin  in  mobocracy,  was  called,  and  a  great 
crowd,  irresponsible  and  angr}',  gathered  around  the  statue  of  Henry  Clay,  in  one  of  the 
public  squares  of  New  Orleans. 

Speeches  were  made.  The  authorities  of  the  city,  instead  of  attempting  to  check  the 
movement,  stood  off"  and  let  it  take  its  own  course.  A  mob  was  at  once  organized  and 
directed  against  the  jail,  where  the  Italian  prisoners  were  confined.  The  jail  was  entered 
by  force.  The  prisoners  were  driven  from  their  cells,  and  nine  of  them  were  shot  to  death 
in  the  jail  vard.  Two  others  were  dragged  forth  and  hanged.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that 
the  innocent  as  well  as  the  guilty  (if  indeed  any  were  guilty — as  certainly  none  were  guilty 
according  to  law)  suffered  in  the  slaughter. 

The  event  was  followed  by  the  greatest  public  excitement.  Clearly  murder  and  out- 
rage had  been  done  by  the  mob.  It  was  soon  proved  that  at  least  two  of  the  murdered 
Italians  had  been  subjects  of  the  Italian  Kingdom;  the  rest  were  either  naturalized  Ameri- 
cans or  foreigners  bearing  papers  of  intention.  The  affair  at  once  became  of  national,  and 
then  of  international,  importance.  The  President  of  the  United  States  called  upon  Gover- 
nor Nicolls,  of  Louisiana,  to  give  an  account  of  the  thing  done  in  New  Orleans,  and  its 
justification.  The  governor  replied  with  a  connnunication  in  which  it  were  hard  to  say 
whether  insolence  or  inconsequential  apology  for  the  actions  of  the  mob  was  iippermost. 
With  this  the  excitement  increased.  The  Italian  Minister,  Baron  Fava,  at  Washington, 
entered  his  solemn  protest  against  the  killing  of  his  countrymen,  and  the  American  Secre- 
tary of  State  entered  into  communication  with  King  Humbert  on  the  subject. 

Italy  was  thoroughlv  aroused.  The  Italian  societies  in  various  American  cities  passed 
angrv  resolutions  against  the  destruction  of  their  fellow-countrymen  by  the  mob,  and  the 
newspapers  of  the  country  teemed  with  discussions  of  the  subject.  There  was  unfortunately 
a  disposition  on  the  part  of  America  to  play  the  bully.  At  times,  threats  of  war  were 
freely  made,  and  it  appeared  not  impossible  that  the  two  countries  would  become  unhappily 
involved  in  a  conflict.  The  more  thoughtful,  however,  looked  with  confidence  to  the 
settlement  of  the  question  by  peaceable  means.  The  Italian  government  presently  recalled 
Baron  Fava  from  Washington,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  comnmnications 
between  the  two  governments  were  made  only  through  the  Italian  Charge  d' Affaires  at 
Washington.       Gradually,  however,  the  excitement  subsided.      Tlie  American  government 


COLl'MBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  773 

was  fortunate  in  having  as  its  representative  at  the  Court  of  Ital\  the  Honorable  Albert  G. 
Porter,  a  man  of  calm  temperament  and  deeply  imbued  with  the  sense  of  justice  and  right. 
Bv  the  beginning  of  1892  it  had  become  certain  tliat  the  unpleasant  episode  would  pass 
without  further  menace  of  war,  and  that  the  question  involved  in  the  difficult}-  would  be 
justlv  settled  in  course  of  lime  b\-  the  equitable  rules  of  diplomacy. 

THE  CHILIAN  COMPLICATION. 

The  year  1891  was  noted  for  a  serious  diOicully  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Republic  of  Chili.  The  complication  had  its  origin  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  that 
republic,  particularly  in  a  revolution  which,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  named,  began  to 
make  headway  against  the  existing  government.  At  the  head  of  that  goveniment  was 
President  Balmaceda,  against  whom  the  popular  party  in  the  Chilian  Congress  was 
violenth-  arrayed.  The  President  was  accused  of  seeking  to  influence  the  choice  of  his 
own  successor  in  the  approaching  election,  but  more  especiall\-  of  retaining  in  office  a 
mini.strv  out  of  harmony  with  the  Congressional  majorit}-.  The  latter  point  was  the  more 
serious,  and  led  at  length  to  the  assumption  of  dictatorial  powers  b>-  the  President.  This 
course  seemed  necessary  in  order  to  maintain  himself  in  power  and  to  uphold  the  existing 
ministry.  The  popular  party  receded  from  Congress  only  to  take  up  arms.  This  party 
was  known  in  the  civil  conflict  that  ensued  as  the  Congressionalists,  while  the  upholders  of 
the  existing  order  were  called  Balmacedists.  The  latter  had  possession  of  the  government; 
but  the  fonner,  outside  of  the  great  cities  of  Valparaiso  and  Santiago,  were  the  most 
powerful. 

The  insurrection  against  Balmaceda  gathered  head.  A  Congressional  Junta  was 
formed,  and  a  provisional  government  set  up  at  the  town  of  Iquiquc.  Thus  far  the  move- 
ment had  in  no  wise  disturbed  the  relations  of  Chili  with  the  United  States.  It  is  in  the 
nature  of  such  revolutions  that  the  insurgent  party  must  acquire  resources,  gather  arms, 
and  create  all  the  other  means  of  its  existence,  progress  and  success.  The  Chilians  of  the 
Congressional  faction  found  themselves  in  great  need  of  arms,  and  would  fain  look  to 
some  foreign  nation  for  a  supph'.  In  the  emergencN'  they  managed  to  get  possession  of  a 
steamship  called  the  Itata,  belonging  to  the  South  American  Steamship  Company,  and 
sent  her  to  the  western  coast  of  the  United  States  to  purchase  arms.  The  steamer  came 
to  the  harbor  of  San  Diego,  California,  and  by  the  agenc)'  of  an  intermediate  vessel 
managed  to  secure  a  large  purchase  of  arms,  and  to  get  the  same  transferred  to  her  own 
deck.  At  this  juncture,  however,  the  government,  gaining  infonnation  of  the  thing  done, 
ordered  the  detention  of  the  Itata  until  her  business  and  destination  could  be  known.  A 
district  attorney  of  the  United  States  was  sent  on  board  the  ship,  which  was  ordered  not 
to  leave  the  bay.  In  defiance  of  this  order,  however,  the  officers  of  the  Ilata  steamed  out 
by  night  and  got  to  .sea.  They  put  the  officer  of  tlie  United  States  in  a  boat,  sent  him 
ashore,  and  disappeared  over  the  Pacific  horizon. 

The  announcement  of  the  escape  of  the  Itata  led  to  vigorous  action  on  the  part  of 
the  government.  The  United  States  war-ship  Charleston  was  ordered  out  in  pursuit  from 
the  bay  of  San  Francisco.  The  Itata,  however,  had  three  days  the  start,  and  it  could 
hardly  be  e.xpected  that  the  Charleston  would  be  able  to  overhaul  the  fugitive.  The  latter 
made  her  way  to  one  of  the  harbors  of  Chili,  whither  she  was  pursued  by  the  Charleston. 
But  the  matter  had  now  come  to  protest  made  by  the  United  States  to  the  provisional 
government  of  the  Revolutionists,  and  the  latter  consented  to  the  surrender  of  the  Itata  to 
the  authorities  of  our  country.  This  was  done,  and  the  incident  .seemed  for  the  time  to 
have  ended  without  serious  con.sequences. 


774 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


After  the  affair  of  the //r?/«  public  opinion  in  Chili,  particularly  in  the  cities  of  Santiago 
and  Valparaiso,  turned  strongly  against  the  United  States.  This  is  said  of  tlie  sentiments 
of  the  Congressional  party.  That  party  saw  itself  thwarted  in  its  design  and  put  at  fault 
by  its  failure  to  secure  the  wished-for  supph-  of  arms,  that  failure  having  arisen  through 
the  agency  of  our  government.  However  correct  the  course  of  the  United  States  may  have 
been,  the  Revolutionists  must  needs  be  angered  at  their  disappointment,  and  it  was  natural 
for  them  to  look  henceforth  with  distrust  and  dislike  on  the  authorities  of  our  countn'. 
This  dislike  centred  about  the  legation  of  the  United  States  in  Santiago.  Hon.  Patrick 
Egan,  the  American  Minister,  became  unpopular  with  the  Congressionalists  because  of  his 
supposed  favor  to  the  Balmacedan  government.  That  government  still  stood.  It  was 
recognized  b)-  the  President  of  the  United  States  as  the  government  both  dejw-e  and  de  facto 
of  Chili.     Egan  must  therefore  hold  relations  with  Balmaceda  and  his  Minister  of  Foreign 

Affairs.  He  must  con- 
tinue to  stand  in  with 
the  existing  order  until 
some  other  order  should 
be  established  in  its 
stead. 
A  SERIOUS  SITUATION. 
It  appears  that  our 
Minister  and  our 
government  misappre- 
hended the  importance 
and  strength  of  the 
Revel  utionan-  move- 
ment. The  Congi'es- 
s  i  o  n  a  1  i  s  t  s  steadih' 
gained  ground.  Per- 
haps the  revolution 
which  was  progressing 
could  not  be  seen  in 
full    magnitude     from 

the  position  occupied  by  our  Minister  at  the  Chilian  capital.  At  all  events,  the  Congressional 
anny  came  on  in  full  force,  and  soon  pressed  the  government  back  to  the  limits  of  the  capital 
and  the  immediate  vicinity  of  that  city.  Affairs  drew  to  a  crisis.  A  bloody  battle  was 
fought  at  a  place  called  Placilla,  near  Santiago.  The  Balmacedists  gave  way  before  the 
storm.  The  battle  of  Placilla  and  a  subsequent  engagement  still  nearer  to  the  capital  went 
against  them.  The  insurgents  burst  victoriously  into  Santiago,  and  the  revolution  accom- 
plished itself  by  the  overthrow  of  the  existing  government.  Everything  went  to  wreck. 
Both  Santiago  and  Valparaiso  were  taken  by  the  Revolutionan-  party.  The  Balmacedists 
were  fugitives  in  all  directions.  The  Dictator  himself  fled  into  hiding,  and  presently  made 
an  end  by  committing  suicide. 

In  such  condition  of  affairs  it  was  natural  that  the  defeated  partisans  of  the  late  gov- 
ernment should  take  refuge  in  the  legations  of  foreign  nations  at  the  capital.  A  Ministerial 
legation  is,  under  international  law,  an  asylum  for  refugees.  At  this  time  the  official  resi- 
dences of  the  foreign  nations  at  Santiago,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  Great  Britain,  were 
all  crowded  more  or  less  with  fugitives  flying  thither  for  safety  from  the  wrath  of  the  suc- 


CITV   AND   HARBOR   OF  VALPARAISO. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  775 

ctssful  Revolutionists.  The  attitude  of  Great  Britain  from  the  first  had  been  favorable  to 
the  Congressional  part\-,  and  it  was  evident  that  that  power  would  now  stand  in  high  favor 
with  the  victors. 

It  chanced  that  the  Minister  of  the  United  States  was  by  birth  an  Irishman.  He  was 
an  Irish  ag^itator  and  British  refugee  lately  naturalized  in  America.  Probably  the  antago- 
nistic attitude  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  at  the  Chilian  capital  was  attributable 
in  Dart  to  the  nativity  and  political  principles  of  Egan.  At  all  events  the  American  Minis- 
terial residence  gave  asylum  to  numbers  of  the  defeated  Balmacedists,  and  the  triumphant 
Revolutionists  grew  more  and  more  hostile  to  our  government  and  Minister  because  thev 
could  not  get  at  those  who  were  under  his  protection.  This  hostility  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  police  guard  and  a  force  of  detectives  around  tlie  American  legation.  It  seemed 
at  times  that  the  place  might  be  actually  attacked  and  taken  by  the  angr\'  victors  in  the 
recent  revolution,  .-^t  length,  however,  under  the  protests  of  our  government,  the  guards 
were  withdrawn  and  the  legation  was  freed  from  surveillance.  Relations  began  to  grow 
amicable  once  more,  when  the  difficulties  suddenly  took  another  and  more  serious  form. 
MURDEROUS  ASSAULT   ON  THE  CREW  OF  THE    BALTIMORE. 

It  happened  at  this  tinit;  that  tlie  war  vessels  of  se\era]  ualions  visited  the  harbor  of 
Valparai.so,  drawn  thither  by  interest  and  for  the  sake  of  information  or  the  business  of  the 
respective  nav-ies.  Among  the  ships  that  came  was  the  United  States  war-steamer  Balti- 
more. On  the  i6th  of  October,  1891,  a  hundred  and  .se^-enteen  petty  officers  and  men, 
headed  by  Captain  Schley,  went  on  shore  by  permission,  and  in  the  usual  ■^•ay  went  into 
the  city  of  \'alparaiso.  Mo.st  of  them  visited  a  quarter  of  the  city  not  reputable  in  character. 
It  soon  became  apparent  that  the  ill-informed  enmity  and  malice  of  the  lower  classes  were 
strongly  e.xcited  at  the  appearance  of  the  men  and  uniform  of  the  United  States  on  the 
streets.  With  the  approach  of  night,  and  with  apparent  pre-arrangement,  a  Chilian  mob 
rose  upon  the  sailors  and  began  an  attack.  The  sailors  retreated  and  attempted  to  regain 
their  ship;  but  the  mob  closed  around  them,  throwing  stones,  and  presently  at  closer  quar- 
ters using  knives  and  clubs.  Eighteen  of  the  sailors  were  brutally  stabbed  and  beaten,  and 
some  died  from  their  injuries.  The  remainder  leaving  the  wounded  behind  them  escaped 
to  the  ship. 

Intelligence  of  this  event  was  at  once  communicated  to  the  government  of  the  United 
States.  The  country  was  greatly  e.xcited  over  the  outrage,  and  preparations  were  begtni 
for  war.  The  navy  department  was  ordered  to  prepare  several  vessels  for  the  Chilian  coast. 
The  great  war-ship  Oregon  and  two  others  were  equipped,  manned  and  directed  to  the 
Pacific  shores  of  South  America.  The  President  immediately  directed  the  American 
Minister  at  Santiago  to  demand  explanation,  apolog\',  and  reparation  for  the  insult  and 
crime  committed  against  tlie  government  of  the  United  States.  The  Chilian  authorities 
began  to  temporize  with  the  situation.  A  tedious  investigation  of  the  riot  was  undertaken 
in  the  courts  of  Santiago,  resulting  in  an  inconsequential  verdict. 

Meanwhile,  Senor  M.  ,\.  Malta,  Chilian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  added  fuel  to  the 
flame  by  transmitting  an  offensive  comnninication  to  Senor  Pedro  Montt,  representative  of 
the  Chilian  government  at  Washington,  in  which  he  reflected  on  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  accused  our  government  of  falsehood,  attacked  Egan,  and  ended  by  instruct- 
ing Montt  AW/V  t/ir  coiilcuts  o/'  llic  note  he  knmcn  !  This  was  .soon  followed  l>\'  another 
communication  from  Senor  Matta,  demanding  the  recall  i)f  Patrick  Egan  from  the  Chilian 
capital,'  as  persona  non  grata  to  the  govermnent.  Hut  he  failed  to  s]K"cif\'  the  particulai 
qualities  or  acts  in  the  .-Xnurican  Minister  which  made  him  unaccei^table. 


DECORATION    DAY — THE   TRIBUTE   THAT    PEACE   PAYS   TO   THE   MEMORY    OF   THE    BLUE   AND   THE   GRAY. 
(776) 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA.  777 

The  publication  of  these  two  notes  brou<jht  matters  to  a  crisis.  The  President,  through 
the  proper  authorities,  demanded  that  the  offensive  note  of  Malta  be  withdrawn  ;  that  the 
demand  for  the  recall  of  Egan  be  reconsidered,  and  that  reparation  for  the  insults  and 
wrongs  done  to  the  crew  of  the  Baltii)unr  be  repaired  with  ample  apolog)'  and  .salute  to  the 
American  flag  by  the  Chilian  government.  Answers  to  these  demands  were  again  delayed, 
and  on  the  25th  of  January,  1892,  the  President  sent  an  elaborate  message  to  Congress, 
laving  before  that  body  an  account  of  the  difficulties,  and  reconnnending  such  action  as 
might  be  deemed  necessary  to  uphold  the  honor  of  the  United  States.  For  a  single  day  it 
looked  like  war. 

Scarcelv,  however,  iiad  the  President's  message  been  delivered  to  Congress  when  the 
Chilian  government,  receding  from  its  high-toned  manner  of  offense  and  arrogance,  sent, 
through  its  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  a  paper  of  full  apolog>'  for  the  wrongs  done,  and 
offering  to  submit  the  affair  of  the  Balliniorc  to  arbitration  of  some  friendly  power.  The 
offensive  note  of  Senor  Matta  was  uncoudilionally  withdrawn.  The  demand  for  the  removal 
of  Egan  was  recalled,  and  indeed  all  reasonable  points  in  the  contention  of  the  President 
freely  and  fully  conceded.  The  crisis  broke  with  the  knowledge  that  the  apolog}-  of  Chili 
had  been  received,  and  like  the  recent  difficulty  with  Italy  over  the  New  Orleans  massacre, 
the  imbroglio  passed  without  further  alann  or  portent  of  war. 

The  Histor>-  of  Our  Conntr\-  has  tlius  been  recited  from  its  discovery-  by  the  adventurers 
at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  centurv-  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  Columbian  Year  1892. 
The  Quadri-centenni.'VL  Story  is  complete  !  The  four  centuries  of  time  through  which 
we  have  passed  since  the  unveiling  of  the  continent  have  brought  us  the  experience  of  the 
ages,  and  let  us  hope  the  wisdom  and  virtues  of  the  greatest  nations  of  the  earth.  Our 
republic  has  passed  through  stormy  times,  but  has  come  at  last,  in  full  splendor  and  with 
uplifted  banners  to  the  dawn  of  the  great  anniversar>-  which  is  to  connnemorate  the  discovery 
of  the  New  World.  As  a  united  Nation,  we  are  already  well  advanced  into  the  second 
centurv  of  our  existence.  Peace  and  tranquillity  are  abroad.  Clouds  of  distru.st  and  war 
have  sunk  behind  the  horizon.  Here  at  least  the  equality  of  all  men  in  rights  and  privi- 
leges before  the  law  has  been  written  with  an  iron  pen  in  the  Constitution  of  our  country. 
The  Union  of  the  States  has  been  con.secrated  anew  within  our  memories  by  the  blood  of 
patriots  and  the  tears  of  the  lowly.  Best  of  all,  the  temple  of  Freedom  reared  by  our 
patriot  Fathers  still  stands  in  undiminished  glor>-.  The  P.ast  \i.\s  taught  its  Lesson, 
THE  Present  h.\s  its  Duty,  and  the   Future  its  Hope. 


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PART  IV. 


BY  Hon.  Benj.  Bcjttekworth. 


3 


c 


Scope  and  Purpose  of  the  W^i'ld's  ^a'w. 


By  Hon.  Benjamin  Butterworth. 


WORLD'S       COLUMBIAN 
EXPOSITION  was  author-- 
ized    by    Act    of    Congress, 

approved  April  25,  1890,  to  celebrate  the  four  hundredth  anniversar>' 
of  the  discover)-  of  America  by  Christopher  Columbus. 

The  grounds  and  buildings  will  be  dedicated  on  the  i  2th  day  of 
October,  1892,  the  anniversary  of  the  discover)-. 

The  gates  will  be  opened  to  visitors  on  the  ist  of  May,  1893,  and  the  Exhibition  will 
close  on  the  30th  day  of  October  following. 

In  scope  and  plan  it  will  be  more  elaborate,  and  in  architectural  design  and  bcaut\-  or 
ornamentation  it  will  far  surpa.ss  any  previous  exhibition. 

The  cost  of  preparation  will  exceed  $25,000,000.  Everything  from  the  inception  to 
the  close  of  the  international  enterprise  will  be  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  resources 
and  greatness  of  the  Nation,  and  characteristic  of  the  intelligence  and  aggressive  energy  of 
its  people. 

Every  nation  and  all  peoples  have  been  invited  by  the  <  ".oviriuiieiil  of  the  United  States 
to  participate.  Fifty-nine  nations  have  accepted  the  invitiition,  and  each  will  be  represented 
in  a  manner  suitably  illustrating  the  resources,  indn.stries  and  customs  of  its  people,  and  indi- 
cating the  progress  made  by  them  in  civilization. 


782 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


Fifty  States  and  Territories  of  the  National  Union  will  also  take  part. 

The  several  Executive  Departments — State,  War,  Nav}-,  Treasur}-,  Justice,  Interior, 
Post  Ofi&ce,  Agriculture,  and  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  National  Museum  and  Bureau  of 
Fish  and  Fisheries  will  make  exhibits  showing  the  functions  of  the  National  Government 
and  illustrating  scientifically  its  resources. 

Conservative  estimates  place  the  number  of  admissions  to  the  grounds  at  thirty-five 
millions. 

The  foregoing  infonnation  has  been  published  in  every  civilized  tongue  and  read  in 
every  corner  of  the  world. 

Great  industrial  expositions  are  a  development  of  the  present  centur}-,  indeed  of  the  last 
half  century.  They  were  possible  onlj-  after  peace  had  become  the  prevailing  condition 
among  nations.  They  are  another  evidence  that  all  nations  are  made  of  one  blood,  that  the 
same  laws  are  made  for  all,  that  each  has  an  important  influence  upon  others  ;  that  those 
who  dwell  upon  all  the  face  of  the  earth  have  vast  interests  in  common,  and  that  this  com- 

munit}'  of  interests  becomes 

■*^^^         most  obvious  in  those  things 

^\      that  are  visible  and  tangible. 


mm  ^ 


ADMINISTRATION    BUILDING. 


The  Columbian   Exposi- 
J  tion  will  siirpass  all  others  in 
£   its  extent  and  completeness. 
i    The    array  of  buildings    will 
\   not  be  more  remarkable  for 
,;    number  and  size  than  for  the 
variety   of    architectural    de- 
signs, illustrating  every  phase 
i    of  that  art  which,  first  of  all 
arts,  was  devised  to  minister 
to  the  comfort  and  protection 
of  man. 

The  exhibition  of 
machiner}-  will  include  ever>' 
invention  for  increasing  the  efficiency  of  human  labor,  from  the  crude  beginning  to  the 
finely  wrought  and  perfectly  adjusted  structures  which  perform  their  complicated  task  with 
an  accuracy  and  perfection  that  suggests,  almost  irresistibly,  an  intelligent  and  sleepless  will. 
Works  of  art,  from  all  countries,  the  product  of  the  masters  of  painting  and  sculpture, 
will  be  exhibited,  that  visitors  may  have  whatever  advantage  there  may  be  in  studying 
beautv'  of  fonn  and  coloring. 

The  productions  of  all  countries,  whether  grown  from  the  earth,  or  produced  by  hand- 
craft, or  by  machinery,  will  be  displayed  to  give  an  intelligent  apprehension  of  the  condi- 
tion of  every  people,  as  shown  by  the  kind  and  degree  of  skill  and  invention. 

The  Exposition  will  be  a  little  world,  comprising  within  the  area  of  a  few  hundred 
acres  along  the  front  of  the  great  lake  all  that  can  be  collected  of  the  results  of  skill  and 
science  and  industry-  which  the  world  has  to  show  in  the  closing  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Every  reader  will  naturally  ask — What  is  the  mission  of  the  World's  Columbian  Expo- 
sition ?  What  advantage  to  the  nations  participating?  Is  there  anything  beyond  a  vast 
display  of  the  work  of  men's  hands?      Anything  higher  than  to  excite  wonder  and  gratify 


COLUMBUS   AND   CULl'.MBIA. 


783 


curiosity,  by  an  unparalleled  exhibition  of  the  material  resnlts  of  skill  and  industry? 
It  is  the  purpose  of  this  volume  to  answer  these  inquiries,  to  point  out  without  wearisome 
elaboration,  the  grandeur  of  the  opportunity  presented  by  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition, 
to  make  clear  its  relation  to  the  progress  of  civilization  and  the  elevation  of  man.  It  is 
hoped  that  the  reader  may  be  satisfied,  that  if  rightl\-  improved,  in  far  reaching  influence 
for  good,  it  will  be  one  of  the  glories  of  the  nineteenth  centur\ . 

The  exhibit  made  by  our  own  government  will  be  an  education  to  millions  of  spectators. 
Our  National  Government  is  so  much  removed  from  the  daily  life  and  the  homes  of  the 
people  that  they  are  in  danger  of  underrating  the  vast  interests  committed  to  its  keeping. 
It  scarcely  reminds  the  citizens  of  its  existence,  except  by  an  occasional  tax-gatherer  and 
the  universal  ministry  of  the  mail  ser\-ice. 

In  the  Columbian  Exposition  the  people  will  have  a.i  opportunity,  never  before  equalled, 
to  examine  the  proofs,  not  only  of  the  power  of  their  government,  but  of  the  range  and 
variety  of  works  which  it  performs,  for  the  benefit  of  the  people. 

Such  an  object  lesson  cannot  fail  to  increase  the  feeling  of  respect  and  satisfaction 
with  which  our  citizens  re- 
gard  their  government, 
which  they  uphold  and 
which  in  turn  benefits  and 
protects  them. 

It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  the  enterprise  is  re- 
stricted to  the  realm  of 
material  things  —  to 
machines  and  devices,  which 
are  the  conceptions  of 
genius,  fashioned  by  artisans 
and  workmen.  There  is 
another  side  to  this  great 
exhibition.  The  curtain 
will  rise  upon  another 
scene,  if  not  as  imposing  to 

the  senses,  yet  not  less  interesting  and  instnictive.  This  feature  relates  to  the  domain 
of  the  mind,  the  province  of  the  intellect.  It  will  deal  with  moral,  social  and  religious 
themes,  consider  the  helps  and  hindrances  to  progress.  It  will  attempt  to  sur\-ey  every 
region  of  intellectual  and  moral  activity.  This  department,  for  want  of  a  better 
name,  is  called  '*  The  World's  Congresses,"  which  will  hold  their  sessions  from  the 
opening  to  the  close  of  the  Exposition.  They  will  consider  and  deal  with  "  not  things, 
but  men,""  "mind  not  matter."  The  ablest  thinkers,  the  best  writers,  the  most  in- 
telligent obserx'ers  and  workers  of  the  age  will  meet  to  discnss  those  intricate  and  per- 
plexing social,  moral,  political  and  economic  questions,  upon  a  right  .■solution  of  which 
alone  nations  must  depend  to  secure  real  prosperity — that  degree  of  comfort  and  content- 
ment, which  is  indispensable  to  peace  and  advancement.  The  achievements  of  civilization, 
its  treasures  and  wealth,  are  not  for  the  advantage  of  a  few.  Hut  how  the  many  shall  share 
its  benefits  and  enjoy  its  advantages  is  one  of  the  problems  of  our  time.  How  other  and 
additional  means  may  be  discovered  and  applied  so  a.s  to  multiply  the  facilities  for  securing 
in  a  satisfactorv  degree  the  comforts  to  which  all  deem  themselves  entitled,  is  another  of  the 


i;(j\i;rn.mknt  uni.niNC. 


784 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


vexed  problems.  How  the  burdens  of  life  shall  be  equitably  distributed  among  the  burden- 
bearers,  and  how  the  reward  justh"  due  to  those  who  worthily  endure  shall  be  secured  to 
them,  is  still  another.  How  justice  shall  come  without  violence,  and  peace  remain,  though 
equity  may  not  be  fully  secured,  is  yet  to  be  learned. 

The  author,  apprehending  the  importance  of  an  early  and  wise  solution  of  the  social 
and  economic  problems  that  confront  us,  will  endeavor  to  point  out  how  this  International 
Exposition  may  be  utilized  to  change  fruitless  discontent  into  prosperous  effort,  and  show 
that  intelligent  energy  may  overcome  even  unfriendly  conditions. 

It  has  become  an  axiom  that  an  intelligent  study  of  the  past  is  the  best  light  for  future 
guidance,  but  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  present  is  not  less  essential. 

To-dav  should  inspire  the  hope  of  to-morrow,  but  to-da}-  must  be  understood.  Never- 
theless, knowledge  of  itself  is  of  little  value.  Alone  it  rather  tends  to  self-conceit  and 
complacent  indolence.  Knowledge  and  wisdom  are  too  often  separated.  We  acquire 
knowledge  by  seeing  and  hearing;  we  become  wise,  if  at  all,  by  investigation,  by  patient 
study  and  serious  meditation. 

Knowledge   is   from  without,  and    requires  only  industry    and   a    retentive    memory. 

\\^isdom  is  from  within,  and 
manifests  itself  in  the  just 
and  effective  application  of 
knowledge  to  beneficent 
uses. 

The  functions  of  a 
material  civilization  are  to 
provide  for  existing  wants  ; 
to  create  new  wants  and 
supph'  them.  To  do  this 
involves  the  invention  and 
discover)'  of  means  to  make 
labor  more  efficient,  to  get 
the  best  results  from  every 
effort,  to  learn  the  best  and 
all  the  uses  of  w'hicli  the 
materials  at  hand  are  capable 
to  bring  to  light  the  hidden  forces  of  nature,  and  make  them  ser\'ants,  obedient  to  our  will. 
Among  its  higher  aims  are  the  means  to  disseminate  knowledge,  to  secure  to  every 
man  under  government  the  enjoyment  of  the  right  to  eat  the  bread  his  own  hands  have 
earned,  and  to  compel  him,  if  need  be,  to  obser\'e  his  obligations  toothers;  to  throw  open 
wide  the  door  of  opportunitj',  and  yet  draw  the  line  between  liberb,',  which  is  govern- 
ment of  just  laws  equally  administered,  and  license,  which  overthrows  laws  and  makes  liberty 
impossible. 

It  aims  to  demonstrate  that  anarchy  is  not  an  aid  to  equality,  that  there  is  no  deserved 
success  without  labor,  nor  pennanent  prosperity  without  economy,  and  that  all  effects  are 
the  result  of  definite  causes  whether  known  or  unknown. 

These  high  themes  will  be  patiently  discussed  by  men  who  bring  long  study  and 
obser\'ation,  and  ripe  experience,  to  guide  their  daily  conclusions.  No  more  fitting  place 
or  time  could  be  chosen  for  these  daily  discussions,  than  the  one  selected,  when  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  people    from   every    part  of  the    country,    are  witnessing   the    vast    material 


FISH    .\.MJ    1  L->iIl.KIl.b    BLILDINl,. 


COLUMRrS   AXI)   COLl'MBIA. 


785 


triumphs  of  the  present  centur)-,  and  where  the  world  of  modern  enterprise,  and  skill  and 
crushin.ij  energ;>%  is  condensed  around  them. 

Nothing  is  more  diiRcult  tlian  to  predict,  with  an\-  approach  to  accuracy,  the  influence 
of  an\-  event.  Historj-  is  strewn  with  illustrations  of  endless  and  limitless  consequences 
from  causes  trivial  in  themselves,  almost  unnoticed,  not  even  considered. 

The  entreaties  of  his  hungr\-  and  weary  child  turned  Columbus,  discouraged  and 
dispirited,  with  his  face  set  toward  other  lands,  to  the  hospitable  door  of  a  monaster)',  where 
the  good  Friar,  who  had  been  the  Oueen's  Confessor,  became  his  champion  and  obtained 
for  him  audience  and  favor  with  Isabella. 

A  flight  of  birds  turned  the  great  navigator  from  his  due  west  course,  to  discover  land 
among  the  West  India  Islands,  instead  of  landing  on  our  Carolina  shores.  This  trivial 
accident  decided  that  Spanish  civilization  should  work  its  destiny  in  Central  and  South 
America,  and  that  the  Saxon  should  possess  the  great  northern  continent. 

A  plodding,  prosaic  Gennan  mechanic  cuts  letters  in  wood  and  slowly  transfers  them  to 
paper.  But  from  this  arose 
the  invention  of  printing, 
and  the  achievement  of  the 
greatest  revolution  of  the 
world. 

The  studies  and  speech 
of  an  obscure  monk  call  in 
question  the  wisdom  of  exist- 
ing  institutions  and  teach- 
ings, and  for  more  than  a 
centur\',  politics,  diplomacy, 
statecraft  and  war  are  con- 
trolled and  directed  by  the 
sentiments  and  influences 
wliich  he  has  evoked. 

\    bark    laden    with    a  building  ok  manufactures  and  liberal  arts. 

handful  of  exiles  lands  upon  a  desolate  shore  in  mid-winter,  but  the\-  bring  with  them  Law 
and  reverence  for  law,  a  church  and  a  state  of  perfect  equality,  where  all  are  both  teachers 
and  taught,  rulers  and  governed,  and  a  vast  empire  of  freedom  and  law  rises  up  and  calls 
their  memor\-  blessed. 

The  writer,  in  a  recent  visit  to  all  the  capitals  of  Europe,  was  required  to  confer 
with  those  who  control  nations.  Ever^-where  he  found  a  lively  interest  in  the  great  Exposi- 
tion. This  interest  was  not  confined  to  its  material  aspects,  to  inventions  and  machiner\-, 
and  their  products.  It  looked  farther  to  the  great  meeting  of  nations  where  the  experience 
of  one  may  become  the  instruction  and  help  of  all,  where  observation  and  discussion  may 
become  influential  in  solving  the  intricate  social  and  economic  problems  which  confront 
every  nation. 

It  is  not  expected  that  a  day  or  a  month  or  a  year  will  witness  radical  changes.  These 
can  only  be  made  suddenly  through  war  and  revolution,  the  earthquake  and  tornado  of  the 
social  and  political  world,  working  their  startling  changes  through  .suflering  and  death, 
through  waste  and  desolation.  But  it  is  not  an  unreasonable  expectation  that,  as  ever\' 
exposition  has  left  enduring  results  for  good,  so  this  one,  commemorating  the  most  note- 
worthy enterprise  of  all  the  ages,  endowed  and  patronized  by  the  Great  Republic  and  everv- 
50 


786 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUAIBIA. 


one  of  its  States,  and  by  all  nations,  will  leave  a  wider  and  deeper  inflnence  than  all  its 
predecessors. 

No  better  evidence  can  be  aflForded  that  this  expectation  is  general  and  well  settled, 
than  the  appearance  of  this  volnme.  It  is  not  a  cheap  and  transient  publication.  It  carries 
full  proof  of  the  confidence  and  liberalit>-  of  the  publishers,  and  the  industry  and  learning 
of  its  authors. 

That  men  of  life-long  study  and  established  fame  as  writers  of  history  should  turn  aside 
from  the  adventures  of  heroes,  from  the  tumult  of  nations,  to  the  quiet  stor}-  of  a  triumph 
of  peace,  is  significant  that  men  take  increasing  interest  in  the  ways  and  methods  which 
lead  to  improvement  without  violence. 

It  is  a  work  of  permanent  value.  It  is  at  once  a  biography  of  one  of  most  famous 
men,  a  history  of  the  United  States,  a  history  of  those  great  peaceful  meetings  of  nations 
which  have  crowned  the  centur}-  of  peace,  ending  with  the  account  of  the  last  and  greatest 
of  them  all.  It  possesses  all  the  requisites  of  valuable  and  instructive  history- — themes  of 
perennial  interest,  and  experience,  study  and  consummate   literar,'  skill  in   their  treatment. 

A  great  writer  long  since  said,  "  Happy  is  that  nation  whose  annals  are  tiresome." 
In  all  the  past,  men  have  turned  awa>-  from  the  stor>-  of  peace,  to  the  stirring  record  of 
bloodshed  and  revolution  and  all  the  blazonry  of  war.  This  volume  is  a  happy  evidence  of 
the  near  approach  of  the  better  time,  when  the  annals  of  peace  will  be  no  longer  tiresome. 


The  World's  F^^ir  ^t  Chicago. 


By  J.  W.  Butrl. 


CHAPTER  I. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ANCIENT  FESTIVALS. 


CULMINATION  of  American  history,  the  at- 
tainment of  that  lofty  goal  of  pure  democratic 
government  which  has  been  gained  by  per- 
sistent climbing  up  the  long  winding  way  of 
progress;  the  ascent  to  the  elevated  plateau 
of  human  freedom  from  which  the  metes  and 
bounds  of  the  world's  civilizations  may  be 
sur\'eyed  and  contrasted,  stand  as  the  resplen- 
dent results  achieved  in  the  New  World  four 
lumdred  years  after  its  discover^-. 

Self-gratulation    is    not    only  pardonable 
but  patriotic  when  our  jubilation  partakes  of 
national    pride,     and    we    accordingly  celebrate    our    accomplisliments 
not  only  with  hosannas  of  exultation,  and  pay  ourselves  the  tribute  of 
a  triumphant  applause,  but  invite   all  nations  to  bring  examples  of  the 
fruits  of  their  success  and  display  tliem  in  a  peaceful  rivalr\-  with  our  own. 

Like  our  republican  institutions,  which  have  flourished  and  flowered  here  into  unex- 
ampled perfection,  so  our  Columbian  Exposition  must  endure  as  a  monument  no  less  charac- 
teristic of  the  sovereignty  of  American  manhood  in  the  glorj-  of  its  proudest  achievement. 
Like  the  gradual  fulfilment  of  our  destiny — the  full  perfonnance  of  which  lies  hidden  in 
the  dim  perspective  of  the  future — the  idea  of  a  national  celebration,  conceived  at  a  time  as 
ancient  as  civilization  itself,  has  grown  by  the  accretion  of  experience  and  the  cultivation 
of  that  ambition  which  seeks  the  highest  happiness  in  the  peaceful  prosperity  of  our  nation, 
and  the  endurance  of  a  government  built  upon  the  finnest  foundation  of  individual  rights 
and  universal  freedom. 

It  is  not  more  interesting  to  note  the  development  of  democracy  from  its  crude 
incipiency,  when  Clisthenes,  at  Athens,  500  B.  C,  began  tlie  experiment,  than  it  is  to  follow 
the  slow  evolution  of  commercial  growth,  observing  as  we  must  that  political  and  civil 
progress  keeps  pace  with  the  mifolding  of  enlightenment,  as  well  as  with  the  exigencies  of 
condition  and  environment.  Originally  man  was  at  peace,  because  ambition  was  not  a 
coincident  of  his  birth;  but  the  increase  of  families  created  the  necessity  for  some  form  of 

(787) 


788  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

government,  and  as  this  called  for  the  establishnient  of  a  central  authority,  elevation  to 
supremacv  begat  ambition,  which  in  turn  became  father  to  the  attendant  evils  of  greed, 
avarice  and  injustice.  Out  of  these  strife  arose  as  a  natural  consequence,  and  war  was  the 
result.  But  in  turn  the  evil  thus  accentuated  in  human  nature  became  father  to  religious 
instinct,  for  evil  must  have  its  opposing  counterpart ;  thus,  in  the  absence  of  human  power 
to  punish  wrong,  appeal  was  most  naturally  made  to  an  omnipotence  from  whom  all 
power  is  received;  while  reverence  and  propitiation  to  this  unseen  but  mighty  protector 
became  the  reliance  that  developed  into  religion. 

Religion  therefore  reinstituted  the  rule  of  peace,  which  though  failing  to  turn  the 
mind  of  man  wholly  from  the  pursuits  of  war  and  mad  ambition,  yet  measurably  abated 
his  savagery  and,  by  gradually  refining,  finally  directed  him  in  the  use  of  the  higher  gifts 
which  God  has  bestowed.  Thus  the  warrior  became  the  artisan  and  the  agriculturist,  who 
found  prosperity  and  peace  in  cultivating  the  soil,  which  quickened  his  conscience  to  an 
appreciation  of  the  manifold  blessings  that  descend  in  the  rain,  are  poured  out  by  the  sun, 
and  spring  up  in  golden  fruitage  from  the  earth  to  reward  his  toil. 

EARLIEST  FORMS    OF  FESTIVAL  CELEBRATION. 

The  three  phases  through  which  the  earlier  civilizations  passed  were  each  in  turn  cele- 
brated by  some  form  of  tribal  or  national  thanksgiving,  and  this  manifestation  of  gratitude, 
as  well  as  expression  of  self-felicitation,  was  encouraged  by  the  institution  of  particular 
forms  of  celebration,  and  the  designation  of  certain  days,  or  seasons,  for  their  observance. 

The  first  exhibition  of  man's  acknowledgment  to  the  spiritual  influence  that  con- 
trolls  his  destiny  was  in  the  nature  of  propitiatory  feasts,  developing  into  festivals  as  his 
reverent  attachments  and  religious  propensities  advanced  towards  orderly,  or  prescribed 
ceremonials.  Thus  the  primary  form  was  reverence  for  the  dead,  or  a  mixture  of  ghost 
worship  and  sacrifice,  which  being  often  repeated  became  constantly  elaborated  at  intervals 
until  it  grew  into  public  observance.  Having  thus  become  a  recognized  fonn  in  the  social 
government,  a  calendar  regulating  the  times  of  such  ceremonies  was  a  necessity,  and  a 
computation  was  naturally  suggested  by  the  moon's  phases.  But  as  the  mind  of  man  is 
ever  expanding  and  leading  him  to  higher  conceptions,  the  lunar  reckoning  was  directly 
combined  with  the  solar,  so  that  to  the  lunar  feasts  there  were  added  seasonal  festivals,  cor- 
responding to  the  four  periods  which  distinctively  mark  the  year.  Among  the  most  barbaric 
tribes  there  is  seen  the  practice  of  friends  and  relatives  laying  offerings  of  food  and  drink 
upon  the  graves  of  their  dead  at  the  opening  of  each  month;  again,  among  the  semi- 
civilized  we  observe  the  custom  of  strewing  graves  of  relatives  with  fruits  and  flowers  in 
their  season,  obser\'ances  which  have  existed  longer  than  the  records  of  history-  describe. 
Among  the  ancient  Peruvians,  Prescott  tells  us,  it  was  a  custom  to  earn,-  the  embalmed 
bodies  of  their  Incas  to  a  public  square  of  their  capital,  and  at  the  autumnal  festival  offer 
to  them  a  part  of  the  fruits  of  the  har\'est.  In  this  celebration  we  have  a  mixing  of  the 
religious  with  the  commercial,  or  a  propitiation  of  the  spirit,  combined  with  a  worship  of 
the  powers  of  nature. 

The  ancient  Eg>'ptians  carried  their  celebrations,  and  oblations  to  the  dead,  to  an 
extraordinary  extreme,  for  they  appointed  twelve  festivals  for  each  month,  and  three  princi- 
pal festivals  for  the  year.  Besides  these  days  of  offerings,  there  was  a  great  feast  day 
observed  as  a  special  honor  to  the  god  of  the  Nile,  at  which  a  maiden  was  sacrificed  as  a 
propitiation,  as  well  as  a  thank  offering,  for  the  benefactions  the  god  conferred  b>-  raising 
the  waters  and  fructifving  the  vallev.      The  victim  thus  consecrated  to  the    Nilotic  divinity 


bACKII'ICU   OK   A    VIRGIN    lO   THE   GOD  XJV    THK    NILK. 


(789) 


790  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

was  chosen  from  among  the  fairest  and  purest  of  Eg\"ptian  \irgins,  and  on  the  day  of  sacri- 
fice was  garlanded  with  flowers  and  adorned  with  rich  raiment  and  jewels.  Thus  prepared, 
amid  songs  of  praise  she  was  committed  to  the  rising  water,  bound  to  a  raft  which  could 
not  support  her  weight,  or  being  stationary,  as  the  river  rose  she  was  gradually  overwhelmed. 

FAIRS  OF  FARTHER  INDIA,   MEXICO  AND   PERU. 

The  most  ancient  literatures  of  the  world,  such  as  the  Rig-\'eda,  record  recurrent  or 
seasonal  festivals,  in  which  sacrifices  were  offered;  and  similar  obser\-ances  were  common 
among  the  Phoenicians,  who  added  to  the  practice  of  offering  some  simple  sacrifice,  which 
obtained  in  ancient  India,  the  immolation  of  human  victims.  Customs  that  were  almost 
identical  with  these  were  prevalent  in  China  and  Japan,  differing  only  in  respect  to  their 
commercial  import,  for  among  these  latter  people  superstition  was  made  largely  subordinate 
to  their  material  interests,  so  that  their  national  festivals  had  somewhat  the  character  of 
a  fair. 

It  is  interesting,  because  very-  curious,  to  know  that  the  ancient  Mexicans,  or  rather 
the  Aztecs,  held  calendar  festivals  which  were  almost  a  counterpart  of  those  which  the 
oldest  Chinese  records  describe;  so  nearh-  identical,  indeed,  as  to  give  rise  to  the  belief, 
expressed  by  many  investigators,  that  the  idea  of  holding  such  celebrations  originated  with 
one  people  and  was  by  them  communicated  to  other  nations.  This  theory,-  pre-supposes 
inter-continental  intercourse  and  navigation  of  the  high  seas  at  a  period  of  remote  anti- 
quity, yet  even  before  this  question  not  a  few  theorists  continue  to  urge  the  belief.  When 
Cortez  invaded  Mexico,  among  mam'  other  surprising  things  which  he  witnessed,  attesting 
a  high  degree  of  civilization  among  the  Mexicans,  were  such  fairs  as  might  well  compare 
with  those  that  had  been  held  at  Salamanca  and  Granada.  ■ 

But  centuries  before  the  Spanish  invasion  the  Aztecs  held  at  inter\-als,  sometimes 
measured  b\-  the  seasons,  and  at  others  b>'  years,  fairs  of  more  or  less  importance.  The 
attendance  was  usually  from  40,000  to  50,000  persons,  but  on  special  occasions,  correspond- 
ing somewhat  to  our  National  expositions,  the  number  of  visitors  exceeded  100,000.  These 
annual  fairs,  too,  were  institutions  well  supported,  particularly  by  the  agricultural  popu- 
lation, for  tilling  the  soil  was  the  chief  occupation.    Prescottthus  describes  the  management: 

'•  Officers  patrolled  the  square,  whose  business  it  was  to  keep  the  peace,  to  collect  the 
dues  imposed  on  the  various  kinds  of  merchandise,  to  see  that  no  false  measures  or  fraiid 
of  any  kind  were  used,  and  to  bring  offenders  at  once  to  justice.  A  court  of  twelve  judges 
sat  at  one  part  of  the  tiangiiez  (a  building  at  the  end  of  the  court)  clothed  with  those  ample 
and  summarv  powers  which,  in  despotic  countries,  are  often  delegated  even  to  petty 
tribunals.  The  extreme  severity'  with  which  they  exercised  those  powers  proves  that  they 
were  not  a  dead  letter." 

EXHIBITIONS  AMONG  THE  GREEKS  AND   ROMANS. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  evolution  of  the  Fair  among  the  nations  that  exhibited 
the  highest  civilization  in  the  early  periods  of  history,  we  find  that  from  the  religious 
festival,  associated  with  ancestor  worship  as  it  originally  was,  there  developed  what  were 
called  games,  or  athletic  contests,  which  brought  together,  on  well  advertised  occasions, 
contestants  from  widely  separated  districts,  and  their  rivalries  were  exhibited  before  e.xcited 
multitudes,  among  whom  royalty  was  not  ashamed  to  be  seen. 

We  have  from  Homer  allusions,  amounting  at  times  to  descriptions,  of  the  x&ry  ancient 
and  cnide  Greek  festivals,  which  had  grown  so  great  in  public  estimation  in  the  time  of 
Hesiod,  some  900  years  B.  C,  that  they  were   fully  developed  into  national  celebrations, 


(791) 


792  COLU.MBUS   AND   COLU:\IBIA. 

though  held  at  infreqiieut  intervals.  But  this  forui  of  observance  increased  in  favor  until 
the  time  of  Strabo,  about  60  years  B.  C,  when  the  Greek  holidays  exceeded  in  number  the 
working  days.  Many  of  these,  indeed  a  considerable  majority,  were  what  may  be  called 
nature-festivals,  associated  as  they  were  with  the  seasonal  phenomena,  but  not  a  few  were 
commemorative  of  historical  events,  and  these  developed  into  the  Olympian,  Pvthian, 
Xemean  and  Isthmian  games. 

Among  the  Romans  the  e^'olution  of  public  festivities  was  equally  marked  as  among 
the  Greeks.  From  simple  observ-ances,  confined  to  families  on  occasions  of  mourning, 
which  strange  enough  took  the  form  of  festival,  the  custom  grew  until  national  celebrations, 
religious -and  secular,  were  the  result.  They  at  length  became  fixed  by  imperial  proclama- 
tion, and  were  finallj'  become  so  numerous  that  Marcus  Antonius  found  it  necessary-,  for  the 
public  benefit,  to  reduce  the  number  of  holidays,  even  at  the  risk  of  ofiending  some  in 
whose  honors  the  festivals  thus  interdicted  had  been  instituted. 

The  Jewish  Feasts,  many  of  which  still  sur\-ive,  were  nearly  all  borrowed  from  the 
Egyptians  and  applied  to  the  commemoration  of  events  which  had  a  doubtful  existence. 
The  Sabbath  probably  took  its  observance  from  the  lunar  periods,  while  the  Feast  of  the 
Passover  and  of  Tabernacles  are  a  continuation  of  the  ver^-  ancient  Egj'ptian  celebrations 
of  the  vernal  and  autmnnal  equinoxes. 

THE  OLYMPIAN  GAMES. 

But  the  most  pronounced  advance,  a  distinct  epoch  in  the  process  of  festival  evolution, 
is  found  in  the  inauguration  of  the  Olympian  games,  as  successor  to  the  more  quiet  observ- 
ances that  distinguished  the  earlier  periods  of  Greek  national  life.  The  first  mention  of 
games  as  a  form  of  Hellenic  festivity  is  found  in  the  Iliad,  describing  the  funereal  cere- 
monies that  followed  the  death  of  Patroclus.  The  exhibitions  therein  given  are  a  testimony 
to  the  belief  entertained,  by  Greek  and  Roman  alike,  that  the  dead  are  gratified  by  such 
displavs  as  afford  pleasure  in  life.  It  was  this  belief  that  gave  creation  to  the  chariot  race 
and  athletic  competitions  in  archery,  boxing,  wrestling,  running,  jumping,  fencing,  etc. 
For  in  the  earl 3^  ages  men's  chief  aspirations  centred  about  feats  of  arms  ;  nations  like 
Rome  and  Greece  literally  lived  by  the  sword,  and  to  be  a  mighty  warrior  was,  therefore, 
the  loftiest  ambition  that  a  man  could  entertain.  The  games  were  celebrated  near  some 
consecrated  place,  and  were  invariably  connected  bj-  some  mythical  storj-  with  a  heroized 
warrior  or  a  local  deity. 

The  Olympian  games  were  probably  instituted  by  the  Eleians  and  Pisans  about  800 
years  B.  C,  and  their  celebration  continued  uninterruptedly  until  a  decree  of  Theodosius 
abolished  them  about  380  B.  C. 

A  more  exciting  spectacle  was  never  witnessed  than  these  national  celebrations  offered. 
They  were  in  their  general  aspects  a  national  exposition  of  human  skill  and  endurance, 
since  the  lists  were  opened  to  all  blameless  Greeks  who  chose  to  compete  for  honors.  Every 
four  years  the  exhibition  took  place  and  lasted  at  first  throtigh  one  da}-,  but  were  afterwards 
extended  to  five  days.  Preparatoiy  to  the  opening  of  the  festival,  heralds  were  despatched 
throughout  Greece  and  her  dependencies  proclaiming  a  tnice.  Instantly  war's  harsh  clamor 
was  hushed ;  tents  were  folded  and  all  field  operations  became  suspended  even  in  the  face  of 
an  enemy,  and  everv  step  of  the  Greek  patriot  was  bent  towards  Olympia,  the  cit>'  sacred 
to  his  gods,  where  the  rich  plain  of  Elis  spread  out  like  a  banquet  table  laden  with  the 
fruits  of  exuberant  nature.  So  strong  was  the  Greek's  attachment,  nay  reverence,  for  the 
institution,  and  so  religiously  did  he  observe  the  mouth  as  sacred  to  peace,  that  even  the 


BCOKXlUiU^'" 


(7qO 


794  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

nation's  peril  was  insufficient  to  induce  him  to  violate  the  sanctity  of  the  holy  davs  bv  going 
out  to  meet  an  enemy. 

EXCITING  AND   DANGEROUS  SPORTS  OF  THE  GREEKS. 

The  games  were  contested  upon  a  plain  in  which  an  amphitheatre  was  constructed 
capable  of  accommodating  100,000  people.  At  one  end,  next  to  an  olive  grove,  were  ten 
tents,  the  quarters  of  as  many  judges,  representatives  of  the  ten  Eleian  tribes.  Near  these 
tents  was  the  Altis  gymnasium,  in  which  contestants  trained  for  ten  months  preceding  the 
opening  of  the  games.  On  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  exhibition  began  a  train 
of  sacred  deputies,  clad  in  their  robes  of  office,  arrived  at  the  enti^ance  in  rich  carriages  of 
state,  bearing  their  offerings  to  the  god  Zeus,  in  whose  honor  the  games  were  instituted. 
The  contestants  followed  and  presented  themselves  before  the  judges,  to  whom  they  proffered 
the  proofs  of  their  pure  Hellenic  descent  and  spotless  character,  and  qualified  themselves 
further  by  swearing  they  would  honorably  engage  their  adversaries,  without  emploj'ing  any 
unjust  advantage.  Having  thus  fulfilled  the  conditions  of  entrance,  the  athletes  repaired  to 
the  opposite  end  of  the  stadium,  where  they  stripped  to  the  skin  and  anointed  their  bodies 
with  oil. 

The  games  were  not  always  the  same,  for  originally,  and  until  the  77th  Olympiad, 
foot-racing  was  the  only  contest,  but  subsequently  the  list  was  increased  imtil,  as  Pausanius 
relates,  there  were  twenty-four,  and  in  the  23d  Olympiad  chariot  racing  was  introduced. 
For  this  purpose  a  hippodrome  was  established  covering  a  distance  of  1200  feet  in  length 
by  400  feet  in  breadth,  the  circuit  of  which  had  to  be  traversed  twelve  times.  At  one  end 
of  the  course  was  a  stone  pillar  called  the  goal,  the  turning  of  which  was  attended  with 
such  extreme  peril  that  even  the  horses,  as  they  swept  around  it  in  maddened  pace  shrank 
with  terror,  and  thus  increased  the  danger  of  upsetting  the  chariot. 

But  notwithstanding  the  hazard,  so  great  were  the  honors  conferred  upon  the  victor, 
that  even  kings  entered  the  arena  and  strove  ^•aliantly  to  win  the  glor>'  from  the  plebeian 
contestants.  In  the  time  of  Homer  prizes  of  intrinsic  value  were  given,  but  after  the  6th 
Olympiad  the  rewards  consisted  of  nothing  more  than  a  garland  of  wild  olive.  But  there 
was  said  to  be  magic  properties  in  such  a  crown,  prepared  as  it  was  from  branches  cut  with 
a  golden  sickle  from  a  tree  held  sacred  to  Hercules.  The  wild  olive  was  believed  to  have 
been  brought  to  Greece,  as  Pindar  relates,  "from  the  dark  fountains  of  Ister  in  the  land  of 
the  Hyperboreans,  to  be  a  shelter  common  to  all  men,  and  a  crown  for  noble  deeds."  To 
this  belief  concerning  its  introduction  was  naturally  added  faith  in  its  potent  virtues  to 
render  the  wearer  valorous,  skilful  and  graceful,  three  attributes  that  were  esteemed  above 
all  the  other  accomplishments  that  man  could  possess. 

WOMEN  AT  THE  GAMES.— REWARDS  TO  THE  VICTOR. 

Another  feature  prominent  in  these  exhibitions  of  athletic  skill,  strength  and  master}-, 
is  observed  in  the  conditions  which  regulated  the  attendance.  No  matron,  whether  married 
or  widowed,  was  permitted  to  witness  the  games,  and  violation  of  the  prohibition  was  pi;n- 
ishable  under  the  law  by  death.  But  while  matrons  were  rigorously  excluded,  marriageable 
girls,  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty,  were  specially  encouraged  to  witness  the  games, 
though  it  is  hardly  probable  that  anything  more  than  permission  was  necessary-  to  secure 
their  attendance.  The  object  of  thus  inviting  young  ladies  to  the  contests  is  not  difficult 
to  surmise,  since  their  presence  has  never  failed,  in  any  age  of  the  world,  to  stimulate  to 
their  utmost  exertion  men  who  engage  in  a  public  exhibition  of  their  strength,  skill  and 
courag-e. 


COLUMHUS   AND   COLUMHIA.  795 

The  victor  of  these  contests,  while  receivinjij  no  intrinsic  rewards  from  llie  state,  was 
nevertheless  remembered  with  costly  srjfts  fn)ni  friends,  in  addition  to  the  unexampled 
honors  which  the  government  conferred  upon  him.  When  .the  victory  was  gained  a  trumpet 
blast  was  the  signal,  after  which  a  herald  announced  the  successful  contestant's  name, 
parentage  and  place  of  nativity.  The  president  of  the  council  of  judges  then  crowned  him 
and  placed  a  palm  branch  in  his  hand.  The  victor,  amid  a  deafening  applause  of  the  nml- 
titude,  next  proceeded  to  the  temple  of  Zeus,  walking  upon  banks  of  flowers  strewn  in  his 
way,  and  picking  up  costly  gifts  that  were  thrown  before  him  by  his  admirers.  Gaining 
the  temple,  songs  in  which  his  name  was  often  repeated  were  sung,  and  having  entered  his 
name  in  the  record  kept  for  the  purpose,  he  became  canonized  in  the  Greek  Calendar. 

But  the  honors  accorded  the  victor  at  Olyrapia  were  only  a  precursor  of  others  more 
■substantial  to  be  bestowed  upon  him  after  his  return  home.  In  many  cases  princely 
pensions  were  granted  by  the  town  which  had  the  glory  of  being  his  birthplace.  Poets 
sang  his  praise,  sculptors  embalmed  him  in  marble,  altars  were  built,  and  sacrifices  offered 
to  him  thereon  as  a  god. 

Xo  emperor,  in  all  the  magnificence  of  his  royal  estates,  and  the  unlimited  extent  of 
his  power  among'  men,  any  more  than  the  triumphant  general  retuniing  with  his  captives 
and  trains,  laden  with  richest  spoils,  could  command  such  honors  as  were  bestowed  by  the 
populace  upon  the  victorious  athlete. 

The  Pythian  games,  founded  about  six  hundred  years  before  Christ,  were  originally 
musical  festivals  celebrated  in  honor  of  the  Delphic  God;  but  latterly  they  partook  of  the 
character  which  distinguished  the  Olympian  exhibitions,  differing  from  them  onlv  bv 
adding  to  the  athletic  contests  poetical  and  musical  competitions. 

The  Nemean  games,  so  called  from  the  groves  in  which  they  took  place,  were  little 
more  than  military-  reviews  at  first,  instituted  in  commemoration  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Nemean  lion  by  Hercules.  They  were  afterwards  changed  to  a  celebration  in  honor  of 
Zeus,  and  opened  to  all  Greek  contestants  in  horse-racing,  throwing,  boxing,  archery  and 
music.  So  highly  were  they  esteemed  by  the  populace  that  Philip  of  Macedon  gratefully 
accepted  the  honorable  presidency  of  the  games,  at  which  he  regularly  presided,  clothed  in 
all  the  magnificence  of  his  royal  estate. 

The  Isthmian  Gaines  took  their  name  from  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  where  thev  were 
celebrated  in  the  spring  of  every  alternate  year.  Their  origin,  like  the  others,  was  in  a 
pleasing  fable,  to  this  effect:  A  certain  king  known  as  Athamas  married  a  second  wife 
named  Ino,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  called  Melicertes.  The  king  conceived  siich  a  jealousy 
for  his  wife  that  he  pursued  her  with  murderous  intent,  which  she  only  escaped  bv  leaping 
into  the  sea  with  h^r  child.  Xeptune  at  an  auspicious  moment  came  to  their  rescue,  and 
to  preserve  their  lives  from  drowning  he  changed  them  into  sea-deities.  In  connnemoration 
of  this  good  deed  the  Isthmian  games  were  founded  in  honor  of  Xeptune.  In  nearlv  all 
respects  they  were  identical  with  those  of  the  Olympic  and  Xenieaii,  but  were  afterwards 
participated  in  by  the  Romans,  who  added  fights  with  wild  beasts,  and  gladiatorial  combats. 

ROMAN   FESTIVALS  AND   BLOODV  SHOWS. 

The  difference  between  the  civilization  of  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  is  nowhere 
more  strongly  contrasted,  to  the  advantage  of  the  former,  than  in  their  puljlic  exhibitions. 
.\mong  the  Greeks  there  was  much  refinement,  and  their  shows  were  made  to  appeal  to  the 
best  instincts  of  the  people,  with  the  design  to  elevate  and  ennoble  the  as])irations  of  those 
who  became  spectators.  On  the  other  hand,  with  the  Romans  the  intent  was  always  to 
pander  to  the  gro-sser  passions,  with  the  view  of  rendering  the  people  more  disposed  towards 


as 
P 
o 


(796) 


COLUMHl'S    AND    COLI'MHIA. 


7U7 


war,  and  to  blunt  the  natural  sense  of  mercy.  Among  both  nations  their  games  were 
intimately  connected  with  religion,  but  tlieir  conceptions  of  the  spiritual  were  ver>-  dis- 
similar, though  both  were  mythological.  With  the  tireeks  athletic  contests  were  a  stimu- 
lant to  physical  skill  directed  by  wise  purpose;  while  with  the  Romans  they  became  wild, 
reckless,  unbridled  scenes  of  brute  courage,  in  which  none  but  the  ignoble  particii)ated  to 
amuse  the  patrician  cla.ss.  While  one  celebrated  the  noble  act  of  .some  deity,  the  other 
was  made  to  commemorate  the  bloody  deeds  of  some  tyrant  and  despoiler.  The  expense 
of  one  was  borne  bv  the  rich;  of  the  other  the  cost  was  too  great  for  individuals  to  bear, 
and  thus  we  learn  that  the  Ccesars  squandered  the  revenues  of  whole  provinces  to  provide 
amusement  for  the  barbarous  mob. 

The  principal  exhibitions  were  held  each  year  in  the  Circus  Maximus,  where,  we  are 
told,     seats      were     provided     for 
350,000  spectators  ;  while  Juvenal 
assures  us  that  it  was  sufficiently 
large  to    hold  the  entire    popula- 
tion   of  Rome.       The    two  chief 
festivals,  or   fairs,    were  the  Ludi 
Maxivii   and    the    I'enatio.     The 
first    w'as    instituted    as    a  votive 
feast  to  the  Capitoline  Jupiter,  and 
was  begun  by  a  niilitan,'  spectacK 
of  great  magnificence,  which  con- 
sisted of  a  grand  procession  headed 
by    patricians   on    horseback,    fol- 
lowed by  a  vast  army  in  glittering 
corselets,   bearing 
their     spears,    short 
swords,  and  brightly- 
burnished    bucklers. 
Behind  the   soldiers 
marched    a  great 
number  of  burghers, 
from  the  various 
Roman  provinces, 
and    these    in    turn 
were  followed  by  the 
athletes,    who    were 
naked,   except   for  a 

narrow  girdle  that  encircled  the  loins.  Next  came  the  dancers,  harpers  and  flute-players, 
and,  lastly,  the  solemn  priests  who  carried  censers  and  images  of  the  gods.  The  procession 
moved  through  the  streets  to  the  circus  where  the  games  were  jx-rfornied,  consisting  of 
chariot-racing,  military  manoeuvres,  and  gymnastic  contests.  Hut  the  chief  interest 
centred  in  the  chariot  race,  which  was  run  fourteen  times  around  the  course,  making 
a  distance  of  five  miles.  The  drivers  were  professionals,  and  were  distinguishable,  one 
from  the  other,  by  the  different  colors  of  their  tunics,  whence  is  derived  the  custom  of 
dressing  jockeys  in  modern  horse-races.  While  the  spectacle  of  a  furious  drive  round 
the  hippodrome  was   intensely  exciting,  the  interest  was  heightened  by   the  wagers  which 


CRIMINAL   FIGHTING   WITH    A    HUNGRY    LION. 


798  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

were  laid,  and  the  factions  into  which  the  betters  were  divided.  The  races  were,  there- 
fore, little  more  than  gambling  exhibitions,  which  sometimes  terminated  in  dreadful  fights, 
in  which  the  loss  of  life  was  very  great.  In  one  of  these  battles  between  rival  factions, 
30,000  people  lost  their  lives. 

SLAUGHTER  OF  WILD  ANIMALS. 

The  Venatio^  or  hunting-show,  was  a  more  shameful  spectacle,  which  generally  took 
place  in  the  amphitheatre,  and  at  first  was  a  rather  tame  though  brutalizing  exhibition,  in 
which  hunters,  called  bestarii^  dispatched  such  wild  animals  as  deer,  bears,  wolves,  and 
occasionally  lions,  without  incurring  any  great  risk  themselves.  But  the  thirst  for  bloody 
sports  was  not  long  satisfied  with  such  shows,  and  the  craving  for  more  desperate,  daring 
and  murderous  spectacles  grew  apace  until  gladiatorial  combats  became  at  length  a  rage. 
From  hunting  scenes  there  next  succeeded  animal-baiting,  in  which  lions,  tigers,  elephants, 
and  even  crocodiles,  were  made  to  fight  for  the  amusement  of  the  spectators,  and  soon  after 
the  introduction  of  this  sport  captives  and  criminals  were  forced  into  the  amphitheatre,  and 
made  to  fight  with  ravening  beasts.  Those  who  were  thus  condemned  to  battle,  to  gratify 
the  perverted  desires  of  the  barbarous  multitude,  were  allowed  no  other  weapons  than  a 
short  sword  and  shield,  with  which  they  received  the  animals  that  had  been  starved  into  an 
unnatural  ferocity.  The  extent  of  these  astounding  exhibitions  may  be  gained  from  state- 
ments of  reliable  historians,  who  represent  that  on  one  occasion  no  less  than  700  lions  and 
many  elephants  were  matched  with  a  company  of  Gaetulian  hunters.  The  opening  of  the 
Colosseum  (A.  D.  80)  was  celebrated  by  the  slaughter  of  9000  beasts,  more  than  half  of 
which  were  of  the  most  ferocious  kind,  while  Trajan's  victory  over  the  Dacians,  in  the  year 
io5,  was  commemorated  by  four  months  of  continuous  battle  in  the  arena,  during  which 
11,000  animals  were  killed,  and  9000  gladiators  fought  to  the  death.  To  avoid  a  very  sea 
of  blood  which  such  slaughter  would  turn  loose,  the  arena  was  strewn  with  sand,  but,  to 
exhibit  ■  their  amazing  prodigality,  some  of  the  emperors  are  said  to  have  substituted  a 
precious  powder,  mingled  with  gold-dust,  for  sand,  believing  it  to  be  a  better  absorbent. 

The  Roman  Colosseum,  in  which  the  greatest  shows  were  given,  was  built  in  the  shape 
•of  an  ellipse,  being  616  feet  in  its  greatest  diameter,  and  510  in  its  lesser,  while  the  arena 
measured  280  by  175  feet.  Prior  to  the  erection  of  the  Colosseum,  which  was  chiefly  of 
stone,  the  games  were  celebrated  in  wooden  structures,  the  dimensions  of  which,  no  doubt 
considerably  exceeded  those  of  the  more  famous  building,  with  whose  ruins  we  are  so 
familiar.  On  a  very  great  occasion,  as  we  are  told,  a  wooden  edifice  of  this  kind  collapsed 
from  the  weight  of  the  thousands  that  occupied  it,  and  in  the  catastrophe  no  less  than 
50,000  people  were  crushed  to  death.  It  was  this  accident  that  caused  the  Roman  Emperor 
Vespasian  to  construct  the  Colosseum  of  stone,  which,  however,  he  did  not  live  to  see 
finished,  but  left  its  completion  to  his  son  Titus.  In  this  gigantic  structure,  covering  five 
acres  of  ground,  and  seating  100,000  people,  were  enacted  such  scenes  of  carnage  that 
nowhere  in  the  world's  history  is  to  be  found  anything  to  compare  with  them. 

GLADIATORIAL   FIGHTS  AND  MASSACRE  OF  CHRISTIANS. 

Wild  animals  were  frequently  baited  within  the  walls  of  the  Colo.sseum,  but  combats 
between  gladiators  directly  superseded  all  other  sports,  and  the  amphitheatre  was  more  than 
a  hundred  times  drenched  with  the  blood  of  a  thousand  victims.  Rome  took  captives  from 
among  the  peoples  of  every  clime  then  known,  and  only  removed  their  fetters  to  give  them 
introduction  to  the  slaughter-pen,  where  others  met  them  in  the  gage  of  butchery,  to  please 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


799 


the  appetite  of  Roman  crowds.  Witliin  its  arena,  too,  thousands  of  Christians  were  given 
over  as  spoil  to  hunijry  beasts,  St.  I_<j;natius  bein<j  first  to  suffer  martyrdom  within  the  jaws 
of  a  star\-ing  lion.  And  who  were  the  spectators  ?  Why,  the  emperor,  senators,  magis- 
trates, vestal  z'irgiiis,  members  of  the  principal  guilds,  and  in  short  both  the  great  and  the 
ignoble  watched  with  ravished  eyes  men  pierced  to  the  heart  in  the  deadly  combat;  wi\-es, 
children,  and  captives  thrown  into  the  eiiclosure  to  break  the  famine  of  wild  animals;  and 
in  the  red  glare  of  human  torches,  swathed  in  pitch  and  flax,  the  fiendish  throng  saw  the 
sardonic  smile  that  played  about  the  sensual  lips  of  the  persecuting  emperor,  and  strained 
their  ears  to  catch  the  last  cries  of  expiring  victims. 

So  infatuated  were  the  Romans  with  these  murderous  exhibitions  that  we  have  accounts 
of  no  less  than  fifty-two  colossal  amphitheatres,  scattered  through  the  .several  Roman 
provinces,  and  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  these  bloody 
shows.  Julius  Caesar  has  the 
credit,  along  with  his  other 
deeds  that  give  him  a  sangiii- 
nary  renown,  of  introducing 
bull-fighting,  which  strangely 
enough  is  the  only  one  of 
the  many  cruel  sports  to 
which  the  Romans  were  once 
so  fondly  devoted,  that  sur- 
vives in  christianized  lands. 

MARTYRDOM  OF  A  HUMANE  MONK. 

Succeeding  the  conquest 
of  Greece  these  brutalizing 
spectacles  were  occasionally 
seen  in  Athens,  but  the  more 
refined  tastes  of  the  Greeks 
prevented  them  from  ever 
becoming  popular.  After  the 
Christian  religion  gained 
such  strength  among  the 
Romans  that  Emperor  Con- 
stantine  embraced  the  tenets 
of  the  faith,  the  bloody 
games  became  less  frequent, 
but  even  that  zealous  emperor 
could  not  wholly  abolish  them,  though  many  edicts  with  tliat  intent  were  promulgated. 
It  was  reserved  for  a  pious  monk  to  sacrifice  his  life  in  a  supreme  effort  to  secure 
their  abolition,  the  stor>-  being  told  by  Theodoret,  to  this  effect  :  In  the  year  404  A. 
D. ,  Telemachus,  living  somewhere  in  the  far  east,  having  heard  of  the  degrading  and 
barbaric  sports  of  the  Romans,  resolved  upon  an  attempt  to  bring  about  their  prohibi- 
tion. To  this  end  he  made  a  journey  to  Rome,  in  the  costume  of  his  order  and  without 
attendants,  bent  upon  his  .sacred  mission.  It  chanced  that  he  arrived  at  the  imperial  city  on 
a  festival  day,  which  was  being  commemorated  by  the  usual  gladiatorial  combats  in  the 
Colosseum.      Repairing  to  the  place  where  the  cruel  sports  were  in  progress,  he  impetuously 


DUEL   OF   GLADIATORS. 


800 


COLUMBUS   AND    COLUMBIA. 


rushed  into  the  arena  and  endeavored  to  separate  the  combatants.  But  alas,  for  his  pious 
zeal  and  sympathy,  he  had  no  other  reward  than  the  gratitude  of  after  times,  for  the  Prcetor, 
offended  at  the  interference  with  his  own  delights,  ordered  the  guards  to  instantly  despatch 
the  humane  monk,  whose  blood  was  made  to  mingle  with  others  that  had  on  that  memorable 
day  been  slain  in  the  arena. 

But  Telemachus  had  not  died  in  vain,  for  besotted  as  the  Romans  were  with  their 
pleasure  in  bloody  amusements,  yet  there  was  some  humanity  in  their  hearts  though  it  was 
stagnant.  The  execution  of  the  monk,  however,  stirred  it  into  an  active  fountain  of  tem- 
pered mercy,  and  an  edict  of  Honorius  abolishing  the  games  was  immediately  promul- 
gated and,  strangely  enough,  was  respected,  so  that  the  death  of  Telemachus  was  the 
occasion  of  their  last  celebration. 

But  by  this  time  both  Greek  and  Rome  had  grown  out  of  the  conditions  that  made 
such  savage  exhibitions  a  part  of  the  age.  Under  the  old  mythology  of  Rome,  and  the 
position  she  had  gained,  and  was  able  to  hold  only  by  force  of  arms  and  a  cultivation  of  the 
military  spirit,  the  bloodiest  exhibitions  were  approved  as  lending  patriotic  incitement  to 
the  manhood  upon  which  the  nation  depended.  But  Christianity  had  by  this  time  spread 
its  influence  like  a  gentle  and  refreshing  dew  over  the  countries  of  the  Levant  and  the  savage 
disposition  of  man  was  dissolving  under  the  rays  of  this  sun  of  peace  and  love.  Preparation 
for  the  inevitable  change  had  thus  been  made,  though  it  was  not  recognized  until  the  tragic 
episode  of  Telemachus'  martyrdom  gave  emphasis  to  the  insinuating,  but  all  prevading  fact. 

From  the  time  of  the  abolition  of  the  Colosseum  exhibitions  Rome  dates  her  new  life; 
the  military  spirit  slowly  gave  place  to  the  arts  of  peace.  Her  life  was  henceforth  to  find 
sustenance  in  commerce  instead  of  in  blood.  The  great  building  which  was  the  scene  of  so 
many  bloody  triumphs  fell  into  disuse,  and  now  its  crumbling  walls,  a  skeleton  of  what 
was  once  the  glory  of  Rome,  remain  like  a  spectre  pointing  backward  to  an  age  that  was 
red  with  savagery,  to  the  Rome  of  the  Caesars,  the  Neros  and  the  Vespasians. 


CHAPTER  II. 
GREAT  FAIRS  OF  MODERN  TIMES. 


THE  earliest  ages  of  the  world,  religion  engaged  a 
larger  part  of  man's  attentions  and  ambitions.  So 
great  was  this  attachment,  so  zealous  and  all-per- 
vading this  superstition,  that  in  the  belief  of  early 
man  the  world,  as  well  as  heaven,  was  peopled  by 
innumerable  gods  to  whom  reverence  was  exhibited 
chiefly  by  a  desire  to  propitiate,  and  propitiation  was 
best  accomplished  by  honoring  the  deities.  Thus, 
as  already  explained,  came  the  observance  of  certain 
days  set  apart  as  sacred  to  their  respective  gods,  and  out  of 
this  custom  of  honoring  the  gods  grew  tlie  national  religious 
festivals,  some  of  which  survive  even  to  this  day. 
But  ambition  being  as  boundless  as  space  itself,  men  were  not  content  to  be  bound  en- 
tirely unto  subserviency  to  the  spiritual,  for  their  gods  were  the  personification  of  power, 
and  this  power  over  their  fellows,  ambitious  men  themselves  sought  to  acquire.  Thence 
proceeded  wars,  until  nation  was  against  nation  with  no  higher  motive  than  acquisition  of 
territor^•,  and  extension  of  authority.  Living  therefore  by  war,  the  entire  training  of  peoples 
so  engaged  was  in  that  line  which  promised  early  graduation  in  accomplishments  of  the 
warrior.  The  county  fair,  the  province  festival,  the  National  Exposition,  were  all  alike, 
save  in  magnitude,  a  display  of  prowess,  courage,  skill  in  fight,  and  athletic  sports.  The 
poetry  of  such  peoples  was  always  of  an  epic  style,  their  songs  weK'  praises  of  heroic  deeds, 
and  even  their  domestic  life  was  suggestive  of  the  inborn  ambition  to  engage  in  conflict. 

As  it  is  the  fortune  of  mankind  to  be  ever  restless  and  aspiring,  these  characteristics 
have  prevented  stagnation,  or  the  continuance  of  a  peaceful  and  uneventful  existence  for 
any  length  of  time.  And  as  the  movement  is  ever  forward  in  pursuit  of  nobler  ideals,  we 
note  a  constant  improvement  and  substantial  progress  towards  beneficent  ends.  Invention 
has  marvellously  stimulated  nations,  no  less  than  individuals,  and  to  this  good  genius  the 
world  is  indebted  for  dispelling  the  stygian  darkness  in  which  groped  the  twin  brothers, 
ignorance  and  superstition,  and  by  the  lamp  of  investigation  and  discover)'  is  being  revealed 
the  glorious  transfonnations  which  are  constantly  occurring  throughout  civilization.  In  these 
benignant  changes  the  warrior  has  been  metamorphosed  into  mechanic,  agriculturist,  mer- 
chant ;  and  the  engines  of  war  have  been  converted  into  implements  of  commerce  ;  and 
the  march  is  unimpeded  by  mountain  or  sea  ;  forward,  fonvard,  without  bugle  blast  or  tap 
of  drum,  but  keeping  time  to  the  throbs  of  hearts  filled  with  the  ambition  of  a  higher  des- 
tiny, the  human  race  sets  its  face  hopefully  towards  the  future,  in  anticipation  of  vet  more 
glorious  realization. 

HISTORV  OF  THE  EARLIEST   FAIRS. 

The  word  Fair  is  derived  from  the  hatin /erur,  signifying  a  holiday,  though  its  meaning 
when  first  used  was  the  .same  as  it  is  to-day.     That  the  custom  and  term  are  ancient  tlu-n-  is 
51  (Son 


802 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUAIBIA. 


further  proof  than  the  mere  fact  of  its  being  so  indicated  b\-  a  Latin  derivative.  The 
Greeks  were  first  to  hold  fairs  shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  which  was 
directly  borrowed  by  the  Romans  and  became  a  term  that  applied  to  the  union  of  festival 
and  fair,  because  the  celebration  occurred  during  the  period  of  some  Saint's  feast,  and  was 
commonly  held  either  in  a  church  or  church  )-ard.  This  connection  is  another  evidence 
supporting  the  assertion  that  the  fair  is  the  modern  development  of  the  festival. 

Considering  the  fair  as  a  market  where  goods  are  put  on  display  for  sale  or  in  competi- 
tion, the  first  was  held  in  Britain  as  early  as  207  A.  D.      In  France,  the  first  fair  was  held  in 


A    TFLTING    TOURNAMENT    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES. 

the  vear  427,  its  purpose,  however,  being  more  to  bring  the  people  together,  for  political 
reasons,  than  with  the  intent  of  inaugurating  an  exchange  or  sale  of  fabrics.  Two  ^  hun- 
dred vears  later  Dagobert,  King  of  the  Franks,  gave  the  monks  of  St.  Dennis  permission  to 
hold  a  church  fair  "for  the  glor>-  of  God,  and  the  honor  of  St.  Deny's  at  his  festival,  ^ 
wherein  we  perceive  the  origin  of  those  church  festivals  which  continue  so  popular  to  this 
day,  for  raising  funds  with  which  to  push  the  scheme  of  salvation. 

Not  onlv  did  the  fair  become  a  prominent  institution  in  France  directly  after  its  inau- 
guration, but  other  countries  were  not  slow  to  realize  the  advantage  of  such  shows,  and  ac- 
cordinglv  Italy,  Gennany,  Flanders  and  England  quickly  followed  the  example.  Alfred 
the  Great  introduced  annual  fairs  in  England  in  886,  but  it  was  not  tmtil  11 33,  under  Wil- 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


803 


Ham  the  Conqueror,  that  they  became  popular.  At  nearly  all  the  early  fairs  slaves  were 
publicly  sold,  and  constituted  the  prime  article  of  exchange,  until  an  abolition  of  the  in- 
human practice  was  secured  in  France  through  the  long  and  unremitting  efforts  of  a 
wealthy  woman  named  Bathilda,  who  had  once  been  a  slave,  but  who  escaped  bond- 
age through  her  beauty  and  marriage  to  her  master. 

GREAT  FAIRS   IN  THE  FAR  EAST. 

Bv  fairs  the  international  spirit  was  fostered  and  commerce  immensely  stimulated. 
Governments  gave  theift  charters,  and  regulated  them  by  such  laws  as  in  time  eliminated 
the  coarse  features  which  for  the  first  several  centuries  distinguished  them.  The  jester, 
gambler,  buffoon,  dancers  and  ribald  singers  were  removed  by  acts  of  inhibition,  and  in 
their  stead  flocks  of  sheep,  herds  of  cattle,  and  droves  of  horses  were  placed  on  e.Khibition 
to  encourage  agriculture,  which  all  countries  presently  came  to  regard  as  the  basis  of  their 
wealth. 

Though  France  and  England  were  first  to  introduce  the  fair  as  a  civilizing  institution 
amone  modern  nations,  their  e.xhibitions  reallv  rank  verv  much  below  the  fairs  of  Russia, 
India,  and  even  Arabia. 
An  annual  fair  is  held  at 
Nijni  Novgorod,  on  the 
Volga,  which  has  an  average 
attendance  of  three  hundred 
thousand,  while  the  aggre- 
gate sale  of  articles  is  esti- 
mated atone  hundred  million 
dollars.  In  India  the  largest 
fair  is  held  at  Hurdwar,  on 
the  Upper  Ganges,  which 
is  attended  ever\-  year  by 
three  hundred  thousand  to 
four  hundred  thousand  per- 
sons, while  every  twelfth 
year,  during  the  special 
pilgrimage  to  the  sacred    river,  the  number  ol  visitors  is  more  than  two  millions. 

A  great  fair  is  held  at  Mecca  during  the  time  of  the  annual  pilgrimage,  which  in 
former  times  drew  a  half  million  people,  but  .\rabians  are  hardly  so  devoted  to  their  reli- 
gion as  formerly,  and  the  number  of  pilgrims  and  visitors  is  less  ever>'  year,  until  the 
attendance  now  is  hardly  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  ;  but  a  vast  amount  of  trading 
is  still  done  in  the  purchase  of  spices,  coffee,  and  fabrics  of  .\rabiau  workmanship. 

GREAT  INDUSTRIAL  EXHIBITIONS. 

In  America  the  first  distinctively  competitive  fair,  held  for  the  encouragement  oi  the 
agricultural  and  mechanical  arts,  was  opened  in  1829  by  the  .\inerican  Institute  in  New 
York.  Fairs  of  a  similar  character  were  likewise  instituted  in  Cinciiniati,  Baltimore 
Boston,  Buffalo  and  San  Franci.sco,  but  they  failed  to  arouse  the  interest  that  was  expected, 
and  after  a  few  fitful  efforts  the  fairs  were  discontinued  in  all  the  cities  except  New  York, 
where  the  American  Institute  continued  the  undertaking,  and  the  success  of  these  efforts 
gave  creation  to  an  idea  which  was  elaborated  into  a  great  national  exhibition  in  1.S53,  as 
will  be  presently  described.      A  very  dim  and  uncertain  remembrance  is  preserved  in  very 


HORTICULTURAL    bUILDING. 


804 


COLUMBUS  AND   COLUMBIA. 


brief  historical  references,  verj'  seldom  seeu,  of  a  colonial  fair  being  held  in  New  York  in 
1790;  but  it  was  more  a  celebration  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  and  the  laying  of  a 
foundation-stone  for  the  national  temple  of  liberty,  than  an  exposition,  and  may  not  there- 
fore be  justly  entitled  to  rank  among  the  earliest  fairs. 

The  inauguration  of  what  may  be  called  a  National  Exposition  must  be  credited  to 
France,  and  the  idea  to  Napoleon,  who  in  1798  directed  a  series  of  National  Exhibitions, 
and  offered  gold  medals  for  inventions  and  productions  that  promised  the  strongest  rivalry- 
to  the  English  trade.  The  plan  of  the  exposition,  however,  was  somewhat  crude  and  on  a 
comparatively  small  scale,  and  the  benefits  were  correspondingly  inconsiderable.  A  second 
and  larger  French  exhibition  took  place  in  1801,  the  benefits  of  which  were  so  satisfactory 
that  a  third  was  projected  in  the  following  year,  and  thereafter  they  continued  regularly 
through  the  years  1806,  1819,  1823,  1827,  183O1  i839)  i844)  and  1849,  the  last  being  the 
most  successful  of  the  series,  at  which  there  were  four  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  exhibitors,  and  an  attendance  estimated  at  something  more  than  one  million. 

The  first  National  Exposition  held  in  Austria  opened  at  Vienna  in   1820,  followed  by 

others  in  1835-39  and  1845, 
and  all  with  pronounced 
success.  In  Germany  there 
were  similar  expositions  in 
1822  and  '27  and  '44,  and  a 
steady  increase  of  exhibitors 
was  observed  at  each  exhibi- 
tion. In  Saxony  the  first 
National  Fair  was  held  in 
1824  and  continued  at  in- 
tervals of  about  two  }-ears 
until  1845,  when  there  were 
six  thousand  exhibitors  and 
nearly  two  million  visitors. 
The  success  which  had 
attended  these  several  ex- 
positions in  three  nations  stimulated  other  countries,  and  fairs  national  in  their 
character  were  held  in  great  number  throughout  Europe  in  1827  to  1855.  Notwith- 
standing the  great  interest  manifested  by  the  continental  countries,  Great  Britain  con- 
tinued to  exhibit  not  only  apparent  apathy,  but  showed  a  decided  prejudice  against 
exhibitions,  believing  that  they  were  of  no  value  commensurate  with  the  cost  to  the 
country-  and  the  exhibitors.  This  idea,  however,  was  gained  from  an  unsuccessful  fair 
which  was  held  under  the  patronage  of  King  George  the  First  in  1828,  and  which  was 
prolonged  until  1833  through  persistent  but  unavailing  effort  to  make  it  a  success.  In 
Ireland  such  expositions  met  with  considerable  favor,  being  inaugurated  by  the  Royal 
Society  of  Dublin,  which  held  them  triennially  from  1829  until  1845,  with  decided  advan- 
tage both  to  the  public  and  exhibitors.  In  1849  a  National  Exposition  was  held  in  Covent 
Garden,  London,  which  achieved  a  measurable  success,  though  the  exhibits  were  confined 
exclusively  to  articles  of  British  manufacture.  The  prejudice  which  England  for  a 
considerable  while  manifested  towards  National  Expositions  finally  gave  way  before  the 
manifest  results  achieved  in  other  countries,  and  in  1849  a  royal  commission  was  issued  to 
take  steps  for  the  organization  of  an  International  Exposition.      At  this  time  Prince  Albert 


WOMAN  S     BUILDING. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


805 


occupied  the  most  prominent  place  of  any  individual  in  the  English  nation,  for  which 
reason  he  was  put  at  the  head  of  the  commission,  and  so  industriously  did  he  labor  to  bring 
about  the  best  results  that  to  his  individual  efforts  may  be  credited  the  first  World's  P^air 
held  in  London  in  1851.  This  pioneer  of  International  Industrial  Expositions  was  started 
upon  its  career  at  a  cost  of  $1,500,000,  and  the  space  occupied  was  about  21  acres  in  Hyde 
Park,  where  a  magnificent  crystal  palace  was  built  fur  the  exhibitors.  The  exhibition  was 
a  pronounced  success,  and  at  its  close  the  palace  was  transferred  to  Sydenham,  where  it  still 
stands  as  a  most  magnificent  example  of  English  architecture  in  glass.  The  receipts  at  this 
first  International  Exposition  amounted  to  more  than  $2,500,000.  The  building  popularly 
known  as  the  Crystal  Palace  was  built  after  the  designs  of  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  and  was  com- 
posed entirely,  except  the  flooring  and  joists,  of  glass  and  iron.  It  was  1851  feet  long  and 
408  feet  wide,  with  an  extension  on  the  north  side  of  936  feet  by  48  feet.  The  height  of 
the  central  portion  was  64  feet,  and  the  transept  from  the  centre  108  feet;  the  entire  area 
covered  was  19  acres.  The  building  was  begun  in  September  of  1850,  and  was  completed 
the  following  February-,  at  a  cost  of  a  little  less  than  $1,000,000.      The  Queen  opened  the 

exhibition    in    person    with  ^^-   . 

impressive  ceremonials,  and 
the  exposition  continued  un- 
til October  i  ith,  during 
which  time  there  were  more 
than  6,000,000  visitors,  or 
an  average  daily  attendance 
of  about  43,500.  The 
number  of  e.xhibitors  has 
been  placed  at  17,000. 

The  success  of  the 
Cr\stal  Palace  Exposition 
stimulated  Ireland  to  a  dis- 
play on  even  a  grander 
scale.  In  pursuance  of  this 
ambition  an  International 
Exposition  was  held    in  Dublin  in  1853. 


Mfe^' 


MACHINERY    HALL. 

The  building  in  which  this  fair  was  held  can 
in  no  sense  be  compared  with  that  of  the  Crystal  Palace  ;  but  in  other  respects,  save 
alone  its  financial  success,  it  proved  to  be  a  gratifying  rival.  The  value  of  the  contents 
of  the  Exposition  was  placed  at  about  $2,500,000,  of  which  the  fine  arts  exhibited  repre- 
sented more  than  one  million,  being  the  finest  collection  of  pic'.nres  that  had  e\  vr  been 
gathered  together  in  the  world. 

.\bout  the  time  of  the  London  Exposition  (1851 )  the  idea  was  conceived  by  many  Xew 
York  capitalists  of  opening  an  international  exposition  in  that  city,  their  ambitions  puqwse 
being  to  produce  a  fair  on  a  scale  considerably  greater  than  any  that  had  been  attempted  by 
the  nations  of  the  Old  World.  In  pursuance  of  this  pretentious  purpose,  a  comi)any  was 
incorporated  in  1851.  A  lease  was  obtained  of  Reservoir  Square  for  five  years,  rent  free, 
the  condition  being  imposed  that  the  buildings  erected  thereon  should  be  of  glass  and  iron, 
and  that  the  admission  fee  should  not  exceed  fifty  cents.  As  a  further  assistance  to  the  fair 
managers,  Congress  pa.ssed  an  act  constituting  it  a  bonded  warehouse  into  which  foreign 
goods  might  be  brought  free  (jf  duty,  thus  relieving  articles  for  exhibition  from  abroad  from 
the  pavment  of  any  tax.      Having  completed  their  organization,  tlu  company  i.ssued  shares 


806 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


to  the  amount  of  $300,000,  which  amount  was  present!)-  increased  to  $500,000,  all  of  which 
was  quickl)^  subscribed.  The  building  was  a  crj'stal  palace  in  the  fonn  of  a  Greek  cross, 
365  feet  long  each  way  and  150  feet  wide,  with  a  central  dome  123  feet  high  and  100  feet 
in  diameter.  But  this  fii'st  building  being  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  the  great  number 
of  exhibitors  who  applied  for  space,  another  building  was  erected  for  machinery,  which 
was  450  feet  long  and  75  feet  wade.  On  the  14th  of  July,  1853,  the  E-xposition  was  opened 
by  President  Pierce,  amid  great  demonstrations  of  pride  and  approval,  and  continued  for  a 
period  of  119  days.  The  number  of  exhibitors  was  4800,  more  than  one-half  of  whom, 
singular  to  relate,  were  foreigners.  It  unfortunately  happened  that  great  delay  had  attended 
the  erection  of  the  buildings,  so  that  the  opening  was  deferred  more  than  a  year  beyond  the 
date  originally  set,  so  that  it  was  in  continuance  during  the  Dublin  Exhibition  just  described, 
which  divided  public  interest  with  it.  The  location  ^vas  also  unfortunately  chosen,  being 
remote  from  the  centre  of  the  city,  with  no  adequate  means  of  access.  The  results  were, 
therefore,  what  might  reasonably  have  been  anticipated,  considering  the  disadvantages. 
The  cost  of  the  building  was  $540,000,  to  which   must  be  added  an   expense  of  $100,000 

more  for  fitting  and  furnish- 
ing. The  receipts  for  admis- 
sion and  all  privileges  did  not 
exceed  $340,000.  In  an 
effort  to  retrieve  the  loss 
thus  sustained,  the  Exhibi- 
tion was  reopened  in  1854 
and  the  year  following,  dur- 
ing'which  time  an  expendi- 
ture of  $200,000  additional 
was  made  which  exhausted 
the  capital,  receipts  and 
loans.  But  notwithstanding 
the  efforts  of  the  managers, 
the  Exhibition,  from  a 
financial  ^'iew,  proved  a 
great  disappointment.  A  decided  benefit  was  derived,  however,  from  the  stimulus  which  it 
gave  to  American  manufacturers  in  rivalling  those  of  foreign  countries  whose  products  had 
thus  been  brought  into  competition.  The  building  was  leased  to  the  American  Institute 
and  iised  for  annual  fairs  until  October,  1858,  w-heu  it  w^as  burned  with  all  its  contents. 

Another  crystal  palace  was  erected  at  Munich  in  1854,  which  was  almost  twice  as  large 
as  that  in  New  York,  but  its  cost  was  only  $450,000.  Here  a  great  International  Exposition 
was  held,  which  promised  to  achieve  an  unparalleled  success,  as  there  were  sixty-eight  hun- 
dred exhibitors,  and  the  goods  on  display  were  valued  at  $7,500,000.  But  at  a  time  when 
the  attendance  was  largest,  cholera  appeared,  and  caused  such  a  general  fright  that  the  build- 
ing was  practically  abandoned,  and  the  Bavarian  government  was  obliged  to  make  up  a 
deficiency  of  a  million  dollars. 

The  pronounced  success  of  England's  effort  stimulated  Paris  to  open  an  International 
Exposition  upon  her  own  grounds,  that  would  surpass  that  of  her  great  commercial  rival. 
Accordingly,  in  1855  there  was  opened  in  Paris  an  exposition,  whose  numerous  buildings 
covered  twenty-four  and  a  half  acres,  the  distinguishing  feature  of  which  was  the  Palais 
d' Industrie,  in  which  were  included  works  of  every  living  artist.      The  management  of  the 


ELECTRICAL    BtrrLDING. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


807 


Paris  exhibition  adopted  the  policy  that  had  been  pursued  b>-  the  company  that  incorporated 
the  New  York  World's  Fair  :  Orj^anizinj^  a  joint-stock  company,  shares  were  issued,  and 
from  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  these  there  was  erected,  in  the  Champs  Elysees,  a  main 
building  of  glass,  stone  and  brick,  which  was  eight  hundred  feet  long  and  three  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  wide.  On  adjacent  ground  were  erected  several  smaller  buildings  for  machinen 
and  other  heavy  exhibits,  such  as  carriages,  agricultural  implements,  etc.  The  fair  wa^ 
opened  by  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III  in  person  on  May  15th,  and  closed  the  November  fol- 
lowing, during  which  time  there  were  four  and  a  half  million  visitors,  or  a  little  more  than 
two-thirds  as  many  as  had  attended  the  London  Exposition  in  1851.  The  fair  was  a  failure 
financially,  but  Paris  derived  a  benefit  from  the  money  spent  by  foreign  visitors,  which  more 
than  compensated  for  the  failure  of  the  exposition  itself. 

The  second  London  International  Exposition  was  started  in  1862  with  a  guarantee 
fund  of  two  and  a  half  millions,  to  which  Prince  Albert  himself  was  a  subscriber  to  the 
amount  of  $50,000.  The  building  erected  for  the  purpose  was  of  brick,  glass  and  iron, 
covering  1,400,000  square  feet,  and  was  located  at  South  Kensington.  The  exhibition  con- 
tinued 1 77  d  a  y  s,  during 
w  h  i  c  h  period  there  were 
6,211,103  visitors,  with  a 
daily  average  of  36,329.  The 
total  expenditures  were 
$2,300,000,  w  li  i  1  e  the 
receipts  from  all  sources 
were  only  $2,240,000,  the 
deficiency  being  due  to  the 
great  cost  of  the  building.  It 
was  afterwards  torn  down  and 
the  materials  used  in  the 
construction  of  the  Alex- 
andrian palace,  which  was 
destroyed   by   fire    in    June, 

The  ne.xt  International  Exposition  was  held  in  Paris,  in  1867,  in  an  immense  building 
erected  for  the  purpose  in  the  Champ  de  Mars.  The  arrangement  of  the  building  was  in 
twelve  concentric  aisles,  radiating  from  a  small,  central,  open  garden.  The  buildings  cov- 
ered thirty-seven  acres,  and  the  total  number  of  exhibitors  was  42,000.  A  pleasant  feat- 
ure of  the  display  was  actual  examples  of  the  styles  of  domestic  and  palatial  architecture 
of  most  countries,  including  even  the  tents  of  such  nomadic  tribes  as  the  Kirghis  Tartars, 
Samoyeds,  Bedouin  Arabs,  etc.  The  total  cost  of  the  exposition  was  $8,000,000,  and  the 
returns  from  admissions  and  privileges  were  just  barely  sufficient  to  cover  the  expenses. 

The  next  World's  Fair  following  the  Exposition  Universelle,  was  held  in  Vienna  in 
1873,  occupying  forty  acres  of  the  Imperial  Park  with  its  magnificent  building.  This  ex- 
position was  planned  upon  a  scale  of  expenditures  never  before  attempted,  and  the  ambi- 
tions expectation  was  not  only  to  surpass  every  previous  national  exposition,  but  to  bring 
substantial  benefits  to  the  Austrian  Empire,  which  at  that  time  had  rea.son  to  suspect  the 
designs  of  Russia  and  Germany.  Rut  ambitious  as  was  the  purpose  of  the  managers,  the 
failure  was  all  the  more  pronounced  and  lamentable. 

The  Viennese,  desiring  to  improve  the  occasion  to  its  ntmo.st,  rai.sed  living  expenses  in 


.\KT    TALACl:.. 


808 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


T1  lulls' 7" 


■  -ll  in  '■■ " 


t  111  IT 


the  city  to  the  most  exorbitant  rates  and  otherwise  manifested  such  covetous  dispositions 
that  many  thousands  of  people  contemplating  a  visit  to  the  exposition  restrained  their 
inclination  after  learning  the  situation.  The  result  was  that,  while  the  exposition  cost 
twelve  millions  of  dollars,  the  receipts  from  all  sources  were  barely  three  millions,  thus 
leaving  a  deficit  of  nine  millions,  which  precipitated  a  panic  and  caused  severe  monetary 
trouble  throughout  the  Austrian  Empire  for  more  than  a  year. 

As  early  as  1871  several  public-spirited  gentlemen  of  America  conceived  the  idea  of 
holding  an  exposition  which  should  be  commemorative  of  the  achievement  of  American 
Independence,  and  when  the  idea  reached  the  public  prints,  the  nation  seemed  with  one 
accord  to  offer  the  strongest  commendation  of  the  purpose,  and  the  suggestion  quickly- 
crystallized  into  decisive  action.  It  was  directly  detennined  that  Philadelphia  was  the 
proper  place  at  which  the  exposition  should  be  held,  and  that  the  one  hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  adoption  by  the  Colonial  Congress,  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  should  be 
the  date  of  the  opening.  But  though  there  was  universal  accord  in  the  patriotic,  ambitious 
purpose,  it  was  not  until  after  nearly  five  jears  of  active  preparation  that  our  Great  Centen- 
nial Exposition  was  opened 
by  President  Grant,  on  the 
loth  of  May,  1876.  The 
main  building  was  in  the 
form  of  a  parallelogram, 
1880  feet  in  length  and  in 
width  464  feet.  Within  the 
central  span  was  a  grand 
avenue  1832  feet  long  by 
120  feet  wide,  a  novelty 
which  was  never  before  in- 
troduced into  any  exhibition 
building. 

The  greater  part  of  the 
building  was  a  single  story 
in  height,  but  it  was  made 
very  imposing  in  api^earance  by  being  set  within  foursquare  towers,  each  120  feet  high. 
This  single  building  occupied  a  space  of  a  fraction  more  than  20  acres,  while  the  total  area 
occupied  by  the  160  buildings  in  which  the  exposition  was  held  was  60  acres.  Among  the 
several  subsidiary  buildings  were  Machinery  Hall,  Horticultural  Hall,  the  latter  built  in 
the  Moorish  style.  Agricultural  Hall  and  the  Art  Galler)'.  This  latter  was  constructed  of 
stone,  with  the  intention  of  making  it  a  permanent  memorial  of  the  exposition.  Besides 
these,  there  was  a  government  building,  covering  two  acres,  in  which  an  interesting  exhi- 
bition was  made  of  both  the  resources  and  war  power  of  the  nation.  There  was  also  a 
Woman's  Pavilion  and  a  Judges'  Hall,  and  several  curious  small  structures  illustrative  of 
the  architecture  of  different  nations  in  the  Middle  Centuries. 

The  buildings  covered  an  area  of  sixty  acres.  The  number  of  exhibitors  was  30,864, 
and  the  total  number  of  visitors  was  9,910,966.  The  total  cost  was  $8,000,000,  and  the 
receipts  were  $3,813,724.  The  opening  continued  for  a  period  of  159  days.  Among  the 
exhibitors  thirty-seven  nations  were  represented,  with  exhibits  valued  at  nearly  $50,000,000. 
The  exposition  was  too  large  for  an  individual  company  to  undertake,  so  that  the  incorpo- 
rators called  upon  the  government  for  a  loan  of  $1,500,000,  and  from  the  State  of  $500,000. 


TRANSPORTATION    BUILDING. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


809 


The  ambitious  purpose  of  the  promoters  was  reaHzed,  but  the  Exposition  was  uot  an 
entire  success  financially.  Several  Philadelphia  capitalists,  composing  the  incorporation, 
had  pledged  their  credit  to  secure  the  govcnnnent  loan,  and  the  receipts  being  insufficient 
to  meet  all  expenses  and  the  debt,  the>-  were  forced  to  make  good  the  mone\-  thus  borrowed 
by  paying  it  out  of  their  private  fortunes. 

In  1878  another  Exposition  Universelle  was  opened  in  Paris  by  Marshal  McMahon  in 
the  Champ  de  Mars.  Notwithstanding  the  great  failure  of  the  Austrian  exposition,  Paris 
■was  resolved  to  outdo  all  previous  attempts,  with  which  intent  enormous  buildings  were 
erected  on  both  sides  of  the  Seine,  occupying  fulh-  150  acres.  These  being  insufficient,  a 
second  place  was  erected,  called  the  Trocadero,  which  was  built  from  the  most  elaborate 
designs,  with  gardens  and  cascades,  and  of  such  pennanence  and  beauty  that  it  remains  to 
this  day  one  of  the  chief  sights  of  Paris.  The  cost  of  this  exposition  was  about  $10,000,- 
000,  somewhat  less  than  the  Austrian  exposition;  but  the  money  had  been  more  wisely 
expended,  and  with  much  more  gratifying  results.  Notwithstanding  the  immense  outlay, 
the  exposition  was  a  pronounced  financial  success.     It  had  an  attendance  of  over  16,000,000. 

In  1885  the  French  government  began  their  preparations  for  a   third  Exposition  Uni- 
verselle.     In  August  of  that  *"'       '       ■         -    -^—^ — -  — _ 
year,  the   Minister  of  Com- 
merce was   voted  a  credit  of 
$20,000,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  the  preparatory-  steps, 
and   obtaining  such  designs 
as  would  enable  him  to  pre- 
sent   to    the    assembly   the 
project  of  carrying  oufthe 
government's  intention  with 
regard    to  the  proposed  ex- 
position.     And  in  April  fol- 
lowing   the     Ministers,     re- 
spectively,     of     Commerce, 
Industry-,  and  Finance,  pre- 
sented a  system  of  organiza-                                    '^"•''"^  ■^""  "''^'^■'^  building. 
tion,  with    the    concurrence    and   indorsement    of   the   Society  of  Guaranty.       Upon   the 
submission  of  these  preliminaries,  the  Municipal  Council  of  Paris  gave  permission  to  use 
the  Champ  de  Mars  for  the  exposition,  this  being  the  same  ground  which  had  twice  before 
been  devoted  to  the  identical  purpose. 

It  covered  an  extent  of  75;/  acres.  The  amount  estimated  and  provided  for  by  the 
government  in  the  city  of  Paris  for  the  cost  of  the  exposition  was  $8,500,000,  of  which 
amount  the  government  furnished  $3,500,000,  the  city  of  Paris  $1,500,000  and  the  Society 
of  Guaranty  $4,000,000.  Notwithstanding  the  expedition  with  which  the  plans  were 
devised  and  adopted,  and  the  necessary'  money  voted,  the  buildings  were  projected  upon 
such  an  elaborate  scale  that  it  required  four  years  for  their  completion,  at  the  end  of  which 
time,  namely  on  the  6th  of  May,  18S8,  fulh-  two  months  before  the  workmen  were  able  to 
leave  the  buildings,  the  exposition  was  opened.  The  number  of  exhibitors  was  55,000,  the 
number  of  visitors  28, 149,353.  The  exposition  continued  open  for  a  period  of  185  days, 
during  which  time  the  receipts  from  admission  alone  were  something  more  than  $8,300,000, 
being  nearly  a  million  dollars  in  excess  of  the  expenditures. 


810  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

The  next  and  latest  World's  Fair  was  held  in  Paris  in  1SS9,  as  the  centenary  com- 
memoration of  the  fall  of  the  Bastile,  and  the  Revolution;  the  largest  preparations  were  made 
to  make  it  the  grandest  observance  that  was  ever  celebrated  by  any  nation.  The  project 
was  born  as  early  as  June  of  1883,  and  from  the  moment  the  proposal  was  first  published 
the  nation  exerted  herself  to  make  the  projected  International  Exhibition  of  1889  the  greatest 
success  of  modern  times.  To  best  carry  into  effect  the  ambitious  purposes  of  the  govern- 
ment and  those  who  were  the  original  promoters  of  the  enterprise,  a  Guarantee  Society  was 
organized  consisting  of  eighteen  members,  who  acted  in  conjunction  with  a  Board  of  Control 
composed  of  eight  municipal  councillors  and  seventeen  senators,  who  raised  a  fund  of 
$3,600,000  and  began  the  active  work  of  preparation.  The  Government  gave  to  the  Guaran- 
tee Company  the  right  to  issue  30,000,000  tickets  bearing  the  face  value  of  one  franc  (20 
cents)  each,  and  besides  this  credit,  authorized  a  lottery  which  issued  200,000  twenty-five 
franc  interest-bearing  bonds,  which  were  convertible,  at  the  option  of  the  holders,  into 
tickets,  which  were  in  return  receivable  as  admissions  to  the  Fair. 

The  site  selected  for  the  great  exposition  not  only  occupied  the  Champ  de  jMars,  but 
also  annexed  the  Trocadero  and  included  the  Esplanade  des  Invalides  and  the  Quai 
d'Orsay,  thus  covering  all  the  available  space  of  the  neighborhood,  173  acres  in  extent. 

The  original  estimate  for  the  buildings  and  grounds  was  $6,500,000,  but  that  this  was 
a  ver}-  liberal  approximation  of  the  cost  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  total  expense  fell  short 
of  that  amount  by  nearly  $650,000. 

The  exhibition  was  opened  by  the  President,  M.  Jules  Grevy,  on  May  5th,  1889,  and 
did  not  close  until  October  31st  following.  When  the  great  fair  was  concluded,  and  an 
estimate  of  receipts  and  disbursements  made,  the  final  accounting  showed  that  the  grand 
total  of  expenses  had  been  $8,300,000,  and  the  total  receipts  $9,900,000,  thus  leaving  the 
handsome  balance  of  $1,600,000  to  represent  the  net  profit  that  had  been  gained  by  the 
managers,  in  addition  to  the  millions  that  had  been  reaped  by  the  shop-keepers,  hotels  and 
many  branches  patronized  by  visitors. 

The  entrance  fee  was  placed  at  the  ver}-  low  sum  of  one  franc  (20  cents)  and  it  is 
probable  that  to  this  wise  action  on  the  part  of  the  directors  much  of  the  phenomenal  suc- 
cess of  the  Exhibition  is  due.  The  total  number  of  admissions  by  tickets  from  May  6th  to 
November  I st,  was  28,149,353,  and  the  daily  average  137,289,  an  increase  of  nearly  18,- 
000,000  over  the  attendance  at  the  Philadelphia  Centennial,  and  the  exhibitors  numbered 
55,000,  while  at  Philadelphia  there  were  only  30,864. 

Of  the  many  remarkable  exhibits  made  at  the'  Paris  Exposition,  that  of  M.  Garnier, 
who  showed  forty-four  models  of  Human  Habitations  representing  all  ages  from  the  time  of 
primitive  man,  attracted  greatest  attention,  but  for  wonder  his  exhibition  was  eclipsed  by 
the  Eiffel  Tower,  an  obelisk  or  pillar  of  steel  mounting  to  the  extraordinary  height  of  984 
feet.  The  base  of  this  remarkable  structure  is  four  gigantic  feet  stretching  over  and  form- 
ing an  archway  that  rises  to  the  first  platform,  a  height  of  185  feet,  which  is  capable  of 
accommodating  3500  visitors.  Above  this  is  a  second  platfonn  377  feet  from  the  earth, 
where  there  is  space  for  1000  persons.  Still  above  this  is  a  third  platfonn  that  provides 
room  for  400  persons.  At  the  extreme  summit  there  is  a  chamber  in  which  the  electrical 
lighting  and  scientific  instruments  are  kept,  the  top  being  reached  by  four  elevators,  each 
capable  of  carrying  sixteen  persons. 

The  tower  cost  $1,000,000,  one-fourth  of  which  was  voted  as  a  subsidy  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  weight  is  16,800,000  pounds,  yet  the  structure  is  so  finnly  anchored  that  its 
safety  is  absolutely  secure. 


CHAPTER  III. 


^-'^J 


PURPOSES  AND  EFFECTS  OF  INTERNATIONAL   FAIRS. 


HAVE  thus  hastily  noted  tlie  evolution  of  the  Fair, 
and  its  final  flowering  into  international   industrial 
expositions,   tlie  eight  principal  ones  being  hastily 
sketched  and  the  results  recorded.     We  cannot  fail 
to  obser\-e,  even  in  this  short  suniniarj-  of  World's 
Fairs,   that  commercial    rivalry  is  not    less  strong   among 
nations  than  it  is   among  individuals,  and  that   ambition 
to  excel,  for  honor  as  well  as    for  substantial   reward,  pos- 
sesses and  animates  the    integer  just  as  it  does  the  frac- 
tional part  of  the  political  unit.      The  utilitarian  spirit  of 
the  age  is  towards  commercial  gain,  but  while  desire   for 
\  greater  riches  is  a  confessedly  powerful  motive,  the  under- 

lying ambition  of  nations  that  most  largely  prompts  these  displays  is  a  sincere  hope, 
crystallized  in  effort,  to  advance  and  improve  the  social  condition,  to  educate,  inspire, 
encourage;  for  in  these  ambitions  only  can  national  glon.'  be  attained. 

Therefore  the  gladiator  in  the  arena,  the  charioteer  on  tlie  course,  the  athlete  that 
measured  paces  with  his  adversary,  was  not  more  determined  to  win  the  victor^',  when  valor 
was  the  test  and  war  the  occupation,  than  is  the  peace-loving  artisan  and  the  humble  tiller 
of  the  earth,  to-day  covetous  of  the  honors  bestowed  for  supremacy  in  the  field  of  art,  inven- 
tion and  production.  With  this  ruling  aspiration  animating  nations  as  it  does  individuals,  the 
obscr\-er  pauses  to  reflect  upon  the  possible  results.  These  exhibitions  of  men's  genius  and 
industry  are  proving  such  a  stimulus  to  human  ambition  that  wonders,  each  more  amazing 
than  the  one  before,  are  being  constantly  revealed  in  an  endless  procession,  drawing  us 
onward  at  a  rapid  pace  towards  an  end  which  is  glorious  beyond  our  anticipations. 

To  foster  and  stimulate  this  aspiration,  to  bring  nations  into  closer  contact,  to  extend 
commerce  and  promote  industr)',  as  well  as  to  celebrate  our  achievements  as  the  model  re- 
public, is  no  less  the  purpose  of  the  Columbian  Exposition  than  to  commemorate  the  greatest 
event  in  histor)' — the  discover}'  of  the  New  World, 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION. 
The  first  public  proposal  to  observe  our  qnadri-centennial  by  a  World's  Fair  projected 
upon  a  scale  grander  than  had  characterized  any  previous  effort,  was  made  by  a  St.  Louis 
paper  as  early  as  1882,  which  by  editorial  urged  immediate  preparation  for  a  national 
observance  of  the  great  event.  From  this  source  the  river  of  public  opinion  gathered  its 
flow  and  went  on  increasing  until  three  years  later  there  was  a  general  detennination  to 
inaugurate  a  movement  to  carr)-  into  cfltct   the  very  wise  suggestion.     Thus  the   mighty 

(Sll) 


812 


COLUMBUS   AND  "COLUMBIA. 


is  proclamation  annoiincing 
and  not  be  closed  until 


stream  of  patriotic  enthusiasm  as  we  now  view  it,  grew  by  a  thousand  affluents  until  public 
desire  became  expressed  in  legislative  action,  and  a  great  sea  of  national  resolution  was  the 
result. 

Several  cities,  including  Washington,  New  York,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  and  St.  Louis, 
were  contestants  for  the  prize,  each  guaranteeing  to  raise  $5,000,000  to  secure  the  success  of 
the  Exhibition,  but  Chicago  was  selected  by  joint  resolution  of  Congress  February-  25th, 
1890.  From  this  date  the  work  of  preparation  was  actually  begun  by  the  incorporation  of 
the  World's  Exposition  of  1892.  On  April  25th  the  World's  Columbian  Commission  was 
created  by  act  of  Congress,  and  the  Nation  was  thus  conihdtted  to  its  sponsorship.  Sub- 
scriptions were  now  opened  and  the  sum  of  $5,467,350  was  raised  by  the  pledges  of  29,374 
persons  who  became  subscribers  to  the  stock;  to  which  amoui^  $5,000,000  more  was  added 
by  an  issue  of  city  bonds. 

On  the  24th  of  December,  1890,  President  Harrison  issued  1 
that  the  Exposition  would  be  opened  on  the  ist  day  of  May,  iJ 

le  last  Thursday  in  October 
the  same  year,  and  ex- 
tended an  invitation  to  all 
nations  of  the  earth  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  commemora- 
tion by  making  exhibits  of 
their  products  in  rivalry 
with  our  own. 

COST  OF  THE  EXPOSITION. 
The  site  selected  as  being 
best  adapted  for  the  exposi- 
tion buildings  is  Jackson 
Park  and  Midway  Plaisance, 
which  together  embrace  664 
acres,  and  have  a  lake 
frontage  of  nearly  a  mile  and 
a  half.  A  considerable  part 
of  the  park  required  a  great  amount  of  filling  in,  and  the  dredging  of  water-ways  through 
it,  in  which  preparation  a  half  million  of  dollars  were  spent,  and  nearly  as  much  more 
was  expended  in  landscape  gardening,  fountains,  observation  towers,  statuary,  etc. 

These  large  expenditures  were  but  the  beginning,  a  very  small  fraction  of  the  cost  of 
the  improvements  that  were  necessary,  as  the  following  estimates  show  : 


AGRICULTURAL    BUILDING. 


Seating, 

Water  supply,  sewerage,  etc 

Improvement  of  lake  front 

World's  Congress  auxiliary,  .... 
Construction  Department  expenses, 
Organization  and  administration,  .  . 


$ 


8,000 
600,000 
200,000 
200,000 
520,000 
3.308,563 


Grading,  filling,  etc $  450,000 

Landscape  gardening, 323,490 

Viaducts  and  bridges, 125,000 

Piers, 70,000 

Water-waj'  improvements, 225,000 

Railways 500,000 

Steam  plant, 800,000 

Electricity, 1,500,000 

Statuary  on  buildings 100,000 

Vases,  lamps  and  posts, 50,000                                                                                          110,530,453 

But  to  this  estimate  there  remains  to  be  added  the  cost  of  the  several  buildings,  amount- 


Operating  expenses, 1,550,000 


COLUMBUS  AND  COLUMBIA. 


813 


ing  to  $8,000,000,  and  tlie  expenditures  by  tlic  Governnitnt,  the  several   States  aud  the 
foreign  nations,  which  will  be  iu  the  neighborhood  of  $15,000,000  more. 

The  sizes  of  the  buildings  devoted  to  Exposition  purposes  are  as  follows  : 


.\dministration 262x262 

Manufactures  and  Liberal  Arts,  .  .    .  787x1687 

Mines  aud  Mining, 350x700 

Electricity 345x690 

Transportation, 256x960 

Transportation  Annex, 425x900 

Woman's 196x388 

Art  Galleries, 320x500 

'*         "          Annexes  (a) 120x200 

Fisheries 165x365 

"        Annexes  (2) 135  iu  diameter 

Horticulture 250x998 

Horticulture  Oreenhouses  (8),  ....  24x100 

Machinery,  ...              492x846 

"         Annex, 490x550 

"          Power  House, 490x461 


MacUiner>'  I'umpiug  Works, 77x84 

"          Machine  Shop 106x250 

Agriculture 500x800 

"           .^nnex 300x550 

"           Assembly  Hall 125x450 

Forestry 208x528 

Saw  Mill 125x300 

Dairy 100x200 

Live  Stock  (2) 65x200 

"        "      Pavilion, 280x440 

"         "      Sheds to  cover  40  acres 

.    .    .    .  120x250 


Casino, 

Music  Hall, 

U.  S.  Government  Building, 
Imitation  Battle  Ships.  .  .  . 
Illinois  State   Building, 


120x250 

345x415 

69x348 

160x450 


The  total  space  occupied  by  these  several  buildings  is  a  fraction  more  than  159  acres. 
But  in  addition  to  the  above  every-  State  will  have  its  own  building,  as  will  also  the 
foreign  nations.      The  contributions  made  for  this  purpose  are  as  follows  : 

The  United  States  and  Territories, {    1,500,000 


Following  are  the  appropriations  made  for  exhibits  by  the  several  States  and  Territories 


Arizona S      30,000 

California 300,000 

Colorado 100,000 

Delaware 10,000 

Idaho 20,000 

Illinois 800,000 

Indiana 75.ooo 

Iowa 130,000 

Kentucky, 100,000 

Maine 40,000 

Maryland, 60,000 

Massachusetts 150,000 

Michigan, 100,000 

Minnesota 50,000 

Mis-souri 150.000 

Montana 50,000 

Nebraska 50,000 


New  Hampshire, 
New  Jersey,  .  . 
New  Mexico, .  . 
New  York, .  .  . 
North  Carolina, 
North  Dakota,  . 

Ohio 

Pennsylvania,  . 
Rhode  Island,  . 
Vennont,  •  ■  . 
Virginia,  .  .  . 
Washington,  .  . 
West  Virginia,  . 
Wisconsin,  .  .  . 
Wyoming,  .   .    . 


25,000 
70,000 
25,000 
300,000 
25,000 
25,000 

I25,OOCK 

300,000 
50,000 
15,000 
25,000 

100,000 
40,000 

65,000 

30.000 


Total  of  appropriations  made, 


f3, 135.000 


Owing  to  constitutional  restrictions  nine  States  were  unable  to  make  appropriations, 
but  that  they  may  be  properly  represented  organizations  were  fonned  and  tlirough  stock 
subscriptions  the  following  sums  were  raised  : 


Alabama, 
Arkansas, 
Floriila,  . 
Georgia,  . 
Kansa.s,  . 
Louisiana, 


50,000 

40,000 

200,000 

100,000 

100.000 

50.fK)0 


Oregon,       .    . 
.South  Dakota, 

Texa.s 

Utah 


Total   by  stock  subscriptions. 


5      50,000 

80,000 

300,000 

50,000 

$1,030,000 


814 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


The  following  nations  have  voted  appropriations  for  their  respective  exhibits 


Argentine  Republic $  100,000 

Austria, 102,300 

Barbadoes, 6,000 

Belgium ' 57, 900 

Bermuda 3,ooo 

Bolivia, 30,700 

Brazil 600,000 

British    Guiana, 25,000 

British  Honduras 7, 500 

Canada 150,000 

Cape  Colony 50000 

Ceylon, 65,600 

U.  S.  of  Colombia, 100,000 

Costa    Rica, 150,000 

Cuba, 25,000 

Denmark,  ......' 67,000 

Dutch  Guiaua, 10,000 

Dutch  West  Indies 5,000 

Ecuador, 125,000 

France, 627,250 

Germany, 690,200 

Great   Britain 291,990 

Greece 60,000 


Guatemala, 

Hayti 

Honduras,  .... 

Jamaica, 

Japan 

Leeward  Islands,  . 

Mexico, 

New  South  Wales, 
New  Zealand,    -    . 
Nicaragua, 

Norway, 

Orange  Free  State, 
Paraguay,    .... 

Peru 

Salvador,     .... 

Sweden, 

Tasmania,    .... 
Trinidad,     .... 

Uruguay 

Victoria,      .   .    . 


Total  of  appropriations  of  foreign 
countries  


|l  20,000 
25,000 
20,000 
25,000 

630,765 

6,000 

50,000 

150,000 
27,500 
30,000 
56,280 

7.500 

100,000 

140,000 

12,500 

53.600 

10,000 

15,000 

24,000 

100,000 


14,952,585 


The  following  countries  have  signified  their  intentions  to  participate  in  the  Exposition, 
but  no  appropriation  has  been  made  for  the  purpose.  Each,  however,  will  have  exhibits, 
chiefly  made  by  individual  enterprise,  and  the  amounts  expended  by  each  will  be  relatively 
large  : 


Algeria, 

India, 

Netherlands, 

Sers'ia, 

British  Columbia, 

Italv, 

Newfoundland 

Siam, 

Bulgaria, 

Corea, 

Persia, 

South  Australia, 

Chili, 

Liberia, 

Porto  Rico, 

Spain, 

Chiua. 

Madagascar, 

Province  of  Quebec, 

Switzerland, 

Danish  West  Indies, 

Jladeira, 

Queensland, 

Transvaal, 

Eg>-pt, 

Malta, 

Roumania, 

Turkey, 

Ervthria  (of  Asia  Minor), 

Mashonaland, 

Russia, 

Venezuela, 

French  Guinea, 

Mauritius, 

San  Domingo, 

West  Australia. 

Hawaii, 

WONDERS  OF  THE  EXPOSITION. 

While  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1889  had  for  its  principal  curiosity  and  largest  attrac- 
tion the  Eiffel  Tower,  the  Columbian  Fair  will  have  a  dozen  or  more  mannnoth  wonders  to 
excite  the  profound  astonishment  of  visitors.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  three  towers 
whose  summits  rise  to  a  height  of  300  feet,  and  will  accommodate  100  people  at  one  time. 
The  countr\'  being  level,  a  better  view  and  wider  range  of  vision  can  be  had  from  the  top 
of  these  than  could  be  obtained  from  the  loftiest  platform  of  Eiffel  Tower.  But  besides 
towering  structures,  other  means  are  afforded  of  surveying  an  expanding  stretch  of  land- 
scape from  high  eminences,  for  several  captive  balloons  will  rise,  with  their  loads  of  ven- 
turous sightseers,  to  an  altitude  of  more  than  1,000  feet,  while  the  roofs  of  twenty-storied 
buildings,  reached  by  swift  elevators,  are  numerous  in  Chicago,  and  from  these  a  nearer 
view  of  the  heavens,  and  the  fading  perspective  of  lake  and  prairie  may  be  gained. 

Wonder  upon  wonder,  however,  will  appear  to  the  admiring  gaze  of  the  visitor,  who 
will  at  last  conclude  that  all  the  mar\-els  of  the  world,  and  the  products  of  all  the  master 
geniuses  in  art  and  invention,  are  gathered  there  to  delight  and  instruct — a  very  panorama 
of  the  possibilities  of  Imman  ingenuity  and  persistent  effort.      But  not  only  is  the  visitor 


816  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

entertained  by  exhibitions  which  mark  the  attainments  of  tlie  century,  for  on  every  side  he 
beholds  things  which  connect  the  present  with  memorable  events  of  the  past.  On  a  point 
jutting  into  the  lake  he  perceives  a  quaint  old  convent  smiling  at  the  waters  under  its  feet. 
It  is  a  reproduction  of  the  monaster}-  of  La  Rabida,  where  good  father  Perez  received 
Columbus  and  little  Diego,  and,  supplying  them  with  food,  also  nourished  the  ambition 
that  found  its  fruition  in  the  discovery  of  the  new  world.  There  it  is,  the  ver\-  realit}-,  and 
below  are  the  estuary  of  Palos,  the  flowing  Odiel,  and  the  beating  sea.  Everything 
seemingly  save  the  great  navigator,  his  pious  counsellor,  and  the  physician,  Hernandez, 
the  trio  to  whose  memor\'  America  owes  more  than  the  nation  can  ever  pay. 

But  there  are  other  reminders  no  less  voiceful  with  the  ston,-  of  Columbus,  for  there 
we  may  see  the  counterpart  presentment  of  the  Santa  Maria,  the  Nina,  and  the  Pinta — the 
three  little  vessels  that  bore  the  first  navigators  across  the  waters  of  a  boundless  sea.  Ever}- 
detail  is  tnie,  every  sail,  mast,  anchor,  timber,  and  rigging,  is  identical  with  the  original; 
and  thus  400  years  after  their  momentous  voyage,  we  are  able  to  inspect  fac-similes  of  the 
caravels,  and  fonn  a  correct  estimate  of  the  courage  which  Columbus  must  have  pos- 
sessed, and  the    might}-  strength  of  his  concept  andaspiration. 

Some  of  the  hundreds  of  other  attractions,  apart  from  the  Exposition  proper,  may 
be  thus  briefly  described: 

EXHIBITIONS    THAT    WILL    ASTONISH   VISITORS. 

On  the  lakes  will  be  gondolas,  electric  launches,  and  a  great  variety  of  novel  crafts 
propelled  by  various  kinds  of  motors,  which  will  embrace  all  the  late  inventions  in  pro- 
pulsion of  the  age.  C}-cloramas  and  panoramas  afibrd  striking  views  of  historic  incidents, 
and  from  one  diorama  the  whole  moving  mass  of  visitors,  and  ever}-  building  and  lake 
within  the  grounds,  may  be  witnessed  with  wonderful  realism  on  canvass. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  Paris  Intfernational  Exposition  was  a  reproduction  of  a  street 
in  Cairo.  This  also  constitutes  an  attraction  at  the  Columbian  Fair,  but  amplified  to  such 
a  degree  that  a  section  of  the  great  Eg-}'ptian  city  will  be  shown,  including  its  fantastic 
bazaars,  overhanging  houses,  quaint  cafes,  turbaned  men,  and  veiled  women,  demure 
donkeys,  camel  drivers,  and,  in  short,  all  the  characteristic  features  that  combine  to  make 
Cairo  the  most  curious  cit}-  of  the  world.  Besides  this  are  related  exhibits,  such  as  Turkish 
bazaars,  in  imitation  of  those  so  plentiful  in  Constantinople,  with  all  their  attendant  curi- 
osities. There  is  also  a  Moorish  palace,  exhibiting  the  rich  coloring  and  beautiful  archi- 
tectural marvels  which  sur\-ive  only  in  such  buildings  as  the  Alhambra  of  Grenada. 

Even  the  South  Sea  Islands  are  made  to  contribute  their  curiosities  to  the  great  Fair, 
and  exhibits  will  be  made  of  the  Oceanic  peoples  and  their  habitations,  as  well  as  their  war 
and  domestic  utensils,  so  that  the  visitor  may  see  life  as  it  exists  among  our  antipodeans. 

The  Swiss  Government,  in  addition  to  its  other  exhibits  of  remarkable  interest,  has 
provided  a  panorama  of  the  Bernese  Alps,  which  constitutes  an  attraction  at  once  awesome 
and  picturesque. 

To  view  the  wonders  that  ha\-e  been  here  gathered  together  from  ever}-  corner  of  the 
earth,  it  will  not  be  necessar}-,  as  it  has  been  at  all  previous  world's  fairs,  to  walk,  or  be 
tnmdled,  at  large  expense,  from  place  to  place,  imtil  exhaustion  compels  the  visitor  to 
retire,  for  invention  has  devised  a  means  for  viewing  the  Exposition  from  elevated  railways. 
An  hydraulic  sliding  railway  runs  the  entire  length  of  Midway  Plaisance,  and  a  moving 
sidewalk  is  operated  around  the  grounds,  by  either  of  which  visitors,  while  seated  in 
comfort,  are  carried  around  in  a  sinuous  course  at  an  elevation  of  twenty-five  feet,  with  a 


COI.r.MBrS   AND   COLl'MRIA.  817 

speed  little  faster  than  a  walk,  and  afforded  the  opportunit>-  of  seeing  all  the  open-air 
exhibits  in  the  most  advantageous  and  satisfactory  manner.  Twenty  thousand  people  an 
hour  can  be  thus  conveyed  around  tiie  Exposition  grounds. 

The  United  States  Government  Building,  350  x  420  feet,  and  costing  $40o,o<X), 
contains  many  wonderful  things  to  excite  the  amazement  and  pride  of  all  Americans. 
The  space  of  this  gigantic  structure  has  been  allotted  in  this  wise:  Department  of  the 
Treasury-,  10,500  square  feet  ;  War,  23,000  square  feet ;  Post  Office,  9,000  square  feet ; 
Fisher)-,  20,000  square  feet;  Agriculture,  23,250  square  feet;  Interior,  24,000  square  feet, 
and  Smithsonian  Institute,  37,250  square  feet. 

In  the  Treasury  Department  will  be  exhibits  prepared  b\-  the  Bureau  of  Printing  and 
Engraving,  showing  how  our  paper  money  is  printed;  the  Bureau  of  Statistics;  the  Light- 
house Board;  the  Life  Saving  and  Signal  Service  Boards,  and  the  Marine  Hospital.  But 
besides  these,  there  will  be  a  remarkable  exhibit  by  the  Coast  Survey,  including  a  topo- 
graphical map  of  the  United  States  400  feet  square.  This  map  is  made  of  plaster-paris, 
and  built  on  a  scale  which  shows  the  exact  height  of  mountains,  extent  of  plains,  length 
of  rivers,  size  of  lakes,  and  the  curvature  of  the  earth.  Galleries  and  elevated  pathwavs 
give  opportunity  to  visitors  of  walking  over  this  miniature  of  the  United  States  and 
reviewing  ever)'  part  of  it  critical!) . 

MODEL  OF  A  FULL-SIZED   BATTLE  SHIP. 

The  Xaval  Department  ccukl  mA  convciiiLiitly  confine  its  exhibit  indoors  without 
injustice  to  that  important  branch  of  the  Government.  Carr)ing  out  the  ambition  of  the 
head  of  that  department,  there  is  exhibited  a  full-sized  model  of  the  newest  coast-line 
battle  ship,  which  is  erected  on  piling,  by  the  Lake  front,  surrounded  by  water,  and 
having  every  appearance  of  being  moored  to  the  dock.  The  sliip  is  complete  in  all  its 
details  for  perfectly  imitating  the  most  effective  of  our  war  vessels,  being  equipped  with 
guns,  turrets,  torpedo-tubes  and  nets,  boats,  anchors,  cables,  etc.,  and  all  the  fittings  for 
actual  ser\'ice.  Not  only  is  the  ship  and  paraphernalia  thus  .shown,  but  there  is  a  detail 
of  officers  and  men,  composing  a  full  complement,  who  are  on  duty,  and  give  dail\-  drills 
in  operating  the  gmis,  torpedoes,  and  the  manual  of  anus.  The  dimensions  of  the  model 
are  the  same  as  those  of  our  largest  battle  ship,  viz.:  length,  34.S  feet;  brea.st  width,  69 
feet  3  inches;  height  of  main  deck  above  water-line,  12  feet;  while  above  the  main  deck 
are  the  bridges,  chart  house,  and  look-out. 

Another  grand  feature  of  the  Exposition  is  the  World's  Auxiliary  Congress,  organized 
to  take  care  of  a  series  of  conventions  intended  to  bring  together  the  great  leaders  of  the 
world,  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  council  in  matters  calculated  to  advance  the  best  interests 
of  mankind,  such  as  science,  philo.sophy,  education,  literature,  music,  art,  government, 
law  reform,  medicine,  commerce,  religion,  temperance,  labor,  engineering,  and  agriculture. 
In  this  commendable  undertaking  women  have  an  equal  part  and  repre.sentation  with  men, 
and  the  distinguished  leaders  of  l>oth  .sexes  will  deliver  addresses  before  the  conventions, 
and  thus  give  the  world  the  benefit  of  their  knowledge. 

What  may  be  named  as  an  adjunct  to  this  effort  to  promote  human  progress  is  the 
Permanent  Memorial  .^rt  Palace,  a  building  divided  into  two  immense  audience  chambers, 
each  having  a  seating  capacit)'  of  3,500  persons,  and  with  tweiit)  smaller  rooms  t)n  the  side 
designed  for  the  u.se  of  committees.  In  these  large  auditoriums  tlie  great  essavists, 
statesmen,  financiers,  j)olitical  econoun'sts,  journalists,  agriculturists,  and,  in  short,  leaders 
in  all  the  various  departments  of  human  affairs,  will  discourse  on  the  subjects  which  thev 
are  respectively  best  qualified  to  discuss.  The  papers  and  sjxreches  thus  delivered  will  be 
52 


818  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

preserved  in  a  publication  which  promises  to  be  of  the  greatest  vahie  to  all  mankind,  and 
will  constitute  the  most  useful  memorial  of  all  International  Expositicms  in  the  world's 
history. 

A  MARVELLOUS   PVROTECHNIC  EXHIBITION. 

The  display  of  fireworks  which  will  be  made  on  the  evenings  of  October  nth,  12th 
and  13th  will  exceed  in  grandeur  anything  ever  before  seen  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and 
will  constitute  a  two  hours'  exhibition  on  the  night  of  these  dates  that  will  well  repay  the 
discomforts  and  expense  of  thousands  of  miles  of  travel.  Words  can  give  no  adequate  idea ' 
of  the  inconceivable  beauty  and  magnificence  of  these  fierj-  demonstrations  which,  will  in 
fact  pale  the  starry  splendors  of  the  heavens. 

The  display  on  each  evening  will  be  begun  by  the  discharge  of  100  bombs,  which 
being  sent  to  a  great  height  explode  in  the  sky  with  the  deafening  detonations  of  a  battery 
of  heavy  guns.  Following  this  prelude  will  be  a  flash  from  500  prismatic  lights,  so 
stationed  that  a  magical  illumination  of  the  waters  and  grounds  is  produced,  almost  blind- 
ing by  its  exceeding  brilliancy,  but  fairly  transporting  by  its  extraordinary'  splendor. 
Several  such  astonishing  effects  will  be  shown  to  claim  the  fascinated  interest  of  visitors, 
but  besides  these  a  large  number  of  set  pieces  will  be  fired  which  deserve  to  be  specially 
mentioned. 

The  largest  piece  will  be  a  gigantic  represetitation  of  Niagara  Falls,  1000  feet  long  and 
100  feet  high,  extending  over  a  space  three  squares  in  extent,  and  when  fired  will  pour 
forth  such  an  avalanche  of  corruscating  flames  and  a  deluge  of  hissing  meteors  as  will 
furnish  a  spectacle  sublimely  awful  and  more  terribly  grand  than  the  Chicago  fire  of  1871. 
Another  marvellous  feature  of  the  pyrotechnic  exhibitions  will  be  the  ascension  of  ten  large 
balloons  each  carrying  high  up  into  the  heaven  a  magazine  of  monster  rockets.  The 
covirses  of  the  balloons  will  be  marked  in  their  flight  by  powerful  magnesium  lights  which 
in  burning  will  finally  gain  the  baskets  and  explode  the  rockets  at  an  immense  height. 
The  effect  will  be  terrific,  for  the  thunderous  detonations  which  follow,  as  if  the  very  sky 
were  being  bombarded,  will  be  succeeded  by  a  heavy  rain-fall  of  stars  so  dazzling  that  for 
the  moment  it  will  appear  as  if  all  the  constellations  of  the  heavens  were  falling  to  the  earth. 

Besides  these  magical  displays  will  be  the  flight  and  explosion  of  5000  immense  rockets 
at  one  time,  a  larger  number  than  was  ever  before  sent  up  simultaneously.  The  effect  may 
be  imagined.  There  will  also  be  a  marvellous  representation  of  the  Pleiades,  produced  by 
the  explosion  of  50  four-pound  rockets,  these  to  be  followed  by  three  successive  flights  of 
100  quadri-centennial  shells,  each  two  feet  in  diameter  and  capable  of  creating  a  detonation 
equal  to  the  discharge  of  the  largest  Columbiad. 

PORTRAITS  AND  THE  AMERICAN   FLAG  IN   LIVID  FLAMES. 

A  set  piece  which  will  perhaps  have  the  largest  number  of  admirers,  will  be  a 
wheel  of  fire,  eighty-four  feet  in  diameter,  which  when  first  set  in  motion  will  show  great 
streamers  of  stars,  next  a  mammoth  bouquet  of  roses  will  appear,  to  be  succeeded  by  a 
flaming  portrait  of  Queen  Isabella. 

Many  other  surprising  pieces  and  effects  will  be  produced,  among  which  may  be  men- 
tioned a  Temple  of  Fame,  300  feet  in  length  and  75  in  height,  which  will  appear  like  a 
Titanic  wall  of  breaking  flame  pointing  its  fiery  fingers  towards  the  zenith.  A  larger  piece, 
400  feet  long  and  90  feet  high,  will  be  fired,  and  in  the  gigantic  blaze  of  shooting  meteors 
will  be  seen  a  perfect  representation  of  the  Capitol  building  at  Washington.  Other  set 
scenes  will  present  fiery  portraits  of  Washington,  Lincoln  and  Harrison.  There  will  be 
likewise  a  Chinese  pagoda  of  fire,  200  feet  long  and  70  feet  high,  while  behind  it  will  be 


COLI'MIU'S    AND    COI.I'MHIA.  819 

represented  a  prismatic  fountain  sliootin^  its  hlazinj^  streams  to  a  lit-ijjlit  of  75  feet,  dis- 
tributing; its  intense  liyhts  throu<j;h  the  water  as  well  as  in  the  air,  so  that  the  great  variety 
of  fish  that  swam  in  the  lagoons  and  canals  may  be  plainly  seen. 

The  most  unique,  original  and  astonishing  piece  in  the  wonderful  display  of  fireworks 
will  be  a  fiery  simulation  of  our  country's  flag  floating  in  the  heavens.  How  this  astonish- 
ing effect  is  to  be  produced  is  something  of  a  secret  which  may  not  yet  be  disclosed.  An 
idea  of  how  tlie  representation  is  to  be  accomplished  can  be  formed,  however,  from  the  ver}' 
meagre  description  which  has  been  given  by  the  manager  of  the  display.  First,  a  vast 
cloud  of  smoke  is  to  be  blown  high  in  the  air  to  form  the  blue  field,  into  which  forty-four 
mortars  will  discharge  as  many  bombs  carefully  timed  to  explode  simultaneously,  which 
explosions  will  form  the  stars.  Other  mortars  will  fire  at  the  same  time  shells  loaded  with 
colored  explosives,  which  in  bursting  throw  out  long  streamers  of  red  and  white  to  form  the 
bars,  the  whole  producing  for  an  instant  a  gigantic  American  flag  with  all  the  colors 
hannoniously  blended. 

PROGRAMME  OF  THE  DEDICATION  CEREMONIES. 

When  the  Congress  of  tlie  United  Sta'.es  aulliori/.ccl  the  commemoration  of  the  Four 
Hundredth  Anniversar\-  of  the  discover},-  of  America  by  an  International  Exposition  to  be 
held  in  Chicago  during  the  summer  of  1893,  it  also  provided  that  the  Exposition  buildings 
should  be  dedicated  on  the  twelfth  day  of  October,  1892,  with  "appropriate  ceremonies." 

Aside  from  the  international  interest  in  this  fitting  prelude  to  the  magnificent  picture 
of  the  world's  progress  that  will  be  presented  in  1893,  this  dedicator)-  ser\'ice  will  furnish 
an  opportunity  for  the  world  to  behold  the  extent  of  the  preparations  which  are  being  made 
for  the  Exposition. 

The  task  of  preparing  a  programme  of  ceremonies  which  will  appropriately  herald  the 
greater  spectacle  commemorating  the  discovery,  development  and  progress  of  the  New- 
World,  has  been  a  work  involving  great  care  and  the  considertition  of  many  difl^culties. 
The  following  programme  of  the  dedicatory  exercises  and  incidents  connected  therewith  is 
submitted  as  the  result  of  this  thought  and  purpose  : 

TfESD.w,  October  Elk\-enth. 

The  first  day  will  witness  an  imposing  procession,  indicative  of  peace,  contentment, 
and  prosperity,  participated  in  b\-  industrial  and  civic  organizations  of  the  United 'States, 
reviewed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  his  Cabinet,  the  Congress  and  other  honored 
guests. 

The  remainder  of  the  programme  will  be  carried  out  at  Jackson  Park.  In  the  evening, 
amid  myriads  of  electric  lights  and  other  electrical  displays,  a  water  pageant  will  move 
through  the  beautiful  waterways  of  the  Exposition  grounds,  illustrating  with  l)eaut\-  and 
historic  accuracy  some  of  tlie  great  facts  of  histor\'  connected  with  the  discovery  of  .\nierica, 
such  as  the  condition  of  this  country  prior  to  the  landing  of  Columbus  ;  striking  events  in 
the  life  of  the  Great  Discoverer  ;  imjKjrtant  epochs  in  .Vmerican  history,  and  the  world's 
progress  in  civilization.  The  vessels  upon  which  the.se  tableaux  will  be  represented  vary 
from  40  to  53  feet  in  length,  modelled  after  the  naval  architecture  of  the  period  represented  ; 
for  example,  "Columbus  before  the  Court  of  Spain"  will  be  represented  upon  a  vessel 
modelled  after  the  exact  lines  of  the  Saiifa  Maria. 

The  following  subjects  will  be  illustrated  : — 

1.  .\bori>{iiial  Age  ;  rcprfsciitiiig  the  .\iiiericaii  Iiuliaiis. 

2.  The  Stone  Age  ;  representing  the  Cliff  Dwellers  anil  the  Toltecs. 

3.  The  Bronze  Age;  representing  the  .\ztccs,  their  religious  rites,  manners anri  customs. 


820  COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 

4.  Columbus  at  the  Court  of  Ferdinand  and  Isaljella. 

5.  Departure  of  Columbus  from  Palos. 

6.  Discovery  of  America. 

7.  Columbus  before  the  Court  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  presenting  natives  and  the  strange  products  of 

the  new  country 

8.  English  Cavaliers  and  the  settlement  of  Jamestown. 

9.  Hendrick  Hudson  ;    discovery  of  the  Hudson  River  ;    Dutch  settlement  of  New  Amsterdam. 

10.  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  illustrations  of  early  Puritan  life. 

11.  Ferdinand  de  Soto.     Discovery  of  the  Mississippi 

12.  Pierre  Marquette.     Chevalier  La  Salle  and  the  Northwest. 

13.  Washington  and  his  contemporaries. 

14.  Signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

15.  Union  of  the  Colonies  ;   the  thirteen  original  States  ;   the  sisterhood  of  the  Great  Republic  ;  welcoming 

the  Territories  to  the  constellation  of  States. 

16.  "Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way. " 

17.  The  Genius  of  Invention  ;  application  of  steam,  etc. 

18.  Electricity  and  electrical  appliances. 

19.  Wat ;   representing  valor,  sacrifice,  power,  death,  devastation. 

20.  Peace  ;  representing  tranquillity,  security,  prosperity,  happiness 

21.  Agriculture. 

22.  Mining. 

23.  Science,  Art  and  Literature. 

24.  Universal  brotherhood  of  men  ;  equal  rights,  law  and  justice  ;    Liberty  enlightening  the  world. 

Wednesday,  October  Twelfth. — Dedication  Day. 

The  National  Salute  at  sunrise  will  inaugurate  the  ceremonies  of  Dedication  Day. 
The  President  of  the  United  States,  his  Cabinet,  members  of  the  Supreme  Court,  members 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  distinguished  foreign  guests  and  governors  of 
the  different  States  and  Territories  with  their  staff  will  be  escorted  by  a  Guard  of  Honor, 
composed  of  troops  of  the  United  States,  detachments  of  the  United  States  naval  forces  and 
regiments  from  the  various  State  National  Guards  to  the  Manufactures  and  Liberal  Arts 
building,  in  which  the  ded'catory  exercises  will  be  held. 

At  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  in  this  building  the  following  dedicatory  programme 
will  be  carried  out  under  the  direction  of  the  Director-General  : — 

1.  March  for  Orchestra.     Written  for  the  occasion  by  John  K.  Payne. 

2.  Prayer  by  Bishop  Charles  H.  Fowler,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  California. 

3.  Dedicatory  Ode.     Words  by  Miss  Harriet  Munroe,  of  Chicago  ;  music  by  Professor  G.  W.  Chadwick,  of 

Boston. 

4.  Presentation  of  the  Master  Artists  of  the  Exposition  and  their  completed  work  by  the  Chief  of  Construction . 

5.  Report  of  the  Director-General  to  the  World's  Columbian  Commission. 

6.  Presentation  of  the  buildings,  for  dedication,  by  the  President  of  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  to 

the  President  of  the  World's  National  Commission. 

7.  Chorus,  "  The  Heavens  are  Telling. " — Haydn. 

8.  Presentation  of  the  buildings  for  dedication,  by  the  President  of  the  World's  Columbian  Commission  to 

the  President  of  the  United  States. 

9.  March  and  Chorus  from  "  The  Ruins  of  .■\thens  " — Beethoven. 

10.  Dedication  of  the  buildings  by  the  President  of  the  Ignited  States. 

11.  Hallelujah  Chorus  from  "The  Messiah." — Handel. 

12.  Dedicatory  Oration,  Hon   Wm   C.  P.  Breckinridge,  Kentucky. 

13.  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"    and   "Hail   Columbia  Symphony,"    with  full    chorus  and  orchestral 

accompaniment. 

14.  Columbian  Oration,  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  New  York. 

15.  National  Salute. 

At  the  close  of  this  programme  a  special  electric  and  pyrotechnic  display  will  be  given, 
with  a  repetition  of  "  The  Water  Pageant,"  or  procession  of  the  centuries. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


821 


Thursday,  Uctobkr  Thirtkentii. 

The  third  day's  ceremonies  include  a  special  dedication  of  the  Woman's  Building  b>  the 
officers  and  members  of  the  National  Board  of  Lady  Managers  and  their  invited  guests  from 
this  and  foreign  countries. 

A  series  of  manoeuvres  ;uul  parados  will  coustitulc  llic  rcuiaiiiiug  portion  of  the  day's 
programme.  In  the  evening  attractive  and  appropriate  features  will  be  provided,  followed 
by  a  magnificent  display  of  fireworks. 

A  number  of  brilliant  social  entertainments  will  be  given  by  the  citizens  of  Chicago 
during  the  three  evenings  of  the  dedication  celebration,  concluding  with  a  grand  dedicatory 
ball  on  the  final  night  of  the  celebration,  \Vednesda\-,  October  13th,  1892. 


Guide  to  Chicago. 

COMriLKl)    HV 

R.  E.  A.  DORR. 

ASSISTANT  CHIEF   DEPARTMKJ*T   OF   PLBLICITy   AND   PROMOTION,    WORLDS     .i.ll  MBIAX    EXPOSITION. 


>1  V 


\' 


DIFFICULTY  of  compressfng  a  Guide  to  so  va.st,  crowded  and 
interesting  a  city  as  Chicago  into  Uie  space-limit  imposed 
by  the  publishers  of  this  volume,  will  be  apparent  to  the  most 
casual  reader  of  the  following  pages.  All  attempts  at  ambi- 
tious writing  or  long  descriptions  of  points  of  interest  are  neces- 
sarily sacrificed  to  the  most  concise  statement  of  facts,  the  most 
direct  information  regarding  the  places  worth  seeing,  and  how 
they  may  be  most  easily   and  quickly  reached. 

By  reference  to  the  map  it  will  be  readily  understood  that  this 
guide  assumes  that  all  those  who  consult  it  will  start  in  their 
inspection  of  Chicago  from  the  central  or  hotel  district,  bounded 
on  the  east  by  Lake  Michigan  ;  on  the  north  by  Lake  street ; 
on  the  south  by  Congress  street,  antl  on  the  west  by  La  Salle 
street  These  boundaries  are  indicated  on  the  map  by  the  red 
lines.  The  great  boulevard  system,  within  which  is  the  improved 
portion  of  the  city,  is  indicated  by  the  green  lines.  Ivverv  point 
of  interest  within  the  central  district  and  therefore  within  easy 
walking  dUtance  of  nearly  all  the  hotels,  is  indicated  by  (t).  It  is  confidently  believed  that  strangers  in  the 
city,  who  will,  by  consulting  the  map,  first  fix  the  points  of  the  compass  in  their  minds,  and  then  the 
central  or  (t)  district,  will  have  little  difficulty  in  going  to  any  desired  place  without  asking  questions  or 
becoming  confused. 

Chicago  has  been  aptly  called  the  marvel  of  city  building  of  the  world.  It  seems  scarcely  credible  that 
on  March  4th,  1S92,  it  celebrated  its  Fifty-fifth  anniversary  as  a  corporation,  and  that  in  this  half  centurv  it 
has  grown  from  a  little  village  to  the  second  city  of  the  country,  with  a  jwpulation  acconling  to  the  I'nitcd 
States  Census  of  1S90,  of  1.208,669,  and  according  to  estimates  in  May,   1.S92,  of  i,5<xS,669  people. 

The  sky-scraping  business  buildings,  palatial  residences,  great  manufactories  magnificent  streets  and 
avenues,  anrl  imposing  public  institutions  will  at  once  impress  visitors  with  the  true  greatness  of  this  metrop- 
olis of  the  West.  The  following  briefly  told  facts  will  aid  in  illustrating  the  real  importance  which  Chicago 
must  be  allotted  among  municipalities  of  the  world. 

The  northern  and  southei  1  city  limits  are  now  twenty-four  miles  apart ;  the  eastern  and  western  Injundaries 
ten  and  one-half  miles  di.stant.  There  are  1974  acres  of  public  parks  and  twenty  out  of  thirty-eight  miles  of  Ix)u- 
levards  projected,  are  completed.  The  185  miles  of  street  railways  render  every  section  of  the  great  city  easy 
of  access,  and  the  twenty-six  steam  roads  entering  the  city  cause  it  to  1k>  the  undisputed  railroad  centre  of  the 
countr)'.  A  police  force  of  1503  oflTicers  ami  men  preserxes  order  among  a  population  comixjseil  of  eightv-two 
nationalities,  and  a  fire  department  with  970  employees  guanls  against  the  repetition  of  the  conflagration 
of  1871,  which  has  not  been  equalled  in  deslnictiveness  in   modern  times. 

To  illustrate  Chicago's  commercial  supremacy  it  need  only  l)e  told  that  the  arrivals  and  clearances  of 
vessels  at  the  j)Ort  are  50  per  cent,  greater  than  at  New  York,  and  nearly  equal  those  of  New  York,  Boston 
and  Baltimore  combined.  That  it  is  the  greatest  market  in  the  world  for  grain  and  provisions  is  getting  to 
be  an  old  storv-,  and  that  its  bank  clearances  are  now  only  third  among  American  cities  will  not  surprise 
anyone  who  has  at   all   studied  its  growth   in  trade  and   manufactures. 

But  while  Chicago  has  been  expanding  in  all  lines  of  busines.s,  its  citizens  have  also  liccn  developing  and 
ennobling  their  loved  city  in  other  directions.  This  is  particularly  notable  in  education  and  art  matters. 
There  are  now  located  here  four  great  universities,  350  academies  ami  seminaries,  nnd  .S(»)  private  scIumiIs, 
the  average  attendance  in  all  l>cing  7().r,j<)  students.     I'ublic  education  is  here  brought  up  to  llic  highest  level 

(823) 


824 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBL\. 


of  American  progress,  the  estimated  expenditure  for  this  purpose  for  the  year  1S92  being  15,996,084.  In 
public  charities  it  is  estimated  that  15,000,000  is  expended  annually,  and  the  private  donations  for  charitable 
institutions  are  estimated  at  f3,ooo,ooo.     There  are  fifty  charity  asylums    and   thirty-  hospitals  in  Chicago. 

In  spite  of  the  oft-repeated  assertion  that  Chicago  is  the  wickedest  city  of  the  country  it  supports  575 
churches  ;  the  largest  Y.  II.  C.  A.  organization  in  the  country,  aud  every  known  kind  of  organization  for  the 
suppression  of  vice. 

On  the  social  side  of  life  Chicago  has  made  rapid  strides  the  past  twenty  years.  The  general  commer- 
cial prosperity  of  the  communit}-  has  made  hundreds  of  families  sufficiently  wealthy  to  devote  tiuie  and 
money  to  the  cultivation  of  their  sons  and  daughters,  and  the  result  is  a  rapid  spreading  of  refining  influ- 
ences in  almost  all  grades  of  society.  The  theatres,  the  clubs,  art  galleries,  the  lecture  rooms  aud  the 
musical  organizations  of  the  city  now  rank  with  any  in  the  country.  Among  the  thirty-two  theatres  in  the 
city  are  several  of  the  most  beautiful  and   costly  in  this  country,  if  not  in  the  world. 

As  a  hotel  town  Chicago  unquestionably  leads.  There  are  1400  registered  hotels  with  accommodations 
for  from  fifty  to  1000  guests  each.  The  total  capacity  is  estimated  at  175,000  guests,  the  population  of  many 
cities  of  world-wide  fame. 

Until  very  recentlv  it  has  been  customary  to  regard  Chicago  as  of  mushroom  growth,  and  to  think  of 
it  as  built  by  borrowed  capital  and  imported  brains.  This  line  of  thought,  or  sneer,  must  be  abandoned. 
Chicago  has  now  accumulated  so  much  wealth  and  so  many  of  its  families  are  in  their  second  generation 
as  land-owners,  that  the  city  and  its  customs  have  the  stability  of  municipalities  far  surpassing  it  in  age. 
Chicago  cannot  be  denietl  the  proud  position  of  a  leading  city  of  tlie  world  aud  aspires  to  soon  become  the 
leading  city  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Chicago  &  North  Western  Railway. — Station  cor- 
ner Wells  and  Kinzie  streets  (north  side).  North 
Clark  street  cable  cars.  Central  ticket  office,  206 
and  208  Clark  street  (tl,  opposite  Postoffice. 

Cleveland,  Cincinrati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Ry. — 
(Frequently  called  the  "Big  Four  "  on  account  of  its 
termini  in' four  great  cities).  Station  east  of  Michi- 
gan avenue,  between  Lake  ard  Eandolph  streets  (t). 
Wabash  avenue  aud  State  street  cable  cars  to  comer 
Lake  street  and  Wabash  avenue.  One  block  east  to 
station.    Central  ticket  office.  Grand  Pacific  Hotel  (t). 

Erie  Lines.  This  system  embraces  New  York, 
Lake  Erie  &  Western  R.  R.;  Kew  York,  Pennsylva- 
nia &  Ohio  ;  Chicago  &  Erie  R.  R.,  and  several  less 
important  roads.  The  entrance  to  Chicago  is  by 
Chicago  &  Erie  R.  R.  Dearborn  Station,  Dearborn 
street,  corner  Polk  street  aud  Third  avenue.  State 
street  cable  cars.  City  ticket  office,  242  South  Clark 
street  (tK  Grand  Pacific  Hotel  building. 

Grand  Trunk  Railway.— (See  Chicago  &  Grand 
Trunk  Railwav.1 

Illinois  Central  R.  R.— Central  Depot,  east  of 
Michigan  avenue,  between  Lake  and  Randolph 
streets  if.  Wabash  avenue  and  State  street  cable 
cars  to  comer  Lake  street  and  Waliash  avenue  One 
block  east  to  station.  Central  ticket  office,  194  Clark 
street  (fl,  near  Postoffice. 

Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Ry. — Station, 
Van  Buren  street,  between  Sherman  street  and 
Pacific  avenue  (t).  ^'au  Buren  street  horse  cars  east 
and  west  Clark  Street  horse  cars  run  north  and 
south,  one  block  east.  City  ticket  office,  66  Clark 
street  (tl.  corner  Randolph. 

Louisville,  New  Albany  &  Chicago  Ry.— (Popu- 
larlv  known  as  the  "Jlonon"  route.)  Dearborn 
Station,  Dearborn  street,  comer  Polk  street  and 
Third  avenue.  State  street  cable  car.  City  ticket 
office,  2-,2  Clark  street  if,  corner  Ouincy. 

Michigan  Central  R.  R.— Central  Depot,  east  of 
Michigan  avenue,  between  Lake  and  Randolph 
streets  (tV  State  street  or  Wabash  avenue  cars  to 
Lake  .street  and  Wabash  avenue.  One  block  east  to 
station.  City  ticket  office,  67  Clark  street  (t),  corner 
Randolph. 

New  York  Central  &  Hudson  River  R.  R.— Trains 
enter  and  leave  Chicago  by  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan 
Southern  R.  R..  andMichigan  Central  R.  R.  .See 
paragraphs  on  these  roads  for  location  of  stations  and 
ticket  offices. 


MAIN  RAILWAY  ST.ATIOXS. 

Ashland  Routes. — (See  Milwaukee,  Lake  Shore  & 

Western.  1 

Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  R.  R. — (Generally 
called  the  Santa  Fe|,  Dearborn  Station,  Dearborn 
and  Polk  streets  and  Third  avenue.  State  street 
cable  cars.  Central  ticket  office,  212  Clark  street  (t), 
opposite  Postoffice. 

Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R. — Grand  Central  Station 
Harrison  street  aud  Fifth  avenue.  Adams  street 
horss  car.  (Take  car  that  turns  south  at  5th  ave- 
nue to  Harrison  street.)  Central  ticket  office,  193 
Clark  street(t),  between  .^dams  aud  Monroe  streets. 

Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy. — Union  Station, 
Canal  and  .Adams  streets.  Adams  or  JIadison  street 
horse  car,  or  Carette  (omnibus)  line  on  .Adams  street. 
City  ticket  office,  211  Clark  street  (t),  opposite  Post- 
office. 

Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  .Paul  R.  R.— Union 
Station,  Canal  au<l  .\dams  streets.  .Adams  or  Madi- 
son street  horse  cars  or  Carette  (omnibus)  line  on 
Adams  street.  City  ticket  office,  207-209  Clark  street 
(t).  near  Postoffice. 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Ry.-  Station,  Van 
Buren  street,  betweeu  Sherman  street  and  Pacific 
avenue  (t).  Van  Buren  street  horse  cars,  east  and 
west.  Clark  street  horse  cars  run  north  and  south, 
one  block  east.  Central  ticket  office,  .S.  W.  Cor. 
Clark  and  Washington  Streets(t). 

Chicago,  St.  Paul  &  Kansas  City  Ry.— Grand  Cen- 
tral Station,  Harrison  street  and  Fifth  avenue. 
Adams  street  horse  car.  (Take  car  that  turns  south 
at  Fifth  avenue  to  Harrison  street.)  Central  ticket 
office.  18S  Clark  street  (f),  between  Adams  aud  Mon- 
roe streets. 

Chicago  &  Alton  R.  R.— Union  Station,  Canal  and 
Adams  street.  .Adams  or  Madison  street  horse  car 
or  Carette  (omnibus)  line  on  .-^dams  street.  City 
ticket  office,  195  Clark  street  (t),  between  Adams  and 
Monroe. 

Chicago  a  Eastern  Illinois  R.  R. — Dearborn  Sta- 
tion, cor.  Dearborn  and  Polk  streets  and  Third  ave- 
nue.    State  street  caljle  cars. 

Chicago&  Erie. —  .See  Erie  Lines.) 

Chicago  &  Grand  Trunk  Railway.— Dearborn  Sta- 
tion, cor.  Dearborn  and  Polk  streets  and  Third  ave- 
nue. State  street  cable  cars.  Central  ticket  office, 
103  Clark  street. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


825 


New  York,  Lake  Erie  A  Western  R.  R.— (See  Erii 
Lines.  1 

Northern  Pacific  R.  R. — Gratnl  Central  Depot, 
corner  il.irrixin  ami  I'iUh  avenue.  Adams  street 
hoise  car.  (Take  car  that  turns  south  on  Fifth  ave- 
nue I  City  ticket  office,  210  Clark  street  it>,  opposite 
PostolTiii-, 

Pennsylvania  R.R. —  Sec  rcnnsylvania  Unes.^ 

Pittsburgh  Fort  Wayne  R.  R. — i,See  Pennsylvania 
Lines. 

Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  A  St.  Louis. — 
I  I-auiiliarly  known  as  the  Panhandle  Route) — (See 
Pennsylvania  Lines.  1 

Pennsylvania  Lines. — [Emliracinfj  all  trains  of 
Peniisylv.uiia  R.  R..  Pittsburg  &  Fort  Wayne  R.  R., 
and  Panhandle  Route.)  I'nion  Depot,  corner  Canal 
and  .\dams  streets.  Adams  or  >Liilison  street  horse 
cars  or  Carette  (omnibus)  line  on  .\danis  street.  Cen- 
tral ticket  office,  corner  Jackson  and  Clark  streets  (t), 
Cniml  Pacific  Hotel  Buildinj;. 

Union  Pacific  System. — (Trains  enter  ami  leave 
Chicago  via  Chicago  ^:  Northwestern  R.  R. )  Station 
corner  Wells  and  Kiuzie  streets  (north  side).  North 
Clark  street  cable  car.  Central  ticket  office,  191 
Clark  street  (  +  ).  near  Postoffice. 

Wabash  R.R. — Dearborn  Station,  comer  Dearborn 
street  and  Third  avenue.  State  street  cable  car.  City 
ticket  office,  201  Clark  street  (ti.  near  Postoffice. 

Wisconsin  Central  R.  R.  —  C.ran<l  Central  Depot, 
Harrison  and  Filth  avenue.  .Vdams  street  horse  car. 
(Take  car  that  turns  south  on  Fifth  avenue. )  Central 
ticket  office  205  Clark  street  (t\  opposite  Postoffice. 

Milwaukee,  Lake  Shore  and  Western.- Station, 
Wells  and  Kinzie  streets  i  north  side).  Nortli  Clark 
street  cable  car.  City  ticket  olTice  197  Clark  street  (f), 
ne.ar  Postoffice. 

New  York,  Chicago  A  St.  Louis. — fPopularly 
know  as  the  "Nickel  Plate.")  Station,  Van  Buren 
street.  Ijctween  Sherman  street  and  Pacific  avenue  (t), 
Van  Buren  street  cars.  Clark  street  cars  run  north 
ard  south  one  block  east. 

LAKE   STEAMER    PASSENGER    LINES. 

All  passenger  steamers  leave  Chicago  from  piers 
along  the  Chicago  river  within  a  short  cab  ride,  or 
easy  walking  distance,  of  the  hotels  within  the  (t) 
boundary.  Wabash  avenue  cable  cars  running  north 
or  North  Clark  street  cable  cars  ruu  within  a  block  or 
two  of  the  piers. 

Graham  A  Morton  Transportation  Co. — Dock  foot 
of  Wabash  avenue.  Steamers  for  St.  Joseph  and  Ben- 
ton Ilarlxir,  Mich.,  daily  and  Sunday.  This  is  a  de- 
lightful excursion  of  about  sixty  miles  almost  due 
east  across  Lake  Michigan.  Morning  boat  returns 
same  evening. 

Goodrich  Line. — Dock,  foot  Michigan  avenue.  .-Ul 
ports  on  Lake  Michigan  and  Green  Bay.  .\  favorite 
excursion  is  to  Racine  and  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  going 
one  day  and  returning  the  next.  Steamers  leave 
morning  and  evening. 

Lake  Michigan  and  Lake  Superior  Transporta- 
tion Co.  — Dock  near  Ru--h  street  bridge,  foot  r)f 
Michigan  avenue.  Steamers  s;iil  Wednesday  and 
Saturrlay  for  Duluth  at  the  heail  of  L.ike  SujK-rior, 
landing  at  the  fashionable  summer  resort,  Mackinac 
Island.  SauUSte.  >L-irie,  Marquette  and  all  points  in  the 
famous  copper  regions  of  Lake  SuiK-rior.  Tlie  trip 
from  Chicago  to  Duluth  consumes  live  and  one-half 
days. 

Excursion  steamers  leave  foot  of  Van  Buren  street 
(tj  for  the  World's  Fair  groumls  at  lre<iuent  intervals. 


C.VIU.I':  CAR  LINES. 

North  Clark  Street  Cable  Line.— Take  car  to  go 
norlli  .ct  loriu  r  M.inr...   .and  Dearliorn  streets  (t). 

Madison  Street  Cable  Line. — Take  car  to  go  west 
at  corner  La  Salle  and  Madison  streets  (t)  or  comer 
La  Salle  and  Washington  streets. 

Wabash  Avenue  Cable  Line.— To  go  south,  take 
car  iin  Sl.ile  street,  between  Lake  and  Madison  streets 
(tl,  or  Wabash  avenue  at  corner  of  Madison  street  (fi, 
any  point  on  Wab.-ish  avenue  further  south. 

State  Street  Cable  Line. — To  go  south  take  car  on 
State  street  at  corner  of  Lake  street  (t)  or  at  any  point 
on  State  street  further  south. 

THE  WORLDS  FAIR. 

(The  accompanying  map  is  the  official  plan  of  the 
groumls.  I  The  World's  Colmnbian  I-lxposition  will  be 
held  in  buildings  now  nearing  completion  at  Jack- 
son Park,  a  tract  of  63^  acres  on  the  lake  front  six  and 
a  half  miles  south  by  ea.st  of  the  City  Hall.  It  may  be 
reached  by  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  Waba.sli  avenue 
cable  cars  or  by  steamboats  from  the  foot  of  \'aii 
Buren  street,  .-iccording  to  present  plans  there  will 
be  entrances  at  57th,  59th,  60th,  62d,  63d,  and  67th 
streets,  ami  for  pa.s.seiigers  by  boats  at  piers  at  the 
north  and  south  ends  of  the  grounds.  The  main  en- 
trance will  be  at  62d  or  63d  streets.  Railroad  trains 
will  i)robably  enter  the  grounds  and  land  their  pas- 
sengers just  west  of  the  Administration  Building. 

The  exhibits  will  be  in  thirteen  great  buildings,  the 
names  of  which  generally  indicate  the  character  of 
the  exhibits,  as  follows  : 


.\dniinistration  Building, 
■  Offices  of  the  Officials, 

National  Bank, 

Postoffice, 

Telegraph , 

Express  Offices. 
-Agriculture  Building, 
Dairy  Building. 
Electrical  Building, 
Governnient  Building, 
Fisheries  Building, 


Fine  Ails  Building, 
Fore^stry  Building, 
Horticulture  Building, 
JIachinery  Hall, 
Manufactures  and  Lib- 
Arts  Building, 
Mines  and    Mining    Build- 
ing, 
Transportation       Exhibits 

Building, 
Woman's  Building. 
To  the  norlli  of  the  .\rt  I'alace  will  be  the  group  of 
buildings  erected  by  the  States  and  Territories  for  col- 
lective exhibits,  illustrating  their  resources  and  natu- 
ral history.  Buildings  for  similar  purposes  will  be 
erected  by  the  leading  nations  of  the  world,  at  points 
indicated' on  the  map.  On  the  Midway  Plais.ance 
will  Ix;  located  the  exhibits  typical  of  nearly  all  forms 
of  life  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  .\s  the  walks  and 
avenues  within  the  groumls  have  not  yet  been  named 
by  the  exposition  officials,  it  is  only  possible  in  this 
giiide  to  indicate  the  nearest  entrance  to  anv  given 
point  and  the  general  direction  to  follow  after  jxissing 
through  the  gate. 

Agriculture,  Department  of— 63d  street  gate. 
Proceeil  south  around  Transportation  and  Adminis- 
tration buiblings  ami  east  across  lagoon.  By  Vioat  to 
South   Pier. 

Battle  Ship.  (Naval  exhibit.)— sglh  street  gate. 
Proceed  due  east  to  Lake  front  By  l>oat  to  North 
I'ier. 

Casino.  — Same  route  as  to  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment,     r.v  boat  to  South  Pier. 

Convent  of  La  Rabida.  —  Follow  route  to  .\gricul- 
tural  Dei)artineiit,  turn  south  at  east  end  of  .\gricul- 
lural  building'and  cross  l.agoon  to  the  Convent.  By 
boat  to  Soutli  I'ier  ... 

Government  Building. — Containing  exhibits  pre- 
pared by  the  gre.il  executive  departments  of  the 
National   Govemmeiit      60th    .street   gate.       Pri>ceed 


820 


COLU^IBUS   AXD   COLUMBIA. 


due  east  past  tlie  north  end  of  the  Horticulture 
building,  cross  the  lagoon  to  the  Wooded  Island  and 
the  island.  The  bridge  at  the  north  end  of  the  island 
across  the  east  branch  of  the  lagoon  leads  to  the 
Fisheries  building  just  noith  of  the  Government  build- 
ing.    By  boat  to  North  Pier. 

Japanese  Building  and  Exhibit. —  6oth  street 
gate.  A  tract  at  the  north  end  of  the  Wooded  Island 
has  been  allotted  to  Japan  for  a  building  and  exhibit 
of  landscape  gardening.  Proceed  due  east  from  en- 
trance, pass  north  end  of  Horticulture  building  and 
across  bridge  over  the  lagoon.  By  boat  to  North 
Pier. 

Midway  Plaisance. — A  strip  of  land  between  59th 
and  60th  streets,  "s  of  a  mile  long.  Enter  at  59th 
street.  Midway  Plaisance  will  be  devoted  to  typical 
exhibits  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  various  coun- 
tries. There  will  be  theatres,  dancing  girls,  restau- 
rants and  bazaars  of  many  oriental  nations.  An  extra 
admission  fee  will  be  charged  to  most  of  these  ex- 
hibits. 

Music  Hail. — 63d  street  gate.  Proceed  through 
the  Transportation  Exhibits  building  to  east  entrance  ; 
south  to  corner  of  Mines  and  Miuing  building,  east 
past  Mines  and  Mining  building.  Electrical  building 
and  Manufactures  building  to  the  Lake  front.  By 
boat  to  So'.ith  Pier. 

State  Buildings. — On  June  I,  1S92.  thirty-nine 
States  had  declared  the  intention  of  erecting  buildings 
on  the  exposition  grounds.  The  buildings  will  all  be 
in  the  immediate  \-icinity  of  the  Art  building  and 
most  of  them  just  north  of  it.  The  map  shows  the 
lots  reserved  for  each  State.  The  nearest  entrance  is 
at  the  57th  street  gate  or  by  boat  at  North  Pier. 

Stocl(  Exhibit. — 67th  street  gate.  Proceed  due 
east  to  the  40  acres  of  cattle  pens  and  sheds  which  ex- 
tend from  near  the  west  fence  of  the  grounds  to  the 
Lake  Michigan  front.     By  boat  to  South  Pier. 

Statue  of  the  Republic. — -A.t  the  lake  end  of  the 
main  basin.  63d  street  gate.  Pass  through 
Transportation  Exhibits  building,  then  south  to  Ad- 
ministration building,  east  past  Jlines  building. 
Electrical  building  and  Manufactures  building.  By 
boat  to  South  Pier.  The  statue  will  be  60  feet  high 
and  will  stand  on  a  pedestal  40  feet  high. 

Wooded  Island.— -60th  or  62d  street  gate.  By  boat 
to  North  Pier.  The  island  will  be  devoted  to  horti- 
culture and  floriculture  exhibits,  except  the  nortli  end, 
which  is  allotted  to  Japan.     (See  Japanese  exhibit.) 

HOTELS. 

[The  lowest  regular  rate  per  day  named  by  proprie- 
tors is  given.] 

Atlantic  Hotel.— Corner  Van  Buren  and  Sherman 
streets  I  tl.  American  plan.  |;2.oo ;  European  plan, 
f  i.oo.     Van  Buren  street  cars  pass  the  door. 

Auditorium  Hotel. — Michigan  Boulevard  and  Con- 
gress street  (t).  425  rooms.  American  plan,  S4.00  ; 
European  plan,  J2.00.     Wabash  Avenue  cable  car. 

Briggs  House. — Randolph  street  and  Fifth  avenue. 
200  rooms.  .\merican  plan,  $2.00 ;  European  plan, 
Ji.oo.     Randolph  .Street  car. 

Burke's  European  Hotel. — South  side  Madison 
street,  between  La  Salle  and  Clarkff).  75  rooms. 
European  plan,  fi.oo      Madison  street  horse  car. 

Clifton  House. — Monroe  street  and  Wabash  ave- 
nue(t).  200  rooms.  .American  plan,  $3.00.  Wabash 
avenue  cable  car. 

Commercial  Hotel. — Lake  and  Dearborn  streets 
(t).  225  rooms.  American  plan.  S2.00  :  European 
plan,  J  1. 00.  Lake  Street  horse  car  and  North  Clark 
street  cable  car. 


Gault  House. — West  Madison  and  Clinton  streets. 
200  rooms.  American  plan,  f2.oo.  Madison  street 
cable  car. 

Gore's  Hotel. — Nos.  266  to  274  South  Clark  street 
(f).  250  rooms.  European  plan,  Ji. 00.  Clark  street 
horse  car. 

Grand  Pacific. — Corner  Clark.  Jackson  and  La 
Salle  streets  (^t).  600  rooms.  American  plan,  1^3.00. 
Clark  street  horse  car. 

Hotel  Brevoort.  —North  side  Madison  between  Clark 
and  La  Salle  streets  (t).  250  rooms.  European  plan. 
Jioo.      Madison  Street  horse  car. 

Hotel  Grace. — Comer  Clark  and  Jackson  streets 
(t)  200  rooms.  European  plan,  f  i.oo.  Clark  street 
car. 

Hotel  Wellington. — Corner  Wabash  avenue  and 
Jackson  street  (t).  220  rooms.  European  plan, 
$2  00.  Wabash  avenue  cable  car. 

Hotel  Woodruff.— Corner  Wabash  avenue  and  21st 
street.  American  plan,  J4.00.  Wabash  avenue 
cable  car. 

Hyde  Park  Hotel. — Lake  avenue  and  52d  street. 
300  rooms.  American  plan,  fo.oo.  Illinois  Central 
R.  R.  to  50th  street  Station,  east  one  block  to  Lake 
avenue,  south  one  block  to  hotel 

Leiand  Hotel. — Corner  Michigan  Boulevard  and 
Jackson  street  (t).  300  rooms.  American  plan,  J3. 00  ; 
European  plan,  $1.50.  Wabash  avenue  cable  cars 
cross  Jackson  street  one  block  west. 

McCoy's  Hotel. — Clark  and  Van  Buren  streets  (f). 
250  rooms.  European  plan,  fi.oo.  Clark  street 
horse  cars  north  and  south.  Van  Buren  street  cars 
east  and  west. 

Northern  Hotel. — Comer  Dearborn  and  Jackson 
streets  (t1.  500  rooms.  State  street  cable  car  one 
block  east. 

Palmer  House. — Comer  State  and  Monroe  streets 
(t),  with  frontage  also  on  Wabash  avenue.  750  rooms. 
American  plan,  $3.50;  European  plan,  Ji. 50.  State 
street  cable  cars  pass  main  entrance  ;  Wabash  avenue 
cable  cars  cross  Monroe  street  one-half  block  east  of 
ladies'  entrance. 

Richelieu  Hotel. — Michigan  Boulevard,  between 
Jackson  and  ^'an  Buren  streets  (t).  150  rooms. 
European  plan,  J2.00.  Wabash  avenue  cable  cars. 
cross  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  streets  one  block  west. 

Saratoga  Hotel. — Nos.  155  to  161  Dearborn  street 
(t).  1S3  rooms.  European  plan,  75  cts.  North  Clark 
street  cable  cars  pass  the  hotel  going  north  ;  Madison 
street  horse  cars  cross  Dearborn  street  one-half  block 
north. 

Sherman  House.  -  Corner  Clark  and  Randolph 
streets  (t  I.  300  rooms.  American  plan,  55-00.  Clark 
street  cars  north  and  south  ;  Randolph  street  cars 
east  and  west. 

Southern  Hotel.  —  Comer  Wabash  avenue  and 
22d  street.  150  rooms.  American  plan.  «2.oo ;  Eu- 
ropean plan.  Si. 00.     Wabash  avenue  cable  cai-s. 

Tremont  House. — Comer  Dearborn  and  Lake 
streets  ((t),  300  rooms,  .\nierican  plan,  13.50.  North 
Clark  street  cable  cars  pass  the  door  ;  State  street 
and  Wabash  avenue  cable  cars  one  block  east. 

Victoria  Hotel.— Michigan  Boulevard,  corner  Van 
Buren  street  (t).  250  rooms.  American  plan,  53.00. 
Wabash  avenue  cable  cars  cross  Van  Buren  street  one 
block  west. 

Hotel  Metropole.— 5Iichigan  Boulevard,  near  22d 
street.  .  .\merican  plan,  54.00 ;  European  plan,  |2.oo. 
Wabash  avenue  cable  car  to  22d  and  Michigan 
Boulevard. 

German  Hotel.— Randolph  street,  between  Dear 
born    and   Clark   streets   {f).     150  rooms.      (Plan   o 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMHIA. 


«-J7 


iuaiiai^crinetit.  Icniis  and  date  of  opening  not   yet   de- 
termined. I     Randolph  street  cars. 

The  hotels  named  above  incluile  not  only  the  larj;- 
est  anil  leading  hostel  ries  of  the  city,  but  those  that 
have  an  established  and  general  transient  patronage. 
There  are  in  addition,  however,  at  least  1200  hotels 
that  accommo<lat-.-  from  fifty  to  103  guests  ami  rejoice 
in  more  or  les.s  high  s.iuiuliug  names,  but  the  space  in 
this  guide  is  too  limited  for  their  enumeration.  It  is 
probable  that  there  will  also  be  at  least  fifteen  niani- 
moth  caravansaries  buiit  near  the  World's  I'air  grouiuls 
and  about  one  dozen  within  a  mile  of  the  heart  of  the 
city.  There  is  too  much  uncertainty,  however,  about 
all  of  these  projects  at  the  time  of  compiling  this 
guide  to  include  them  in  its  hotel  list. 

TnK.\TRES  .\ND  PL.^CES  OF  AMUSEMENT. 

Alhambra  Theatre.  —  Corner  State  street  ahd 
.■\rclicr  avenue.  Scaling  capacity,  2500.  State  street 
cable  oars. 

Auditorium  Theatre. — Corner  Waliash  avenue  and 
Congress  street  (T  >.  The  largest  and  most  costly 
theatre  in  .\mcrica.  Seating  capacity,  4050.  Wabash 
avenue  cable  cars. 

Batt'e  of  Gettysburg  Cyclorama. — Corner  Wabash 
avenue  .\iid  raiioraina  I'lacu.  Wabash  avenue  cable 
cars. 

Central  Music  Hall. — Comer  State  and  Randolph 
streets  1 1 1.      Scaling  capacity,  2000. 

Chicago  Opera  House. — Comer  Clark  and  Wash- 
ington streets  (ti.      Seating  capacity,  2300. 

Columbia  Theatre. — Monroe  street,  between  Dear- 
born and  Clark  streets  (t).     Seating  capacity  2400. 

Casino. — Wabash  avenue,  near  .\dains  street  (t)- 
Wax  works,  museum  and  frequent  stage  performances. 

Criterion  Theatre.  — Corner  Sedgwick  and  Division 
strccl.s.  Seating  capacity,  iSoo.  Sedgwick  street  car 
or  north  Clark  street  cable  line. 

German  Theatre. — North  side  Randolph  street,  be- 
tween Dearborn  and  Clark  (t).  (To  be  completed  by 
fall  •<(  1S92  '     Seating  capacity,  1300. 

Grand  Opera  House. — East  side  Clark  street,  be- 
tween Randolph  and  Washington  (t).  Seating  ca- 
pacity,   iSoo. 

Havlin's  Theatre. — Wabash  avenue,  between  iSth 
and  2:>lli  streets.  Seating  capacity,  2000.  Wabash 
avenu-  cable  cars. 

Haymarket  Theatre. — West  Madison  street,  be- 
tween Ilalslea'l  and  Inion.  Seating  capacity  2,475. 
Madison  street  cable  cars. 

Haverley's  Theatre. — North  side  Randolph  street, 
l)etween  La  Salle  and  Clark  (t).  Sealing  capacity, 
1506. 

H.  R.  Jacob's  Academy. — West  side.  South  Hal- 
.stead.  near  West  Mailison  street  Seating  capacity, 
iSoo.      West  Madison  street  cable  cars. 

H.  R.  Jacob's  Clark  Street  Theatre. — I->.st  side 
North  Clark  street,  near  Kinzie  street  Seating  ca- 
pacitv.  ISOO.      Dearl>orn  street  car  running  north. 

Standard  Theatre. — Corner  Malstead  and  Jackson 
streets.  Seating  cajKicity,  2200.  South  Halstead 
street  car  at  Randolpli  and  State  streets. 

Libby  Prison  Museum. — Wabash  avenue,  between 
14th  and  l6tli  streets.  (Irigiiial  Libby  I'rison  briuiglit 
from  Richmond,  Va  ,  and  rebuilt  of  the  same  in.ite- 
rial  and  exactly  as  it  was  when  I'nion  sfddiers  were 
confined  there  during  the  RelKdlion.  Many  war  relics 
are  shown,      Wabash  avenue  cable  cars. 

Lyceum  Theatre. — Desplaines  street,  between  Mad- 
ison and  Washington.  Seating  capacity,  2000.  Mad- 
ison street  cable  cars. 

Madison  Street  Theatre.— North  side  Madison 
street  near  St.ili      »         Sciting  capacity.    1400. 


McVlcker's  Theatre  —Madison   street,  near  State 

street  1  +  1.      Selling  ca]i.icity,  Igin. 

New  Windsor  Theatre.— Comer  North  Clark  and 
Division  .streets.  Seating  capacity  2,000.  North 
Clark  street  cable  cars. 

Park  Theatre.  -  State  street,  lietwcen  Congress  and 
Harrison  streets.  Scaling  capacity  1,500.  SUile  street 
cable  car. 

People's  Theatre.  — State  street,  between  Congress 
anil  Harrison  streets.  Sealing  capacity  2,000.  Slate 
street  cable  car. 

Waverly  Theatre. — West  Madison  street,  between 
Tliroop  and  I.oomis.  Seating  capacity,  1400.  Madi- 
son street  cable  cars. 

Zimmerman  Opera  House. — Sixty-third  street  and 
Sewart  avenue.  Xiiiglewood.  Seating  capacity,  1200. 
Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Railroad  to  Englewood. 

COMMERCLVL  EXCn.\NGES. 

There  are  comparatively  few  commercial  exchanges 
in  Chicago,  the  tendency  in  speculative  business  run- 
ning mostly  to  grain  and  provisions. 

Board  of  Trade. — La  Salle  street.  Jackson  street. 
Pacific  avenue  and  Sherman  street  (t).  The  leading 
grain  and  provision  mart  in  the  world.  Memljership 
2000.  The  building,  200x174  feet,  cost  f  1.800,000.  It 
is  of  grav  granite,  with  a  tower  322  feet  high.  The 
great  hall  or  exchange  is  174x155  feet.  .\t  the  Jack- 
son Street  end  is  a  gallery  open  to  the  public,  and  at 
the  other  a  gallery  for  invited  guests.  The  trans- 
actions on  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade  involve  greater 
money  values  than  in  the  exchange  of  London,  the 
Paris '  Bourse  or  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange. 
Thev  are  of  vastlv  greater  consequence  to  humanity 
in  nearlv  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Builders  and  Traders  Exchange.— 159  La  Salle 
street  (tl.  (Rooms  12.  14,  16.)  Dealers  in  all  kinds 
of  building  material,  contractors  and  investors  meet 
daily  to  buy  and  sell  all  articles  used  in  the  construc- 
tion of  buildings.  New  inventions  are  frequently  dis- 
plaveil. 

Chicago  Real  Estate  Board. — Randolph  and  Dear- 
born It)  I  Real  Estate  Board  Buildingt.— The  member- 
ship includes  most  ol  the  leading, responsible  real  estate 
dealers  of  the  city.  .\  daily  record  of  transfers  is  kepi, 
and  proposals  for  purchase  or  sale  are  posted.  Im- 
partial valuations  of  property  arc  made  for  intending 
sellers  or  investors  by  a  committee  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  for  a  small  fee.  Close  watch  is  maintained 
on  municipal  legislation  affecting  real  estate.  Com- 
plaints of  dishonest  or  unscrupulous  dealing  by  real 
estate  agents  are  investigated  and  assistance  rendered 
in  punishing  such  fraud. 

Chicago  Stock  Exchange.— Dearborn  and  Monroe 
(t).  I  Slock  p:xchaiige  Building.)  Interest  in  stock 
speculation  in  Chicago  has  been  rapidly  increasing 
since  1S.S9,  when  the  sales  aggregated  only  145-725 
shares  of  stock  and  #19,029,500  of  bonds,  against 
750,000  shares  of  stock  and  #9,500.000  of  bonds  in 
1891.  While  the  scenes  on  the  Chicago  Exchange  on 
exciting  davs  will  not  compare  in  interest  to  the  vis- 
itor with  tliose  on  the  New  York  Exchange,  a  very 
comprehensive  idea  may  lie  gained  of  the  methrxls  of 
coiKliicting  stock  sjK'culatioiis.  There  are  accoinmo- 
d.ations  for  visitors  ihiniig  business  hours  from  10  30 
A.  M.  to  2.  IS  I'.    M    evirv  (l.iv. 

Fruit  Buyers  Association.  — 144  South  Water 
stn-et  ( meets  in  Produce  IvxchangeV  To  regulate 
the  sale  of  California  fruit,  of  which  lo  to  20  car 
loails  arrive  ill  Chicigo  d.iilv. 

Fruit  and  Vegetable  Dealers  Exchange.  —  144 
South  Water  sln-el.  .X  general  market  lor  commis- 
sion merrhanls  in  fruits  and  vegolnblev 


828 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


PARKS  AND  BOULEVARDS. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  of  Chicago  to 
%'isitors.  except,  of  course,  the  Worhl's  Fair,  is  the 
public  parks  and  Boulevard  s\-stein  by  which  they  are 
connected.  Beginning  at  Humboldt  Boulevard  on  the 
north,  the  iuqui'rers  of  this  GUIDE  will  readily  trace 
the  magnificent  pleasure  drive  west,  south  and  east 
again  until  at  Washington  Park  it  connects  with 
Drexel  and  Grand  Boulevards  running  north  to  Oak- 
land Boulevard,  and  via  35th  street,  joining  Michigan 
Boulevard  which  extends  into  (going  north )  the  very 
heart  of  the  city.  There  will  be  thirty-eight  miles  of 
boulevards  when  the  system  is  completed.  Twenty 
miles  are  now  in  use.  '  These  magnificent  avenues, 
none  of  them  less  than  200  feet  wide,  connect  and  are 
a  part  of  the  public  parks  of  the  city.  Like  the  parks 
thev  are  beautiful  in  the  highest  art  of  the  landscape 
gardener,  and  are,  for  the  most  part,  lined  by  the  pa- 
latial residences  of  Chicago's  wealthiest  citizens. 
The  park  system  embraces  i. 974. 61  acres  exclusive  of 
the  boulevards.  It  is  divided  into  North,  South  and 
West  svstenis,  as  the  city  is  into  similarly  designated 
"  sides!"  Commissioners  for  each  section  are  elected 
by  the  courts  and  have  absolute  control  over  the  roads 
and  parks.  A  direct  tax  on  the  respective  geographi- 
cal divisions  of  the  city  provides  means  for  improving, 
keeping  in  repair  and  policing  parks  and  boulevards. 
The  prohibition  of  traffic  wagons  on  all  these  drives 
devotes  them  solely  to  pleasure  purposes,  and  enables 
their  guardians  to  keep  them  always  in  holiday  attire. 
The  principal  car  lines  by  which  to  reach  the  parks 
are  as  follows  : 

Jackson  Park— South  Side.— (Used  for  World's 
Fair  until  summer  of  1S94. )  586  acres  on  the  shore  of 
Lake  Jlichigan.  Illinois  Central  R.  R.  to  57th  street 
station,  or  Wabash  avenue  cable  line,  Hyde  Park  car. 

Washington  Park— South  Side.— 371  acres.  Wa- 
bash avenue  or  State  street  cable  lines.  Park  phaetons 
convey  visitors  to  all  points  of  interest  and  through 
Grand  and  Drexel  boulevards  for  25c. 

Douglas  Park— West  Side.— 179  acres.  West  12th 
street,  or  Ogdeu  avenue  cars. 

Garfield  Park— West  Side.— 1S5  acres.  WestMad- 
ison  street  cable  cars. 

Humboldt  Park— West  Side.— 200  acres.  Milwau- 
kee avenue  cable  cars  or  West  North  avenue  cars. 

Lincoln  Park — North  Side. — 250  acres.  North 
Clark  street  cable  car.  The  Grant  and  Lincoln  Monu- 
ments, a  well  .stocked  menagerie  and  an  -electric 
fountain  are  features  of  interest  in  Lincoln  Park. 

Lake  Shore  Drive. — Beginning  on  the  north  side  of 
Chicago  avenue  at  Pme  street  and  extending  along 
the  Lake  front  to  the  northern  extremity  of  Lincoln 
Park,  wbere  it  connects  with  Sheridan  road  which  is 
completed  along  the  edge  of  the  lake  for  twenty -five 
miles.  This  is.'bevond  question,  the  grandest  boule- 
vard and  most  ambitious  improvement  Chicago  has 
undertaken.  For  nearlv  the  entire  distance  along  the 
east  edge  of  Lincoln  Park  the  drive  is  from  150  to  200 
feet  from  the  shore.  The  granite  blocks  are  laid 
on  a  foundation  of  earth  and  "piles,  and  cemented  to- 
gether so  as  to  compose  a  solid  mass  of  masonry.  Be- 
tween the  drive  and  the  sloping  banks  of  the  park  is  a 
canal,  forming  the  finest  three  mile  rowing  regatta 
course  in  the  country.  The  east  side  of  the  drive,  ex- 
posed to  the  violence  of  the  lake  storms  is  a  heavy  sea 
wall  with  a  parapet.  This  improvement  has  been  in  pro- 
gress since  18S8,  and  is  expected  to  be  completed  by 
the  fall  of  '92.  The  drive  will  cross  a  steel  swinging 
bridge  of  beautiful  design  beneath  which  the  canal 
and  lake  waters  join.  The  north  and  south  ends  of 
the  drive  have  land  connections  with  Lincoln  Park. 
For  some  distance  along  the  south  end  of  the  drive  it 


is  lined  bj-  the  most  beautiful  and  costly   mansions   of 
Chicago's  oldest  and  wealthiest  families. 

MONUMENTS  IN  CHICAGO. 

Douglas  Monument. — Douglas  Park.  A  granite 
shaft  104  feet  high,  above  a  mausoleum  containing  the 
remains  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  one  of  Illinois' 
greatest  sons.  A  bronze  statue  surmounts  the  shaft. 
Wabash  avenue  cable  car  to  35th  street,  or  Illinois 
Central  R    R.  to  Douglas  Park. 

Police  Monument.  -  Haym a rket  Square.  A  bronze 
statue  of  a  Chicago  policeman,  erected  by  the  city  in 
memorv  of  the  seven  gallant  officers  who  were  killed 
in  the  Anarchist  riot,  May  4,  18S6.  Randolph  street 
cars. 

Soldiers'  Monument. — Rosehill  Cemetery.  (See 
cemeteries.) 

Lincoln  Monument. — Lincoln  Park.  Considered 
the  most  accurate  likeness  of  Lincoln  in  bronze.  Exe- 
cuted by  St.  Gandens.  Cost,  with  pedestal,  |;5o,ooo. 
Presented  to  the  city  by  the  late  Eli  Bates. 

Grant  Monument. — Lincoln  Park.  A  colossal 
equestrian  bronze  figure  on  a  massive  foundation  of 
masonry.  Executed  bj'  Rebisso  of  Cincinnati  and 
erected  with  funds  secured  by  private  subscription. 

Von  Linne  Monument. — Lincoln  Park.  Erected 
in  memory  of  the  eminent  naturalist,  Carl  Von  Linnd 
bv  the  Swedish  societies  of  Chicago.  The  figure  is  of 
bronze  and  is  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  Linn^ 
monument  at  Stockholm.  Executed  by  Dyreman, 
the  Swedish  sculptor. 

There  are  also  fine  statues  of  Shakespeare  and 
Schiller  in  Lincoln  Park,  and  others  of  less  im- 
portance. 

LIBRARIES. 

Public  Library  of  Chicago  occupies  ample  accom- 
modations in  the  City  Hall  (the  blcck  bounded  by 
Washington,  Randolph,  Clark  and  La  Salle  streets) 
(t).  It  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  United  States.  The 
last  annual  report  states  that  the  library  contains  430,- 
094  volumes,  covering  almost  everj-  branch  of  litera- 
ture. During  the  year  there  were  492,837  visitors  to 
the  reading  rooms  and  1,290,514  permits  were  granted 
for  the  use  of  books.  There  is  a  separate  reading 
room  for  women,  and  every  facility  is  offered  for 
studv  and  research.  The  library  is  maintained  by  the 
citv,' the  total  cost  for  1S91  being  5102,869.19.  Five 
branch  reading  rooms  are  maintained  in  outlying 
sections  of  the  city.  The  library  is  open  to  the  public 
from  9  .\.  M.  to  10  P.M.  week  days  and  10  A.  11.  to  10 
p.  XI.  Sunda3'S. 

Newberry  Library. — N.  W.  corner  State  and  Oak 
streets.  Now  occupies  temporary  quarters  pending" 
the  completion  of  its  new  building  which  will  have 
space  for  one  million  volumes.  The  founder,  the 
late  Walter  L.  Newberrv,  bequeathed  real  estate  to 
the  library  valued  at  from  two  and  a  half  to  three 
million  dollars.  The  trustees  have  postponed  ener- 
getic collection  of  books  until  the  great  building  is 
completed.  The  librarv  now  contains  only  So.oco 
volumes,  almost  all  of  which  are  books  of  reference 
such  as  cannot  be  consulted  elsewhere  except  by  own- 
ership or  in  technical  libraries.  The  department  of 
bibliography  is  verv  complete,  and  the  collection  of 
volum'es  in  the  historv,  science  and  theory  of  nmsic 
has  been  pronounced  by  Theodore  Thomas  and  Mr. 
Walter  Damrosch  one  of  the  finest  in  the  country. 
Open  and  free  to  visitors  from  10  A.  M.  to  9  P.M. 
North  State  street  horse  car  or  North  Clark  street 
cable  car  to  Oak  street. 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


»29 


CHRISTIAN  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Bible  Institute.  228-2:12  I^  Salk-  avenue.  Wo- 
men's ikp.irtnn.iu  80  West  Pearson  street  North 
Clark  street  cabk-  to  Chicago  avenue,  west  one  Mock. 
This  institute  was  organized  by  Dwight  L.  Mcx>dy.  its 
object  being  to  prepare  men  and  women  for  evangeli- 
cal work.  There  is  an  average  of  100  men  and  50 
women  students. 

Central  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union- 
— Otfioc  Ibi  I.a  Salle  street  ■  r  .  Conilucts  several  mis- 
sions, dispensaries,  nurseries.  iiKhistrial  schools,  etc. 

National  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union. 
— Main  office,  Temperance  Temple,  La  Salle,  corner 
Monroe  streets  (f). 

Voung  Men's  Christian  Associations. —  General 
offices,  Hoard  of  Managers  and  Control  rooms,  148 
Madison  street  iti.  There  are  eight  branches  with 
comnicKlious  rooms  in  the  city  and  suburbs. 

Young  Women's  Christian  Associations. —  243 
Wabash  avenue  (t).  Conducts  also  a  boarding  house 
for  young  women. 

ART  GALLERIES  AND  PRIVATE 
COLLECTIONS. 

Interest  in  the  fine  arts  has  been  rapidly  increasing 
in  Chicago  during  the  past  decade,  and  finds  a  titling 
climax  for  this  generation,  at  least,  in  the  magnificent 
building  for  the  .-Vrt  Institute  now  being  erected  on 
the  lake  front — between  Jackson  and  Monroe  streets, 
with  main  entrance  at  the  foot  of  .\dams  street,  (f) 
The  building  will  be  a  parallelogram,  of  Bedford  lime- 
stone, with  granite  base  extending  to  the  water  table. 
It  will  have  a  frontage  of  320  feet  on  Michigan  a'enue  ; 
main  depth  175  feet  with  projections  making  an  arc 
208  feet  in  depth.  The  "  Permanent  Art  Building," 
as  the  new  structure  is  called,  will  cost  ;f6oo,ooo,  of 
which  f275,rx)0  is  contributed  by  The  .-^rt  Institute  of 
Chicago,  which  will  occupy  the  new  building ;  •*2oo,- 
000  by  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  and  tlie 
remainder  by  private  subscription  and  loan.  The 
building  will  be  use.l  during  the  Exposition  for  the 
meetings  of  the  World's  Congress  .\uxiliary  of  the 
Exposition,  and  afterward  turned  over  to  the  Art 
Institute.  Wabash  avenue  cable  cars  run  one  filock 
west;  Adams  street  cars  pa-ss  main  entrance.  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  Van  Buren  street  station  is  a  short 
block  east  from  main  entrance. 

Art  Institute  ot  Chicago  and  Art  Museum. — 
Michigan  avenue  and  Van  Buren  street.  Considered 
the  finest  example  of  modem  architecture  in  Chicago, 
and  contains  the  finest  collection  of  paintings  and 
casts  west  of  the  .AUeghenies.  .'V<lmission  free  Satur- 
days and  from  1  to  5  o'clock  Sundays.  Admission 
others  days,  25  cents.  Wabash  avenue  cable  cars  run 
one  block  v.-est.  (This  building  will  be  occupied  by 
the  Chicago  Club  when  the  .\rt  Institute  moves  to  the 
Permanent  .\rt  Buililing  mentiened  above  ;  probably 
in  the  spring  of  1894.) 

Chicago  Society  of  Artists. — .^theneuni  Buililing, 
16  to  2')  V.in  liuren  street,  1  +  1  seventh  floor.  Wabash 
avenue  lable  cars. 

Union  League  Art  Association. — I'nion  League 
Club-house  Jackson  street,  opjxjsite  Post-office  (t).  Ob- 
ject, perfecting  collection  in  the  club-house,  .admis- 
sion liy  invitation. 

Vincennes  Gallery  of  Fine  Arts.— .v^ai  Vincennes 
avenue,  p'ree  ■idinission.  Green  car  on  Wabiish  ave- 
nue cable  line  to  38th  street.  East  three  blocks.  Ele- 
vate^l  Railroad  to  41st  and  Prairie  avenue. 

The  finest  private  collections  are  those  of  Charles  T. 
Yerkes,  3201  Michigan  avenue  ;  Potter  Palmer.   Luke 


Shore  Drive,  North  Side  ;  J.  W.  Ellsworth,  Union 
League  Club,  and  Charles  L.  Hutchinson,  2709  Prairie 
avenue. 

CIURCHES. 

There  are  so  many  churches  in  Chicago  that  it 
would  be  impossible  in  a  compact  guide  to  give  the 
names  and  locations  of  more  than  a  few,  conspicuous 
either  by  their  architectural  beauty,  the  fame  of  their 
pastors,  or  choirs. 

Central  Church.  (Independent.) — Pastor,  Prof. 
David  Swing,  Central  Music  Hall,  State  and  Ran- 
dolph streets,  ft) 

People's  Church.  —  llndejjendent.)  — Pastor,  Dr. 
II.  W.  Thomas,  McVickers'  Theatre,  Madison  near 
Stale  street  (ti. 

Second  Presbyterian. — Pastor,  Rev.  SimonJ.  Mac- 
Pherson,  Michigan  Boulevanl  and  20th  street.  Wa- 
ba.sli  avenue  cable  carlo  loth  street.      Eastone  block. 

Westminster  Presbyterian. — Pastor,  F.  J.  BrolKt, 
Peoria  and  Jackson  streets,  .\dams  street  car  to 
Peoria.     South  one  block  to  Jackson. 

Plymouth  Congregational. — Piistor,  F.  W.  Gun- 
saulns,  Michigan  liuukvard.  near  26tli  street  Green 
cars  on  Wabash  avenue  cable  line  to  26th  street. 
West  one  block  to  Michigan  Boulevard. 

Sinai  Congregation. — Rabbi.  E.  G.  Hirsh,  Indiana 
avenue  and  2ist  street.  Green  cars  on  Wabash  ave- 
nue cabk-  line 

First  Presbyterian. — Pastor,  Dr.  John  H.  Barrows, 
Indiana  and  3ISI  street.  Green  car  on  Wabash  ave- 
nue cable  line. 

First  Baptist.— Pastor,  Dr.  P.  S.  Henson.  South 
P.irk  avenue  and  31st  street.  Wabash  avenue  cable 
car  to  3 1  St  street,  west  in   block. 

Union    Park   Congregational. — Pa.stor,   Dr.   F.  A 
Noble,  Washington   Boulevard,  corner  .Ashland  Boule- 
vard.     Madison  street  cable  carlo  .Ashland  Boulevard. 
North  one  block. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Cathedral. — Pastor,  Rt. 
Rev.  William  K.  McLaren,  Washington  Boulevard 
and  Peoria  street.  Madison  street  cable  cars  to 
Peoria  street.      North  one  block. 

Grace  Episcopal. — Pastor,  Dr.  Winlon  Locke,  1445 
Wabash  avenue,      Wabash  avenue  cable  car. 

Christ's  Reformed  Episcopal. — Pastor,  Rt,  Rev. 
Charles  IC.  Cheney,  MKliii;an  Boulevanl  and  24th 
street.  Wabash  avenue  cable  car  to  Michigan  and 
221I  street.     South  two  blocks. 

St.  Paul's  Episcopal. — Pastor,  Rev.  Samuel  Fal- 
lons.  .\dains  .street  .md  Winchester  avenue.  .Adams 
street  horse  car. 

First  United  Presbyterian.— Pastor,  Dr.  W.  T. 
Melov,  Monroe  an<l  Paulina  streets.  Madison  street 
cable  car  to  I'auliin       South  one  block. 

Fourth  Presbyterian.— Pastor,  Dr.  M.  W.  Strvker. 
Rush  and  Su]x:rior  street.  State  street  horse  car  on 
Carette  line. 

All  Souls.  (Unitarian  1 — Pastor.  Jenkin  Lloyd 
Jones.  Oakwood  Boulevard  and  I.angley  avenue.  Wa- 
bash avenue  car  to  Oakwood  Boulevard.  West  one 
block. 

St.  James.  (Episcopal.  — Pa.stor,  (pulpit  vacant.) 
Cass  and  Huron  streets.  North  State  street  cars  t<> 
Huron,      I\asl  one  bl<x:k. 

CHARITABLE  INSTITUTIONS. 
It  is  estimated  by  those  most  actively  engaged  in 
organized  charily  work  in  Chicago  that  voluntury 
money  gifts  for  public  in.stitntions  amount  to  fully 
|3,(x»,ooo  annually.  This  does  not  incluile  hospitals 
or  reformatory  institutions.  The  most  important  in- 
stitutions—those that  strangers  to  Chicago  might  Ijc 
interesteil  in  visiting— are  enuiner.iled  on   next  page. 


800 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


American  Educational  Aid  Society.  —  Secures 
homes  for  cbilciren.  Nurser\-,  23S  66th  street.  Illi- 
nois Central  R.  R.  to  6Sth  Street  Station.  Dormitory 
for  older  children,  Aurora,  Illinois.  Chicago,  Bur- 
lington &  Quincy  R.  R.  City  office,  232  La  Salle 
street(,t),  Room  41. 

Cook  County  Insane  Asylum. — Dunning,  Illinois. 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railroad. 

Cook  County  Poor  House. — Dunning,  Illinois. 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railroad. 

Foundling's  Home. — 114  S.  Wood  street. 

German  Old  People's  Home. — Harlem,  Illinois. 
Wisconsin  Central  Railroad. 

Holy  Family  Orphan  Asylum. — Holt  and  Division 
streets.  Noble  street  car  on  Madison  street  cable  line 
to  Noble  and  Division  streets.      West  two  blocks. 

Home  for  Crippled  Children. — 91  Heine  street. 
West  North  avenue  car  on  North  Clark  street  cable 
line. 

Homes  for  the  Aged. — 29  and  31  East  25th  street. 
Wabash  avenue  cable  cars  to  25th  and  Cottage  Grove 
avenue,  West  Harrison  street,  corner  Throop ;  West 
Harrison  street  car  at  Wa.shington  street  and  Michi- 
gan avenue.  Sheffield  avenue,  corner  Fullerton  ave- 
nue. Fullerton  avenue  car  on  North  Clark  street 
cable  line. 

Illinois  Industrial  School  for  Girls. — (Reforma- 
tory. )  South  Evanstou  Illinois.  Chicago  &  North- 
western R.  R.  or  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St  Paul  R.  R. 

Illinois  Industrial  Training  School  for  Boys. — 
Glennwood  Park,  Illinois.  Chicago  &  Eastern  Illinois 
Railroad. 

Illinois  Masonic  Orphans'  Home. — 447  Carroll 
avenue.  West  Lake  street  car  at  State  and  Lake  to 
Sheldon  street  North  two  blocks. 

Illinois  Soldiers'  Orphans'  Home. — (Government 
institution.)  Normal,  Illinois.  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
&  Pacific  R.  R. 

Illinois  Women's  Soldiers'  Home. — 1408  Wabash 
avenue.     Wabash  avenue  cable  car. 

Old  People's  Home. — Indiana  avenue,  corner 
39th  street.     Green  car  on  Wabash  avenue  cable  line. 

St.  Joseph's  Home  for  the  Friendless. —  Indus- 
trial school  for  boys  and  girls  and  for  the  deaf. )  409 
South  May  street.  West  12th  street  car  above  Wash- 
ington and  State  streets  to  May  street.  One  block 
north. 

St.  Joseph's  Orphan  Asylum. — 35th  street,  corner 
Lake  avenue.  Illinois  Central  R.  R.  to  36th  street. 
East  one  block  to  Lake  Avenue. 

CEMETERIES. 

Rosehill,  Oakwoods  and  Graceland  are  the  three 
resting  places  of  Chicago's  Protestant  dead  which  art 
and  nature  have  combined  to  make  most  worthy  a 
visit  by  strangers.  In  these  cemeteries  many  of  the 
early  settlers  repose,  and  the  monuments  and  tomb- 
stones bear  names  most  associated  in  the  past  with 
Chicago's  greatness. 

Aushe  Maariv.— North  Clark  and  Belmont  avenues. 
Evanstou  Division,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul 
R.  R.,  or  North  Clark  street  cable  car. 

Austro-Hungarian.— Waldheim,  ten  miles  from 
City  Hall.     Northern  Pacific  R.  R. 

Beth  Hamedrash. — 67th  street  and  Cottage  Grove 
avenue.  Wabash  avenue  cable,  or  Illinois  Central 
R.  R.  to  67th  street  station. 

B'nai  Abraham.— Waldheim.  (See  Austro-Hun- 
garian Cemetery.) 

Calvary. — Near  South  Evanston,  ten  miles  north  of 
Citv  Hall.  Chicago  &  Northwestern  R.  R.,  or  Chicago, 
Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  R.  R. 


"I    Adjoining  cemeteries  on  the  banks 

Concordia.        |  of  the  Desplaines  River,  nine  miles 

Forest  Home,  west  of  City  Hall.  Northern  Pacific 
1  R.  R. 

German  Lutheran. — North  Clark  street,  corner 
Graceland  avenue.     North  Clark  street  cable  car. 

Graceland. — Beuna  Park,  five  miles  north  of  City 
Hall.  The  largest  and  most  beautiful  cemetery  in 
Chicago.  Evanston  Division,  Chicago,  Milwaukee  & 
St.  Paul  R.  R. 

Mount  Greenwood. — Morgan  Park,  fourteen  miles 
south  of  Citv  Hall.  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific 
R.  R. 

Mount  Olive. — (Scandinavian.)  Dunning,  nine 
miles  west  of  Citv  Hall.  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St. 
Paul  R.  R. 

Oakwoods.  — 67th  street  and  Cottage  Grove  avenue. 
Illinois  Central  R.  R.  to  67th  street  station,  or 
Wabash  avenue  cable  car. 

Rosehill. — Rosehill  Station,  seven  miles  northeast 
of  City  Hall.  Jlilwaukee  Division,  Chicago  &  North- 
western Railroad. 

St.  Boniface. — North  Clark  street,  corner  Law- 
rence avenue.  (German  Roman  Catholic.)  North 
Clark  street  cable  car. 

Waldheim. — Waldheim,  ten  miles  west  of  City 
Hall.     Northern  Pacific  Railroad. 

GENTLEMEN'S  CLUBS. 

The  numerous  dining,  musical  and  social  clubs  in 
the  World's  Fair  city  are  not  enumerated,  as  the  visi- 
tor will  be  interested  only  in  those  having  houses  open 
to  visitors  by  agreement  w  ith  their  home  clubs  for  an 
exchange  of  courtesies  or  by  special  invitation. 

Argo  Club. — Lake  Michigan  end  of  Illinois  Central 
Pier.  Difficult  of  access  except  by  carriage.  The 
club  house  is  built  on  the  end  of  the  pier  so  as  to 
secure  for  members  the  cool  lake  breezes  of  a  summer 
afternoon.  The  house  is  in  the  form  of  a  boat.  In 
the  hull  are  the  kitchens,  store-rooms  and  serv-ants' 
quarters.  The  main  saloon  is  on  the  first  deck  ;  the 
state-rooms  for  lodging  members  on  the  second  deck, 
and  the  promenade  on  the  hurricane  deck.  Member- 
ship is  confined  to  about  100  wealthy  and  socially 
prominent  Chicagoans. 

Ashland  Club. — 575  Washington  Boulevard.  The 
leading  social  organization  on  the  west  side.  The 
house  contains  besides  the  rooms  usual  to  clubs,  a 
banquet  hall  large  enough  for  200  persons  ;  an  assem- 
bly hall  60  X  So  feet  and  bowling  allej-s.  The  club 
house  cost  185.000.  Madison  street  cable  cars  to  Page 
street  north  to  Washington  Boulevard. 

Calumet  Club. — Michigan  Boulevard  and  20th 
street.  In  addition  to  the  usual  club  features,  the 
Calumet  aims  to  preserve  the  early  history  of  the  city 
and  State.  Wabash  avenue  cable  to  20th  street,  east 
to  Michigan  Boulevard. 

Chicago  Club. — Monroe  street,  between  State  street 
and  Wabash  avenue  (f  opposite  ladies'  entrance  to 
Palmer  House.  The  membership  includes  most  of 
Chicago's  millionaires  and  leading  professional  men. 

Chicago  Electric  Club. — 103  Adams  street  (t;. 
Membership  confined  almost  exclusively  to  electri- 
cians, engineers  and  scientific  men. 

Church  Club. — 103  .\dams  street  (t).  Membership 
limited  to  clergy  and  laity  of  the   Episcopal  church. 

Douglas  Club. — 351S  Ellis  avenue.  Wabash  avenue 
cable  to  35th  .street,  east  one  block  to  Ellis  avenue,  or 
Illinois  Central  R.  R.  to  36th  street,  west  two  blocks 
to  Ellis  avenue. 

Germania  Mzennerchor.  — North  Clark,  corner 
Germania  Place.    Membership  mostly  Germans.  Musi- 


COI.I'MIU'S    AM)    COLr.Ml'.IA. 


8.n 


cal  entertainments  are  a  conspictiuus  feiiturc  of  this 
club.  Nortli  Clark  street  cable  car  to  Gernmnia 
riacf. 

Hyde  Park  Club. — Wiisliington  avenue  and  sist 
street.  Illinois  Central  R.  R.  to  50th  street  station. 
West  one  hl.ick  to  W.isliinijton  avenue. 

Iltinois  Club. — 154  .\slilanil  Koulevaril.  Madison 
street  c.iblc  i.ir  to  .\sliland  Boulevanl. 

Indiana  Club. — '•,iA9  Indiana  avenue.  Green  car 
on  \V,il).isli  avenue  cal>le  line. 

Irish-American  Club. — .}o  Dearborn  street  (f). 
Irish  birlli  or  ancestry  is  ncces.s;iry  for  membership. 

Iroquois  Club.  —  no  Monroe  street.  Columbia 
TlK-alre  lUiildin^  (^t*.  The  leading  Democratic  club 
of  Chicago. 

Kenwood  Club. — Lake  avenue  and  47th  street. 
Illinois  Central  R.  R.  to  47tli  street  station,  east  one 
block  to  I,ake  avenue. 

Lakeside  Club. — Incliana  avenue,  between  31st  and 
32d  slrcels.  Green  car* on  Wabash  avenue  cable 
line. 

La  Salle  Club. — 542  west  Monroe  street.  A  leading 
Republicui  organization.  Madison  street  cable  car  to 
Lanin  street,  south  one  block. 

Lincoln  Club. — 551  West  .Adams  street  .\  thriving 
Republican  organization,     .\danis  street  horse  car. 

Marquette  Club.-^Dearljoni  avenue  and  Maple 
street.  .V  Republican  social  organization.  North 
Clark  street  cable  car  to  Maple  street,  east  one  block 
to  Dearborn  avenue. 

Oakland  Club. -Ellis  and  Oakland  avenue.  Illi- 
nois Central  R.  R.  to  Oakland  station,  west  two  blocks 
t"  i;ilis  avenue. 

Press  Club  of  Chicago.  — 131  Clark  street  (t)- 
Membership  lonruiid  to  men  actively  engaged  in 
jouriialisni. 

Sheridan  Club. — Michigan  Boulevard  ami  41st 
street.  Social,  ilraniatic  ;.nd  musical.  Elevated  R.  R. 
10  Michigan  Boulevard  Station. 

Standard  Club. — Michigan  Boulevard  and  24th 
.'-■rrrt.  The  leading  Hebrew  club  of  Chicago. 
W.ibasli  avenue  cable  car  to  22d  street  and  Michigan 
Boulevard.     South  two  blocks. 

Umni  Club. — Washington  Place  and  De.irborn  ave- 
nue. North  Clark  street  cable  car  to  Washington 
I'lace,  east  one  block. 

Union  League  Club. — Jackson  .street  and  Fourth 
avenue  It]  oppositi-  Tost  Office.  The  foremost  com- 
mercial anil  ])rofessional  club  in  Chicago.  While  not 
;m  avowedly  Republican  organization  as  are  clubs  of 
the  same  name  in  other  cities  the  Union  I.e.ague  was 
incorjjorated  with  the  object  of  encouraging  and  pro- 
moting unconditional  loyalty  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. The  club  has  in  aiidition  to  the  most  elaborate 
banquet  hall,  cafe  ami  usual  club  rooms,  a  valuable 
art  collection  and  splendid  library.  Us  location  in 
the  heart  of  the  citv  h.-is  caiLsed  it  to  become  the  favor- 
ite lunching  pl.ace  for  the  leading  business  men. 

University  Club. — Dearborn  street  an<l  Calhoun 
I'lace  1 1  between  Washington  and  Madison  streets. 
Membership  limited  to  college  grarluates. 

Washington  Park  Club.— South  Park  avenue  and 
6inI  street.  The  club  owns  and  man.igcs  the  finest 
race  track  in  the  West,  its  annual  meetings,  particu- 
lar! v  the  "  .American  Derby  "  Iwing  .'imoiig  the  most 
important  turf  events  of  the  country.  The  club  house 
liiis  the  cafO,  banijuet-room  and  priv.ite  ilining-riHiiiis 
usual  to  the  best  organizations  anri  its  inemliershij) 
includes  the  le;idiiig  business  men  of  Chicago.  Illi- 
nois Central  R.  R.  to  South  P.irk  Station  or  Wabash 
avenue  cable  cars  to  6ist  street. 


NEWSP.VPER  OFFICK.S. 

There  are  24  ilaily  papers  publisheil  in  Chicago. 
Visitors  will  be  impressid  by  their  high  character  ami 
great  size  ;  particularly  the  Sunday  issues.  The  Itx'a- 
tion  of  publication  ollices  and  their  politics  are  given 
below.  .\s  most  of  the  more  important  oflTicesare  in  tile 
Ixiundaries  indicated  by  the  (f)  in  this  guide  or  within 
a  block  thereof  the  ^tj  is  omitted  on  those  within  the 
boundary. 

Abend  Post. — Daily  morning.  German.  Iiide- 
pendeiil  in  ])olitics.  203  Fifth  avcuue,  one  block  west 
of  ( t    boundarv. 

Arbeiter  Zettung.— Daily,  morning.  German.  So- 
cialistic. 274  West  Twelfth  street.  Cars  at  comer  of 
State  and  Washington  streets. 

Mail. — Daily,  evening  Independent  in  politics. 
120  I'ifth  avenue,  one  block  west  of  ( f )  boundarj-. 

Globe.— Daily  md  Sunday,  morning.  Democratic. 
IlS  I'ifth  avenue,  one  block  west  of  (tl  boundary. 

The  Daily  National  Hotel  Reporter. — Daily,  morn- 
ing. Prints  complete  list  of  arrivals  at  hotels.  No.  7 
Monroe  street. 

The  Chicago  News.— Daily,  evening.  Indepen- 
dent. 123  Fifth  avenue,  one  block  ivest  of  (t)  boun- 
dar\-. 

The  Chicago  News-Record.-  Daily,  morning.  In- 
depeii'knt.  123  Fifth  avenue,  one  block  west  of  (f) 
boundary. 

Evening  Journal. — Daily,  evening.  Republican. 
l6r    Diarboni  street- 

Frcie  Presse.— Daily,  morning.  German.  Repub- 
lican. 90,  94  F'ifth  avenue,  one  block  west  of  (f) 
boundary. 

Herald. — Daily  and  Sunday,  morning.  Democratic. 
154.  '56,  15S  Washington  street,  near  I,a  Salle.  The 
Herald  occupies  its  own  building,  which  is  considered 
the  model  newspaper  office  of  the  Uniteil  States.  Visi- 
tors are  welcomeil. 

Illinois  Staats  Zeitung. — Daily,  morning.  Repub- 
lican. Corner  W.isliiiigtoii  street  and  Fifth  avenue, 
one  block  west  of  (tl  i)oundary. 

Inter-Ocean.— Daily  and  Sunday,  nioruing.  Re- 
publican.    N.  E   corner  Madison  and  Dearborn  sts. 

Post. — Daily,  evening.  Democratic.  164,  166  Wash- 
ington street. 

The  Skandinavian.  —  Daily  and  Sunday,  morning. 
Republican.  1S3,  1.S5,  \%-  N.  Peoria  street.  Milw.au- 
kee  ave.  cable  cars  at  corner  La  Salle  and  Madison  sts. 
to  Peoria  street. 

Times  — Daily  and  Sunday,  morning.  Democratic. 
Corner  Washington  street  and  F'iftli  avenue.  One 
bliick  west  of  (tl  boundary. 

Tribune. — Daily  and  Sunday,  moniiug. — S.  E.  cor. 
Madison  and  Dearborn  streets. 

FORT  DE.VRBORN. 

The  site  of  Fort  Dearborn,  the  pioneer  settlement  of 
Chicago,  was  at  the  comer  of  Michigan  Boulevard  and 
South  Water  street,  extemling  across  what  is  now 
Water  street  to  the  very  bank  of  the  Chicago  river. 
The  land  is  now  occupied  by  a  large  mercantile  estab- 
lishment, a  marble  slab  in  the  wall  of  the  north  front 
of  the  building  telling  of  the  historical  importance  of 
the  spot.  In  1673  I,<niis  Joliet,  agent  of  the  Governor 
of  New  France  Louisiana),  accompanied  by  Father 
Incques  Manpiette.  a  Jesuit  priest,  and  a  small  band 
of  explorers,  encamped  at  Chic.igo  I'ortage  —near  the 
site  of  I'ort  Dearliorn.  La  Salle  followed  in  167S.  but 
there  is  no  record  of  a  permanent  sittler  until  \'~<i, 
when  a  fugitive  slave,  named  Point  De  Sible.  from 
Louisiana,  liuilt  a  hut  and  engaged  in  the  life  of  a  trup- 
j>er.     Shortly  after   the   piirchiLse  of  I.,ouiHiana   by  the 


832 


COLUMBUS   AND   COLUMBIA. 


United  States,  Congress  decided  to  build  a  fort  on  Lake 
Michigan,  and  six  square  miles  of  territory  having  been 
ceded  by  the  Indians  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago 
river,  that  point  was  selected  for  the  new  outpost  Fort 
Dearborn  was  completed  in  1804,  and  the  small  garri- 
son undertook  to  maintain  itself  with  several  thousand 
unfriendly  Indians  in  the  surrounding  country.  Dur- 
ing the  war  of  1S12  British  emissaries  aroused  the 
Indians  to  open  acts  of  hostility  against  the  garrison  of 
the  fort  and  the  settlers  who  had  built  quite  a 
little  village  around  it.  On  the  morning  of  .\ugust 
15,  1S12,  it  having  been  decided  to  evacuate  the  fort 
and  leave  the  village  to  the  Indians,  the  little  garrison 
and  settlers  marched  out,  proceeding  south  along 
what  is  now  the  Lake  front  of  Chicago.  _  At  a  point 
that  is  now  the  foot  of  Eighteenth  street  it  became  ap- 
parent that  the  Indians  were  determined  to  prevent 
the  escape  of  the  soldiers  and  settlers.  The  running 
fight  that  ensued  continued  until  the  remnant  of  the 
Americans  reached  the  place  that  is  now  the  foot  of 
Forty-third  street.  By  this  time  the  Americans  had 
all  been  killed  but  twenty-eight,  and  a  capitulation 
was  effected  by  which  the  lives  of  the  prisoners  were 
to  be  spared.  There  is  no  exact  data  regarding  how 
many  lives  were  sacrificed  in  this  massacre,  but  the 
most  reliable  historians  place  the  number  at  between 
sixty  and  seventy,  including  women  and  children.  AH 
but  two  of  the  women  in  the  evacuating  party  were 
slaughtered.  The  family  of  John  Kinzie,  one  of  the 
first  settlers  remained  in  the  village,  and  though  Kinzie 
joined  the  soldiers  in  fighting  the  Indians,  the  latter 
held  him  in  such  high  esteem  that  his  wife  and  children 
werei^fl^t  molested.  The  prisoners  were  all  finally  re- 
turned' to  freedom  by  the  Indians.  .At  the  foot  of 
Eighteenth  street  stands  an  old  tree  surrounded  bj'  an 
iron  railing.  It  is  here  that  most  of  the  women  and 
children  were  killed  and  that  the  hardest  fighting  oc- 
curred. 

ARMORIES  OF  ILLINOIS  N.\TIONAL  GUARD. 

First  Regiment. — (Infantry.)  Michigan  Boulevard 
and  i6th  street.  Enrolment,  650  men.  Wabash 
avenue  cable  car  to  i6th  street,  one  block  east  to 
Michigan  Boulevard. 

Battery  D,  First  Artillery. — Michigan  Boulevard, 
near  Adams,  (f).  Equipment,  four  twelve-pound 
Napoleons  and  four  rapid-firing  Gatlings. 

Second  Regiment.  —(Infantry.)  Washington 
Boulevard  and  Curtis  street.  Enrolment,  950  men. 
Madison  street  cable  car  to  Curtis  street,  one  block 
north  to  Washington  Boulevard. 

Cavalry  Troop,  A. — 135  Michigan  Boulevard  (t). 
Enrolment,  63  men. 

Chicago  Hussars. —  .\rmory  and  club  house  in 
process  of  construction,  35th  street,  near  Cottage 
Grove  avenue.  Enrolment,  104  men.  The  Hussars 
have  been  appointed  by  the  Director  General  of  the 
Exposition  as  the  special  guard  of  honor  for  himself 
and  the  National  Commission  during  the  World's 
Fair.     Wabash  avenue  cable  car  to  35tli  street. 

UNION  STOCK  YARDS. 

South  Halstead  street,  five  and  one-half  miles  south- 
west of  City  Hall.  The  stock  yards  and  combined 
slaughter  and  packing  houses  for  the  almost  incom- 
prehensibly large  provision  trade  of  Chicago  were  or- 
ganized in '1865,  and  keeping  pace  in  growth  with  the 
trade,  now  embrace  400  acres  of  land.  Within  the 
enclosure  there  are  150  miles  of  railroad  tracks ;  20 
miles  of  streets  ;  ditto  of  water  troughs  and  50  miles 
of  feeding  troughs.  The  pens  provide  accommoda- 
tions for  30,000  cattle,  200,000  hogs,  30,000  sheep  and 
4000  horses.     The  magnitude  of  the  packing  industry 


and  its  importance  to  Chicago  may  best  be  understood 
by  .statistics  for  1891.  Capital  invested  (estimated), 
^37,000,000;  value  of  live  stock  received,  $39,434,777; 
hands  employed,  25,000;  wages  paid,  $15,000,000; 
value  of  product,  $150,000,000.  Every  railroad  run- 
ning into  Chicago  is  connected  with  the  stock  yards 
by  a  belt  line.  Each  morning  the  entire  yard  is  de- 
voted to  the  receipt  and  inspection  oi'  live  stock 
brought  in  during  the  night  by  the  trains  from  the 
South  and  West.  In  the  afternoon  the  day's  product 
of  the  packing  houses  is  loaded  in  trains  for  the  East ; 
the  pens  and  houses  are  thoroughly  and  systemati- 
calh-  cleansed,  and  by  a  little  after  midnight  all  is 
again  ready  for  receiving  more  live  stock.  The  busi- 
ness of  packing  has  now  been  so  perfected  that  almost 
every  portion  of  an  animal  is  applied  to  some  com- 
mercial use.  A  leading  packer  stated  recently  that  he 
had  learned  by  chemical  experiments  to  utilize  so 
umch  material  he  had  before  counted  as  waste  and 
paid  for  hauling  away  that  it  made  a  difference  in  his 
profits  in  one  year  of  over  $1,000,000,  In  1S91,  there 
were  slaughtered  and  packed  2,184.095  cattle,  157,052 
calves  5,638,291  hogs  and  1,465,332  sheep.  There  is 
an  average  of  nearly  2000  sight-seers  a  day  at  the 
stock  yards,  besides  many  regular  visitors  who  daily 
drink  blood,  while  warm  from  the  animal,  as  a  cure 
for  consumption.  Admission  is  free  and  guides  may 
be  engaged  at  the  gates  who,  for  twenty -five  cents,  will 
conduct  the  visitor  to  and  explain  all  points  of  inter- 
est. There  are  many  routes  to  the  stock  yards,  but 
the  most  convenient  from  the  (f)  district  in  this  Guide 
are  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  R.  R. ,  or 
State  street  cable  car  to  35th  street,  asking  the  conduc- 
tor for  a  transfer  to  the  yards. 

MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION. 

Postoffice. — The  U.  S.  Postoffice  is  in  the  block 
bounded  by  Adams,  Dearborn,  Clark  and  Jackson 
streets  (f).  Though  the  construction  of  this  great 
building  was  begun  after  the  fire  of  1871,  and  over 
$5,000,000  was  expended  on  it,  there  is  immediate 
need  of  a  new  building.  The  present  postoffice  was 
poorly  planned  and  badly  constructed.  The  building 
has  settled  and  is  deemed  unsafe  by  many,  though 
en.gineers  and  architects  declare  it  is  not  in  danger  of 
collapse.  The  United  States  Custom  House,  Internal 
Revenue  office,  Su'^-Treasury,  Marshal's  Office  and 
Pension  Office  are  located  in'the   Postoffice  building. 

City  Hall  and  County  Court  House.— (t). — These 
two  great  structures  occup}-  the  block  bounded  on 
the  North  by  Randolph  street,  East  by  Clark  street. 
West  by  La  Salle  street  and  South  by  Washington 
street.  "  All  the  city  and  county  offices  are  located 
here,  including  the  court  rooms.  The  buildings  ad- 
join and  communicate,  and  appear  as  one  great  edifice. 
Together  they  have  cost  the  citizens  of  Chicago  and 
Cook  county  $4,500,000. 

Hack  and  Cab  Rates.— (Two  horse  vehicles.)  One 
or  two  passengers  from  any  railroad  station  to  an- 
pther,  $1.00  ;  ditto  one  mile' or  less,  $1.00  ;  ditto  over 
one  and  less  than  two  miles  $1.50  ;  ditto  anv  distance 
exceeding  two  miles  $2.00 ;  for  each  additional  pas- 
senger of  the  same  party,  50  cents.  For  any  two 
horse  hack  or  cab  hired  by  the  hour :  For  the  first 
hour  $2.00;  each  additional  hour  or  part  thereof,  $1.00. 
For  trunk  and  ordinary  hand  baggage  no  charge  is 
allowed.  Hansom  and  Cab  Rates.— (One  horse  ve- 
hicles.) For  one  or  two  passengers  per  mile  or  part 
thereof,  25  cents.  By  the  hour  ;  First  hour,  75  cents  ; 
each  quarter  hour  after  first  hour,  20  cents.  While 
the  above  rates  are  established  by  law  it  will  be  pru- 
dent for  visitors  to  make  a  bargain  with  the  driver  be- 
fore enteritig  the  vehicle. 


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University  of  California      ^^., ,_, 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilaard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

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from  vrtilch  it  was  borrowed. 


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